Canadian Mountain Holidays - Guide Training

Had the oppurtunity to join some ARC'TERYX designers on a trip to guide training at CMH Revelstoke. So great to get back out into the mountains...follow the guides around and get some turns in.

First turns fo the year. Shot off cammera to right. WB down to 3100K w/ orange Gel on Strobe

Stobes used same as above - Portrait of Jorge Wilz - CMH Guide

Steve Chambers - checking the snow after a remote ski cut release.

Marc Piche - Portrait.

Recent Shots

House on Anarchist Summit

Johnston Canyon

Mighty Rider- Cross Provincials

Kevin Calhoun on route to the win at the Provincial Cross Championships

A Tour of the Okanagen Springs Warehouse...so full of beer...beautiful

Cross Checked!

Over the barriers - Starcrossed 2008

Always stayed away from cyclocross. I used to race so much during the spring summer months, that I just wanted to rest once the fall cross season rolled around. This year I am inspired! I have'nt been racing at all this year so I decided to get my fill with cyclocross this fall.

Ryan Trebon at Starcrossed 2008

I have always looked at Cross with a sense of curiosity and bewilderment. I overheard a fellow racer call it the crack cocaine of bike racing. Makes sense. The races are short and sweet...a quick hit so to speak. The pros racing, at the most, 60 minutes. They are mildly anarchistic for racers frantically make their way through narrow courses that wind like labyrinths through a public park or a farmer's field. You race on a modified road bike, designed with mud clearance in mind. They combine facets of road biking, mountain biking and steeplechase. They are mostly off road, and with the fall Scottish weather, the sport surface is soggy, muddy, dirty and challenging. How much fun is that!

Jeremy Powers at Starcrossed 2008

Even more fun is taking pictures of cyclrocoss antics. The challenge, drama, excitement, speed, pain and accomplishment. Trying to capture all via camera is a fun task in itself.

Tom Skinner at Team Wedgewood Cross 2008 - Vancouver B.C.

Here are some links to some of my new found gurus of capturing cross. My favorite is PDXCross. These guys from Portland go to all the local races, hop on their bikes, race in their chosen categories, then when finished their races they don the cameras and shoot the other categories. They get home and post the images in a slide show for all their brethern to see! They really portray the magic of cross, and what it means to the regular blokes like me who want to burn some calories, enjoy the mud and have fun with their buds. Next is the Cyclocross group on Flickr, here. Shots from all over the world. Lastly, a true cross foto fan named Joe Sales. Great photographer. You always see him out at the Vancouver area races and sometimes at the Seattle area races. He always has a smile on his face, he is an avid strobist with a fantastic eye for the details and essence of cross. Enjoy!

Inspired by the Olympics

Sure the athleticism of the games gets you out the door running to burn off the Pale Ale from the night before, but I find images of the games inspiring me photographically. The best selections I have seen thus far capture the details, emotion, pain, embarrassment, joy, and psych of this spectacular event. Check what I think are the coolest collections here, and here.
L8r.

Pack your Camera Bags

Love beautiful landscapes and wish I could travel more to them. Here is some inspiration via a quote from Rachel Carson;

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.

And some info. and images on unique and incredible places, gathered on a blog I like to read called The Year in Pictures by James Danzinger.

XC Bike racing in Squamish!

Sean Michelle in the Plunge

Squamish Gearjammer rolled through town last week. I was sad to have not ridden it for I am a tad slow right now…but I decided to take advantage of being slow and went to the race to take pictures instead. I wanted to try some time exposures again, to try to blur the riders but freeze them as the shutter close with a rear sync blast of light from two tandemed SB-800s. Here are some of the shots. Worked pretty well. I ned to work on getting better aim with the flashes and fine tune the amount of light, but I am pretty happy with the results given my experimenting in a dark forest. Enjoy.

Chris Clarke - speed of light (SB-800s i mean)

Always Smiling, Lauren Rosser threading thru the Trees

Galileo Coffee - Pictures on Display

My friends Cara and Lance, owners of Galileo Coffee (best coffee in North America by the way…great muffins too!) have graciously allowed me to show my photographs in the café. Next time you are rolling through Britannia Beach stop in, grab a cappuccino and take a look. Love to hear what you think!

Shot in Mountain Life Magazine

Psyched to get a shot in this months Mountain Life Magazine. Was a picture from a 2006 visit to Skookumchuk Narrows on the Sunshine Coast. There was about 10 paddlers on the wave that day and the tide was coming in high, forming the wave up big. Was a great oppurtunity to get lots of pictures. It is a great place to shoot as you can get up close to the paddlers and the light is always pretty good.

