photos by Kevin Klingbeil

On any evening above -20 Celsius, as often as three times a week you might find photographer Kevin Klingbeil out shooting some serious tricks. The photos shown here are portraits and action shots Klingbeil shot this past winter of three of Yellowknife’s most talented dudes.

But how do you get into this sort of thing in Yellowknife? “You’ve got to have a good passion for it because you have to go out and build the jumps yourself,” says Klingbeil, who also participates in the sports. “No one’s really going to do that for you. You have to want it.”

And his passion appears to be paying off. In April, Klingbeil’s shooting for Sled Porn – a Yukon-based extreme snowmobile media production company.

Also a talented landscape photographer, Klingbeil snagged the cover of the annual Yellowknife Community Foundation calendar. But if he had to choose, Klingbeil would love to earn a living shooting action sports. “I enjoy the adventure of going out with landscape shots, but with the snowboard shots, I enjoy getting these guys stoked,” he says. “Showing them the shot, they just get super amped.”

David England

Freestyle Snowmobiling

Age: 20Years Riding: 5Hometown: YellowknifeHeroes: Jeremy Lusk, Ross MercerFavourite Trick: Rock Solid – arms out, body gliding parallel to the machine

Logan Andrews

Snowboarding

Age: 22Years Riding: 9Hometown: InuvikHeroes: Eero EttalaFavourite Trick: One-Footed Backflip – one foot out of the binding (see below)

Andrews doing a one-footed backflip.

Steven Oliver

Snowboarding

Age: 21Years Riding: 11Hometown: YellowknifeHeroes: Chris Bradshaw, JP WalkerFavourite Trick: Backside 720 – starting with the back foot, two full turns in the air