DanoLand - the blog.

Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 4

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-11-20T09:26:23-08:00

I spent a couple days shooting photos of Benji Ritchie, Gabe Taylor last winter while the were filming for the Grenade Films "the boned age". This is the kind of shot that makes me want to go riding, and winter is just around the corner so I hope it makes you want to as well. I hope you have been enjoying the Snowboard Photo Blog. I'll keep it up on weekdays right up till it's time to ride!

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Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 3

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-11-19T09:25:10-08:00

Good morning shred dogs, Welcome to Part 3 of the Snowboard Photo Blog: Part 2.

I'd like to welcome all the portrait photographers out there today. Whaddup face shooters.

Today we have a shot of our friend Romain de Marchi from the Absinthe Films' movie "Ready". I spent some time with Paul Watt last year and we had some good days out in the backcountry and also up in Revelstoke.

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Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 2

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-11-18T09:21:20-08:00

Good morning friends,

Welcome to day two of version 2 of Snowboard Photo Blog. I'll keep this up right up till opening day so that you all can get as stoked to snowboard as I am.

Our victim today is Mads Jonsson, world record holder and also one hell of a nice guy. He's funny, he's scando, and he's really, really good. This shot was taken during filming for Standard Films' "Aesthetica" this past season, at Northern Escape Heli near Terrace, BC.

Enjoy.

click the photo

Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 1

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-11-17T10:34:08-08:00

Hi folks.

Opening days are popping up all over the place and winter is just around the corner in our neck of the woods. To get you all in the mood for the snowboard season I'm bringing back the Snowboard Photo Blog. Check back every day for new snowboarding pictures from the past winter. Click on the photo and it will take you to a wonderful place where you can see more of my snowboard photos.

transitions

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-11-14T10:41:58-08:00

I'm having a really hard time transitioning from the warm water and beaches of Maui to the grey cold of Vancouver. It's that time of year that is always really challenging, too early to snowboard, but already cold and wet. Roatan is sounding better all the time. Reef Gliders is moving and I can't wait to check out the new shop. I miss my friends down there and the fun times. Shooting diving photos underwater again in Maui has got me all amped on that again. It's a shame that it is so bloody expensive to get into and a tough place to sell photos. I figure it will take about another season before I have some really good underwater stuff. Not that I'm not happy with some of the things that I get down there, but I'm not as consistent as I am shooting people, or snow or whatever.

Ok, time to write a chapter for the book.

A box full of magazines

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-11-11T17:00:59-08:00

I just found a box full of magazines. Some of my covers from over the years. Unfortunately they are mostly older and a bunch are missing, but still, it's cool to see some of my old snowboard photos. Chris Dufficy, Devun Walsh, Jf Pelchat, Bjorn Leines, Shaun Palmer, Dionne Delesalle, Brian Savard, Marc Morriset, Mark Landvik, Shin Campos and a bunch more. When I get the rest of my archives gathered together I'll try to make a comprehensive gallery.

d.

Maui in October

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-11-05T20:25:53-08:00

Tomorrow is my last day in Maui, and then I have to faced the reality of cold November in Vancouver. In the last week I have done a bunch of diving, hiked through a tight bamboo forest, had some great meals, and, um, oh ya, got married.

I'd never been here before this trip, and I pretty much fell in love with the place. Here are a few shots. In a couple days I will try to catch up a little bit.

Dano

The sun sets here like, ever single night!

sometimes guidebooks tell you to go places that aren't really there

But sometimes those places turn out to be pretty cool

this is not the waterfall we were looking for.

Lava, oceans and green as far as the eye can see.

On the highway to Hana there are all sorts of super beautiful famous waterfalls. This is not one of them.

This is my wife checking out a huge anchor. She found a Green Hawaiian Lionfish.

This is the lionfish she found

and this is a leaf scorpionfish, which is also cool.

Devun Walsh Photo

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-24T17:16:41-07:00

As long as I've been a snowboard photographer, there have always been certain riders who have stood above their peers. Taking photos of Devun Walsh has always been easy. He's a hard working dude and he loves being out in the snow. I was pulling shots today for an upcoming interview with Devun and couldn't help throwing one out thereto you guys. I have hundreds of pictures of Devun and over time I hope to get them all scanned so that I can share them. Thanks Dev.

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Mathieu Crepel

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-22T19:51:39-07:00

I added a function on photoshelter so that people can download copies for a couple bucks for personal use. Someone asked and it took me, like a month to get around to it...

Mathieu Crepel has epic style. He's French (like France French) and he's cool and here he is over Vancouver.

vintage snowboard photo (no way dano...really?)

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-20T22:40:21-07:00

I'm pretty sure that this is 1997 but sometimes magazines used to remount your slides and you'd lose all your labels, so I don't really know. I had a total epiphany on scanning today and I had to put something up. I have been hating on my slides because the scans don't feel as cool as the transparency, but today that shifted. That is good and bad. Good because everything will look better from now on, worse because I will probably have to go back and redo a bunch of things. Boo.

