Back for its third year, Hot Lapse – Revelstoke’s 72-hour photographer showdown – is a platform for photographers to showcase the best of skiing through conceptually creative slideshows. Each team is led by a pro photographer and given equal environmental opportunity in the same 3-day window.
The 2014 showdown just wrapped up, and MEC Envoy Reuben Krabbe came out on top as the Hot Lapse winner. Congrats, Reuben!
This title is the latest in Reuben’s growing list of photography competition success. In 2011, he won the Banff Photographer Shootout. In 2012, he won Whistler’s Deep Summer Photo Challenge. And in 2012 and 2013, he placed third and second in the Deep Winter Photo Challenge.
To find out how he approaches photography comps, we caught up with Reuben post-Hot Lapse victory.
What’s the biggest challenge of shooting for this slideshow-style competition?
Finding a great theme, and planning it well so you’re able to execute it properly. It’s all too easy to run around trying too hard to get too much content, stress, and come up with a standard slideshow. Instead, it takes more planning, conceptual development, and a little bit of whiskey as inspiration.
What motivates you to be a part of these photo comps?
Photographers have few opportunities to control the way their work is perceived, and even less opportunities to create all sides of a story or presentation. So these competitions are a great place to play with concepts, push yourself creatively, and experiment. Some of my earlier shows I was aiming to capture classic themes of action sport, but now I enjoy using slideshows to find and share more abstract or personal ideas.
How have you been able to tune in so effectively to the subtleties of skiing to conceptualize a story?
Tough to say. I think it’s likely that I spend a ton of time thinking and drawing parallels between action sports and other art forms or trends. Skiing by itself is quite simple – it’s recreation – but there’s amazing beauty in the sport, and clarifying a certain aspect or trait can be incredibly interesting. We all understand the allure of natural spaces, but a show like this can help illustrate what it is we love about the outdoors.
You live in Whistler, so when you shot for Deep Winter competitions, you had local knowledge about where to shoot. Did you find shooting in Revelstoke more challenging?
Local knowledge was key in Revelstoke, too. Without Gord Spurgeon and Sean Cochrane – two Revelstoke locals – I would have been wallowing around in the wrong areas during the storm cycle. That being said, 50cm of snow over the three days did make my job a fair bit easier. Home court advantage is huge; however, it’s not insurmountable.
How do you make your athlete selections?
Athletes for my shows often include friends I’m comfortable working with. Stan Rey and James McSkimming are great athletes and collaborators. They know what I’m looking for, but also suggest images I wouldn’t have seen myself. I had only just met Meredith Eades briefly before the competition, but she came as a referral from a friend. Gord Spurgeon and Sean Cochrane were also friend referred, and I’ve shot with Sean once before.
Watch Kinetic, Reuben’s full-length Hot Lapse slideshow (viewer discretion… a bit of nudity).