Since moving to Vancouver my fishing has suffered. In Whistler I used to pop out to the lake several times a week, and hit up the rivers fairly often as well. Vancouver was intimidating. Where to go? How could I fish without going shoulder to shoulder with the crowds of tin-chucking meat harvesters? I don’t keep fish often, it’s a pain in the ass to clean, carry and care for them and the truth of the matter is, I’d rather fish for a big trout in a catch-and-release only stream than a million average trout in an overstocked put-and-take fishery. But that’s me, I don’t judge.

Last week I finally got out to the Skagit. To say that it’s “local” is a bit of a stretch, the drive is over 2 hours from downtown. In fact, I could probably get to the Birkenhead faster, but I’m looking for new water and the Skagit is that. Plus I went with Jon Cartwright and he’d spent a productive day there last year, pulling decent fish on the dry fly, so I wasn’t going in completely blind.

First of all, this is some beautiful water. Right now you can wade it everywhere, there are perfect deep holes, riffles, undercut banks and best of all, fish. Almost right away we started to see big silver flashes in the deeper water. Like, BIG flashes. That and lots of surface action. Then I started turning over rocks and what I found blew me away. Huge mayfly nymphs, massive cased caddis, and lots of stoneflies. Eventually I found one of the biggest I’ve ever seen, almost two inches long!

There were a few fishermen and women around but people moved frequently and we never felt crowded. The rainbows here are as cautious as they are plentiful. I found a noticeable difference in my luck when I switched up and fished 5x tippet after a relatively slow patch with 3x fished wet. We had luck on dark stone nymphs, not so much with the golden stones that had been recommended and all sorts of dries. At first we concentrated on elk hair caddis, but after we started to see more mays coming off, we moved to green, yellow and black humpies and had the most action. Really pretty rainbows between 12 and 14 inches were the order of the day.

Near the end of the day I got too curious about those big silver flashes and put a big black bead head leech on my sinking line, dropped it into a deep slow running hole and waited. A minute later as I slowly retrieved I felt a heavy weight. At first I thought I had bottom, then the bottom did a head shake and I knew I was into something better. I could tell pretty quickly that I was into a Dolly. He took a few sharp runs but mostly just bulldogged me and worked his way into the current whenever he could. On the 5 weight, he was a perfect fish. He measured out just over 18 inches when he finally gave up and showed off his vibrant peach-coloured spots and flashy sides. He was a little skinny, but clean. From the flashes I saw, I’m pretty sure that he was small to average, I’d wager there are some of his far bigger brothers in there too. But that’s for another day.

So I’ve got a little gem in my pocket now, I’ve seen some beautiful water, not too far from home, and am looking forward to learning more about this beautiful river.


First look

First fish on a black nymph

Jon tests the banks

A small stone nymph. The huge one I found was a little too active for a photo.

Jon releases a bow.

and casts for another one.

Under these rocks, lots of fish food.

The dolly.

Full length.

End of the day.

Tags: fishing, rivers, skagit, Photography, BC

The other day we took the aquabus down False Creek to Granville Island for breakfast. As it turns out, almost everyone who serves breakfast there stops serving it at 11 o’clock, so if you’re thinking of going for brunch, you might end up having lunch instead. We had blueberry crepes though and they were delicious. We also found out later that the food place in the net loft serves breakfast all day. So now you know. Here are some shots of things from Granville Island.

I’m in Sweden for a couple of weeks. I’ll put up some photos soon.

D.


The aquabus arrives.

Sylvie is very excited about the aquabus!

crepes. mmmmmmm.

conversation.

happy sausage. mmmmm.

stuffed peppers. mmmm.

fresh new potatoes. mmmm.

a big stack of cherries. mmmmmm.

prawns! mmmmmmm.

carrots

fresh salmon!

desert.

amazing looking tomatoes.

Tags: granville island, food, Photography, Vancouver

I have cool friends. Stylish friends. Amazing and interesting friends that make me look like pretty much of a shlub in comparison.