I started an Agency for Snowboard photos on Photoshelter. It's a really cool deal where photographers can group together to promote themselves and their work. If you want to play, let me know. The only thing I don't like is that the resizing is automated and some shots look bad. Anyway, check it. If you know what I can do to make the galleries look like the originals, drop me a line.

blue girl

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-19T22:03:59-07:00

Me: I need a picture of someone feeling blue.

LG: I've been crying all night.

Me: Perfect...

The Descendents

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-17T14:39:16-07:00

So busy with work and wedding. Sorry I don't have much to say. Well, I actually have tons to say and no time to say it.

Drink coffee.

It used to be a cover

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-11T00:01:44-07:00

This was once a cover of Snowboarder Magazine. They sent me a great package of history this week to help me with the book. Thanks Pat.

I'm off for my "stag" which means I'm going to fish for two days with some friends. And that is all I have to say about that. Have a great weekend.

subtle rarely wins online

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-08T18:09:13-07:00

Recently I've started making a lot more prints as a result of requests and being momentarily stable enough to get set up to print. The thing about printing is that you get to see photos big and beautiful and with all the related depth and tone that doesn't translate to a computer monitor. It's something that just doesn't translate to the web. So having said that, here is a photo that looks amazing in print, but maybe not so much on the web. I remember when I took this shot, I thought to myself, "this will never work for a magazine, it's just too subtle."

But I love it y'know? And now I have a print of it.

And you can too.

Fishies and deep breaths.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-07T11:28:55-07:00

A year ago today, I left Roatan after living there for 3 and a half months. I expected to be back there around June, but life is always interesting and you never know what is around the next corner, so instead it has now been a year since I've seen some of my friends down there. I've booked a flight back for Christmas, which makes me extremely happy, but I miss the place. No Roatan has also meant, no diving, which I miss terribly. People have asked me what the appeal is lately and my response is this; scuba diving is everything that snowboarding isn't. It's warm (at least where I like to do it), it's no impact, it's quiet and calm (which snowboarding actually can be too, but not sledding or crowded mountains, etc.).

Diving to me is like a forced meditation. You slow down your breathing, clear your mind, and look at pretty fishes. It calms me.

So in the year since I've been home, a lot has happened. I've made big strides professionally, and am very proud of the work I'm doing these days. Between that, the new apartment, and impending wedding, life has kept me very, very busy. I feel fortunate, considering the state of the global economy and how tough it is out there to make it as a photographer, to still be getting work, selling pictures, and interesting new clients.

Now if I can just figure out how to do it all of that from the beach...

This is a typical view off the wall in Roatan. No sharks or seahorses or barracuda, just a squirrel fish and lots of coral. Aaaah.

Another friend.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-04T14:36:01-07:00

This is a shot of my buddy Rob. We met in high school and became fast friends. When I moved to Whistler after high school, Rob did too and we stayed together for the first couple months. When I got interested in Fly fishing, I did it with Rob and we spent days and days on the Birkenhead River tossing out flies and learning how to fool the exceptionally wily Birkenhead rainbow trout. Eventually we knew that river as good as anyone, and Rob became a guide while I chose to keep fishing as a hobby.

As much as we did just about everything together, I never followed Rob into the water when he got into scuba diving. He braved the cold BC waters and was even considering doing his dive master. I didn't understand the appeal at all and left it to him. Fast forward 20 years and I'm completely enamored with diving and he must be laughing. He's coming to Maui for the wedding and after all these years I'm finally going to get to dive with my oldest friend. Amazing.

Robbie's dog Sedge was our faithful companion on all our fishing trips and when he finally passed on earlier this year it was a very sad day. He liked to lick trout while you were trying to release them. He thought they were like funny wiggly sticks put on earth just for him to chase. He was a good fishin dog.

A misty morning in Northern California.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-02T23:35:11-07:00

When I lived in California, I used to do the drive up and down I5 between Leucadia and Vancouver 4 or 6 times a year. In the almost 3 years that I lived there i watched the gas costs for that trip go from about 280 dollars to over 400. Gas has gone up 50% since then and I'm not missing that expense. I liked the drive though. I liked 22 hours of no computers and no office. I liked the anticipation of getting home and the feeling of excitement I got as I left Southern California.

I really start to feel like I've left California when I climb out of the plains, into the pine forests and see Mt. Shasta right by Yreka. I usually end up staying the night there unless I've made good time and press on into Oregon.

One morning, I woke up early in Yreka, eager to hit the road and get back to BC before dinner. I wasn't five minutes out of town when I found myself on the side of the road taking in this beautiful scene. The sun was rising and the hazy valley floor was cast in a warm light while mist came off a small farmer's pond. Shasta lurked back there in the distance.

I made three frames and drove north.

You can buy this photo here. And if you do, I'll go and buy another print from Will Steacy who has hit a hard stretch with a shitty landlord. I already bought one, but some of you out there could help me to help him. Pass it on...

