Utah Mission

Mikey and Andy....happy to be riding powder.

Some of the worst choices I've made in life have been impulsive...ordering a philly cheese steak sandwich at a sushi joint, dying my hair pink before a family gathering, getting behind the wheel when I knew I was too tired... the list goes on. But buying a ticket to Salt Lake City, Utah the day before I flew out was one of the better decisions I have made. Mikey LeBlanc hit me up the day before he was leaving for Utah telling me that it just dumped out there and that I should definitely come out. Seeing as I've never ridden Utah, hadn't been able to ride powder yet this season, and well...it was an opportunity to ride with Mikey, Andy Wright, and friends....I couldn't pass it up.

Last run of the day we took a hike to the top to take some untracked turns. Best powder I think I have ever ridden,

Brighton was the mountain of choice... less crowds, more fun.

Mikey at the top

Awesome to see Andy Wright on the mountain.

MolcaSalsa... if you have been, then you know. If you have not, you're missing out.

Random trip to the thrift store

Mikey found these glasses

Flattering?... not so much. Amazing?.... definitely.

Gertrude, a little old lady I found shopping around

Bowling with some of the Videograss crew

Louif and Bilocq

Mikey and his dog Ruby

Andy has one big cat.

More on my Rad Collector Column.

Flying Hotdogs: Mascot Superpipe Comp

Personally, I think costumes can make any situation more interesting…. even halfpipe competitions where most of the riders can barely get above the lip. And on Saturday in Mammoth at the Roxy Chicken Jam, that is exactly what went down. For the past three years, as part of the Chicken Jam, Roxy has had this open competition where anyone, and I mean anyone can compete for a first place prize of $3k. It was entertaining to say the least. Since a lot of the riders were barely even airing out of the pipe I decided to take a different approach to how I shot it. Without boring you with too much detail,  I shot most of them so the snow is very over exposed, creating almost a completely white background for the costume wearing creatures to stand out against.  I wanted to do a series of shots that all looked pretty similar just showing the riders costumes… and then there are also some action shots at the end. To see the whole series check out the post on my Rad Collector Column.


I will be doing more posts from my weekend in Mammoth soon. But to check out general coverage/photo galleries. Check out the Quiksilver Blog.

US Open 2010 Photos

Last week I made my way back to Vermont for the 28th Burton US Open. Temperatures reaching the 60s, good friends, and great riding made for an incredible week. It wasn't all fun and games for me though, I spent a majority of my time there hiking through the wet snow shooting photos... which I definitely can't complain about. I picked out some of my favorite shots for the post I did on my Rad Collector column... check it out here.

King of the Park

Poster I designed for Quiksilver's King of the Park competition. The photo is mine as well. If you happen to be in Ontario any of those dates go check it out.

From Scratch

From Scratch from Leland McNamara on Vimeo.

Last winter I spent about a month in Tahoe, CA riding and shooting photos. While I was out there my friend Andy invited to come shoot with the crew in this movie.... Jason Robinson, Aaron Robinson, Nicki Weiss, and filmer Leland McNamara. It was my first time in really in the back country. So thanks to those guys for bringing me out with them. Above is the video the Leland put together of their whole season. Definitely worth watching... thanks Leland for throwing me in the credits :). And below are some photos I took while I was with these guys. Enjoy.

Nicki Weiss

Jason Robinson

Aaron Robinson

Copper Crowds

I'm in Colorado right now for the holidays, so I had to get some riding in. The day after Christmas I rode Breckenridge, expecting it to be incredibly crowded seeing as it was the weekend after a holiday. But it was actually pretty mellow, hardly had to wait in the lift lines. On Monday I decided to ride Copper, expecting the crowds to be pretty tame.... but apparently everyone had the same idea.  At times I had to wait around a half hour, in the singles line no doubt. But I guess I can't complain, it was good to get some riding in.

Since I was running the singles line to try to cut down wait time I had to ride up the lift with randoms each time. I decided I wanted to take pictures of each group I rode up the lift with. Unfortunately I only managed to take two shots. Some of the people looked like they might try to break my camera if I asked to take their picture, so I decided against it. But these two groups were stoked to have their picture taken..... "Are we going to be on the internet?!"

Breck with the Burton Groms

I was in Colorado for a week around Easter and happened to get invited to tag along for a Burton Grom shoot by Burton photographer, Blotto. I rarely get to see Blotto during the winter so I couldn't pass up an opportunity to hang out with him for a bit. Since he was shooting photos I figured I might as well get some footage of the kids during their photoshoot in the Breckenridge park. A majority time we were rolling around with a very large crew so it was definitely pretty entertaining. The kids killed it. Here is a few photos and a video I put together from the two days I spent with these guys. 

Blotto....

A friend's house up in Breck.... Man Camp

The sign on the door of Man Camp

Get the shot?

Burton Groms at Breck from Laura Austin on Vimeo.

Tahoe Backcountry

Last month while living in Tahoe I was fortunate enough to join a crew into the backcountry. My friend and fellow photographer, Andy Quintana, was shooting with a group of riders and invited me to join them for the day. I can't say that I have ever really been in the backcountry so I couldn't pass the oppotunity up. After a 4 AM wake up, a drive down to South Lake, and doubling out on a bunch of sleds we made to where we could get some shooting done. Riders included Jason and Aaron Robinson and Nicki Weiss. Filmer Lelad Mcnarmara was also in the crew. Big thanks to the guys for letting me tag along. Here are some pictures from the day. 

Nicki Weiss

Pow slash by Aaron Robinson

Jason Robinson

Jason

Nicki checking out the landing

Aaron

Aaron

Jason

Jason

Aaron taking a breather

Andy getting in my face

Setting sun, time to call it a day