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SPORTS

57 images Created 1 May 2018

The photo portfolio of sport photography by Scott Serfas
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  • Illumination<br />
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Travis Rice slashes a snow wave near the end of the day in the Tordrillo Mountains of Alaska while filming for the Art of Flight movie. This was the last image I took after more then 4 weeks of shooting and sleeping in the mountains. This photo won the illumination category in the Red Bull Illume photo contest. <br />
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For info on this photograph:<br />
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I had been in the Tordrillo Mountains for 4 weeks with the Brain Farm Cinema crew documenting the making of the Art of Flight movie. From day one I had it in my mind that I wouldn’t leave without shooting a photo from a hovering helicopter looking straight down on a rider. Unfortunately setting up this kind of shot was much more complicated then I originally thought. We had 2 helicopters on this trip. The first was the film ship, fitted with a Cineflex aerial camera to the nose. It’s important for this ship to be as light as possible so that it could manoeuvre quickly so I wasn't allowed to shoot from that one. The second helicopter was the riders ship. It would shuttle the riders around getting them on top of the lines they wanted to ride and would pick them up at the bottom. As a photographer I would use this ship to move myself around when it wasn't possible to snowboard there. So when I found the right terrain to shoot my aerial photo, I had to coordinate the move I wanted to make with the film ship as it would generally fly all over the place to get the best shot of the entire line. In the end we decided I would just hover above the line, hang out the side and shoot while the film ship would do its thing around us. This was the best way to keep both helicopters from crashing into each other.<br />
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Once I was harnessed in and hanging out of the helicopter, we lifted up and hovered a few 100 feet above the line. Travis was called in to drop and made this single turn before disappearing over the edge. It would have been nice to follow him down the whole line but that just wasn't going to be safe.<br />
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It was around
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  • Sun Jump<br />
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Skateboarder Ryan Descenzo had the idea of building a gap between two shipping containers, so in order to make it a bit more dramatic we decided to place the containers on a barge and drag it with a tug boat out into the ocean. It wasn't until the sun was about to set that he landed this nollie heelflip over the gap (and sun) in English Bay, Vancouver, Canada.
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  • In the remote forests of British Columbia lies Retallack Lodge, a cat-skiing operation in the winter and a mountain bike haven in the summer. I was there to shoot during the making of Brandon Semenuk's "Rad Company" movie with himself, Yannick Granieri and Thomas Genon. On the last day of shooting I was able to convince the riders to hit this one particular jump so that I could work a few angles instead of concentrating on a full line of 5 or 6 jumps. It had rained a few days prior to the shoot so some of the mud hadn't dried up yet. I found a clear puddle that I could use to incorporate the reflection of the riders. I set my camera to 1000/sec at f5.0 and ISO 2500 and then rested the bottom of it right on top of the water as I laid in the mud. Both Yannick and Brandon hit the jump several times while Thomas just rolled up the take off, shaking his head and looking worried. I knew he was planning something special, so I just had to be patient and wait for it. When Thomas decided to go for it he didn't give us any warning but from his body language I could tell he was committed to the jump. I shot a sequence and everyone cheered as he rode away. I packed up and that was the end of the shoot.
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  • Headless Flight <br />
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This photo was taken in Whistler, Canada in a mountain range accessible only by snow machine. As professional snowboarder Mikkel Bang was preparing for the jump I drove around on my SkiDoo looking for the perfect angle. Mikkel hit the jump a few times trying different tricks but it wasn't until he took too much speed into the jump that he was forced to stop his rotation by opening up his arms, helping to create this unusual but very stylish photo.
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  • Nate Lacoste catches a huge kickflip from bump to bump at Red Bull's Last Resort just outside of Halifax, Canada on September 18th, 2014.
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  • Wade Simmons rides down a previously untouched slope in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada on September 4, 2016.