A portrait of a friend.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-10-02T10:10:56-07:00

Today I'm posting a picture of my friend Jon. He will inevitably hate the fact that I chose this portrait, but everything he hates about it is why it's going up. I don't get to shoot pictures of my friends nearly enough, and some simply despise having their photo taken, much like I do. Jon is different, he loves being in front of the camera, becomes a total ham the instant a lens is on him, and the results are always amazing. He however, feels like the morning after a one night stand, with lots of hand wringing and "i can't believe I did that". Within minutes of taking this shot, Jon was down to his cherry red Y-front undies, and everyone in the studio was on the floor laughing.

Jon can't make it to my wedding, we haven't seen each other in a couple years now, and I miss him like a brother. This picture makes me feel like I do when we're hanging out. I'm pretty much always smiling around Jon.

Thanks buddy.

Vintage Snowboard Shot

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-29T17:18:48-07:00

I hate to do this to you all, my loyal readers, but as the Orphan Works Bill passed in the US today, i am looking for the owner of an orphan in my files, and so here is yet another old photo of me snowboarding. Sometimes I end up with shots of myself and due to a lack of labeling, I have no idea who took them. Magazines used to occasionally send me photos that weren't even mine, because they looked like someone or somewhere I shot. In the end, if you send your pictures to a magazine with no labels, you can't be too surprised when they go missing. Sometimes however, the magazines remount shots after scanning, in which case your pooched.

All of this is a moot point because slides are over, but who took this photo of me at the Westbeach Classic in 1991? (Note the toe grab crail...)

Snowboard Photo Blog: part 13

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-26T01:03:26-07:00

Lucky 13! Ok this has been fun, but I'm done for now. I need to get back to long winded rants and shots from walking the dog around the neighbourhood...

We've had some luck getting magazines interested in some of these shots in the last few weeks, and traffic has been up, so I'll call this experiment a success. Give me a little break on the shred shots and then I'll come back with a new series. I have something good planned. Until then, subscribe to my feed or check back and I promise to keep it interesting around here.

Here is Gaetan Chanut in the Coast Mountains.

Snowboard Photo Blog: part 12

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-24T21:45:06-07:00

Hi everyone. Here is a shot that is going to run in Japan but nobody in Europe or North America has chosen it yet. Even though it's not how I typically shoot, the thing I love about this shot is
how Shin's head is plowing a perfect wake through his spray. So cool what you can do on dark early winter days with a strobe.

This shot is from the deep winter photo contest in January. Jordan Manley won it and he has been having a hell of a season already with some sweet covers. We're big fans of his work and his character.

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 11

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-23T18:38:35-07:00

HI folks, fans, and freaks. Sorry about missing the photo blog yesterday, all that snow got me excited and between that a bunch of interviews and design work, and a sick pooch, well I just didn't get around to it. I know you'll forgive me.

Here we go again for Tuesday. Here is what happens when Mads doesn't get enough coffee and has do ride 55 degree faces before 8 AM. Please, please, don't try this at home.

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Snow day

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-22T09:28:42-07:00

Good day my friends. Check this:

Not a live picture. Click the picture to see the snow melt. Winter is just around the corner...

Hope you all had a great weekend. I'll try to get another shred shot up by the end of the day.

d.

Snowboard Photo Blog: part 10

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-19T11:04:06-07:00

TGIF eh? Am I right? Or what...

Here is Gabe Taylor enjoying an afternoon booter in the Coast Mountains. Now I have to go walk the dog.

Snowboard Photo Blog: part 9

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-18T10:54:14-07:00

Busy day today. No time to chat.

If this doesn't make you want to go snowboarding, I don't think we're going to be friends...

Romain De Marchi from Absinthe Films shoot. Coast Mountains, British Columbia.
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 8

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-17T08:25:05-07:00

Hello my friends and welcome to part 8 of my series on photos from last year that have not yet found a home in a magazine. Ok, this one is going a little off script because it has, in fact been chosen to run in a magazine. In Japan. But come on, this is one of my favourite shots of the season! Mark Landvik has one of the best methods in the business, the terrain is a little slice of heaven, what's not to like? Transworld? Snowboarder? Snowboard? Frequency... I'm looking at you.

Hell, you can even make a print of it right here if you want.

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 7

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-15T22:50:33-07:00

Hello everyone. Welcome to day 7 of my "shred pictures that have not yet been bought by a magazine" series. But first; good news this morning from our good friend Andy Blumberg at EXPN. Andy and I have been talking about doing a snowboarding/fishing trip for years, ever since we were both at Transworld. I swear to god it's going to happen one of these days. So pop on over and check out the coverage.

Todays shot is Sammy Luebke somewhere in the Kootenay Mountains of Southeastern BC. Sammy stepped in for an injured Ejack this past winter and brought so good style and humour to my winter. Thanks Sammy.

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 6

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-15T08:19:44-07:00

Good Morning my happy friends, and welcome to week two of Snowboard Photo Blog. Today we have a mellow hippy pow scenic of Shin Campos at the end of the day in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Just a nice little shot with no home to ease into the week with.

Thanks to everyone who sent comments and suggestions about the Archive that I wrote about on the weekend. I'm hoping that when the book project is done that I will be able to get the majority of my favourite work up there. Until then, if there is something you want to see, let me know.

Have a good week. Check back often for new shots, or you can just subscribe to my feed.

d.

