Friday, July 30, 2010

Night Ride

Last night in Salmon Arm I took in a group ride put on by my cousin Steven and his buddy Sutra (from Skookum Bikes). I don’t do a lot of Downhilling in Calgary but anytime I get together with Steven, I get a DH bike and a personal guide on some of the best DH mountain biking lines in all of B.C. The trails we ripped up last night were no exception, and some of the best riding I have ever done.

There were a total of 9 riders and the three runs we got in had everything from steep rocky technical descents to open flowy burms overlooking the Shushwap. So much fun and so fast, I was in the zone and felt better than I have in a long time. The best part of the night though, was riding in the dark!

That’s right, our last run was super late so by the time we got to the last 2km section in the trees, it was so dark you could barely see the trail. At one point I was cruising around an open section and dropped into an 8 foot wide path with grass on either side of the trail while still booking it. My mind started screaming warnings to my hands, “BRAKE NOW” but I couldn’t resist the pleasure I felt from just letting go and hitting the snaking trail at top speed. Green patches just outside of my arms reach started to appear and blurr back and forth, moving side to side with the trail. My body felt motionless only for a split second while everything in the world around me just vibrated like a shaking wet oil painting. And as fast as it came on, this dreamy tunnel snapped away as I burst through trail opening and skidded to a stop with the other riders on the logging road, grinning and for just a few more minutes, extremely satisfied.

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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Salmon Arm Section

Arrived just in time for dinner last night at our cousin's place just outside of Salmon Arm. The trip was relatively uneventful aside from the man-cub spraying (read - puke) an "as of yet unknown" purple liquid all over the van and back of my seat just minutes after we picked him up from camp. I waited to see if his head would spin around and then we were back on the road.
Today I am looking forward to going out with the locals for some DH mountain biking and taking a few shots while we are out. If I can get to a wireless point in town I will post some images.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

On The Road

First thing Wednesday morning we will be heading out on the road for a 10 day trip that will take us to the island. I have been looking forward to this for some time now. We will be stopping in Salmon Arm, Kamloops, Hope, New West, Nanaimo, etc, etc... It will be nice to spend some quality time with the kids and to finally try a few things I have always wanted to do. One of those being surfing on the west coast.

I will do my best to update the blog every day and post how the trip is going. Please keep checking back and make a comment when you can.

Below is a shot from my second Off Camera Flash Workshop last spring.
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Monday, July 26, 2010

Very Interesting

I received a call from the editor of AirdrieLIFE magazine this weekend for a last minute assignment for the upcoming fall issue (fall already?). The story is on a local pumpkin grower who apparently can get them to over one thousand pounds. Unfortunately it is early in the season and to make matters worse, this is a transition year. Needless to say, I didn't get to see any giant pumpkins.

Eddy (our pumpkin wizard) did however give me a fairly detailed introduction to pumpkin pollinating and some insight into the genetics of pumpkin breeding. Pumpkin breeding? I have to admit though, it was very interesting.
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Sunday, July 25, 2010

One Last Blast

I thought maybe the peak of the storm season had passed but every couple days we get something new popping its head out from the NW of town.

Tonight was no exception. My wife and I were on our way back from the inlaws place in Airdrie when we spotted this beasty making it's way from a pounding in Didsbury. A few backroads later we stopped to take this photograph near RR 290 and 795 (mountainview County). Maybe we are not done yet.
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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Test Peice

Mark and I decided to take a quick rip up a local peak in the Bow Valley. Both of us had been up Door Jamb Mountain (6,805')in the past but we had just enough time to make it to the summit of Loder (6,878') and get back down.
This is a fantastic ridge exposure just above the Graymont Plant near Exshaw, Alberta. 70 minutes up is not a bad time for something this elevation. Blue Bird day to go with it. Nice!
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Friday, July 23, 2010

Real Characters

Well I was west of Carstairs today to shoot a client and her horses. I have to say, these guys (horses) were hilarious. I had no idea horses could be so funny. I just had to post this shot. My clients are so fun!
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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Mountain Top Wedding

I have to say, today was one of my funnest weddings to date. It is so easy to work with clients (friends?) when they have a lot of their own energy and are naturally just fun. Not too mention the JP was a riot, it was easy to see he loves his job.

We flew out of Alpine Helicopters in Canmore early this morning only to be greeted on top of the East end of Grotto mountain by a nasty storm. It was looking like we would have 5 minutes to get the money shot so of course the pressure was on. We did get a little wet but the storm blew over and as overcast and windy as it was, everyone was having a good time.

Our JP was an ex-National Parks Warden named Rick Kunelius who is based in Banff. Great guy, Rick is very safety conscious and loads of fun while trying to keep the ceremony the way the clients want it. Rick works well with Alpine Helicopter, and I highly recommend anyone who is planning a Helli-wedding or taking a tour through the Bow-Valley check them both out.

Dez and Remi where awesome to work with. Dez couldn't keep her eyes off Remi (the only hard part about the portraits) and the both of them made the day more fun than just a session. The classic military couple though as Remi leaves soon for a tour in Afghanistan. I wish them all the best in their new life together!
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Session In The Country

Found this nice little town that has buildings from around 100 years ago, the place is amazing. Tonight we took Shay out for a quick Grad session. The conditions and light were awesome and I am just loving the simple one-light.


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Monday, July 12, 2010

Live Airport Runway

Last night I took an old client out to a local airstrip for a new lifestyle session. We left Crossfield around 7pm and on the way we got hit by rain and it looked like the session was done for.

You see I had originally asked this local airport if I could get on (a few weeks back) and when I called them this week there was no answer at their office. I drove around on Sunday afternoon looking for a plan-B but I just couldn't get this vision of the runway out of my head.

Well we arrived around 8pm and found out we had our access so we pulled out onto the runway just as the storm was moving past to the east. It was amazing and great timing, wet pavement and the sun setting directly to the west of us. A few lights from the east and we had it.

Magic!


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Thursday, July 1, 2010

Happy Canada Day


Last night I had both P.O.'s out for the second half of our web assets shoot. Here are Jeff and Sheleigh after a long day of handing out driving violations on the 1A.

Taking off for a few days for Canada Day weekend. Have a great one!