Thursday night was a bit of a dream come true for me. Five or so years ago, as an audience member at the yearly Pro Photographer Showdown, I realized one day I wanted to be part of the show, and try to win. The work of people like Sterling Lorence, Paul Morrison, and Blake Jorgenson inspired me to refine my craft and develop a creative vision.

Finally this year I decided to enter, and ended up being a finalist with a truly stacked competitive field. Ian Ruhter, Daniel Blom, Christian Pondella, and Scott Pommier all had amazing shows that inspired everyone in the room.

I was a nervous wreck, as I usually am at these events, despite it having been the 5th slideshow I’ve done in the past year. I sat on the floor in the back as my show played. To my surprise, the audience gave me a standing ovation (it may have been partial) after the show had faded to black – it was simply overwhelming. I suppose the judges agreed, and I was presented with the prize for the winning show ($10,000, no small sum!).

As I said up on stage, I owe a huge thanks to all my friends who are the subjects of my photographs and put up patiently with me.

Photo above: Just after they handed a cheque to me and my great friends Jamie and Andre blitzed the stage armed with champagne. Mike Crane photos.

Ski Press Live Pro Photographer Showdown from Jordan Manley on Vimeo.

Thanks to eganentertainment.com for the video

Here is some press found around on the interweb:

http://espn.go.com/action/snowboarding/blog?post=4098046

http://www.sbcskier.com/news?news_id=118&uniqid=132

http://www.skipressworld.com/ca/index.php/skipresslive-1/skipresslivetwssf2009ca/128-twssf-2009/58155-peter-kray.html

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20090429/WHISTLER04/304299783/1014/WHISTLER04/manley-wows-crowd-fellow-shooters

For the past week I have been working on my show, dialing in my Final Cut skills. After years of using the program, I feel like I have finally figured out what works for slideshows and what does not.