WHISTLER, BC, March 11, 2008 –



Action sports photographers from around the world bidding to be
included in this year's Pro Photographer Showdown set the bar so high
with their 3 minute submissions that they vaulted out of the stadium
and into a higher reality entirely, according to Multimedia Events
Manager for the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival, Lilli Clark.



"The quality of submissions was mind-blowing," said Clark. "Capturing
these moments of frozen time and conjuring stories with amazing
pictures is a really hard job and we offer our kudos to the action
sports photographers who are helping fuel the progression of these
sports and documenting an ever-changing world."



What might be pain for action sports photographers striving out in the
field is pure gain for the audience, with a spectacular line-up of
photographers chosen to present at the eleventh annual Pro
Photographer Showdown at the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival,
April 17 2008.



Hailing from Switzerland, Norway, Whistler, and Vancouver, the five
selected photographers, announced today, will be transported to
Whistler for a gala presentation where they will show self-curated 9
minute multimedia presentations of the best work of their careers.



The photographer judged Best in Show by a panel of the leading
creative minds in the industry (including renowned photographers Paul
Morrison, Eric Berger (Best of Show 1998), Aaron Chang (Best of Show
1999) and prolific writer and editor Leslie Anthony) will take home
the $10,000 prize purse, with the other four finalists being awarded
$1500 each.



Tickets for the gala event, which draws a 2000 strong sell-out crowd,
are $20 and available online at the Festival e-store at
www.whistler2008.com.



The five finalists are:



Dan Carr (Whistler, BC)– Born in the UK in 1981, Carr took a gap year
in Whistler after high-school which planted the seed of a mountain
obsession. While his passion for mountain life took a backseat while
he finished his degree, it wasn't long before Carr returned to the
mountains to start shooting his friends in action. He has since
turned avocation into vocation, with his work being published in ski
and snowboard magazines around the world, including The Ski Journal
(US), Fall-line Skiing (UK), Document Snowboarding (UK), WE Ski (FR),
SBC Skier (Canada), New Zealand Skier (NZ), Bravoski (Japan). He's
also contributed a series on ski photography to UK's Dark Summer
magazine. (www.danncarrphotography.com)



Blake Jorgenson (Whistler, BC)- Based out of Whistler for almost 14
years after he made the pilgrimage west from his Hamilton hometown, 32
year old Blake Jorgenson works and lives as a professional outdoor
adventurer and mountain sport photographer. As senior photographer for
Powder and Skier magazines and contributing photographer to more than
50 international publications, Jorgenson has also amassed commercial
clients like United Airlines, Helly Hansen, Adidas, Oakley and
Salomon. In 2001, Jorgenson became the only entrant in the history of
the TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival to win the wildcard Pro
Photographer Search, and then take Best in Show at the Pro
Photographer Showdown. In 2002, he won best of show at the South
American Photo Challenge in Portillo, Chile, and in 2003, he was
awarded Photo of the Year from Powder Magazine.
(www.blakejorgenson.com)



Kari Medig (Vancouver, BC) - Originally from the East Kootenays,
photographer Kari Medig currently lives in Vancouver and divides his
time between shooting for magazines, traveling and backcountry skiing.
Whether capturing fresh powder summits in Canada, tea-sipping Peruvian
elders, or suburban Elvis impersonators, Medig continues to explore
the world with fresh eyes, a legacy of remote backcountry trips in
northern Canada as a kid. His work has appeared in various outdoor and
news publications including Climbing, Gripped, Kootenay Mountain
Culture, Backcountry, SBC Skier, the Westender and the Star. His work
was showcased to much acclaim at the 2007 Kootenay Dirtbag Film and
Photo Fest, and he received a Special Mention at the 2007 Banff
Mountain Photography Competition. (www.karimedigphoto.com)

Jancsi Hadik (Verbier, Switzerland) – A Swiss/American freelance
photographer based out of Verbier, Hadik got his start working as
staff photographer on the first Verbier Xtreme comp in 1996. Having
subseqently shot for O'Neill, Swatch, Atomic, Red Bull and Nissan,
Hadik has also worked with Warren Miller and as staff photographer for
Nissan Outdoorgames, O'Neill Xtreme and Red Bull Hike and Ride, and
remains a prolific documenter of the most extreme and remote places on
the planet and the incredible athletes drawn there.(www.stillshots.ch)

Frode Sandbech (Norway) - After trading his electric guitar for an
old Pentax camera in 1994, Frode Sandbech began shooting and in 2001
sold his first photo. His first international breakthrough came just
three years later when he landed the cover of Transworld Snowboarding
Photo Annual. 10 years of documenting the snowboarding scene has meant
Sandbech has worked with magazines and clients like Transworld,
Snowboard, Pleasure, Onboard, Methodmag, Oakley, Whiteout, K2, Burton,
Helly Hansen and the Oakley Arctic Challenge, while continuing to
explore ways to evolve and shoot unpredictable images.
(www.frodesandbech.com)