Sea Kayaking in the Broken Group

Martin Rother - Shot with a Graduated Neutral Density Filter

A visit to the Broken Group Islands, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, conjures up images of all those things really west coast; eagles, deer, otters, seashells, starfish, and quaint sandy beaches. When my friends Martin Rother and John Goulding told me of their upcoming trip to this sea kayakers nirvana I quickly invited myself along, clamoring for the opportunity to see, and photograph this remarkable place. The trip starts with a ferry Ride from North Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Once on land again, it is a 3-4 hour drive from Nanaimo to Toquart Bay, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. This is where we embark by kayak into the labyrinth of Islands. Loading up our kayaks with all the luxuries that a modern sea kayak can stow, we headed off into the westerly breeze, destined for the furthest island west that we could camp on. After 3 hours or 14kms of scenic paddling we made it to Clark Island. Once on Clarke we set-up camp and stayed for three days playing around on the coast in the swells, checking out the other islands and looking for sea lions. My psychology on these trips is interesting when I have a camera in my possession. I find I am super keen to get up early in the am to get shots in the early morning light. When the light gets high and harsh in the late morning and early afternoon, I put it away and either play in my boat or siesta in my hammock. When evening rolls in and the light starts to get good again, that camera comes out and I shoot away til the sun falls off in the horizon. After three days of paddling and playing with my camera we headed home to Toquart Bay. Was a fantastic trip and I would highly recommend going to the islands. Beginners and experts alike would enjoy a holiday here. GO!!!! Here are the some of the resulting images. Enjoy!

Time Exposure - 4 minutes long just as the last light dives off in the horizon.

Kayaks on a beach - taken using a graduated neutral density filter to darken the clouds.

Last moments of the day- also taken with a GND Filter.

Squamish Rock Star

The Test of Metal Weekend is like X-mas for me here in Squamish. Reasons you ask?

1) Have done this race for about 12 years (missed last year because my daughter Brydon was born that day) and it is by far the funnest event I have ever done. Never get tired of it. Like being in Squamish’s version of the tour de France.
2) As Above, tis my daughter’s birthday
3) The Squamish Rock Star happens on the Sunday after the race.

This year left me exhilarated as usual. The Test was a hoot, course was awesome, raced hard, and burned lots of calories. This classic 67Km XC race features a smorgasbord of trails. All the trails are unique and offer totally interesting riding. Tis also a point to point, so you never see the same trail twice. Cudos to Cliff Miller and the gang for putting on such a great event!

In a taking pictures sense though, this year I went to the Squamish Rock Star on Sunday June 15th. Al Ross and the gang from Tantalus Bike Shop put it on. They do an amazing job. The race is invite only, capped at 50 riders, and they must all be locals (live in Squamish). It is quite a pool to pick from as Squamish trails nurture some of the finest DH and Free-ride bikers in Canada. The likes of Shaums March and Kyle Ritchie go head to head with talented youngsters from the area. The magic of this race is that fact that it is on a tricky, trials like descent. This, not so routine, downhill race course is one of a kind due to the technical nature of the route. Steep drops (I mean really steep) are split by lots of trees, bermy corners, short little roller climbs, and little gaps. This, along with the gauntlet of people lining the drops, make for an exciting and challenging race. I only had time to set up on the first drop, but I got some fun shots using my sb-800s in tandem to light the racers. The sun was pretty harsh and right above, so things were pretty drowned out so I tried to underexpose my backgrounds a little and light up the racers with the flashes. Worked pretty well I think. this first shot I took, with a very slow shutter speed, and used the two SB800s in tandem, using rear sync flash to freeze he riders face but allow for motion blurring of everything else. Really accentuates the speed. Pretty fun to experiment with this.

I also took some fast shutter speed shots to freeze the action and show the height of the drop. Here is Shaums March showing us his "not enough ooooos in smooth" technique in getting down the first drop. He came in first by the way, and I heard he set a new course record. Cool eh.
Using these Nikon SB800s is turning out to be so much fun, Was inspired by Dave Blacks Blog. He really is great for sharing all these tips. Check him out at http://daveblackphotography.com/workshop/index.htm. Thats it for now. Thanks for reading!

OOOOUUUUFFFFFF!!!

Wow. Has five months gone by already? What a blur. I do have an excuse. Meet my daughter Brydon. She turned 1 on June 15th. I have pretty much dropped everything to hang with her. What a hoot! Anyway, back to blogging.

