Skiing on Baffin Island

…And you really have to be in order to undertake something like this. When most of your time and energy is devoted to ‘not dieing’ it’s a hell of an achievement to put together something of this scope and quality. Just watching those guys hike up those snowed-over ‘couloirs’ makes my thighs hurt like it’s voodoo.

Although the geography of the island is astounding I know from experience that shooting in places like is very difficult. There’s few features to bring into the scenes, there’s little variation in the light through most of the day and most of the time it’s impossible to convey the scale of the place you’re in. Every time you look through the lens you see something far less spectacular than what you see you pull away.

Manley has  clearly done a lot of legwork in order to put his subjects infront of these vistas for scale.  He’s combined wonderful wide angle shots in the rocks and long-lens work on the flat to really make you feel like you’re there because as well as getting across the grandeur of the place the photography also seems to get across how being there makes you feel. It’s a real change of pace from the usual extreme sports montages.

More of Manley’s work on his personal portfolio site here.