Cumberland photographer Sara Kempner credits patience, the right equipment and a little bit of luck for her award-winning photo of two mountain bikers caught in mid-air.
The photo, called "Seeing Double" was taken during the Speed and Style competition at Crankworx Whistler. In Speed and Style, athletes race side by side on tracks, competing for both style points and racing to the finish. Crankworx Whistler is a multi-discipline mountain bike event that is part of the Crankworx World Tour, one of the world's top mountain biking series. It was also recently won in the Outdoor Adventure category in Canadian Geographic's annual Canadian Photos of the Year contest.
"For this photo, I used a telephoto lens and stood back a ways from the race course," Kempner said. "Using a telephoto lens created compression in the image and makes the racers look closer together than they actually are. I also had to be patient and have a little bit of luck on my side as I waited through quite a few race heats to have two riders hit the jumps at the exact same time. The end result was an image that I found to be unique, which is always the goal, especially when covering live events!"
Kempner started looking through the viewfinder about 10 years ago. She would go on walks with her dog, practicing her landscape photography at the same time.
"I fell in love with the process of looking for light and compositions," she said.
As an avid mountain biker and snowboarder, it wasn't long before she started using those sports as inspiration.
"Living in Cumberland, there is a huge mountain biking scene and I started practicing at local races. I was immediately drawn to event photography because there is always a great community atmosphere, and people are stoked to get action photos of themselves doing the things they love," she said. "Now, I spend a lot of my year travelling around B.C. photographing sports events, with an emphasis in the bike industry. As a full time freelance photographer, I also still pursue my landscape, travel and wildlife photography and work commercial assignments as well."
Kempner says winning this contest was "an honour" and that "Last year I was runner-up in the same category, so being awarded first place this year was exciting, and a little unexpected! Being published in Canadian Geographic is a real privilege; in today's digital world, it always feel special to see images in print."
For more of Kempner's photos, visit sarakempnerphotography.ca. Kempner is also available on Instagram at @sarakempner.
