Being fast and responsive is key to capturing the moment
Christoph Oberschneider is a Salzburg based photographer, videographer and drone pilot. He explains why the best shots are sometimes technically wrong – and why he’s meticulous about backing up.
For many action sports photographers the perfect shot comes from preparation. At sporting events you can scout the best location to shoot from; on athlete shoots you can work with your subject to find the best angle.
But an event like Red Bull X-Alps you need to “embrace the chaos”, says the photographer and filmer Chris Oberschneider. The world’s toughest adventure race involves 33 athletes racing around a 1,283km course line in the Alps via foot and paraglider. But it is not fixed, they can choose the places where they hike and where they fly – and when. Sometimes an athlete might sit on a hillside for 30 or 40 minutes before committing to launch into the sky.
For the videographer, this can present a challenge. You never know exactly when the moment will present itself, when the action will happen and what it might involve, says Chris. He says the secret is to embrace the chaos and uncertainty.
But an event like Red Bull X-Alps you need to “embrace the chaos”, says the photographer and filmer Chris Oberschneider. The world’s toughest adventure race involves 33 athletes racing around a 1,283km course line in the Alps via foot and paraglider. But it is not fixed, they can choose the places where they hike and where they fly – and when. Sometimes an athlete might sit on a hillside for 30 or 40 minutes before committing to launch into the sky.
For the videographer, this can present a challenge. You never know exactly when the moment will present itself, when the action will happen and what it might involve, says Chris. He says the secret is to embrace the chaos and uncertainty.
“I watch, I listen, and I try to feel what the athlete might be going through”
“You need a fluid plan, not a fixed one. You have to trust your instincts, not the shot list,” he says. “That means adapting to the situation and using your gear accordingly. Never force yourself into wanting to use exactly that one lens for that one shot. You have to choose what works, otherwise you'll lose the shot.”
He adds: “My personal approach is to stay invisible when needed, but present when it counts. I watch, I listen, and I try to feel what the athlete might be going through. Then I choose the angle or the movement that supports that feeling – whether that’s a slow push in with the drone to emphasize loneliness, or a handheld close-up to catch raw emotion.
Emotion isn’t just in faces, it’s in body language, in rhythm, in the landscape they’re moving through. You have to be fast, yes – but more importantly, you have to be open. Open to the moment, to intuition, to the human story unfolding in front of you. Because once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
He adds: “My personal approach is to stay invisible when needed, but present when it counts. I watch, I listen, and I try to feel what the athlete might be going through. Then I choose the angle or the movement that supports that feeling – whether that’s a slow push in with the drone to emphasize loneliness, or a handheld close-up to catch raw emotion.
Emotion isn’t just in faces, it’s in body language, in rhythm, in the landscape they’re moving through. You have to be fast, yes – but more importantly, you have to be open. Open to the moment, to intuition, to the human story unfolding in front of you. Because once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
“To capture a race this raw and fast-moving, both mental focus and technical readiness are non-negotiable”
Chris says that on a job like this, it’s more important to get the shot than achieve perfection. “Some of the best shots come from ‘wrong’ lighting or weird framing – think dust, fog, backlight, lens flares. Don’t fight it – use it.”
He adds: “Shooting the Red Bull X-Alps is as much an endurance challenge for me as the photo- / videographer as it is for my gear. To capture a race this raw and fast-moving, both mental focus and technical readiness are non-negotiable.”
He adds: “Shooting the Red Bull X-Alps is as much an endurance challenge for me as the photo- / videographer as it is for my gear. To capture a race this raw and fast-moving, both mental focus and technical readiness are non-negotiable.”
“Fast data transfer is essential”
The other key thing is to be meticulous about backing up. He says he’s fanatical about that. “I use cameras with dual card slots (like the Sony Alpha 1, A7S III, or FX3) set to simultaneous recording (not overflow). This instantly creates a first backup at the point of capture.”
He also makes a backup in the field to the Angelbird CFexpress v4 Type A memory card, which he stores in a rugged Angelbird Media Tank that’s splash-resistant, shock and dust proof. Chris also uses the Angelbird SSD2GO PKT external drive, which provides up to 4 TB of extra memory. “Fast data transfer is essential,” he says.
