Blake Jorgenson wins the 2011 Olympus Pro Photography Showdown
The Olympus Pro Photographer Showdown went down at the Whistler Conference Centre in Blackcomb, Canada, on Thursday, April 21. For the second time in the last ten years, the top prize was clinched by Whistler’s local, Blake Jorgenson.
The final of the Pro Photographer showdown was anticipated to be one the major highlights of Whistler’s 2011 TELUS World Ski and Snowboarding Festival. The contest truly lived up to the hype indeed.
“Everyone was really pleased with the calibre of the photos and photographers. There was a lot excitement to see Bryn take People's Choice, and Blake always blows everyone away with his photos. He was on point with every image,” said TWSSF Communications
Manager Jess Smith.
Jorgenson was up against some of the world’s most talented action sports photographers, namely Bryn Hughes, Russell Dalby, Steve Lloyd, Mike Yoshida and the contests first ever female finalist, Re Wikstrom. All six finalists showcased breath-taking photographs
in a nine-minute slideshow.
The judge panel, comprising of Whistler-based author Leslie Anthony, renowned surf photographer Aaron Chang, Eric Berger, Dylan Doubt and Paul Morrison, judged the entries based on overall impression of the photographs in the slideshow. In the end, they
deemed Jorgenson’s work as the best and announced him as the winner. He got to take home US$10,000 for his excellent work.
“I'm totally stunned and inspired,” Jorgenson said upon accepting his $10,000 check. “There is just so much creativity bursting out of Whistler right now.”
It is interesting to see how far the Whistler-local’s career has come since his win in the Pro Photographer Showdown a decade ago. He has managed to earn himself a reputation of one of the best shooters in the industry. Prior to his latest success, he had
won the Arc’ teryx Deep Winter Photo Challenge in January.
The Pro Photo Showdown was also giving away the People’s Choice Award, along with a prize cash of US$1,000, to the photographer purely based on the choice of the 1,800 spectators. Hughes managed to impress the spectators with a range of dramatic images,
which included the tiny hand of a monkey and a skier hitting a huge jump at sunset, to secure the Award.
Established in 1998 as a platform for the world’s best action sports photographers to put the best work of their career on display, the Olympus Pro Photographer Showdown has become one of the paramount action sports photography events in the world. The contest
has started to attract photographers from all around the world. This year, entries were received from 40 photographers, which included photographers from Australia, Germany, Spain, America and Japan. The event is truly a tribute to the craft of action sports
photography and the talented photographers who managed to capture the emotions and thrilling action on camera.
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