Grizzly Column II

Global freeskiing icon Tom Wallisch hand-plants a unique feature within the backcountry of Alta Utah.

This photograph took 140-hours of work to bring to life, including four nights of test shooting, and two long days building and shooting the feature late into the night with Tom and three assistants. The concept slowly came to me upon first shooting landscape imagery in this location in 2020. I returned in December of 2022, shooting landscape imagery once again, yet at night utilizing an aerial light painting technique. During that experience, the final idea came to mind, a hand-plant column in the most picturesque location, looking down the barrel of Little Cottonwood Canyon with Mount Superior towering above. Light pollution from Salt Lake City would tint the sky orange, and attaching a wireless flash to a drone would allow me to illuminate the feature with dramatic lighting from directly above.

The first night shooting with Tom, he hit the feature 45 times in complete darkness, it was a testament to his work ethic and abilities as one of the best skiers in the world. I was able to switch up the lighting scenarios during the transition into night, first capturing an image utilizing the aerial lighting during twilight (blue hour), and second, illuminating the trees via work lights and the column via three wireless flashes, positioned behind the feature and on both sides.

Five days later, we ventured up to the location again with 80 lb packs, and rebuilt the feature to shoot again, honing in on different lighting and skier positioning. The Grizzly Column Project was unbelievably exhausting and overwhelming. I was pretty confident I could capture the concept I envisioned, but nothing was guaranteed. Tom was completely committed to my idea, and it took a phenomenal effort on both sides to accomplish.

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L 36" x W 2.5" x H 49.5"