The other day we went over to my friends Semele and Bruce's home for an afternoon cocktail before heading out for a sushi dinner. They have taken a typical vancouver box house and turned it into a beautful example of good design and impecable taste. When we got there some surfy acoustic bliss was coming out of this stereo record machine. Sounds as good as it looks and made for a perfect soundtrack for Sem's spur-of-the-moment blender drink creations.

Good times, good company, summer...real nice.

D.

Tags: Stereo, Mid century modern, friends, Photography

So the last time that La Cirque de Soleil set up across the street from us, we looked at the tents for a month or six weeks or whatever and barely discussed going to the show. After it was gone we kinda slapped our heads and said "What the Hell were we thinking?"

La Cirque is back with a show called Kooza and this time we're not going to miss it dammit. However, our tickets aren't until we're back from sweden so I'll have to wait a few weeks. Until then, here is a review and some photos that I've taken in the last few days. The tents are so big and distinctive that they are hard to miss on our daily walks. I've yet to really get a shot that I like but will continue to snap away.

D.



The inside of BC Place and the cirque tent and our building

In tents, Intense.

La Cirque with no Soleil.

Tags: circus, Vancouver, Photography

Yesterday was the second annual Hastings Park Wiener Dog races. Louise was a little young for them last year, but this year she was ready to go. After an extensive training program (4 days of running from one parent to the other in the park) she was ready to test her skills against some of the finest racing dachshunds on the planet. Or at least the 64 who bothered to sign up in time from Greater Vancouver.

Right out of the gate she was flying, until she noticed that there were 6 other dogs behind her, so she slowed to take a look at them all. That's right about the time that she noticed Max, a good looking chocolate dapple, making a break for the finish line. She hit the gas and almost caught him at the wire, but had to settle for second.

So Louise didn't advance to the final, but she did show a lot of promise and flat out speed. If she can focus next year, I think she might take it.

Our friend Nancy has a little video of the race. From her angle it looks like Weezy caught up and won. It was that close.

D.


That is one good looking racing dog.

No pre race nerves here. Cool as a cucumber.

Proud parent.

I took a t/s lens with me. (No I didn't).

Mom stretches it out and perfects her form.

In the gate and ready to rip.

So right here is where she got a little sidetracked. "Hey, what are all you guys doing back there?"

I was so excited that I stopped looking through the viewfinder and just let the camera rip. Focus/shmocus.

Actually, the sound of pounding hooves is really soothing.

I don't bet on the ponies.

The winning form of Joey. Two years running.

Next year Louise will have some training behind her and give him a run for his money. Or not, whatever she feels like...

Tags: dachshunds, racing, hastings park, wiener dogs, Photography

After 6 weeks diving I came home to no obligations and a fierce need to go fishing. I unpacked for a week and caught up on some things and then called my old friend Rob from Whistler Cigars.

Me: "hey buddy, I'm thinking about trying to sneak away for a few days of fishing"

Rob: "I'm leaving Sunday at 6 AM with a couple friends..."

Me: "Done and done!"

So a couple days later I'm driving with my oldest friend up to a lake that we haven't been to together in about ten years. I'm writing a little story about the trip so I'll keep it short, but here are some shots from the trip. Enjoy.

I've been off blogging for awhile, but I'm back in the groove folks. You'll be seeing lots more from me again.

D.

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Sunrise at 5:45 in Whistler.

flybox full of options

pumping the stomach to find out what they are feeding on.

Chironomid fishing is a patient business.

Misty evening sunset fishing.

Rainy and cold in July.

And even some damn snow.

A boy and his dog.

Hydration is essential...

...as is proper nutrition.

Neon green sunset forest. Notice the Beetle-killed pines?

This is what it's all about.

Tags: fishing, friends

What a crazy couple of weeks.

It goes without saying, but during the Olympics the eyes of the world were on Vancouver. There was so much going on that it was almost impossible to keep track, so here is a little wrap-up of the projects I was involved with.