He also makes a backup in the field to the Angelbird CFexpress v4 Type A memory card, which he stores in a rugged Angelbird Media Tank that’s splash-resistant, shock and dust proof. Chris also uses the Angelbird SSD2GO PKT external drive, which provides up to 4 TB of extra memory. “Fast data transfer is essential,” he says.
“You have to accept discomfort as part of the process”
But the most important thing is to adopt an “ultra mindset”, he says. “You’ll wake at 04:00am, hike with gear, wait in the cold, then sprint to another location. You have to accept discomfort as part of the process.”
In the mountains, your gear becomes more than a tool. “Out there, when the nearest power outlet is far away and your only connection to the world is a nearly dead phone your gear stops being just a tool. It becomes your partner, your safety net and sometimes your only chance of capturing a moment that will never happen again.
For me, that partner was my DJI Mavic 4 Pro in combination with my Angelbird microSD memory cards and portable SSD. I trusted that gear to perform in wind, cold, altitude, and chaos. The drone took a beating during Red Bull X-Alps 2025: sudden gusts on takeoff, emergency landings on scree slopes, avoiding trees and other obstacles without my interaction. It never failed me. It delivered, every single time I needed it most. And the Angelbird storage media provided the peace of mind I needed to know everything recorded ok and backed up safely.
In the mountains, your gear becomes more than a tool. “Out there, when the nearest power outlet is far away and your only connection to the world is a nearly dead phone your gear stops being just a tool. It becomes your partner, your safety net and sometimes your only chance of capturing a moment that will never happen again.
For me, that partner was my DJI Mavic 4 Pro in combination with my Angelbird microSD memory cards and portable SSD. I trusted that gear to perform in wind, cold, altitude, and chaos. The drone took a beating during Red Bull X-Alps 2025: sudden gusts on takeoff, emergency landings on scree slopes, avoiding trees and other obstacles without my interaction. It never failed me. It delivered, every single time I needed it most. And the Angelbird storage media provided the peace of mind I needed to know everything recorded ok and backed up safely.
“The joy of working with gear that you trust completely is the freedom it brings.”
“Backups are crucial,” he adds. “During our stay at the Monzino hut in the Mont Blanc region, I decided to leave my MacBook in the van and only bring my iPad Pro. After every few flights, I inserted the drone’s microSD card into my Angelbird card reader, copied the files to the iPad Pro’s internal memory, and then made a second backup to the portable SSD. Drones can crash, SSDs can get lost or damaged, and iPads can also experience these issues, but it’s quite unlikely that all of these things happen simultaneously.”
“To earn a permanent spot in my backpack, a piece of gear has to do three things: survive the unexpected, never get in the way of creativity, and work under pressure—because failure out there isn’t an option.”
The joy of working with gear that you trust completely is the freedom it brings he says. “It frees you up to take risks creatively. And in Red Bull X-Alps, that trust is everything.”
“To earn a permanent spot in my backpack, a piece of gear has to do three things: survive the unexpected, never get in the way of creativity, and work under pressure—because failure out there isn’t an option.”
The joy of working with gear that you trust completely is the freedom it brings he says. “It frees you up to take risks creatively. And in Red Bull X-Alps, that trust is everything.”
Discover Christoph’s Pro Creator Bundle
This Pro Creator Bundle is inspired by Christoph’s personal gear set up used during Red Bull X-Alps 2025.
Designed and engineered to meet the demands of your professional photo and video workflows, the bundle includes high-performance media cards, a card reader, and a Media Tank™ to keep your treasured cards and data secure.
Designed and engineered to meet the demands of your professional photo and video workflows, the bundle includes high-performance media cards, a card reader, and a Media Tank™ to keep your treasured cards and data secure.
By viewing this video, you agree that your data may be transmitted to YouTube and that you have read the privacy policy.
“The Red Bull® Marks and the Red Bull X-Alps Logo are licensed by Red Bull GmbH, Austria.”
