Some pics from the French Alps

[tobers]

I had a nervous time carrying £1500 of camera gear on my back whilst skiing in Tignes last week. I was using a Slingshot 100 which worked pretty well, and allowed me to swing the bag to the front when getting on the lifts so nothing got crushed. I took the "full works" 350D plus 2 lenses (17-85 F4 IS and 70-200 F4L), filters, bla bla on two days. The other days I just had my rather crappy Pentax Optio S5Z which has seen better days tucked in a pocket.

1. Mountain nicely framed by cloud
http://Tobers.smugmug.com/photos/130412345-M.jpg

2. Someone's been enjoying a bit of off-piste action. Dangerous business - 2 killed in avalanches in this resort last week!
http://Tobers.smugmug.com/photos/130426237-M.jpg

3. Looks like this massive rock is ploughing its way through the snow
http://Tobers.smugmug.com/photos/130413684-M.jpg

4. Boarder
http://Tobers.smugmug.com/photos/130416804-L.jpg

5. Night shot
http://Tobers.smugmug.com/photos/130178057-M.jpg

6. It was a bit windy at times - and yes, the horizon is meant to be on a slope!
http://Tobers.smugmug.com/photos/130412236-M.jpg

7. "Daddy, I'm really not happy about this!" - more like a polar expedition than a skiing holiday. Blizzard conditions greeted these guys at the top of the lift - it had been nice and sunny at the bottom. These guys were struggling just to stay upright.
http://Tobers.smugmug.com/photos/130415042-M.jpg

Despite taking loads of pics, I was only happy with about 6 of them. The rest are nice "snaps". I guess you can get just too much of mountains covered in snow. I did see some superb ice waterfalls but usually had the family & friends getting annoyed waiting for me so I felt rather selfish indulging myself whilst keeping them waiting.

Comments & suggestions welcome as always. Cheers!

Tobers

[truth]

Great images. I really love 2-3-4. I do wonder why you chose such irregular crops for them. I'm not sure they help the images though without seeing the full frame it's tough to say. The snowboarder image is great. Nice job on the exposure. Image 7 is begging for a tighter crop. All the white space and the guy in the back weaken the three main subjects to me.

[SirArmstrong]

I like all of them especially #4. When my eye finally caught the boarder it created a different perspective...where were you to get this shot?

[W.W. Webster]

http://Tobers.smugmug.com/photos/130416804-L.jpg


Top shot! They don't get much better than this. :thumb

[tobers]

Thanks folks.

I like trying different crops - the usual 4x3 gets a bit dull after a while I think. I agree that they look rather curious when they are all mixed together though.

I was over the other side of the valley for the boarder shot, using a 70-200 F4L lens at max zoom. I was bracing myself on the side of a handy building to keep things steady. The light was quite low and this guy must have been one of the last ones down the slope. The low light gave great contrast on the tracks, and the boarder was wearing red which put a nice (but small) splash of colour onto the pic. I took about 5 shots trying to get the guy as he turned to get the spray of snow just right. I'm v.pleased how it turned out, especially the sharpness on max zoom :D

[schmoo]

Beautiful mountains! I understand not wanting to hold up your group but I've learned to either not worry about the nagging or just catch up with them later. :D

Amazing boarder shot. And the last one says so much with so little.

[Elaine]

Love the snow boarder shot!!!

Elaine