The Flickr Skiphotographer Image Generatr

A literal "send" off for the 2024-25 ski season. This is from closing day, April 20th, 2025. Closing day is always a huge party with the kind of celebrating you'll only find at a ski area that's home to some of the best skiers in the world.

Closing weekend of my tenth year as a staff photographer at Alta Ski Area has arrived. I took this photo on closing day last spring. The end of ski season is always bitter-sweet. I'm more than ready to move on to other activities but I love skiing and I love spending my time all my ski friends at Alta. Thanks to everyone who's looked at and enjoyed my ski photos over the years.

Had another best day ever yesterday. Alta got about two-and-a-half-feet of snow in just over 24 hours and we woke up to clear skies. The snow was was so good - it was an absolute dream of a powder day!

I'm an action photographer with a landscape photography background. In the winter, I spend a lot of time lining things up - foregrounds and backgrounds, weather, athletes, etc. This photo is something I saw a couple of months ago and started watching for conditions to line up. I'm grateful people appreciate what I do and I get to follow my obsessions.

An Alta ski patroller leaves a trail of cold smoke after doing avalanche control in Alta's Devil's Castle zone.

This photo appeared in Flickr Explore on January 12th, 2025. See more of my skiing photos in my Ski & Snow Photos album.

I'm having trouble coming up with new titles for powder photos. This was last Saturday. It was the scariest drive up the canyon I've ever had, temps were in the single digits and the skiing was awesome. You gotta pay to play.

Winter really kicked into gear last week in Utah. On Saturday, we got 20 inches of really light snow in less than 12 hours. When I made this photo it was snowing four to five inches per hour. It was so deep and light that it was hard to ski - especially after mostly heavy, dense snow storms. It's been a while since I had to time my breathing to avoid choking on snow. Next round comes in tonight...

New Year's Eve fireworks and torchlight parade at Alta Ski Area in Utah. This is a four image, layered composite. Order prints here: photojohn.zenfolio.com/p435395700

I sure could use a day like this, right now. We've had a pretty dry start to the ski season and I would love a legit powder day. This was last winter, on what was probably the best lap of the season for me. It was so deep!

This photo appeared in Flickr Explore on December 12th, 2024.

My ninth season as an Alta marketing photographer is complete. The closing day party was amazing, as always. I can't believe how lucky I am to get to do what I do.

This photo appeared in Flickr Explore on April 23rd, 2024. To see more photos like this, check out my Ski & Snow Photos album.

Technically it might be spring but you wouldn't know that from conditions in the Utah mountains right now. We had just under two feet of snow at Alta on Sunday and it hasn't quit yet, this week. This is pro skier Julian Carr at Alta on Sunday. The storm overproduced, and we had faceshots all day long.

A rare self-portrait. This is me and my wife (she's the one without a beard) last Sunday, an excellent powder day at Alta. We work hard so we can play hard.

I fought with the composition on this one for a few days. I really wish the turn had happened a little later and closer to the center of the peak. But this was an (sort of) unplanned photo and it's lucky I got it at all. I was set up for photos of skiers in the sunlit snow closer to me and that skier came in hot and unexpected, blowing up that plume of powder in the sunlight. I really love it and now I have to figure out how to get a better one. Such is my burden as a ski photographer 😄

This photo appeared in Flickr Explore on February 16th, 2024.

It's turning out to be a very good winter in the Wasatch. I took this photo yesterday in the gray area between Alta and Snowbird. It was stormy and deep - a legit Utah powder day. Fingers crossed for some bluebird rope drops this weekend.

Last Sunday was my best day this winter. We had clear blue skies and temps in the single digits - coldsmoke powder skiing conditions. I got through a gate before the public and got this fantastic photo of two buddies skiing almost two feet of untouched powder just after the resort opened. Not only did I get some great photos, it was the best snow I've skied this winter.

Manifesting for tomorrow. It snowed all day in the mountains and it's supposed to keep snowing until Sunday. Tomorrow should be good.

Alta is closed today due to off-the-charts avalanche danger so here's a fun powder photo from yesterday.

After a two week dry spell, powder is back! We even got a bluebird powder day last weekend. The forecast is looking fat, too - 4 feet of snow through the end of this week and another two feet, next week. Bring it on!


This photo appeared in Flickr Explore on January 9th, 2024.

If you're also a powder photographer, please join my Flickr Powder Porn Group. Lately, I'm the only person posting there and I'd really love to see more people sharing their pow photos.

Every once in a while everything comes together for a perfect photo. I'm a marketing photographer at Alta Ski Area and saw the potential for this location last winter but didn't think I'd ever get the right conditions. During ski season this slope is almost always covered with big moguls. Last week, Alta's Supreme lift, which accesses this area hadn't yet opened for the season. On Friday, the day they were hoping to open it, there was a huge storm so they kept it closed for avalanche safety. I double-checked the forecast and confirmed Saturday was supposed to be sunny; then I called my boss, Alta's marketing director, to set up the photo. I tried not to get my hopes up becuse there were so many variables out of my control - timing, avalanche control, other skiers, etc. My boss was less than encouraging. But I was a pest. If you don't ask, you get nothing. I stayed hopeful, schemed and made sure I'd be ready if everything lined up. In the morning I harassed my boss some more, he checked in with ski patrol and we found out Supreme would be opening on time. We got dressed, headed out and started working our way over to Supreme. We got on the lift about 15 minutes before the resort opened to the public. As we came over a rise near the top of the lift I saw the slope was untouched and started freaking out. Everything was perfect! We got off the lift, I skied down the rope line and started setting up the photo. My boss grabbed some employees who were on their way to their mid-mountain restaurant jobs and they skied the line for me. It was nearly perfect and about one minute after I made this photo, the slope had skiers all over it and was completely tracked up. That's my boss in the red jacket. He's happy I was a pain in the ass about making this happen. In my experience, a plan is usually just a way to get things started. However, sometimes all the pieces fall into place and you get to fulfill a vision. Now, I have to figure out a way to make an even better ski photo at this location :-)

Note: there was a ski patrol track on the right edge of the photo that I cloned out. I almost never remove things from photos but this one was so close to perfect I decide to take the liberty of cleaning it up a little bit.

We just finished up a 4-foot storm at Alta. I started working last Friday and had my first powder day on Saturday. There was about a foot of fresh blower powder when we opened and this was the first ski photo frame of my first powder day of the season. It was a great day and a hell of a way to start.

If you're a powder photographer or a fan of powder skiing/boarding, check out my Powder Porn group.