When I first began photographing New England Masters Ski Racing, I had no idea what an incredible community it was. My daughter was searching for competition after her high school and childhood racing career came to an end. NEMS filled that void.
As I met her peers and the people in charge, I was able to expand my photography from just my daughter to all of you. It has been a wonderful experience most of the time… weather has definitely become my Achilles Heel.
The first race I ever posted was from Suicide Six in 2019. I’m so glad I purchased glasses with the logo. Yes I know it’s not PC, but it was a really cool logo. It was also the first time I ever saw over 90-year-old racers come down a course, looking as happy as children. The experience made me want to document Masters even more.
In the years since, we went through the indignity of prepping for races in parking lots because of COVID, and then the slow recovery afterwards. This year culminated with the 2025 A Racer’s Edge Masters National Championship at Gore Mountain, NY, four days of high-intensity racing that I was proud to be a part of.
This has been a great part of my life.
So I led this post with the image I liked the best from all others this season to start this story. I’ve never seen anyone wrap themselves in the panel as Justin Lorino accomplished while barrelling through a gate in GS at West Mountain. The image that came in a super close second is Matt Dodge heading straight through a slalom gate on edge and extension at Wachusett Mountain. Having Matt tell me that he told his wife, “I will never have a better slalom picture than this” was exhilarating to hear.
2025 Best Images
These are the ten images I picked out of the nearly 10,000 images I shot over the season. Digital is a godsend and a nightmare. Yes, the athletes love for me to shoot their transitions into gates, and without the limitation of film, it is now an easy thing to do — until you have to edit them all. This is when I credit my years with the wire services for teaching me to be fast and efficient with my images.
All of my Masters Races are in Galleries from the date of the race on SBI.SMUGMUG.COM, my site for displaying and selling my work.
You can learn more about my photographic career by just browsing through some of my galleries. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to capture images from sports to tragedy, and nearly everything in between. My Satan in the Smoke photograph still haunts me.
Hopefully, I will see you on the slopes next year. This year was a challenge. Here’s to good snow!