Cayoosh Peak

What a weekend!!! After weeks of precipitation, we finally got a window of blue sky. My buddy Mick Peatfield called and relayed his ambitions for a day in the sun in the Cayoosh Peak area on the Duffey Lake Road. We could'nt have timed it any better with incredible snow and sun! We got an early start in the hopes of getting in a full day, and if conditions warranted we would try to get up high on the Peak. As we made our way up through tree-line, blue sky overhead, we broke trail up through Cayoosh Glacier and onto the main headwall below the peak.

Mick - breaking trail up the Galcier

The challenge of Cayoosh is always the headwall up to the summit. It is super steep and involves post-holeing/trenchdigging, to be able to maneuvre through deep snow. Once we go to the top we enjoyed a cup of tea and the view. There was not a stitch of wind and light fluffy clouds circled overhead. We headed down from the summit and enjoyed 2000 feet of turns in bella snow and great terrain.

Mick and Cache- Enjoying the vistas on Cayoosh Peak

Back from the Ouray Ice Fest

Every year my job working in the ARC'TERYX Marketing department takes me to Ouray Colorado for the Ouray Ice Festival. http://www.ourayicefestival.com/

It never fails to be an incedible experience. Snow was in the forecast for the week leading up to the Ouray Ice Festival. 170% of the annual snowpack had already fallen, and the town looked like a labyrinth with channels dug by snow plows through the streets. Snow is proportional to ice in these parts so of course this means conditions at the Ouray Ice Park are phat! Climbers scrambled out of bed on early Friday a.m. and headed to the Park to get demo gear. The line ups for Ice tools, crampons, clothing, and harnesses likened that of rock fans cueing for tickets to a concert. New demo gear in hand, and smiles wide as barns, climbers then grouped up to meet their instructors for the day’s clinics. The likes of ARC’TERYX athletes like Will Gadd, Ines Papert, Rich Marshall, Roger Strong, Jack Tackle, Dale Remsberg, Audrey Gariepy, and Guy Lacelle were on hand to show climbers the ropes, on the latest ice and mixed techniques. Friday night is always festive in Ouray. The sponsor trade fair and enchilada and beer feast brings climbers out in droves. A silent auction with gear from the climbing industry’s best was held and proceeds from all the sold product goes to raising funds for this world class venue. The mood is definitely festive! Following the trade fair was a fantastic set of slide shows presented by Stephen Koch of PETZL and Ines Papert of ARC’TERYX.

The feather on the cap for the Ouray Ice festival is definitely Saturday’s Mixed Comp. Having gone to this festival for the past five years, and the comp always impresses. This year was no different. The comp route this year started out with 4-5 meters of friendly water ice. Then… wham, a 20 meter wall of overhanging rock slowed competitors down, with hard mixed move after move. This leading to a moon shaped chunk of overhanging ice that piloted up towards the final two sections of manmade, dangling steepness. Two floppy, hanging log structures were the next obstacles to overcome.

ARC’TERYX athlete Kristie Arend, hitting the Wall

ARC’TERYX Athlete Audrey Gariepy gunning for the ICE.

Then a long 42 degree plywood plank with sparse plastic holds directed the few who got to this point, to the top, a place referred to as the diving board. A select few were allowed passage on to the diving board. The first to make it this far was ARC’TERYX Athlete Rich Marshall from Golden BC. He smoothly made it on to the plywood section and in transit onto the first plastic hold dropped a tool. A collective moan roared from the spectators all wishing Rich progress up through this section, but Rich was definitely impeded by his lack of equipment. He inched his way up to the next plastic hold, lost his grip, and fell.

Rich Marshal – Still has two tools!

Only five other climbers made it through the proverbial log gate and onto the diving board. Boris Bihler from France, Spaniard, Carlos Garcia Bello, Evgeny Krivosheitsev from the Ukraine, Jeff Mercier of France and Germany’s Ines Papert, the comps only female to make it that far. In the end only Jeff Mercier made it to the top to win this year’s comp. ARC’TERYX athlete Ines Papert was so close in making it to the last hold but literally 3 centimeters of reach blocked Ines from topping out. Her amazing ascent got her got her top spot in the female category and second overall. Last year’s winner Evgeny, had the last attempt and all expected him to best Ines and Jeff, but half way up the diving board a tool popped and Evgeny was denied from a second win of this comp. Another noted finish was from Audrey Gariepy who ascended to the logs, which got her second place in Women’s and 7th overall.

