Frozen Lungs, Toes, and Fingers, Hiking the BC with Friends

Today was an early one.  Woke up at 6 with about 3 hours of sleep with the mission to go hike into the woods north of Highway 70, build a jump, get some photos, and try and not get taken out by an Avvy.   Left the house at 7:00am to go up to the spot and snowshoe in.  I with with Chad Otterstrom, Jake Black, and Jakes assistant/ filmer who was not into getting that title. Hahaha!  We got to our drop off point off the highway and we started our snowshoe into the zone around 8:00am.  Chad was not to far behind parking the car and getting his split board ready.  Chad is a longtime local of Breckenridge and knows the area like the back of his hand.  It was amazing to tag along with him today and learn some great new spots in Summit County.

We trekked our way back to our destination, which originally should have probably taken an hour and 45 but somehow took close to 2.5 hours.  As we cruised back Chad pointed out spots that he had previously built jumps on, or know features that have been ridin before.  It was rad to see some great terrain and get some low down on the history of this spot.

We finally made our destination.  Spent about 2 hours blocking up the lip to the jump.  The snow was surprisingly soft for how warm it had been and how long it has been without snow.  The landing was pretty nice.

I got situated just below the jump for Jakes first hit and a fresh track to be put it.  First go he stomped a perfect front 5.  Chad went next with the same trick and stomped it perfect.

I cruised down to a lower section to try and switch things up a lil as the sun was slowly starting to poke back over the mountain and disappear.  I got what I wanted by the last hit.  It was mind numbingly cold by now as the sun was completely gone.  We packed up our gear, snowshoed out for about 40 min,  and made it to the car where Chad was waiting on the side of the highway.

All in all it was a sick day filled with fun times,  sweaty hikes,  cold fingers and toes, and great photos.

All images coldly captured with a canon G11 and Nikon d300s.

Seasons Greetings

Sun to Snow Breck Dew

Dew Tour at Breckenridge is officially over.  Friday was a great day full of sun, sun, and more sun.  This made for a very easy and relaxing time shooting some images for the www.campwoodward.com website.  We will be documenting many action sports contests and events from here on out pushing Woodward Films into every mix we can of the media and action sports world.  My goal for this event was to shoot sick photos and produce a documentary video about how training at Woodward relates to Competition.  So for two days I shot a boat load of pics, and for another two days I shot video.  Here are a few images from the last few days.  Video coming soon.
ps.  I supplied the photos here much larger then usual.  I really like seeing images larger then 600 pixels wide and I'm sure you do too.  enjoy.

Soul BMX Magazine Feature

Here is a feature I did for Soul BMX Mag from France.  Rad Magazine with some great contributers.  Too bad it's in French So you'll never be able to read it.

Breckenridge Dew Tour Day 1

So it was the first day of the Alli Action Sports Tour in Breckenridge, CO and I am here to cover the event in form of pictures and video for Woodward Films.  My goal for this event is to get stunning imagery of the best snowboarders and skiers in the world in a non typical approach.   There is a ton of great talent going off for four days straight and it is a great place to get creative while trying out some new ideas.   I really like shooting contest, for the fact that it is much like shooting at camp.  So much crazy ness going on in one spot, pushing the amplitude and progression to a new level each day.  With this amount of talent all in one location,  I am bound to get some great content.

My first day here was all about scouting out the location, finding unique angles, and looking at where the light was going to be on the features.  In my hand I had a schedule of each event ranging from men's snowboard slope style to women's ski superpipe.   Something that will make this process easier is if I find angles ahead of time, and anticipate a shot before it is there.  The reason in doing this is so I'm not just wondering around like a mad hatter trying to find things to take pictures of.  Proper planning is the key to success.  Without it its a wild card.

So I found some angles, checked the sun and light intensities for each spot, and dreamed of some shots I can hopefully accomplish within the next few days.   However, what I cant predict is weather.  If weather is crazy, and dumping snow, I go to plan B.  Which fortunately I have some great ideas for some pretty unique shots if it is snowing, so I actually wouldn't mind either way.   Tune in for day two photos later on down the road.