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Prints, purchases, etc.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-13T09:18:42-07:00

Hello my faithful friends. Well traffic around these parts has been up since the unintended launch of my daily snowboard photo updates this week, and we'll get back to that on Monday, but today I have new news.

Take a look over there on the left and you'll see a new link. Where it used to say prints, now it says sales. (you can just click here if you don't feel like gong way over there to click) Some of you may recall my little experiment with the Photoshelter Collection a few months back. Well they pulled the plug on it this week blaming Getty and the economy and everything. In the process of setting up the collection though, I began to archive photos and through the magic of the internets, you can now buy or license many of my photos from the comfort of your own home.

I have a limited collection of shots up there right now, but I'll be adding weekly. So if you feel like you just need to have that shot of mine on your wall, well now you can. If you see something in the galleries here that isn't yet for sale over there, let me know and I'll get it up ASAP. I'm looking for feedback too, so if you like or dislike anything, please let me know. go ahead, type a word in that box down there and see what I have to offer.

Cheers,

D.

Snowboard Photo Blog: part 5

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-12T09:12:21-07:00

Another shot today for your Friday entertainment. This is a shot of Benji Ritchie from a couple days I spent shooting with the Grenade Films crew for their upcoming film "The boned age". We had a couple of really great days in an area called Seagram's in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Benji is a hard worker and a good guy.

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 4

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-11T07:51:28-07:00

And you thought the beat slowed down? TURN IT UP! Part 4 of my series of unloved, homeless photos from this past season.

Standard Films + Mark Landvik + Helicopters = One of my favourite things.

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 3

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-10T08:23:22-07:00

Hello and welcome to part three of me showing photos from last winter that have yet to find homes in any publication. This particular shot is from the Deep Winter Photo Contest that takes place in January on Whistler and Blackcomb. The idea is that you shoot photos for three days and then make a slideshow and present it on the fourth. To put it bluntly, our team got burned this year. I still have people asking me how we got so ripped off and the answer is, I have no idea, but my team of Dave Short and Shin Campos, with help from Mark Gribbon and Rob Picard, put together a great little slide show. I think the dark mood that I was trying to evoke with the song was maybe a little too "down" for the judges. Dunno. Regardless, this shot of Shin Campos was the last shot in the slideshow.

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 2

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-09T13:11:05-07:00

Continuing with a long tradition (started yesterday), here is a shot from somewhere deep in the Coast Mountains of Romain de Marchi, from an Absinthe Films shoot. Bad news for my friend Romain, he and longtime sponsor Burton parted ways recently, not long after he had a kid. Bummer. I guess things are tough all over.

Dear magazine photo eds, wouldn't this shot look great in your magazine?

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Snowboard Photo Blog

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-09T00:17:18-07:00

I've been quite busy so I decided to share some of my favourite shots from last winter. I'll keep doing this over the next little while, whenever I can't find the time to show you anything new. The book project is coming down to a very busy two months so I probably won't be shooting anything that I can show off for the foreseeable future. Let's hope this will hold you over.

Also, I recently received email from a gentleman in Finland who informed me that my website "sucks", especially my blog. So I apologize to all of my friends, readers and clients for not having more time to make a non-sucking website. I promise that when this project is done I'll commit a month to making a website with a lower amount of suck. But for now, you'll just have to enjoy the one that sucks. Thanks.

Oh ya, these are all photos that the magazines haven't decided to run.

Sammy Luebke at Mt. Baker. Such good snow. Such good style.
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Blue skies and happy days.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-09-01T16:30:53-07:00

Sooo...

Sorry about that last rant. Things were a little dark at that point. In the old days that might have sent me off on a week long bender but now I just blog, shrug, and move on.

Here are some photos to look at and think about all things non-governmental.

-d

happy clouds

happy forest

The Man ( f*** the man)

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-08-29T12:59:21-07:00

Warning: Boring angry rant approaching.

It took me a couple years after moving out of the house to figure out that I had to pay taxes. When I finally did, I was all freaked out that the government was going to come and take away my birthday and throw me in jail, so I went to an accountant. I have had good and bad accountants over the years, but they all know how to deal with the government better than I do, so that was a good move. I finally came across Judi Brown and she has been as much a counsellor as an accountant. She's good people, we like Judi.

So because of my fear of the taxman in the early days, I was always very careful to declare all my income, I rarely claimed all my expenses and I figured that if the day ever came that "the man" took a close look at my books, I would be ok. Of course that was not the case. After living in California for a year, i got a letter from the government on a trip home. It was a tax assessment for 75 thousand dollars. As you can probably imagine an unexpected bill for 75 k isn't on my list of things that I was expecting on my little vacation home. I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of ching just laying around. I actually laughed because I thought it was a mistake.

Two years later Judi had waded through all the crap, re-filed 7 years (they actually asked us to re-file 10 years worth despite rules not requiring Canadian humans to hold onto tax documents for longer than 7 years) of tax returns, PROVED to them that we were right, and in the end, because I've always been honest, we ended up with a sizeable credit.

