If you’ve ever tried to take a photo in the snow, you’ll know it can get pretty complicated. Freezing fingers, dropped gloves, the possibility that your phone might run out of battery at any second… And the end result often isn’t quite picture-frame calibre. Enter Freeze-Frame, a mountain photography company created by Morzine resident Josh Nisbet. Freeze-Frame provides a private, personalised photography service that turns your holiday moments into beautifully-shot photographs. Ones that you’ll actually want to put on the wall! We caught up with Josh to find out how it all works.
Hi Josh. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to live in Morzine?
I did my first season in Morzine back in 2005 / 6 which then led to a few more. After seasonal life I decided to get a ‘proper job’ in the UK and worked as a global account manager for Muc-Off, a leading bicycle maintenance brand. I loved that job but the call of the mountain life was way too strong for me to settle in the UK for good. I decided to buy a van and convert it to a camper van, something I had never imagined I could do by myself. However, with the help if YouTube it was ready in no time and I headed off to the Alps with my dog and fiancée. We have now been living here full time for nearly two years
And how did you come up with the idea for Freeze-Frame?
My two passions in life are snowboarding and more recently, photography. I wanted to combine the two somehow into a business idea. After all the snowboarding holidays and seasons I have done in the past, I really don’t have any photos to show for it and that’s because we were all too busy having fun riding. I thought it would be brilliant if you could just hire a photographer for the day and the more I looked in to it the more I saw an opportunity.
What’s the difference between a professional photo taken in the mountains over, say, phone pictures or GoPro footage?
Unfortunately, the camera phone has devalued the whole experience of taking a photo and sharing it with your family and friends. It is sad to say that there even may be a generation of photos lost due to the digital age. It’s far too easy to take bad photos that will potentially never be looked at again and a lot of snowy photos are either blurry, or people’s heads get cut out etc. With professional photos, the quality is that much better, people tend to value them more and want to have a hard copy which is far more sentimental and nostalgic. Weddings are a great example. You wouldn’t take all of your wedding photos just from a collection on your friends’ camera phones! The same rule applies here. A winter holiday, for most of us, is a once-a-year trip with family or friends who you may not see all the time, so why not add value to the trip by taking home a souvenir that you can cherish for years to come.
How does the Freeze-Frame experience work?
First of all, you chose your destination and preferred date. We will then connect you with your local photographer who will start to plan your photoshoot with you. Once everything has been coordinated you’ll meet your photographer start the Freeze-Frame experience. You can choose from either two hours or five hours and they will capture the highlights of the day. Whether you’d like action shots on the piste or in the park, group photos with amazing mountain backdrops or a bit of après fun, your photographer will be there to capture the atmosphere of the day so you won’t have to think about getting your phone out or that dreaded selfie stick! Within 48 hours we’ll send you some sample images and within seven days you will have access to your online gallery, which is free to download and also allows you to order prints in a variety of sizes.
How do you and your photographers deal with bad weather days?
It really depends how bad the weather is. We have found that even on days where snow is falling you can create some amazing photos with a totally different mood than you could on a perfect sunny day. If the group decide that the weather just isn’t for them we will try and re-schedule as best we can. And for the photographers, we try and make sure they are up to date with weather-proof equipment so they can continue to shoot whatever the weather.
What’s your favourite activity to shoot?
Mine personally is snowboarding followed closely by mountain biking.
Do you have anything exciting planned for this winter that you want to tell us about?
We are relatively new in the game but we do have plans to spread across to some other major resorts this winter. The main goal of course is to have photographers covering the majority of the Alps in no time!
If you’d like to capture some special moments this winter, you can arrange a photo shoot and find out more about Freeze-Frame HERE.
