End of Year Shoot with KMS.

Last week before I gave up on winter Coach Coates and I met at Bear Mt to shoot a few end of the season pic's with the Killington Mountain School Snowboard Team.  Plan was to shoot the guys taking park runs seeing that it was perfectly sunny and the snow soft.  Well, like other shoots with the team this winter, two out of the three guys managed to get hurt.  Before I even met up with the team, Max managed to sail off the tube feature in the park and crush his ribs.  Then after a few warm-up runs Chris threw down his rodeo 5 he had been sticking all week - problem was he spun a rodeo 7-something and ended up on his head, which made him a little loopy and finished his afternoon.  Then there is Eddie.  Eddie is the rider that manages to keep the waxy side down and not crush himself while shooting.  This particular day Eddie had a personal best - landing his first grabbed 3.  Fun to watch - the grabbed 3 that is - not the crushing.

Chris was throwing down some big 7's all day.

Eddie with the rare double nose grab.

Eddie's first grabbed 3 and getting it a little sideways for fun.

Still the sweetest move going.

Chris looking good at this point - rodeo 5.

Chris not looking so good at this point - the rodeo 5 is now looking like a rodeo 7 and then some.

Call It. 8:09am, 28th of March, 2009.

I really thought the weather would come around and winter would return.  I mean it's March, it always snows in March, ALWAYS!  Well not this year, not a drop.  After holding on for a few extra weeks I'm officially giving up hope.  With no measurable snow since February 23rd and 10 day forecasts calling for rain and temps in the 50's, winter is over.  Doesn't mean I won't go riding once or twice more to enjoy some corn and sunshine, but it won't be my first choice.  

Below is a shot I took late last summer, something to look forward too.  Silver Lake, Barnard, VT 2008.

UTAH.

No snow here in Vermont but Utah is getting SLAMMED.  Good for them.

The US Open.

With snowboarding on the brain and no new powder to speak of I headed down to Stratton to check out the US Open.  It's been years since I've bothered to go shoot the event, but with sunshine and warm temps on call I figured this one shouldn't be missed.  The pipe was a little tricky to shoot do to the limitations of my press pass.  They had 6 photo-pits set up to shoot from and they all seemed to be in the wrong places.  Not a big deal, I roamed around shooting second angles and lifestyles and took in a whole bunch of sick snowboarding.  Kudos goes out to Burton and Stratton, they always seem to get it right and this year was no exception.

Here are a few from the Open.  All were shot with either a Canon 1D Mark 2N or a Canon 5D.  Lenses used were: 17-35mm, 70-200mm, 15mm(fisheye), and a 45mm tilt-shift.  Processing was done in Apple Aperture and Photoshop.  As always, click on an image to view bigger.

The scene.

Kevin Pearce tow-side slash.

Binoculars!

BIG.

Flag.

Old School - holding up the board - sweet!

Kevin Pearce again I think, with what was the most boned air I saw all day.

Tilt.

Tilt.

Friday Afternoon.

Wednesday night it snowed. It snowed 3 inches of the wettest most heavy crap I've ever seen. Anyway, after a cloudy Thursday the "storm" and I use that word very loosely, blew out and Friday was looking like a big sunny day.  Chris D from Killington fame called to see if we could put together a shoot to try to capture what might be the last little bit of snow on the trees. Sure? After numerous calls to many models, most couldn't make it, a few committed and at 7:15 this morning a solid crew of 7 met up at the upper admin building of Killington to sign releases and "get coated" and off we went for an early snowmobile ride to the peak for some sunrise groomer shooting.

Here is an early outtake that is kinda cool.  Matty H. rockin a new Bonfire outfit.

Canon Mark 2N, Fisheye, iso 100, 1/4000 @ 2.8

Trying to Keep the Faith.

So my hope for one more blast of winter is slipping away as quickly as the March days.  Trying not to revert back into my whiskey/PBR/Hotdog the Movie depression from last week, this afternoon I put off what I should be doing and pulled up some images from Jay Peak, March 21, 2006.  One of the more deeper days I can remember at Jay.  In spots it was 3 feet deep, maybe more.  It was myself, Kubas, Anthony Bacon (he was filming a ski movie) and Brian Keet from Jay doing Beyond Beaver Pond laps all day.  I do have to correct a previous blog entry at this time as well, this day at Jay Peak is my most productive from a getting published standpoint.  

Keep the faith East Coasters!

Kubas, Published in Ski and the New York Times.

Ben Kubas, Published in Ski and Outside.

Brian Keet, Published in Freeskier and Ski and numerous Jay Peak brochures.

Kubas, published in The Ski Journal and Outside.

Kubas published in Skiing.

Brian Keet, published in Backcountry Photo Annual.

 Kubas got the cover of Vermont Ski & Ride, which we never got paid for, cheap F*&%ers.

And just in case you are still with me, here is the trailer for the ski movie Anthony Bacon was filming while we visited Jay Peak.  The movie "A New Dawn" was release in the Fall of 2007. At minute mark 1:54 is the start of Kubas intro and at mark 1:58 is a quick clip from the Jay Peak powder day - and if you really care, take a close look at mark 2:13, the small little photographer hiding behind the cornice is yours truly.

Tan and Handsome.

The weekend came and went, the sun was strong and the temps warm.  I'm definitely a whole lot tanner and some might argue more handsome.  Spent the entire weekend hanging around Bear Mt at Killington watching some of the best halfpipe and park snowboarders compete in the US Grand Prix of Snowboarding.  After a great Monday kinda off from taking pic's at Mt Snow with Chris D. and Chandler B. I was back at it today with a full day studio shoot over at Advanced Animations.  I'll post a few from the studio shoot when I get the A-OK from the guys.

Here are a few out-takes from the pipe and park contests.