I mean, that's how it works right? You do everything right and when they ask about it, you show them everything and then they say "oh sorry, our bad, you did the right thing."

No, that's not how it works at all.

How it works is this: They can't stand losing, so they change the rules, disallow your credit, and hit you with another bill. You know why? Because they can't stand to be wrong. They won't pay you back a bit of the money they owe you, and they make the rules so they can change them whenever they want. At this point they have broken their own rules twice trying to make an honest tax filing citizen pay money he doesn't owe and doesn't have.

You wonder why people hate the government? I used to. Now I know. Fuck them.

I can't win. It has already cost me thousands of dollars fighting this and now it will cost me even more. In the end, even when I am proven right, it will have cost me so much that I will be paying it off for years. When you are self employed in an industry as sketchy as Action sports, and photography, it is a constant struggle to make ends meet, and this is the kind of thing that just pushes your head underwater and holds you there. The last bubbles are draining out of my lungs as we speak. I'm drowning.

Back to the good stuff

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-08-25T11:32:32-07:00

My good friend Alex Warburton got married on the weekend in Victoria. The weather held out for him on Saturday and it was spectacular. Sunday morning brought the rains and on the ferry ride home I got lost in all the great colours and textures of the boat. It felt like a really good time for a little photo essay. One of these photos is my favourite. Can you guess which one?

rainforest

pull this lever

lifeboat icon

rainy windows

boat. wake.

Bc feels like this more often than not. Arriving back in Tsawwassen.

from one boat to another

A hard night

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-08-22T16:05:32-07:00

So you think you had a hard night? Look at this little fella and tell me you got it bad...he took a little nap and woke up frozen solid.

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weak week

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-08-21T23:32:29-07:00

I was just sitting here getting ready to close the book on a pretty terrible day when it occurred to me that I have been neglecting my blog this week, which is a shame. The blog serves a weird purpose in my life. I started to blog on a regular basis for work. When we started Future Snowboarding Magazine we were encouraged by the big bosses to embrace all kinds of web shit that would help benefit the traffic to the magazine. I've always written, and I had some pretty good updates on Snowboard.com way back at the turn of the century, so this was just another one of those things.

Pretty soon though my words were more on Myspace than anywhere related to the magazine, and when I launched my website last fall I moved over a few of the posts but mostly started from scratch. Folks who are much smarter than I am write interesting articles that tell me that blogging is a good way to keep your name high on search engines. Sometimes that comes into account, but mostly it doesn't.

Mostly I guess I just have an urge to put photos up that maybe would never have a home, and to say words that aren't that interesting to anyone who I come in daily contact with. Maybe I'm just having a Pump up the Volume fantasy and think that tons of people are paying attention (actually, thanks to google analytics I know exactly how many people are reading and when that number hits triple digits I consider it a success.) (also, thanks to my subscribers)

In the end, I get some really interesting emails from strangers, and some people tell me that they really look forward to them. On a crap day like today, knowing that someone else is stoked on something I've done is reason enough.

This is my (soon to be) brother-in-law Paul wake surfing with Willamina while T coaches. Family time. We had a really fun weekend and I met some good people.

-d

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more new stuff from the past

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-08-15T15:31:17-07:00

I was doing an interview yesterday and the subject donated a bunch of materials to the book project that I'm working on. There in the midst of all this stuff was a single slide in a page, with no label or marking and the picture was of me.

I think this shot was taken in 1991 and I think it's at Mt. Bachelor in Oregon. I could be wrong on both accounts. I have no idea who took it and my friend doesn't even remember how he got it. So, for the second time in as many weeks, and at the risk of making this into some kind of history blog, here is what your faithful protagonist looked like while doing a method 17 years ago. Dig the colourful Westbeach gear...

If you took this photo or know who did, please get in touch with me. I'm off till Monday, have a great weekend.
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Tuesday

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-08-12T11:31:17-07:00

I was up in Whistler all last week doing a project for Whistler/Blackcomb and Origin Design, as well as catching up on some personal thing. One of the personal things was fishing.

Fishing is on of the things that evens me out, it keeps me humble, happy and calm. I love casting flies and catching fish and I don't do it nearly enough. Even though I couldn't convince anyone to go out with me, I braved the wind and went out on Alta Lake. It was a pretty crappy day to be out there, casting was tough and there was no visible surface action, so I fought the wind for a couple hours before getting a text message from my buddy Rob that he was back at the house with Mojitos and bbq. I conceded a loss to the lake and started to kick back to shore. Just as I had given up hope I felt a strong tug on the line and the slow head shake that meant I wasn't just dragging weeds.

5 or 8 minutes later, and after a nice showy jump, a beautiful golden 17 inch cutthroat slid into my net. I was too busy pulling the fly out of the corner of his mouth to take a picture before releasing him back into the lake, but sometimes it's better that way. I don't want to give away all my memories after all.

Thanks to Brian at Whistler Flyfishing for the help picking out new waders and the good deal too!

Here is a picture of a bubble.

False Creek at night.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-08-03T14:34:48-07:00

A shot from last night from the new waterfront in front of the Olympic Village construction. I went out to shoot the Symphony of Fire fireworks last night but the shots I took on the way home were way more fun.