I worked with Monster to put on a series of parties at Grouse Mountain, the highlight of which was Live Transmission. It took place the night of the Men's halfpipe contest and featured Mixologist Darryl McDonald from Port Restaurant in Toronto creating adult beverages from behind a custom ice bar, and Chicago MC Kid Sister who blew everyone away with her set.




Over on Mt. Seymour, I was working with Nike 6.0 to document the installation of their "Greatest Hits" park. The idea was to give locals a place that they could hit up some really iconic urban jibs in one setting. the 6.0 crew did an amazing job on recreating a version of the Quebec Red Ledge a few weeks ago, and then smack dab in the middle of the Olympics they unleashed a perfect replica of the infamous Burlington double set that has been featured in shred flicks for years. With the video I set out to do an opening segment that could be mistaken for a true urban setup, and then reveal it to be part of the greatest hits park. Since a couple Olympians dropped by we had a ton of issues with clearance, but eventually it got done and released. I like the opening. We did a ski and a snowboard edit, here is the ski edit.



I spoke a bit here about the Aries 2010 project that I was involved with, that took place right in the middle of all the Olympic madness as well. Here is a shot from Trevor Graves, and the video of the project. I can't say enough about being able to speak at this event, the people involved are just so top notch and the idea behind it is overdue. Thanks Trevor for thinking of me.





I also managed to sneak in some actual Olympics. In fact, I was somehow lucky enough to attend the single biggest hockey game of my lifetime, the Canada vs. USA gold medal game. I've never been so consumed with a sporting event. As someone who came a little late to hockey fan-dom, I have certainly embraced it now. There are some shots on my flickr, and here are a couple to tease you.


Faceoff

Team Canada sings the anthem

crosby waves the flag

And now it's on to the Grenade Games. You'll start seeing more from me on that by the end of the week. Stay tuned...

Tags: Monster Energy, Nike 6.0, Aries2010, Olympics

A few months back my old friend Trevor Graves from Nemo asked me to be involved with a project that he was putting together. It's called Aries2010 and it is a time capsule to chronicle historical artifacts from the progression of snowboarding. At first he just asked me to submit some photography, which of course I was happy to do, but as the date of the opening reception came closer he asked if I would be a keynote speaker with Legend Terry Kidwell. That was an easy decision despite the fact that I've been underwater with other projects in the run-up to the Olympics.

As I walked in the door last night I began to understand the scope of what Trevor had undertaken. He spent months talking to many of the players and original characters from snowboarding and collecting many of the most significant bits and pieces of detritus from our culture. There are more memories in that room than you can imagine including many prototypes of influential boards, boots and bindings. Obviously it's not all going to fit into the Aries capsule, but everything has been documented and will be included as well as some select items.

I was honored to say a few words and show a quick slideshow that did its best to shed some light on my perspective of the history of Canadian snowboarding, but I was most honored to be able to introduce Terry Kidwell. His influence on snowboarding can't be understated. He was a critical participant in the design of the first kicktail that ushered in the concept of riding both ways on a board, and then he took that design to the hills and basically invented freestyle snowboarding. Terry never made a fortune from his snowboard career so he's auctioning some of the most photographed boards in the history of snowboarding. A semi-tragedy that is all too common with athletes in young sports. I know he appreciated the turnout last night and young shredders and pros alike were literally lining up to shake his hand and let him know how big a deal he is to them. I saw more than one person stand speechless in front of him.

Here are some photos, I wish I had more time too shoot but I was kept busy most of the night. The whole set is on Flickr. My pal Mark Gribbon shot the photo wall all night and you can see those shots here. If you can get your hands on the Aries book, it is a remarkable document and will be going in my permanent collection. (Right next to Out West, which I gave out quite a bit last night too) If you are in Vancouver before the 19th you pretty much have to go down to the Boardroom and check this out. the closing reception is on Friday and the always entertaining Ken Ach will be speaking.