Canon 5D, 1/4000@2.8, 17mm.

Canon 1D Mark 2N, 1/5000@2.8, fisheye.

Canon 5D, 1/5000@2.8, fisheye.

Canon 5D, 1/5000@2.8, fisheye.

 Canon 1D Mark 2N, 1/5000@2.8, 115mm.

US Grand Prix, Killington, Vermont.

Always fun to cover a snowboard event.  Lots of high energy young guns running around and boosting big.  Today was the halfpipe qualifiers for both the Men and the Women.  Pipe can be a little hectic shooting during a contest.  You are often restricted in where you can shoot from, you have retired amateurs with pro-sumer cameras stepping in front of you like you're not even there, and your always guessing where the athlete might be hitting the pipe.  All that being said it's still fun to point a fisheye at a world class pro airing 12 feet over you.

I'm going to forgo the camera details today.  I'll be back on it Monday.

Report from the Hill - Not So Bad.

So maybe with a lack of better judgement after all the rain and overnight deep freeze I headed to Killington this morning to check out and scout for the US Grand Prix of Snowboarding being held at Bear Mt this weekend.  I was preparing for the worst - a glazed over wasteland - but upon inspection, the snow wasn't half bad.  I'm not one to bullshit you either - I call'em like I see'em - the snow was firm and fast but still had enough moisture in it to give you a little grip.  After scouting out the slopestyle course and taking in some 1/2 pipe practice I even took a few fun runs for myself.

Here are a few I snapped off while touring around.

Camera: Canon 1D mark 2N

Lens: Canon 70-200mm f2.8, shot at 70mm

Info: iso 100, 1/4000 @ 2.8

Processed in Apple Aperture

Camera: Canon 1D mark 2N
Lens: Canon 17-35mm f2.8, shot at 17mm
Info: iso 100, 1/3200 @ 2.8
Processed in Apple Aperture

Camera: Canon 1D mark 2N
Lens: Canon tilt-shift 45mm f2.8, shot at 45mm
Info: iso 100, 1/4000 @ 2.8
Processed in Apple Aperture

Not Giving Up Hope Just Yet.

I was going to start this post with a short video of the pouring rain outside my office this morning - I was going to tell you tales of woe about being a ski photographer living on the East coast - I was going to post a pic of myself drowning my sorrows in a bottle of whiskey with a PBR chaser while watching Hotdog the Movie, but I decided to take a more positive approach.  Instead I went back a few years and dug up some old images of one of the most productive ski photography days I ever had.  Just Kubas and Dave Y in tow - we managed to produce 4 published images, 3 Kubas shots in Skiing magazine and a Dave Y. shot in Powder mag.  

These images were taken, March 17, 2007.  So don't give up East coasters, still plenty of season left.  

Butterhorn.com

In an effort to try to post 5 consecutive days I bring you another Mike Horn nugget.  While on the road crisscrossing Colorado, Mike and I stayed in a Victorian hotel in Silverton called the Grand Imperial.  I'm guessing this place hasn't been updated in 75 years and it was definitely haunted with ghosts from the American west.  Below is a quick snapshot of Mike while we waited for the manager to check us out.

Shot with my Canon 1D mark 2 N, 17-35mm f2.8, iso 640, shot at 22mm, 1/50th @ 2.8.  Natural light from a big window, camera left.

Crested Butte flashback.

 A couple of weeks ago I was in Crested Butte, Colorado with writer Mike Horn.  We decided to take an afternoon tour to try to get a few sunset shots and enjoy a couple feet of fresh that had fallen.  After a not so quick skin (sea level lungs trying to work at 12,500ft) up into the Red Lady glades, light was dropping fast so the decision was made to cut the tour short and work the clearing we were in.  Back in the parking lot enjoying a PBR I made quick work and set-up a couple of lights to get a portrait of Mike.

 

This image of mike slaying a heel-side was shot with my Canon 1D mark 2N, 70-200 f2.8, iso 100, 1/1600 @ 2.8.

The portrait of Mike was shot with my Canon 1D mark 2N, 70-200mm, 1/200 @ f7.1.  I had two Canon 550ex flashes working.  One set up with a white shoot through umbrella positioned in front and camera right of Mike.  The other 550ex flash was bare and positioned behind Mike, camera left.  Both flashes were triggered with pocket wizard transceivers.

Cover!

Not exactly a cover of a ski publication but just as fun to shoot. Last fall I met up with Ruth P. from King Arthur Flour to shoot two covers for their mail order catalogs. For the cover below we had to do a little producing to make the late fall yard look spring like. I think it worked great. The next cover will be out in September and I'll post that one when I get it.

Shot with my Canon 5D, 70-200mm @ 2.8. All natural light.

Grinding.

So after a quick couple of hours on my couch catching up on some much needed relaxation I got a call from some friends who were headed to Mt Snow for a rare Sun-Tue visit.  With a free place to stay and a guarantee of some cold ass martini's I packed the truck and headed out the door.  While I was down there the weather was just OK, so shooting on the hill wasn't happening.  Did manage to get a cool shot of the mountain under some soft afternoon light.  After catching up with great friends I bolted to Killington Tuesday morning for a meeting with Chris D.  Seems we were getting a couple of sunny bluebird days.  With the sun getting higher in the sky and the light warmer we pulled the trigger on a shoot today and tomorrow.  Today was a quick hit with me spending the morning with two great female snowboard models and the afternoon with a great snowboard couple.  Tomorrow is the big family day shoot.  I have 3 kids and two sets of parents showing up for an all out shooting fest.  Should be fun.  Kids always bring the energy and fun to what sometimes can become a little tedious.  I'll get some shots up from today and tomorrow later in the week.

here is the warm shot of Mt Snow.  Shot with my Mark 2N, 17-35mm, f2.8.