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fireworks

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-08-01T10:19:27-07:00

Well after the Pemberton Festival last week took a day away from work, I have been running around like a chicken with cutoffs on his head trying to catch up. Adding to my is complications is a giant sized rockslide that has closed the road to Whistler and made it very difficult to do a shoot there this weekend. Luckily the clients have pushed back the dates to next week, but it still appears that this monster slide won't be cleared in time and I'll most likely have to fly. Not the worst thing in the world except for the weight restrictions on helicopters and small planes and the fact that I need to travel with a whole bunch of gear. Luckily I have lots of photographer friends in Whistler and have been sourcing gear from them.

In the middle of all this, there were fireworks on Wednesday so T and Willie and I went for a little walk to watch things that go boom.

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Pendygrasse snowboard photography, snowboarding photos, photographs of snowboarders, shred photographers, snowboard photographer, snow photographers, pictures of snowboarding, pictures of snowboarders, photos of snowboards, photos of snowboarding. Daniel Stephen Pendygrasse

Pemberton Festival Madness - super post, lots of photos.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-28T15:47:57-07:00

My fiance T was playing the Pemberton Festival this weekend, so we packed up the car, picked up the camping gear in Whistler and made our way up to a dusty field in the shadow of Mount Currie. It normally takes about 35 minutes to drive from Whistler to Pemberton but we started hearing horror stories of 4 and 5 hour waits so we got in the right headspace, put on some mellow music from DJ K-tel, and hit the road. 10 minutes out of Whistler we were at a standstill. the traffic stopped and started for the next hour and a half but two hours after we left Whistler, we pounded the last tent peg into our campground and set out to explore the festivities.

I've been coming to Pemberton and the surrounding area for years and years, both shooting photos and fishing, and I can tell you one thing for certain, this little town ain't never seen nuthin like this before. So many bands and such a good time. The single narrow road in and out was the biggest problem of the weekend, and many Dj's and bands were late for their sets, the best story of which is this: DJ Rizk, was not even in Pemberton yet and stuck in traffic, with time ticking away until his set. Somehow a girl in line, lent him her bike and he rode past all the traffic to make his timeslot in the B-live tent. He didn't even know the girl and after his set he had to go find her to return the bike. Epic.

It was a fun weekend for me. I left the computer and cameras at home, other than the G9 (which is becoming dusty and useless), and since I had no job to do but enjoy, I saw the shows I wanted to see, saw a bunch of friends, relaxed and had my first vacation of the summer. As it turns out, vacations are good.

Musical highlights for me were My Morning Jacket, Chromeo was good even though I only caught two songs, The motherfucking Flaming Lips were as entertaining as ever, Deathcab are tight as hell and sound great, Buck 65 was a one man wrecking crew, Interpol was good, DJ Dopey brought on the symphony and brought down the house, I saw Vampire Weekend for the first time and really liked them, dang, I saw a lot of music. We're doing a pile of laundry, everything is dusty as hell, and I slept like a log last night. Looking forward to next year...

This is at about 1 hour

Wes Makepeace hit the stage and told the folks what's what.

Hebejebe wakes up the crowd with his unmistakable sound

At one point Buck 65 put on Fine Young Cannibals and lip synced along. The crowd went wild and then after a couple verses he just chuckled and turned it off. "The Centaur" was sweet.

What's with all the confetti? Must be those goddamn Flaming Lips

Chromeo are killing it these days. I spent all last summer listening to fancy footwork on the cbc 3 podcast in Honduras.

Flavor Flav was booked, but we got this guy.

Oh no you dint!?! DJ Dopey gets creative with members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

mmmmmm, festival dog.

This one is for Nikki

Nothin says Festival like covering yourself in paint.

Interpol, meet Mount Currie.

HEADPHONE BABY!

And the sun sets on the whole shebang...

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Life before this life

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-23T22:47:25-07:00

Right around the time I started getting pictures published, I had to quit my real job, and make a go of being a photographer. Those were lean years and I was broke. I did all kinds of strange things to make a buck and keep paying the rent until the photo thing took off. Coming from a background of being a sponsored snowboarder, I would do whatever jobs I could get relating to that. I modeled winter clothes for Japanese magazines, snowboarded and had lines an early Kokanee beer commercial, was an extra in that movie "Ski School" and on and on.

One of the best jobs I got though, was being a stunt guy for a Hong Kong action Movie called "Black Cat". Legendary shredder Kevin Young and I spent a few days getting chased off cornices by snowmobiles, riding through gunfire, lobbing grenades, and doing methods that knocked guns out of peoples hands. I think I made a couple hundred bucks. It was really bad, but the job was fun and I got to see how a movie set worked.

I never saw the movie. And now, by the magic of youtube, I have. I guess someone included it in some euro shred movie back then. Weird.

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Devun

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-22T19:28:08-07:00

Devun was over this morning to do an interview for Frequency Magazine. It was good to see my old friend again, we didn't shoot at all this past season which definitely bums me out. We shot some portraits and I posted one in the Current Gallery.

