2007 FINALISTS:
(click their names to learn more about each finalist)

Pete Taras | Nick Hamilton | Endre Lovaas

Jody Morris | Jeff Curtes

JEFF CURTES Home: Boulder, Colorado

Originally from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, I started snowboarding in 1985 with my brother Joe in the backwoods of the Wisconsin countryside on a Burton Performer.

For the next several years my addiction to snowboarding began. We rode every chance we had, did the local contests, and finally traveled West to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, and Oregon.

I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated with a BS degree in Political Science. It was here that I took my first and only photography course, a simple photojournalism class in the Agricultural Journalism department.

I moved to Vail, Colorado immediately after my graduation in 1991 and became a ski and snowboard bum for the next several years.  

After two years of riding nearly everyday, I decided I wanted a piece of the lifestyle that my brother Joe was experiencing as top level Professional Rider for Burton, so I decided to get a camera and take some shots.   That next season…boom..shots in all of the snowboard magazine Photo Annuals!