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Naked skier: Skier loses pants, photographer loses job?
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(AP Photo/Mike Groll)
When Marty Odom took his photo of the naked skier hanging upside down from a ski lift in Vail, his photography job was the last thing on his mind. He did what anyone would do. He grabbed his camera (his personal camera), snapped a few shots and sent them off to the Vail Daily. It's an amusing pic of a certainly dangerous situation that was resolved without incident (as far as I know), other than some embarassment and pride-bruising.
If it were you or I, the story would end there. We might win a contest or two, might even make a few bucks from the distribution of the photo, it might get featured in a few publications with a photo credit for us. But Odom works for Sharpshooters, a Colorado-based corporate chain that takes pictures of skiers and he's been suspended until further notice. His bosses cited the no-compete clause he signed and said the photo reflected badly on the company.
I think the reality of it is more along the lines of this: the dangling man has sued Vail Resorts (or has threatened to) and Vail Resorts is terrified of the bad publicity. So, they've come down hard on Sharpshooters who doesn't want to lose the business and they felt the best way to handle it was to "suspend" Odom. The no-compete clause is an excuse that really holds very little water in this case (I haven't read the wording of this particular one, but I've signed enough of them).
As for reflecting badly on Sharpshooters, I suggest that they think about looking at every photo that any of their employees has ever put up on a photo sharing or social networking site. The only difference between this photo and those embarassing snapshots is that these reached a much wider and more aware audience than what Facebook or Flickr will reach. Vail Resorts should do the same and see what else is out there.
On another note, Vail Resorts is missing an opportunity here. They should have taken this as an opportunity to promote the professionalism and efficiency of their rescue workers and their commitment to their visitors. They could even have bought the rights to the image, used it in advertising down the road. There are plenty of clever taglines that would promote their resort.
