Get ready to be blown away, and vote for who you think should win here.

Gary Perkin – The Ways of Man

Grant Robinson – Ride For Your Life

Ryan Worcester – The Illusion vs The Experience

Sam Needham – Life Is A Journey

Laurence Crossman-Emms

Tim Koerber

If you don’t know what the Deep Summer Photo Challenge is all about then here is the low down:

6 Photographers | 3 Days | 1 Epic Slide Show Event

Crankworx Whistler’s preeminent mountain bike photo contest, the Deep Summer Photo Challenge, is a crowd favourite every year, capturing the best of mountain bike culture in the Sea to Sky Corridor, from Squamish to Pemberton. Over the course of the challenge, six elite mountain bike photographers – five pros plus the winner of the Pinkbike Deep Summer Wildcard Photographer Search – will have three days to put together an epic slideshow. Slideshow presentations will then light up the night under the stars at Whistler Olympic Plaza and a massive crowd will experience deep summer in Whistler through six different lenses with two $3500 prizes on the line. One prize will be awarded by the judges and one by the audience and online voters.

“This year the emphasis has been on breaking the mould and making photographers push themselves to get under the veil and present the true story of Whistler. We’ve selected some truly expressive and artistic shooters to come to Whistler and interpret what a thousand people have done before them… The photographers will have to really think hard about how they express themselves and challenge their capabilities.” – Seb Kemp, Deep Summer organiser.

And who got the judges vote… read below:

SAM NEEDHAM WINS DEEP SUMMER PHOTO CHALLENGE
Slideshow focused on the Simple Joys of Whistler Life Takes Top Prize in the Crankworx Annual Photo Competition

WHISTLER, BC August 12, 2015 – The King of Deep Summer in Whistler is crowned for another year. Sam Needham’s slideshow was named the winner of the Deep Summer Photo Challenge Wednesday evening in front of a crowd of hundreds of whooping and hollering mountain bike and photography fans in Whistler Olympic Plaza.

“It feels incredible. I actually didn’t think I’d get that,” said Needham, who takes home $3500 for the win. “The competition was really tough.”

The photographer beat out five others, including Grant Robinson, Ryan Worcestor, Tim Koerber, Laurence Crossman-Emms, who won his entry through the Pinkbike Deep Summer Wildcard Photographer Search, and one of Needham’s photography heroes, Gary Perkins.

“The reason I got into all this was because of Gary,” he explained, referring to veteran shooter.

Needham’s slideshow, ‘Life is a Journey,’ was born out of the simple idea to capture the fun of Whistler.

“You don’t come here to have a crap time. You come here to ride bikes, party, chill – that was the vibe we were going for, and hopefully it came across.”

Judge Sven Martin said the decision was extremely difficult.

“There’s a couple things you look for as a photographer, a couple things you look for with the criteria of the contest, and there’s a couple types of shots, so we had to take all of that into consideration.”

Event organizer Seb Kemp said he thought it might have been the longest deliberation period ever seen at the event. In the end though, while it was a competition, the feeling backstage was more of a community of like-minded peers, excited to see what each other had produced.

“People got to see six very different takes on Whistler, on mountain biking, on photography,” said Kemp. “It’s really special to get to see these people all compete together in such a respectful environment.”

Three other distinctions were awarded for the best photo in three categories – Black Tusk, which went to Laurence Crossman Emms, and Garbanzo Tree Island Hip Jump and GLC Drop, both of which were won by Needham.

There is still one additional piece of the creative puzzle that has yet to be placed. For the first time in Deep Summer history, Crankworx will be awarding an additional $3500 prize to the Viewers’ Favourite slideshow, all of which have been posted on the Crankworx website. To vote for a favourite show, fans must place a vote at www.crankworx.com before 10 p.m. Thursday, August 14.