Trevor's "misty cam". Many photogs in the mid 90's would have given a digit to see this little number.

Trevor and Ken Achenbach in front of the actual capsule.

Shaun Palmer's infamous gold victory suit.

Ken Ach checks out the Kidwell quiver. The best snowboard shots of the 80's were taken on these boards.

John Kamitakahara is a long time Vancouver snowboarder, photographer and unintentional archivist. He was stoked to meet Kidwell.

Annie Boulanger is Rider of the year. What you know bout dat?

Terry talks to a rapt audience.

Former SBC editor and current Push.ca editor Matt Houghton with legend Chris Nicholls.

Kidwell and Kevin Sansalone compare notes.

Tags: nike, Aries2010, snowboarding, Vancouver, Terry Kidwell, Kevin Sansalone, Annie Boulanger, Trevor Graves

Back from my trip to Maui to celebrate my one year anniversary. We had a great 10 days in the sun and spent most of it underwater with our friends Gabe and Sarah. The highlight of the week, aside from the obvious milestone of the first year of marriage, was spending 15 minutes around 85 feet underwater with 30 foot long whale shark. This is the biggest fish in the ocean and for most of us, a once in a lifetime experience. Having spent a bunch of time in Utila, my wife T had snorkeled with Whale Sharks on numerous occasions, but to be deep underwater with one, and have it hang around, is rare and we are still amazed by our luck. I didn't have an underwater camera rig on this trip so you'll have to settle for the flickr group that was taken by our divemaster Joe. Thanks to Ed Robinson's dive operation, this is the second year we've done our boat dives with them and they are a solid operation with great people. We did around a dozen shore dives over the course of the week too, and we rented our tanks from B & B scuba in Kihei. They're a really great shop and nice people who took care of us last year and again this year.

For my scuba geek friends, you'll be stoked that we saw over a dozen different nudibranchs, some of which are unnamed and still unknown, eagle rays, more turtles than you could count, huge and tiny scorpionish, devil, leaf, and more, tons of frogfish, one of them even freeswimming, lots of whitetip sharks and some grey reef sharks, that I missed but everyone else saw, tons of different eels including dwarf, whitemouth, yellow margin, zebra and tiger moray, and just about every tropical fish you can imagine.

Here are some shots from the trip.

D.


The "Sea Spirit", our trusty ride.

Kits on board.

Sunset from Wailea

Part of a beautiful drive on our way to a remote shore dive.

On our way to the Mala ramp shore dive.

Rays over the water, rays under the water.

Lahaina

Legendary Hawaiian diver Ed Robinson.

Tags: scuba diving, maui, Vacation, Life, Photography

"Whoa. Are you still here? Wow. Nice to see you. Me? I've been away. In Roatan, Honduras. Ya, there was a "coup". Big Earthquake too. How big? 7.1! I know, it was crazy. Well, between that and the swine flu scare the tourists pretty much stopped coming. Ya, that's why I'm on my way back to Vancouver. Just in time for the salmon in the rivers and the leaves to change colour. I'm hoping for an indian summer, I love Vancouver in September.

Pictures? Sure, I took some. Not as many as i would have liked, the divemaster training kept me from shooting much and then I started to work leading divers and couldn't take a camera along. Ya, it was a bit of a bummer, but I was happy for the chance to get some experience.

What now? Well I have a couple of interesting job offers and it's an Olympic year so there will be lots of things to shoot, but truthfully, I'm mostly just looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and catching up with friends. Yes, of course I'll start writing regularly again. Having reliable electricity and internet makes blogging a lot easier.

Well thanks, I'm glad to see you again too. Talk soon."

Tags: Roatan, Vancouver, Life, work, plans

I'm back in Vancouver for a week on an unscheduled break from summer in Roatan. A few days ago our dog Willamina was poisoned and after 10 agonizing hours died in our arms. She was an innocent victim of some local kid's vendetta against a Rottweiler. 6 dogs died within 24 hours from this little prick's poison. There is a special place in hell reserved for assholes like that and I truly hope he dies slowly, painfully, and in view of his loved ones.

