Winter Wonderland

“For a great skiing shot,” muses alpine sports pro Francis Bompard, “a lot of things need to come together. You need the right landscape elements, great light, often from behind the subject, and of course, you need a perfect skier, too. Sometimes it’s complicated to get the right mix, but together those elements create the story that I want. And a big part of it can also be luck!”

Francis’ latest project was covering the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill in the Italian Dolomites, and by December 2021, he’d accrued a lifetime of experience on the slopes, not only recording these elite sportspeople, but also as a skier himself.

“I really don’t think I could do this job without the hours I’ve spent as a skier,” he smiles. “Before I started working full time as a photographer, I was a Ski instructor. If you're a good skier, you can reach the best spots on the course, and that’s not easy because the slopes are so icy. When shooting free skiing, it’s in deep snow, so similar, but different. Either way you need to be in shape!”

Once in position, with crampons gripping the ice, Francis is immediately thinking about composition. “Generally,” he explains, “I try to give some air to my subjects, setting up to shoot them jumping, or framing them as close as possible for the maximum impact. It’s important to figure out how the skier is going to enter the frame and be ready for them.”

From there, Francis likes to mix up his shooting technique. “I use very fast shutter speeds like 1/4000sec when the skier is coming right at me, but if they’re moving to my side, I drop the speed right down to 1/60sec or even 1/20sec, so I can get their energy into a panning shot,” he says. “For exposure, I use Manual and pick Auto ISO, setting the range between 100 and 3200, then I just use the exposure compensation to respond very quickly to any changes in the light. With this method I can always get the speed and aperture that I need for the look I want.”

One of the prevailing problems of shooting in snow is how reflective it is. Bright subjects make cameras think they need to make the picture darker, but then you end up with grey, not white slopes. For Francis, moving to a mirrorless system has been a revelation in that regard. “Technically, with hybrid cameras,” he explains, “exposure is no longer a problem, because you see exactly the result before you take the picture. It’s something a DSLR simply can’t do in a professional environment.”

It all comes together in shots like this one from the Alpine Skiing World Championships Cortina D’Ampezzo 2021, Italy. “Here,” explains Francis, “Switzerland’s Lara Gut is speeding to the gold medal in the ladies downhill event. The shade of the trees was streaking the downhill slope in this beautiful zebra pattern and I caught her in a spot of light as she plunged through it.”

Elsewhere, it’s all about speed. “My Sony Alpha 1 and Alpha 9 combine a high speed shutter, a faultless EVF with absolutely no black out, and the most incredibly fast AF I’ve ever used,” Francis says.

“These are the tools you need for a perfect action shot and the IBIS also improves my panning images. These cameras’ EVFs make following the subject so much easier and nowhere is that more important than with panning, where the slower shutter speed can mean a real lag on other cameras.”

“The electronic shutter is also something I use all the time,” he continues, “not only because it allows faster shutter speeds than the mechanical one, but mainly because it gives me the maximum frame rate. So, shots like this one, from Beaver Creek’s FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, was picked out of a sequence of 84 pictures, thanks to the Alpha 1’s 30fps burst mode. All the shots were in focus, so I just had to choose the best pose!”

Recognising the speed and focusing power of his Alpha 1 and Alpha 9 bodies, Francis pairs them with Sony’s “big telephoto lenses like the FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS and FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS. It’s a combination that gives me the power to shoot wide open with the subject speeding towards me at full aperture,” he says, “and still get every shot razor sharp.”

“I’ve been shooting ski races since my first World Cup event in Val d'Isere, in Dec 1981,” Francis finishes, “and though that experience is a big factor in the shots I get, I think you have to be open to new things, too. Sony’s cameras have given me the opportunity to push my limits creatively and as soon I assimilated their new technologies, it opened up new creative paths for me. After that, it's just up to me to try…”