The New York Times

I was very pleased to have this run in todays (2-25-10) New York Times.  Thanks Drago for actually doing the gear test and getting the words sent in.  I was a little worried you might have been "over it".  Here is a link to check it out online if you'd like.

Another early one....

The Land of Enchantment

After a few days at home in Summit County, I'm back on the road in the American Southwest.  Home was a good refresh.  The snow really turned on and was able to get out for a couple of pretty fun pow days.  I also linked up with E-Tree from the magazine (Snowboarder) for a resort shoot at Copper Mountain with Erich Dummer, Madison Ellsworth, Brett Esser and Eric Willet.  It was a fun day and Willet is an absolute destroyer.  Park kid only, you might ask?  Well it was my first time watching him shred pow and the kid has skills for sure.  Monday I got up early and headed down to Monarch and with over 40" reported in the last few days it made for an epic day of soul shredding.  Yeah, I went solo and I coudn't complain in the least bit.  It was so good!  I might add that out of the 40" reported over the last few days 17" were reported overnight.  It was a much needed day to say the least.  At about noon and after 20+ laps I peaced out and headed south to meet back up with Erich Dummer and Madison Ellsworth at an undisclosed location in the American Southwest.  Feet upon feet of snow have fallen here in the last week and it is without a doubt a record year for this region.  Monday afternoon proved to be a little too hairy to make anything happen, considering it was dumping and avalanches were everywhere within sight.  We awoke to a bluebird clear sky Tuesday and got after it.  We were able to set up two features, the second one taking a few hours longer than expected, but I think it'll be worth it.  Wednesday should be good if all goes as planned.  Stay tuned for an update tomorrow or the next day....

The sond feature we set up today.  We didn't think it was gonna take 6 hours to build but we stuck it out and I think is going to shoot amazing.  

The crew after a very long day.  Beer anybody?

Probably the best hotel room I've stayed in ever.  Aside from maybe a suite or two.  Sauna included.

Not surprised at all...

So you might be asking yourself just WTF is going on here.  Its not art.  Well it could be art I guess.  Yeah what the hell lets call it art.  Art created by my shutter failing.  Yes, my shutter in my camera shit the bed today.  What you are seeing here is this.  The black bar is the shutter trying to do its thing but getting stuck and in turn blocking light to the sensor, and the white streak is caused because the shutter isn't making it to that part of the frame to block the light and in turn adding a little burn into the sensor.  Its kind of like an unpredictable and less desirable dodge and burn.  But I'm not surprised.  It was bluebird today, and pretty epic.  Why wouldn't something semi-major go wrong?  Luckily I shot most of what I needed before this happened, and was lucky in the sense that most filmers these days are rolling around with nice DSLR cameras because they shoot HD video.  So luckily Butters had his 5D Mark II and was nice enough to let me use it for the remainder of the day.  All in all it worked out, but it once again goes to show what kind of a year I'm having.  Something, some force of nature doesn't want me to succeed and is out to get me.  Well, I'm probably rolling back to CO to take a little break and wait for my camera to be repaired.  I tried to track down a rental here in SLC but no one rents a camera with a motor drive faster than like 3-4 fps (and they wanted $200/day), and I can't continue to borrow Butters, so basically I'm looking forward to my tires falling off my trailer at 75mph going down the freeway tomorrow on my way home.  Surely causing some minor death and destruction.  You think I'm kidding?  It'll probably happen, no doubt.  I need to go knock on some wood.  Stay tuned....

Isn't it February?

I'm pretty sure it is February but it sure doesn't seem like it.  I've been able to log about 20 days that I would consider a shooting day so far.  Maybe 25 if I stretch it.  I usually log that before the new years, but something is different this year.  Its like everything is working against me.  It has been a hell of a year so far with near death accidents, avalanches, deep snows, no snow, rain, epic...ly long road trips to nowhere, and the list goes on and on.  Bjorn Leines seen here looks back up to see what went wrong, only to see that he's lucky.  Lucky to be able to look back up the hill at all (2 feet further and he would have made tranny I might add).  So does anyone know when things are going to improve this year?  I'd love to put it in my calendar for future reference.  On the flip side I could be stuck in the rut of an office job or even worse no job at all.  All in all life is good, and sometimes a quick reflection of where I am and what I'm actually doing is all it takes to put your head back in the right place.  I'm already looking forward to tomorrow!  Something tells me its gonna be sick...

The Mayor of Breckenridge

Todd was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma this past fall.  So friends of the Franzen family are gathering items to raise funds via live auction and raffle to help with treatments his insurance does not cover.  Please join Todd for an evening of fun, fellowship and general kick ass time!  I've donated a photo entitled "Fruita in Autumn", so please help Franzen out and bid on it.

Date:          Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Time:         5:30pm - 9:00pm
Location:   Breckenridge Golf Course "Clubhouse"

Todd is the man.  He has been a great friend through the last.....damn, almost decade now, and I know he will continue to be for many years to come.  He's a fighter and a survivor and I know he's gonna beat this unfortunate illness.  We shot this portrait back in December before he started his treatment to try and capture his hair in all it glory before he started treatment.  Well last time I saw Franzen it didn't look like he'd actually lost much hair, and is more proof that he's got this battle. He's not giving into the cancer and the nasty side effects associated with his treatment.  Franzen, I wish I was going to be able to make it to the party, but unfortunately I'm on the road as usual.  I'll be seeing you at the Southridge very soon though!  Hang in there bud and have a kick ass time on tuesday.

TNF

I would like to thanks The North Face for a great couple of days of shredding and shooting at Silverton Mountain, CO.  I had a blast riding with Mark Carter, Johan Olofsson and the entire crew!  We even landed the heli at my cabin for for a quick lunch.  Not bad at all.  I will now be enjoying a few down days at home before I start a two day shoot for Vail Resorts.  Stay tuned....

Circa '93

Found this shot on the old facebook of myself and just had to post it.  My kit brought back so many good memories from the era when, as Willie McMillon might say, "Snowboarding.....It was better when you hated us."  I can even remember the hat I was wearing was the Special Blend zippo hat, and that green shirt was a "Shred Shed" shirt, the local shop in Durango at the time....R.I.P.

Guns, booze and EXPLOSIVES!

Just a few things to keep you entertained in Silverton, Colorado on a overcast day....

Straight Truckin'

The last few days are a blur.  I started at home in Breckenridge on January 28th and drove to Salt lake City for a quick one day mission with Absinthe.  I then drove to Tahoe for a 3 day camping/splitboarding trip with Jeremy Jones and the "Deeper" crew, but snow conditions and deteriorating weather lead to a no go, so I turned around after another quick one day mission with the crew.  Now, five days later, I've landed in Silverton, Colorado for some heli-boarding with the North Face Crew.  I look forward to driving home for a one day reset this weekend and then back to Utah to link up with a DC crew for another few days of shooting.  I guess the saying goes something like this, "you can sleep when you dead".  For now I'll just be truckin' along!