Erik Seo - Professional Ski Photographer

Lets get started with the basics, your name, age, and location?

Erik Seo, 33, Salt Lake City, Utah

What kind of gear are you rocking these days?

Nikon Cameras, lenses, speedlights, Elinchrom and Alien Beees lighting, F-Stop camera bags and Taylor Made R7 Driver/3 Wood, Wilson Staff Irons, Tommy Armour wedges.

What got you started shooting? How many years has it been now?

I always had some interest in photography since grade school, I thought cameras were cool. I got my first camera in college, which was 12 years ago. I've been shooting full-time for 8 years now.

When you first started out, did you ever envision your photos being on the cover of movies and magazines?

No way man, I sucked then. It was just something fun to do when I started.

What have been some memorable moments over the past couple years?

Watching your friends do some of the stupidest things you can imagine and coming away from them without a scratch. Shooting action sports is mostly about getting photos of these athletes pushing the sport to a higher level. Unfortunately with that comes some carnage. I've seen far too much of that in the past. I've seen some crashes where people should have died, I've been trying to avoid those situations and I have definately turned down some potential shoots as they just sounded like death traps. As far as the most memorable, so far it was probably Henrik Harlaut at Mammoth Mountain, California doing the most perfect switch double corked 1260 you could imagine. Not that you get to see something like that very often, but it was the most perfect double flip or double corked jump I've ever seen. That being said, I'm sure I will see something that will top that next year.

You recently got your first US Cover, the Powder magazine one, how did that come about? Did you have any idea you were getting it?

That shot came on the second day of that shoot, near the end. It was one of those that I thought wasn't going to work out with all the Pocket Wizard malfunctions I was having at the time. In the end though, one shot is all you need and it finally happened near the end of the shoot. As far as knowing about the cover, I had found out about a month prior to it hitting the newsstands. I had been taunted a bit by the photo editor about it possibly happening, eventually I got tired of being taunted and fortunately I was told I was getting the cover. Then of course after that, being told I can't really say anything before it hits...well that part sucks!

How did you get so damn good at using strobes and gels?

Trial by fire and reading a lot of studio lighting books / tutorials. I hadn't touched a flash until I went digital with my first DSLR, a Canon D60, back when the cutting edge was 6mp. I'm glad I didn't start using strobes till I went digital beceause the learning curve would have been terrible. Not having instant feedback of an LCD screen on the camera would have probably made it take five times longer to get where I'm at now.

If there was one thing about the professional photography industry that you could change, what would it be?

Not having to run my own business. I'm a photographer, not a buisiness man, marketing expert, search engine optimization expert, web designer, production manager or an agent.

So how do you handle running your own business, are you spending a lot of time in front of the computer? What's an average season like for you shooting wise vs business wise?

I've spent a lot more time these days behind a computer than I'd like however I think that's changing a bit for me as my workflow with Lightroom has become more efficient. I've also made myself edit more while shooting and trying to stay caught up as often as possible so I'm not editing my whole season in the Spring like I used to. I've been considering finally bringing someone else in to help me out on the business end so I can focus more time on shooting and a bit more on marketing.

I'll typically spend a good portion of the Summer running the business with most of my Winter dedicated to shooting photos. Summer is mostly dedicated to the business side, selling the stock I shot in the Winter, photo submissions out to all the editorial outlets around the world, taking time off, a few personal projects and shooting a few weddings here and there. I try to spend as little time dealing with the business side of things during the Winter as it's usually hectic enough as it is following the snow around North America shooting photos.

Does most of your work come from marketing yourself? Or word of mouth? A bit of both?

I wish I knew. I'd guess most of it is coming from word of mouth and the editorial coverage I've gotten but I really don't have a way to gauge that aside from my wedding work. I know all of that has been word of mouth at this point.

I have spent a fair amount of time promoting myself through social networking this Summer. I'm not sure if it's doing more than boosting my street credit within the photography scene, but if anything it's an easy way to keep most of my friends and family in the loop as to what's going on with me these days.

Are you looking at moving into the commercial side more?

Not really. I have more stock commercial sales than I used to and have done a few more commercial shoots per year, however I still plan on doing my thing. Which is going out and shooting with my crews and seeing what I get at the end of the year. I'm doing more assignment work, but I have the most fun working on my own. Sure I'd love to make more money while working less, but that doesn't exactly just come along very easily. If it happens I'd be pretty stoked, if it doesn't I'll keep plugging away the way I'm going now.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I don't really know. I'd like to think I'll still be shooting skiing full time because it's fun, but it's not exactly the most lucrative so I'll likely have my hands in other areas that make a bit more money. That being said, 5 years is a long way out so who knows. Depends on how my body holds up too of course. I still have to get to the same areas and I'm only getting older.

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Check out more of Eriks work on his website: http://www.erikseo.com/