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  • Drew Bezanson had a dream. He wanted to build a huge BMX park at the back of his friends property in his hometown of Truro, Nova Scotia using only wood and shipping containers. They first started by clearing trees and levelling the dirt. It took months to prepare and build all the features because it rained so hard everyday that the mud created made it impossible to move material around. Finally, we got our shooting window which was only a couple hours each day during a week in August, but only after the morning showers let up and just before the evening rain started again. We plugged away slowly that week creating more and more shots, saving this flat drop, the biggest of the entire set up, till the very last day. He had a few tricks in mind he was going to do but hadn't made up his mind about doing a backflip yet. The consequences were high and nothing of this size with a flat take off had ever been flipped before. Something in his head triggered and he yelled lets do it before being lifted on top by a crane. I was ready, shaking a bit, knowing I was only getting one chance for the shot, land or slam. My favourite part of the shot is the expression on his face in the landing frames.
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  • The Tordrillo Mountains are a small range in the south central region of Alaska. They lie approximately 120 km northwest of Anchorage and are primarily volcanic, which may be what makes them so perfect for snowboarding. On a recent trip there, accompanied by two of the best riders in the world, I was able to photograph the best, most progressive backcountry snowboarding to date.<br />
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John Jackson jumps a massive cliff in Alaska while filming for the Art of Flight movie.
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  • Every sunny day we had in the Tordrillo Mountains was epic! And every day after was even more epic than the last. I remember being out this one day for a full 14 hours, shooting what I knew was the best snowboarding in the history of the sport. As the sun started to make its way to the horizon, we packed up and with minimal fuel started our flight back to the lodge. Then, over the next ridge, Travis spotted this amazing spine line with perfect light, and over the headset begged the pilot to turn around and drop him on top for one last run.<br />
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Reluctantly, the pilot gave in and we were back in action again. It was 9:37 p.m. and the sun was dropping when Travis dropped into this line. I shot from the hovering helicopter a few hundred feet out in front of him. Later, Travis described this line as one of the best runs of his life. Four feet of blower pow on each side of these almost vertical spines. Another day in the history books.
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  • TJ Rogers lands a backside smith grind on metal ducting at Red Bull's Last Resort just outside of Halifax, Canada on September 20th, 2014.
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  • Wade Simmons rides down a previously untouched slope in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada on September 4, 2016.
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  • Mykel Larrin performs a Lookback at Red Bull Uncontainable in Truro, Canada on July 31st, 2015.
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  • Professional snowboarder Bryan Fox slashes a ridge on his snowboard while heli-boarding in Alaska close to sunset.
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  • Ever since I first bought my water housing to photograph surfing, I had been looking for ways to use it for snowboarding. To create the shot I wanted I needed two key components, legit snowboard action and clear water.<br />
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I started to get jobs working with Red Bull, and they would come up with these crazy ideas and then build what they wanted. This is when I realized that I could just build the components that I needed and shoot it in a semi controlled environment. <br />
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I had my housing equipped with a 20 foot custom sync cord so that I could fire the strobes from under the water using a Pocket Wizard remote. When it came to lighting the scene, I knew that I would need at least one strobe to light the fish and rocks. For this, I set up a Profoto Acute 600 at full power and directed it down, right in front of me. The idea of having waterproof lights in the water was consided but I didn’t think it would make much of a difference when considering the extra cost involved. This shot was going to be backlit so I was going to need all the fill light I could get. For this, I set up a Profoto 7b, able to fire 2 strobes. I used one with a narrow beam reflector on the left side as fill light and the other head on the right side just to help eliminate motion blur.<br />
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Finally it was time to have the fish swim into the frame. I thought this was going to be easier than it was. Eventually Clayton Shoemaker jumped into the water with me to help wrangle them into position. Fish food didn’t work. I would yell up to Lauri every time a fish was in the frame and he would drop in. After about 25 attempts we had the shot.
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  • This photo was taken late in the day during the making of the acclaimed Art of Flight movie. John Jackson called in his line over the radio before dropping into this one of a kind spine/pillow line and launched an air larger then any of us had ever seen before.
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  • Cody Lockwood launches a stalefish air in the bowl as the sun sets over the Atlantic Ocean at Red Bull's Last Resort just outside of Halifax, Canada on September 16th, 2014.
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  • Darren Berrecloth rides down a previously untouched slope in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada on September 4, 2016.