It's hard not to lash out at the place and culture that took our girl from us but we're determined not to. Bad things happen everywhere and we're not immune here in the first world. In fact we'll be back in Honduras by Friday and that will help us to start to put this behind us. Besides, Will is there and so it will always be a special place to us.

I don't have a lot to say right now, precious little about photography, but if you haven't hugged your dog lately, or your family, or friends, go do that now. Things change fast, and when they do, the biggest regrets are the little things we failed to do.

D.

Tags: willie

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been in Roatan for a week now, took about half that to get my bags, battled off the dreaded "roatan gut" for a few days and then got down to business. I'm doing my divemaster training with Reef Gliders and have started to wade through the thousands of pages of reading and tests, but still have managed to sneak in a few dives. I always like to shoot at El Aguila, it has lots of cool lines and as I learn how to shoot underwater better, it's a good baseline to judge myself against.

Yesterday on the first dive, I was shooting a photo of a turtle passing me by when I heard Barry banging away like mad on his tank trying to get my attention. Barry isn't really one to bang his tank a lot, so I figured something exciting was going on. As it turns out a big green Moray Eel had snuck up behind me and was biting my fin! Never had that happen before! When I got back to the shop and looked at my photos I saw him sneaking up on me in the background of this shot.


Sneaky Green Moray Eel and turtle.


Just blowing bubbles.


A diver on the wreck.


Goldentail Moray's are my favourite eel around here


And finally a flamingo tongue.

It's a little tough to keep up with the blog here, the power still goes out pretty much once a day, the internet is painfully slow and I am kept really busy with the DM course, but I'll try to get something up at least once a week, hopefully more. I'm going to try to get photos up here as often as I can too, so check it out if you like.

Cheers,

d.

Tags: Roatan, Life, Photography

This week I was in at the Monster office saying my goodbyes when Libby asked about the going away presents. Now I've always thought that when someone leaves a job, the people at that place of work have a "going away party" or give that person some sort of "gift" as a token of their friendship and appreciation. It turns out that I was wrong. Dead wrong.

"Where are our presents?" Asked Libby. You see, what I didn't know, (and suspect that Libby didn't until it came out of her mouth at that very moment) was that at the Monster office, when you leave you are obligated to GIVE presents.

Well I thought about sending a fruit basket, I trolled around Home Depot looking for something funny (to which Libby replied; "New rule: no Home Depot presents") and eventually realized, with 3 dollars left in my pocket, that the best present I could give is the gift of memories.

Here is a little photo essay of our trip to lunch one day. There is a restaurant down on East Hastings that offers steak for less than 10 bucks. I've always looked at it and wondered "who goes there? It looks so sketchy." Well now I know who goes there: Friends.


Hand painted signs are the best. Is that the best bull ever?


Oh so THIS is where friends meet.


This is the sign that always had me wondering.


MMMMMMMMM. Multi and Tasty.


Oh I shouldn't.


The proprietress


Dave and Paul map their culinary attack


These live on bulls.


The view.


The meal.


Libby likes?


Let's just drop off some cards. Notice the No LImits in there?


Uh. We're done.


And then there was weird homeless sex acts on the way home.


You're welcome. And I'm out. I'll miss you guys. Best crew ever.

Tags: Libby, Rak, Dave, Brave Bull

Earlier this week I drove to Whistler early one morning to shoot some park. You can watch a video of that day here. On the way up, past Squamish, in the Cheakamus canyon I was the 4th or 5th vehicle at an accident scene. As I dove up I saw the highway was blocked by a pickup truck that had been dumped on its cab. Two people were taking the driver out and then took her (I think) to the barrier where they were attending to her. She walked away from this.


Motorists attend to the victim of an early morning accident on Highway 99 north of Squamish, April 7, 2009.

