Same event, same time every year...different image

On Christmas Eve, Winter Park Resort holds its annual Torchlight Parade and Fireworks--a tradition that has been going on for years.  I believe that in the last 22 years that I have lived here, I have photographed at least 20 of them.  This year's had to be one of the coldest though--somewhere around 5°F plus a steady wind, which created bitter wind chill.  Fortunately I was able to park my car right next to where I was shooting and could hop in to warm up as needed.

Someone commented on my Facebook page that this is basically the same event every year, why not just use a file photo?  No way.  I am always trying to create a better and different image than I have before.  Things around the base of the resort change.  Just look at the ad the ski area used to promote its holiday events.  The background photo is one I shot more than 12 years ago.  None of the base village buildings have been built--it just doesn't look like that anymore.

I had always wanted to shoot this event from across US 40 above the Lakota subdivision, but there were too many trees in the way.  As a result of all of the beetle kill in the area, there are many views that have opened up thanks to the removal of the dead trees.  I couldn't have shot this angle five years ago.

This event happens in several stages.  First the torch-bearing skiers make their way down the Lower Hughes trail.  They are followed by the ski area's fleet of snow groomers.  And it finishes up with the fireworks display.

Back when I shot film, I would do multiple exposures on the same frame of film to capture these different pieces into one image.  That also meant one camera, one image.  So I would often shoot with three cameras to have more than one image and to increase my chances of success.  With digital I can shoot multiple individual frames of the various stages of the event and combine the ones I want to use later in Photoshop to create the final image, but I still use multiple cameras to have different framing of the scene.

This year I utilized two cameras, one shooting horizontal and one framed for a vertical.  I used Pocket Wizards on both cameras to trigger them and help eliminate any camera shake.  It also proved useful while I was sitting in my car trying to stay warm.

I take my first exposures shortly after the sun goes down, so I have a frame with detail in the sky and detail on the ski trails.  Once the skiers start down with the torches I took several frames that, when combined later, will create one long continuous streak of light down the trail.  I do basically the same thing with the fireworks, I shoot several frames during the display and later pick the best bursts to add to the final image.

One of the challenges of being a photographer is creating new and different images of what happens around us everyday or in this case, every year.  I heard it once described as "creating extraordinary images of the ordinary."  It is the challenge I am happy to take on every day.