ARC’TERYX Athlete Ines Papert on “The Diving Board”

Will Gadd’s slide show was next on the agenda. Will’s hi-energy chronicles of red-bull inspired trips the world over. 30 trips in 50 minutes was the title and living through Will’s roller coaster ride of happenings was the experience. Paragliding, climbing, ice Bergs and underground frozen waterfall climbing in Sweden were just a few of the stories.
The ARC’TERYX / PETZL Party was the next attraction of the festival. A “Dress to Impress” theme inspired all to reach deep into the tickle trunks to pull out their favorite skanky outfits for a night of grooving. Kings, queens, and lots of folks dressed in cheetah print donned their dance shoes as DJ Givens was on hand to stream the tunes, disco lights and all. In the ends many shirts came off and melody reigned til the wee hours of the night.
Sunday came a bit earlier then people would have wanted given the late night prior. But most were on hand again to scoop the demo gear and get out climbing and partake in clinics again, on the kilometers of water ice that lead into the gorge outside of Ouray. The weekend tapered and the finale to another great festival was held at the Ouray Theatre. Top prizes for the competitors and accolades for the great support of volunteers and sponsors were handed out. Then Josh Wharton dazzled the crowd with accounts of his exposed feats and ascents the world over.

All in all was another incredible event. Great to be a part of it. Try to get there next year to check it out!

Deep Winter Photo Challenge

Last night, Whistler/Blackcomb and ARC'TERYX hosted the 2nd annual Deep Winter Challenge at the Fairmont Chateau Hotel in Whistler. http://www.deepwinterphoto.com/.

What an event!!! This happening brings together 6 pro photographers and gives them a window of three days to go out and shoot skiing and riding on Whistler Blackcomb (W/B) Mountains. These Fotogs can choose the theme of their slide shows and the athletes they work with. In the days that the fotogs were working to gather images, the weather and wind turbulently stirred, and 120 cm of snow fell in these mountains. This makes for a tough conditions for a photographer. Photographers need light and there was none to be seen during these three days. Some of the guys resorted to artificial light and other used the ambient light available. In the end 6 great slideshows were created by these guys, and each of them had their own style and flare. 600+ people filled the ballroom of the Fairmont and all were treated to 6 truly inspiring slide shows. This year’s winner was Jordan Manley of Vancouver. In my opinion he was the most creative in his use of both the flashes, and the little ambient light. His images were greatly composed and they told a story of great skiing, amazing terrain and deep winter. His use of the flashes was by far the best and he filled the subjects of his images from all angles, creating some really dramatic imagery. Second place went to the cagey veteran Paul Morrison who again brought out his consistent compositions and techniques. There was also a bit of a narrative to Paul's show. He featured Mike Douglas, Mike's Son, and an older gentlemen. Each of them letting us in on their passion for living in Whistler, and the pursuit of gliding through bottomless snow. Great dialogue and images inspired all to get out and rip. Third place went to Bryan Ralph who dazzled all with the nature of his images, but also the technical quality of his slide show. He used a series of images of the same scene and rallied a bunch of exposures of subjects working their way through a scene. The result was movie like sequences of riders blasting through a run, or scenes of chairlifts hoisting skiers up into the dramatic skies. This show was unique in that it really gave a sense of time and motion. Phil Tifo, Dano Pendegras and Ian Coble were the other shooters and each of them gave incredible renditions of three hard working days in very challenging conditions. Congrats goes out to all of them or being a judge and trying to decide on the three best shows must have been a real challenge.

December HDR

Happy New Year all!

OK. Im back on this blogging thing with a vengence. Hopefully with some consistency in the coming months. I wanted to share some HDR (High Dymnamic Range) photo experince I have picked up on, in the last month. Took a great course at Vancouver Photo Workshops which featured instruction from a pioneer in HDR imagary named Dan Durkholder. http://www.danburkholder.com/

I learned so much, and would highly recomend taking this course should he pass through your neck of the woods. I was impressed with his knowledge of HDR but was enthralled with his post processing Photoshop Prowess. There was no way to take it all in in the three day course. Luckily he provided us with some workbooks to take home and practice up. For those that dont know what HDR is check ou tthis great link that does a great job of explaining all. http://www.cybergrain.com/tech/hdr/. Basically speaking it is a process whereby you take multiple bracketed images of the same scene. Then you merge these images in photoshop into one 32 bit image. To complete the process you make the image inot a 16 bit image and tone map the image using a fantastic plug-in produced by a company called HDR Soft. They do an great job of explaining the process...much better then I. check it out.http://www.hdrsoft.com/.

I have been using this process trying to get the hang of it this past month...and here are some of the results.

Vancouver Sunrise from Cypress Mountain

Glimmering Trees

Stawamus Creek

I am really excited about this photo technique and look forward to experimenting with it in the coming year. Will keep you posted on my experience. Thanks for reading!