She was taken care of and I was late, so after I saw that I couldn't be of any assistance I drove on. I called it in to Mountain FM, so if you were listening to the radio on Tuesday you might have heard Dano.

Drive safe.

Tags: truck, crash, sea to sky Highway, Photography

Just after I started writing this blog I got a call fro the New Westminster police to tell me that my truck had been recovered, a week to the day since it was stolen from in front of my building. There is some damage but it looks like I will be getting it back. It remains to be seen how long that will take and what condition it will be in. Of course my sled is gone. I'm going to have to eat that loss and it completely sucks. If anybody is looking at a really good deal on a 2007 skidoo summit 600, please take a close look at the VIN and give me a call or drop me a line.

I shot a couple things over the weekend including the Showdown over the City and was going to show some photos but I suddenly don't care that much. Instead I'll show you this:



Life magazine is allowing bloggers and non-commercial web folks to use images from their archives free of charge, a very interesting move.

Tags: Life.com, Life, truck, theft

One of the weird things about theft is the unforeseen consequences that go along with it. My truck and snowmobile were stolen from the front of my building this week. This in itself was devastating but pile on top of it the fact that I was on my way to shoot for a job that I really need to finish, and as result, I missed the best day of the week. That's not the end of the world, but it stings and puts me even further behind on an increasingly huge workload.

I lost that whole day. I lost half a day dealing with ICBC and police. I have lost my ability to get to and from my work at a time when I desperately need to be mobile. But worst of all is the fact that I am mad and disheartened and I have no ability to be creative when I am angry.

I tend to portray myself as a pretty happy guy on this blog. For the most part that is true, but I am a reformed cynical punk rocker angry kid mad at the world, and that guy is lurking just below the surface at all times. When he gets out, I tend to not be very fun to be around. He was knocking on the door with a crowbar this week begging me to come out and play.

I took a few days off from blogging because I didn't want to vent here, and I'm glad I did. There have been a couple of really generous people who have offered to help and that has been a little bright spot in a dark week. I have about six weeks left in the season and I feel like I am at square one. I've been trying to be a better person in the last few years and to have this shit come down just days after raising a bunch of money for my favourite cause is one of those things that makes you scratch your head.

Tags: theft

Sorry this took a whole day to get up. Better late than never.

Thank you very much to everyone who came out to my opening at the Blake Jorgenson Gallery on Saturday night. It was extremely well attended as was the party after at the Firerock. Special thanks go to Libby, Dave, Paul and Nelson from Monster. Scott Arkwell and Mat the Alien who kept the place rockin' all night long and longer, Holly and Joey at the gallery, Russell Dalby who shot photos at the party (you can see them here) and all the people who donated spinal cord research through Murray Siple and the Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion. We raised around 500 dollars and I'm really stoked on that. I'll let you know the exact amount when I count it later tonight. I especially want to thank my wife T who has to put up with all the chaos in my life.

Highlights of the night for me were seeing unexpected old friends like Don Schwartz and Scott Murray as well as JF Pelchat, Shin Campos (who brought his two week old daughter Cora!), David Aubry, Stu and Abby who managed to show even though we didn't think they could make it, Gerhard Gross, Michelle and Ryan from Whistler/Blackcomb
and lots of photogs like John Scarth from SBC, Phil Tifo, Mark Gribbon, Eric Berger, and Jeff Patterson who narrowly avoided a huge avalanche earlier in the day.

Damon from Coastal Riders was there with a ton of the Party Snake kids and they kept the management worried, Gnarcore was in the place too, with Brockelbank having the most fun of anyone grilling Murray about his old snowboard movies and Rouleau sporting a trainwreck of a haircut.

Good times had by all, lots of telegrams and roses from folks who couldn't make it, and I even managed to get up the mountain to shoot a couple photos and ride all day Sunday. The show runs till April 15th so drop by and take a look.




Nelson, Libby, Paul and Dave. The Monster crew. "New rule: shiny backgrounds" Russell Dalby photo.

