We tried to shoot this location a few times, but each time we tried, the weather didn’t come together like we needed. The fall is the most epic time to shoot around Rossland, and finally, on about our third attempt, the fog hung around long enough for us to session the area. We shot from five or six angles and when I got the film back, it was this shot, where I got the camera as close to the action as I could with a 16 mm fisheye, that gave the viewer the best peek into what it’s like to get air on a mountain bike. Minutes after this image was taken, the sun burned the fog off and the shoot was done.
Derek Frankowski

About the shot

Biography
I mostly find inspiration from light. I’ve never been that attracted to flash or contrived set-up type photos. Not that I don’t find them intriguing, but I’m more interested in working with natural light and reacting to real life situations.
When I was young, I used to look at national geographic Magazine, wonder how the photos were made and ask myself: who are these lucky people that get to go and experience these cool things? That fueled a passion that fortunately turned into a job around 1998 when I began to work with Bike Magazine. To accommodate my newfound direction, I moved to British Columbia, Canada. Finding my way to the mountains after growing up in the prairies, I found a place that fits me and my lifestyle, which now includes life with my young family.
My photography took a turn four years ago when I began to co-create the film life Cycles. Merging my experience in photography and my business partners’ background in film, we set out to create a different kind of action sports film. The future of photography meshing with cinematography is an interesting merge of mediums and I hope to explore the balance of the two more.