Pure Action Sports Collectors Edition 2009

 I was in WHSmiths trying to find a copy of “Dirt’s 100 products review magazine” last week  (which incidentally I couldn’t find anywhere). Not wanting to come home open handed, I had a quick scout around the surrounding shelf when I came across this publication.

The image on the front cover that had caught my eye was a behind the bars shot of Dirt magazines Steve Jones's Orange. This got me intrigued and I broke it open expecting a new MTB magazine that I hadn’t heard of… albeit a pricey one at five pence under a tenner!

Much to my surprise this Collectors Edition was actually a collaboration of the most impressive magazine images from the Factory Media range of Action Sports Magazines. Their range includes Mountain Biking’s “Dirt”, Skate Boarding’s “Document”, Snow Boarding’s “Whitelines” and Surfing’s “The Surfer’s Path” to name just a few.

Inside this collectors edition are some incredible images, with just few simple words as in introduction and some details on each image.  The book is split onto five different sporting sections, BMX, MTB, Surf, Snow Board and skating and within each section are some seriously impressive images.

Some of the image choices do seem a little dubious and it makes you wander if the people or photographers for some of the shots are perhaps friends with the editors, as a couple don’t really have the quality that a photo should have in such a “best of” magazine, one example being a BMX shot with the riders face covered by leaves. I personally wouldn’t have included it in such a publication.

I was also slightly disappointed on some of the MTB images, albeit maybe just because of the lack in the number of downhill pictures but I have definitely seen some better photos across Dirt magazine this year than have been included here.  Some images from Moto magazine would have been nice to see as well in amongst all the boards and bikes.

Don’t get me wrong though although I am being critical of some of the images the rest of them more than make up for the slightly odd choices I have mentioned.

 As I flicked through, I was amazed at some of the shots that I saw. One of my favourites (a surf action shot) would look superb even if you where to remove the surfer, the fact he is there riding such a huge wave in such perfect scenery is just the icing on the cake for me, and thinking about it in my opinion that is what makes the difference between a good photo and an outstanding one!

Pure Action Sports Collectors Edition 2009 is a capturing read and really opens your eyes to what different people are doing out there in different extreme sports. At this time of year it would make a great Christmas Gift or stocking filler and is a really neat 127 pages to keep lying around on the coffee table.

 SDH