Julia Kern visiting Innsbruck, Austria this January

Lumi Experiences is thrilled to support Olympian Julia Kern this winter as she makes her way around the World Cup circuit. We love Julia's enthusiasm for all things she does, and not just skiing. Did you know she snaps professional-quality photos with just a smartphone during her ski adventures around the world? Whether the forecast is calling for a bluebird day or white-out, check out her tips & tricks for capturing scenes from your next ski adventure.

If Julia’s photos inspire dreams of skiing in Europe, check out our winter ski vacations to many of the places where she races and photographs — Seefeld (Austria), Toblach (Italy), Les Rousses (France), Oslo (Norway) and Planica (Slovenia).

Julia’s family is from Germany, and although she grew up outside Boston, she developed a passion for skiing on the trails in Oberwiesenthal. These days, Seefeld, Austria is her training location of choice (it's even German speaking and Julia is fluent)!

A few shots she captured while skiing in Seefeld:

Keeping perspective in perspective on a ski with family

Exploring some of the classic-only trails in Seefeld, Austria

Lumi Experiences Founder Garrott Kuzzy lives in Innsbruck, Austria, a short train ride away from Seefeld and caught up with Julia between races during her recent “training camp”. Can you call it a training camp when the goal is getting rest and recovery from a grueling 7 days of racing? … that sounds more like a vacation.

We wanted to share a few of Julia’s ski travel photography tips for taking next-level photos of winter adventures with just a smartphone:

Brightness: What’s the weather like? Can you have the skier face the sun so they’re well lit? If the image is still looking a bit dark and you’re using an iPhone, tap your phone screen and a yellow box with a sun icon will appear. Tap and hold the sun icon while dragging your finger up or down to change the brightness of the image in real time.

Composition: To emphasize the subject you’re capturing and keep the shot from looking too symmetrical, shoot the photo with the subject in the left or right third of the image. This is called the Rule of Thirds. In your camera’s settings, you can even apply a grid layout for a real-time guide.

Movement: It can be hard to capture a skier in action. A simple trick is to take a burst of photos and select the best images after. On an iPhone, slide the capture button to the left and hold until you want your phone to stop taking photos. (On older iPhone models, tap and hold the capture button). On newer models, you can also shoot a “live” photo and in the editing mode, move the slider to select the frame you like.

Perspective: It can be fun to switch up the angle of your photos. Hold your phone near the ground and snap an image at an upward angle, or try holding your phone high above your head to take a photo of a subject skiing out in front of you (see image above).

Making patterns on the crust snow in Australia

Patterns: Ski trails can reveal some fun patterns: who doesn’t love photos of newly groomed tracks or fresh corduroy?

Editing: It’s easy to adjust photos on the go. On an iPhone, Julia likes to adjust the brilliance, highlights, shadows, and contrast of photos. If you’ve captured a snowy winter scene and it’s too bright and over-exposed, a quick trick is to try lowering the highlights and brightening the shadows.

We hope these tricks help you capture all the fun times on your ski adventures the rest of this season and beyond! A big thanks to Julia for sharing her insights with us.

If you want to travel to some of the places where Julia skis and photographs, check out our winter trips and reach out to see the itinerary: info@lumiexperiences.com. Save $300 per person when you sign up before March 31!

P.S. We met up with Julia at the World Championships in Planica, Slovenia too! Here are some highlights: