

Dave Short is a beast. Plain and simple. Photographer after photographer have repeatedly said over the years that he is one of the best snowboarders to shoot with, and for good reason!

This past weekend, the stars finally aligned in Whistler and we were treated to three days of sunny skies and deep, blower pow to go play in the Whistler Backcountry - something that could not have come soon enough. I was fortunate enough to head out with my good friend and colleague Dave Short on Saturday and Sunday, and in between epic pow laps, we shot a few photos ... Dave Short style! Which to the uninitiated basically means we shot a ton of sick photos in a very short amount of time.

As much as it may seem like great snowboard and ski photos "just happen", in reality a ton of effort goes into every setup and most people consider it a successful day if they come out with one really good shot. Not Dave! Two, three, even four bangers in a day is just par for the course for this guy, which is kinda the best thing ever for the guy behind the lens. Whether shooting photos or video, I've never seen anyone bag as many shots per day consistently as Dave, due in large part to his amazing ability to spot natural lines and hits where others don't - eliminating the need for large builds that consume a day's precious time and energy.

Being the beginning of the season, and our first true session in the backcountry, we tried to not be too serious and as such I packed a very small camera package. In fact, I decided to head out with only my pocket-sized Olympus EPL-5 camera (review HERE) and two prime lenses. This meant I would be forced to get creative without any zoom lenses, primes are fixed length and I was packing one wide and one medium length lens. It also meant I would get to shoot some real action with this amazing little camera for the first time - which I was more than confident about after seeing the amazing quality this thing produces, as well as it's ability to shoot 9 frames a second in RAW mode (that's a big deal even for a pro-sized SLR!). And it did not let me down.

So out we went, for two of the best days I've had in the backcountry in years. We had a blast, got a ton of shots I'm proud to present to you here, got a ton of great (long) pow laps - including a few moments just sketchy enough to remind myself how much I love to (safely) pushing myself in the backcountry - and most importantly I was surrounded by good friends the whole time.

Enjoy!

All photos shot and copyrighted by Brian Hockenstein - please do not reuse or repost without permission. Thanks!