The most versatile sidekick
for snowboarding photos

I am an outdoor photographer from the south of Germany. I work a lot with clients in the outdoor industry, photographing landscapes and sports and lifestyle. For me it's all about the experience in and with nature. When I'm out shooting, it's important to me that I don't have to think about my gear all the time and can fully rely on it. The more versatile the lens I use, the better it is. Because often you can't predict exactly what focal length you'll need and there's not always time to change the lens.

Especially when it comes to winter sports, this becomes even more important. Because in winter it becomes much harder to change your own position quickly. So it's good to have a lens at hand that can cover a very wide range of focal lengths. In my case, it was the new SIGMA 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports, which was developed specifically for mirrorless cameras. And you notice it right away. Thanks to the compact design,you don't have the feeling of having a 600mm Lens in your camera bag. It's just amazing!I'm an absolute fan of telephoto lenses anyway.

* The images without photograph data have been created with lenses other
than SIGMA 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports

Our plan for the day was to take the first gondola up to the Stubai Glacier and take snowboard action shots. That meant getting up early in the morning. Even if the excitement is great, this is sometimes the hardest part. But when you see the first rays of sun on the white mountain peaks, all tiredness is forgotten. At least that's how I always feel. Arriving in Stubai, I was surprised how little snow there is, although it had snowed the weekend before. Apparently before the last snowfall everything was still almost green. Even at an altitude of over 3000m, there was maybe just 1.5m of snow. That would definitely make our spot search more difficult. But, you have to work with what you have got.

I was also on the board myself and had the camera equipment on my back. Some people might think, why bother to be so packed on the glacier, when you can just go snowboarding. But for me, there's nothing better than going out with an idea in mind and coming back with images. Especially in a landscape like this. With all the high mountains, I could never just leave the camera at home. For me, the mountains will never get boring as a subject. With focal lengths ranging from 60 to 600 mm, I was sure I could get a nice variation of images.

Gabor and Laurenz were with me as riders and photo subjects. Both have a lot of experience snowboarding and also know the area on the glacier very well. It makes a lot of difference when you work with people who really know what they are doing and can judge conditions. It's a constant balance of what I have in mind as a photographer and what they think is doable. On top of that it helps if the athletes also have experience in working with photographers and can tell which spots are most likely to look good on camera. This just means you have multiple eyes looking for spots and angles and you can bounce ideas back and forth. But keep in mind, the main thing is to have a good time and not force anything for a photo. Trust the athlete's opinion and work out something together that everyone is happy with.

For most of the spots we found, there was no lift to take you back to the top. You just had to hike back up yourself. You can probably imagine that at 3000m, with full gear and a snowboard, this quickly becomes exhausting. So it's not good news for the riders if you have to do everything twice just because, for example, the picture wasn't sharp. Fortunately, SIGMA's new 60-600mm has a super good and reliable autofocus. Even when panning along with a lot of flying snow, it was no problem to get sharp pictures. The IOS stabilization additionally ensures that this all works out blur-free.

I didn't even have to use a tripod for the entire shoot. Personally, that makes me very happy, since I'm not the biggest fan of tripods. Sure, sometimes you can't get around it, but I just prefer shooting handheld. The dual action zoom was also very helpful. It's so much faster than using the zoom ring. Especially when it's not possible to repeat the same situation an unlimited number of times, it's really great to be able to vary quickly between the individual focal lengths with just a push or pull movement. Laurenz and Gabor appreciated the fact that they didn't have to hike up the slope that often for retakes.

When you're out and about in the snow, it's not unusual for the lens to get a bit of a beating. This is not a problem with the SIGMA 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports, because it is dirt and water sealed. For me, this is exactly what I need. It's important to me that I can concentrate on getting the shots I want. I don't want to think about whether my equipment will hold up if I simply lie down in the snow, for example. Especially as an outdoor photographer, it can always happen that the weather is not on your side. In my opinion you usually get the best images when it's not a bluebird day anyway. The images are just more interesting when there are clouds and the sky looks more dramatic.

All in all, I can say that it's a really great lens. It's really compact and light for its range of focal lengths. Even for other shoots in the mountain, it's absolutely doable. I mean, even if you have to hike with your equipment, for example. Plus, you don't have to make any sacrifices in terms of quality. The 60 to 600mm range is very versatile. It is really fun to capture all the different situations with it. No matter if action, landscape, or lifestyle. With this lens, you don't have to worry about anything-just head out and have some fun.

If you are looking to shoot some snowboarding as well, I can recommend you to not just pop out your tripod and sit there waiting for something to happen. You can of course use a tripod to be more stable, but before you even take a photo just grab your camera and walk around. Hike up and down, lie on the ground or stand up. Look for angles where you can isolate your subject, that's the important part. It gives you a way better image. The mountains are, of course, a great background, but they are also very busy to the eye when you try to focus on a snowboarder flying through the air. So the cleaner your images get, the better. A telephoto lens also helps you with that, since you can't fit everything in your frame. One final tip I can give you is to not be shy when it comes to asking questions. Talk to your athletes if possible. The more you know about what's going to happen when it's game on, the better. This can even be such a simple thing like the stance of your talent on his/her snowboard. Meaning if the right or the left foot is in front. I know, it sounds simple, but if you don't pay attention to this small detail you can have a perfectly framed shot only to realize you can only see the riders back for example. So as I mentioned before, talk to your athletes, ask them what they want to try, and work out a plan together. Oh and bring walkie-talkies if you can. It is so much easier if you can just talk to each other from a distance.