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  • Layback Snow Hack<br />
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To some snowboarers the feeling of riding powder snow is very similar to riding waves on a surfboard. Jake Blauvelt is one of those rides and chooses to ride only natural terrain, preferably untracked. During a helicopter trip to northern British Columbia, Canada Jake spotted this frontside wall and laid down his best interpretation of a surf style slash.
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  • Kyle Demelo performs during a  practice run at his private training facility in Oliver, Canada on March 24th, 2015.
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  • The Tordrillo Mountains are a small range in the south central region of Alaska. They lie approximately 120 km northwest of Anchorage and are primarily volcanic, which may be what makes them so perfect for snowboarding. On a recent trip there, accompanied by two of the best riders in the world, I was able to photograph the best, most progressive backcountry snowboarding to date. John Jackson blew my mind with his ability to ride such large descents and land obnoxious, oversized airs.<br />
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This photo was taken on a large facing wall, known as Avocado. Half of it gets morning light, while the other half gets evening light. It was late in the day when John spotted a line just about to be blessed with light. The helicopter set me down on an adjacent peak and then dropped him in place to initiate this opportunity. John dropped in, having only seen this line from the air for a few second, and made a few turns before heading right to this cruise-ship sized pillow.<br />
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I remember thinking to myself, "Oh God, does he know what he is headed for?" It's very easy to lose track of where you are, when amazingly huge mountains are all that surround you. One wrong turn can be deadly. Turns out he knew exactly what he was doing and where he was going.
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  • TJ Rogers performs a 360 flip over a corner gap at Red Bull's Last Resort just outside of Halifax, Canada on September 20th, 2014.
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  • Tyler McCaul catches air in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada on September 4, 2016.
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  • This photo was the result of everything going wrong and then at the perfect moment, as the sun was setting everything going right. We were delayed for a few weeks due to weather. Once it dried up a bit the guys worked on this feature day and night for 4 days. We were supposed to shoot this in the morning but the wind was high and we couldn't get the hanging wall ride feature secured properly. As it was getting late, I had written the day off in my head but moments before the sun set Drew told everyone it was fine and he would ride it. I quickly got onto a scissor lift and had to choose an angle in a moments notice. I decide far away and really high up, about 60 feet so I would look slightly down on the feature. I thought he would session it but after doing it once he called it quits. Looking back at it now, everything lined up just right.
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  • Professional snowboarder Jake Blauvelt performs a backside rodeo on his snowboard while filming for his movie titled Jake Blauvelt Naturally.
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  • Jon Devore jumps off a large glacier while filming for the Unrideables in the Tordrillo Mountains near Anchorage, Alaska on April 24th, 2014.
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  • This photo of Travis Rice was taken on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Eastern Russia during the making of The Fourth Phase movie. We were living in a backcountry lodge for the entire month of February and would take a Russian MI-8 military helicopter into the mountains to shoot whenever the weather was good. <br />
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On our first day in the mountains our guide wanted to show us all the terrain in the area, so we really didn’t get much riding in. While flying over this part of the ocean we decided to land and get our boards in the snow. Turns out, after a month of shooting this day would be one of the best of the entire trip.
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  • Ryan Decenzo skateboards inside the Red Bull Skate House on October 29th, 2012 in Toronto, Canada.
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  • Darren Berrecloth rides down a previously untouched slope in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada on September 4, 2016.
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  • Jon Devore jumps off a large cliff into a spiraling barrel roll while filming for the Unrideables in the Tordrillo Mountains near Anchorage, Alaska on April 27th, 2014.
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  • Just another day in the office for professional snowboarder Travis Rice as he negotiates his way down a steep ridge while filming in Alaska.
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  • Brandon Semenuk performs on his mountain bike at Retallack Lodge, near Nelson, BC Canada on July 31st, 2013.
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  • Eric Jackson lays down a deep trench in the backcountry of Hakuba, Japan on a trip there to shoot for The Book of John J.
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  • Professional snowboarder Travis Rice slashes a ridge on his snowboard while filming in his home town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
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