Here is a slideshow of the first few days in Are, Sweden at the Scandinavian Photo Challenge presented by Nikon.

Seb Kemp finds himself in Are Sweden (not ‘finds himself’ as in the spiritual sense, maybe he will, but ‘finds himself’ as in the Scandinavian Airlines sense) here is his first report from the photo challenge event.

The teams – consisting of one photographer and four world class riders – each gets three days to shoot, followed by two days of editing a slideshow that will presented during a huge party Friday, July 8, at the Holiday Club Arena, and judged by a jury of media professionals.

To further spice things up the teams this year have to look outside the bike park to include all mountain and cross country riding in their slideshows, to complement the freeride imagery.

The 2011 roster is made up by five highly talented bike photographers from all over the world. Each with a different style and approach to bike photography.

Markus Greber, Germany – www.markusgreber.com
Camilla Stoddart, UK/New Zealand – www.camillastoddartphotography.com
Kristoffer Kippernes, Norway – www.kippernesfoto.no
Grant Robinson, Canada/UK – www.grantrobinson.com
Mattias Fredriksson, Sweden – www.mattiasfredriksson.com

Riders highlights include Darcy Turenne, Linus Sjöholm, John
Alm Högman, Rob Jauch, Richard Cunynghame, Hannah Barnes,

Henrik Kippernes to name but a few.

As head judge my duties include riding my bike as and when I want, drinking coffee, eating cake and occasionally seeing how the teams are getting on. I have been following the teams around trying to get some behind the scenes story and just observe how they work but it has been hard finding them in the fog. Today I caught up with Markus Gerber’s team and nosed around their set up. I bumped into various riders/shooter throughout the day and everyone is looking tired but up beat from non-stop shooting. Usually these things are from sun up till sun down but as the sun doesn’t go down here in Are at this time of the year it means they are running non-stop. It’s a marathon for the whole team and they are only half way there. I did see Grant’s team last night too. Grant has got his team making him dinner and feeding him chocolate milk at all hours.

If you happen to be in Are, Sweden this week then make sure you come along to the big showing on friday night. 830 at the Holiday Club in town. Big show, big lights, big screens, big booze up afterwards. Also, the riding here is fantastic. See you in the Hyddan for the best cake ever…
Seb Kemp