Once again, shooting is so much more enjoyable than selling photos.

Let me know what you think. Oh ya, you can add me to your RSS feed or Google reader or whatever you use, and keep up with all my updates.

d.
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Dog days of summer

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-19T23:02:00-07:00

More shots from the hood.

Not to much to say about these. Folks have told me they like the photo updates so they will keep coming. I like the fact that I am shooting things that have no home and no expectation of sales. My entire career I've been making pictures with the exclusive purpose of sales, but with my group of "walking around town" shots, I never think, never try to make something commercial, just click away at things that look cool to me for whatever reason, and that's all I need. They're probably the most honest pictures I take. They aren't challenging or groundbreaking, but if you look long enough, you'll learn everything there is to know about me.

I think you will notice a theme

trash chute and construction

great f'n shapes, reflections, and light

that balloon is so crooked

bald dude taking a morning break.

The grind, I'm back to it.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-14T22:00:01-07:00

I just got back from Whistler this morning after a whirlwind tour. I had about a million things to get done up there including two shoots, and I think I got about 800 000 of them completed. The rest will have to wait till next trip. Highlights included some of the best wedding speeches I've ever heard, Sushi Village, summer shred (watch here for a Dano cameo), some family time ( I hauled rounds of firewood around for the old man), home cooking, quality time at the skatepark with old friend and legendary luddite Scotty (Vinyl Ritchie) Arkwell and Robby Picard of the WVSC, and working with some really great folks.

The best part by far was casting a dry line and watching a trout take my caddis pattern. I don't care that he was 8 inches long, and I don't care that my 15 year old waders are so leaky that I was soaked from the nipples down, because I was tossing flies like I never stopped, and man, I love me some fishing.

While I was gone Rob Haggart of the widely read blog "A Photo Editor" put out a posting with a listing of outdoor photographers. After a little bribe, he even included me.

So... good times in Whistler. It was cool to see Rich Carlson skate for a minute as well. Until he went to the medical clinic.

model courtyard

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-09T19:40:26-07:00

I'm off for a couple days, going to shoot some things and won't be updating till next week. I'll leave you with this. It's the courtyard from my building taken from my patio. Don't you feel like a GIANT!

What do salad dressing and feminism have in common?

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-08T16:31:59-07:00

The other day I was walking to a meeting in Gastown when I passed an interesting little shrine on a bench.

Feminist author Marilyn French's three volume tome "From Eve to Dawn" took over 15 years to write, but has been criticized for playing fast and loose with the facts in its 1700 pages.

Kraft's Calorie Wise Thousand Island dressing hits you with just 20 Calories per serving and is versatile and delicious.

But what are they doing sitting together on a bench watching soccer practice?

cool shit

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-07T13:15:50-07:00

This came across my blog reader this morning and I'm afraid that if you don't think it's cool, we may not be able to be friends anymore.

Thanks to www.changethethought.com who got it from somewhere else that was a dead link for me.

More shots from the hood

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-06T16:40:30-07:00

This week I have a couple of shooting gigs, which will be a nice change from what I've been doing. Lately I've been up to my eyes with the book project and with selling shots from the winter, and while both of those things are going really well, it's just not the same as shooting photos. In fact, the only time I'm shooting at all these past weeks is walking the dog around the hood.

I still love my Canon g9 for this kind of thing, it's so small and portable and durable too.

Here are some shots of my hood:

Cirque du soleil is across the street all summer

One of those cool buildings that gets really thin and one end. This one is called Hotel Europe.

Lone dude on the soccer field. Looks like the turf needs some work

Taking a break.

Sailing is hard

I love what old glass does.

The dominion building and victory square.

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Prints

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-05T18:15:39-07:00

I've added a new link over there on the left for selling prints. I am still working on my online sales capability since I'm a moron when it comes to web skillz, (anyone who wants to help a brother out, just let me know) but once I have that figured out I have a super dope new feature that I will unveil in the link over there. Until then, go buy one of the beautiful framed prints.

Both of them ran in Future Snowboarding Magazine last year and they are of Shin Campos and Josh Dirksen. The shot of Josh was the opener for the very last "shootout" feature that I edited.

Shoes from heaven

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-04T16:22:19-07:00

Sometimes I get packages from manufacturers. This is one of the strange and wonderful things about being a photographer in the action sports industry. I almost never ask for things, because I feel really fortunate, and I don't like waste, so I don't want to get a lot of stuff that I don't really need in the first place. When I do, I can always find someone who needs it, so it never goes to waste, but still, I don't like to ask.

Nike 6.0 has been sending me stuff on a regular basis, and at this point, with the exception of my slip-on Vans, flip flops, and New Balance dog walking shoes, I pretty much rock Nike 6.0 all the time. I like almost everything they send me, with very few exceptions, but sometimes they just get it so damn right that it is like they are reading my mail. I just got another package, two hoodies, super subtle logos, in black and green. My favourite shirt colours, and then there are the shoes. Black and white and red as far as the eye can see, and hightops.

Life is so sweet. Now if I could just get all the people who owe me money to pay up, everything would be perfect.

