RIT Students Launch Web site Chronicling Extreme Winter Sports

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Andrew Ong

Through a blend of photography, audio and video, FrostbiteSports.com, a multimedia Web site that’s the senior project of nine photojournalism students, chronicles the passion of extreme weather athletes.

While much of the United States shivers at the thought of frigid winter weather, extreme winter sports enthusiasts throughout western New York simply get excited. This passion for embracing the harsh elements through outdoor activities is the subject of Frostbitesports.com, an innovative multimedia Web site produced by nine senior photojournalism students at Rochester Institute of Technology.

“Through our Web site, viewers can find out why winter athletes participate in extreme sports,” says senior Jeff Conner, managing editor of Frostbitesports.com. “We hope that Frostbite Sports motivates people in colder climates to explore some of the extreme sports featured on the Web site, many of which they may be exposed to for the first time.”

From the polar plunge to ice climbing, the student photojournalists chronicled vastly different sports linked by one common thread—an extreme element. Through a blend of photography, audio and video, FrostbiteSports.com delves into the world of extreme winter sports, looking deep into the motivations and passions that turn an ‘average Joe’ into an extreme winter athlete.

“There is an increasingly strong need for interaction between visuals and design—it’s the visual that draws users to a site and the pleasing, easy navigation keeps them there,” says Marianne O’Loughlin, program chair for New Media Design and Imaging. “More and more collaboration will result in developing future projects to showcase the talents of photography and new media design and imaging students.”

Throughout the Frostbite Sports project, the seniors worked with professor Doug Rea, department chair of the photojournalism program in RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. Together the nine students collaborated in a group setting, simulating a realistic production environment. “Frostbitesports.com is one great example of what teaching college seniors in photojournalism is all about,” says Rea. “Teaching, at this level, is like professional coaching. At times it’s very challenging, but the learning that takes place makes all the difference!”

For more information about Frostbitesports, contact Doug Rea at 585-475-2780 or dfrpph@rit.edu.

Note: Founded in 1829, RIT is internationally recognized for imaging technology, fine and applied arts, engineering, computing, and unparalleled support services for students with hearing loss. RIT enrolls more than 15,800 full- and part-time students in more than 340 career oriented and professional undergraduate and graduate programs, and its cooperative-education program is one of the oldest and largest in the nation.

For nearly two decades, U.S. News & World Report has ranked RIT among the nation's leading comprehensive universities. The Princeton Review features RIT in its 2007 Best 361 Colleges rankings and named the university one of America’s “Most Wired Campuses.” RIT is also featured in Barron’s Best Buys in Education.