Guest Photo Editor – Henry Georgi
Crosshairs Gallery
Shooting skiers and publishing ski photos worldwide for almost 30 years, Ontario-native Henry Georgi is Ski Canada’s Guest
Photo Editor for our anniversary issue. He moved to Fernie, B.C., decades ago after first sowing his ski seeds in the Alps, where he still has time to visit and photograph.
Georgi has seen the scene change artistically, technically, monetarily and, in some cases such as fashion, come around full circle. “I no longer wait nervously, sometimes for weeks, to get my film back— only to discover the lab’s screwed up my work,” says Georgi, reminiscing about the pre-digitial camera days. He agrees that the whole safety-in-numbers thing (shoot 100 frames digitally but only keep one or two) has fundamentally changed sports photography and made it easier for amateurs. “But many of the basic rules of photography haven’t changed over the years.”
“I love how we’ve morphed from close-up, smiling-face photos to the skier being secondary in some massive manoeuvre and terrain,” Georgi points out, “but the use of flashes at night—I hate that crap, I mean, who really skis like that? In my books that trick falls under the same category as Photoshop.”
And on the introduction of amateur video, YouTube stars and helmet cams? “It’s always fun until someone loses an eye….”
Digging through boxes of slides in his storage room and those of contemporaries, it was easy to reminisce about all the good times. Georgi’s hairiest moment? “The time I cut a slab avalanche in Austria back when I was ski-bumming there close to 30 years ago. It wasn’t big, but it ended up going over a 200-foot waterfall. Luckily, I had enough speed to get through that slope and onto a safer one. Sure woke me up, though, watching that crack form just above me.”
Would he encourage others to follow in his ski photographer’s tracks? “Only if you really love it! It’s not an easy way to make a living. But loving it makes rama noodles taste a bit better.”