The summer. It is come.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-03T15:29:38-07:00

As the summer finally hits in all its glory, I am swamped with work. I am convinced though, that I live in the best place in the world. My fascination with Vancouver's old buildings continues, while new ones pop up all over the place.

Here are some shots of the world around me. More coming soon. I love the Canon g9 more every day.

She casts a long shadow for a short dawg.

Pixelated clouds

Nuclear.

Lunch.

these colours were making my eyes hurt.

evening glow

nice new shapes

July second

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-02T08:38:35-07:00

My patriotism spilled over into a whole 'nother Day!

July first

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-07-01T23:15:20-07:00

Happy Canada Day everyone. We had a spectacular day in Vancouver. Beach, books, movies, bikes, blades...

The end of the future

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-06-22T12:05:13-07:00

I've held off for a week talking about the demise of Future Snowboarding Magazine but it's sunday and I have a minute, and I've had some time to digest the news. I've spoken to most of the people there and although it was a huge shock, they are all moving forward - life goes on. That office was a really amazing place, it was full of some of the most interesting people I've met through snowboarding and it feels like beyond losing something we built, people are most disappointed that the "band" is getting broken up and won't get to play together anymore.

When FSM started, it was going to be the centerpiece of a group of action sports magazines, and Future US, the parent company, set up infrastructure to support that. The Solana Beach office was in a brand new building and was big enough to run several titles. That never happened, in fact the skateboard division, run by the incomparable Adam Sullivan never even became a viable division and was shut after the first season. When people read in the blogs that the reasons for closing FSM were financial, they assume that the magazine was failing, however that simply isn't the case. The magazine itself was growing again this year, it had new advertisers and bigger commitments from some of the existing advertisers. It was continuing to push forward with creative and interesting content and taken without the context of the action sports "group", could only be seen as a success. However...

Future US looked again at how much it would cost to build an entire action sports division, and decided they were no longer willing to spend that kind of money. Publishing is going through a transition right now, and you'd have to be blind not to see how precarious the magazine industry in general is. Money is getting pulled off the table every single day in favour of online, and other non traditional outlets and many people are waiting to see what the next big thing is going to be instead of investing in traditional print publications. Combine that with a really shaky world economy and you have the recipe for conservative decisions when it comes to expanding business.

Despite some incredibly challenging hurdles I was proud of what we did at FSM. The magazine wasn't for everyone, nothing is, but we worked really hard to put out something that was useful and entertaining and I would say that we accomplished that. We tried to subtly push the sport in directions that we wanted to see it go, and whether or not we accomplished that, I like what is going on in snowboarding now more than I did when we started FSM. We may never get credit for some of the changes, but if you look carefully at what trends emerged during the last three years, and look at the philosophy of our mag, you will find a lot of commonality.

So the public reaction has been interesting, a good friend of mine said to me this week "trust me, a magazine is never more popular than on the day it closes" and i guess we're seeing some of that. People have been very kind and generous in their assessment of Future's legacy, but I guess only time will tell how history views FSM. Somebody asked me this week "do you regret moving down there now that it's closed?" and I have to answer no. I worked with people who i will call friends for life, and I saw the other side of magazine production, which has made me a far better editorial photographer. It allowed me to have one of my most successful shooting seasons this past year, and I'm grateful for that.

It also made me trust big business less, which I didn't really think was possible, and I understand now how sometimes good people make really bad decisions, and how bad people are almost sociopathic in their lack of empathy for the humans surrounding them. Definitely the most tumultuous years of my life, I appreciate life now more. I'm a better photographer and a better person for having made that mag, and it all started in a shitty office in San Marcos looking like this:

I should note that I have been out of the office for just over a year, and was no longer privy to the day to day goings on of making FSM. I was still in close contact with the team though. My opinions are my own and if I've posted anything spurious, feel free to comment and correct me.

D.

Stew

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-06-15T12:58:04-07:00

reconnecting with old friends is the best. me and Jon Stewart used to ride for Crazy Banana in the 80's...

Checkin in.

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-06-10T19:27:47-07:00

Hi folks. Sorry it’s been so long, things have been busy around here negotiating and starting my new summer project. I’ve been hinting away at what it is for awhile, and you’ll all know soon, but for now I’ll give you this; it’s a book.

It’s been super rainy here for the last couple weeks and I haven’t been shooting much. Part of the process of the summer project is digging through the vaults and finding some old shots. Take a look and see if you can figure out what I’m up to…

Also, I've updated some shots in all the galleries and done some reorganizing of the site. A little less history and a little more recent stuff is up now. I need to do a big rebuild but with the new project that may be awhile, so for now I'm just grinding off the rough corners a bit.

spring days

dano@danopendygrasse.com — 2008-05-30T16:47:42-07:00

So my girl is away working in Roatan right now. I'm missing her and working away. Sold a shot today to a clothing manufacturer and magazines have been making their selects and I've been shipping them out. Life is good, but a big part of me wants to be in the warm water with my girl, 80 feet down and looking at fishes. There have been both Manta Rays and Hammerheads on the dives in the last week. Here is a pic of T walking the dog a few days before she left.