I carried this thing around till it was heavy and full of money. Russell Dalby photo.

Jim Barnum showed up sporting an original shirt from the first Westbeach classic at Cypress in 1989! Still neon after all these years.

This was the last shot I took in the Gallery after it opened. Then it got busy and I started shmoozing...

Tags: gallery

I might as well admit right here and now that I don't know squat about photographers. I mean, other photographers. Well, that's not entirely true, I've learned a lot in the last couple years, but for the longest time I didn't know any important photographers beyond Ansel Adams. And that was just fine with me. I lived in a bubble and I liked it. When my shooting started evolving from pure "action sports" into something a little more advanced, I wanted keep the process as untainted as possible. I was really afraid of being overwhelmed by an influence and becoming derivative as a result.

In the last few years I have seen young action sports photographers take unique ideas and recreate them, and pass them off as their own. I think it's totally reprehensible, but the shots are getting published, so I guess I have a higher standard for originality. There is a lack of shame about it to, as if the copyist is entitled to the concept simply because they've seen it with their own eyes. The entitled generation has an entirely different value set and it's interesting to see how they interact with the establishment. I'm sure that at some point I'll see the bigger picture, but right now I just see selfish kids who only know how to take.

One day about a year and half ago, I was showing my friend Tim Zimmerman a bunch of my older non-action sports shots as I scanned them and put them online. He said something like "whoa, Jay Maisel influence eh?" I said: "Who?"

This is exactly what I was trying to avoid, and it didn't work at all. Without ever having seen the man's work I was being compared to him, and I was pissed off. Well in a very short time I completely changed my tune. I stopped being afraid of influences and started to embrace them. Of course, I'm not interested in recreating anyone's photo, but I've gained a lot by looking at peoples' process. In fact that is what led me to finally take a workshop last spring after avoiding them for 15 years. And of course, I learned a ton. Maybe not just from Heisler, but also from some of the other people involved. Just watching other people work changes how we work. We see solutions to problems we've been having. We learn little tricks. Questions that we have are answered and inevitably we have that moment of "Ah Haaaaaa!"

During the Heisler workshop I met Jay in the flesh, his unmistakable marble mouthed commentary sharing the little bits and pieces that make up who he is. It was a brief encounter and he wouldn't be able to pick me out of a lineup, but it completed the transition out of my bubble.

Yesterday Jay shared a little bit more at Scott Kelby's excellent blog and it's worth a few minutes. In the end, I don't want to take Jay Maisel's pictures, I just want to make pictures like Jay Maisel does. The way he works suits my style perfectly. However, I fear that he is last of a breed and we're less likely to see his kind of work much from my generation. (Although I'm sure a few of the entitled kids are walking around his neighbourhood looking for his shots and trying to identically recreate them to call them their own.) I understand that there probably isn't much chance that this body of my work will ever have a showing at the VAG, but that's not the point. I am compelled to shoot like this and have to keep doing it.

Here are a couple links to things about the show this weekend. See you there:

The Pique

Boardistan

Tags: ramble, showtime

Well I have seen just over half the prints for the show this weekend. I'm pretty stunned with the quality. I don't print nearly enough stuff and that is going to change right here and now. Nothing on a computer screen can compare to a 30 inch supergloss print. It's like rediscovering your work.

I had breakfast with my friend Cole yesterday. He's in Vancouver waiting on weather in between jobs. Kid is on a tear right now having just made the PDN "30 photogs to watch" list. So young and so talented. Good people also.

It's been dumping snow all over Whistler and Blackcomb this week at last. I'm taking care of all the stuff that piled up while I was away and then I'll be on my way up to get my share.

Here are some more shots from the trip. I thought I'd point out that pretty much everything I put up here on the blog is shot with my Canon g9. It came up in a conversation the other day so I thought I'd clear that up. Some of the stuff from the archives and the Snowboard Photo Blog of course are from the Nikon SLR's, but most of my walking around stuff is on the g9.

Also, you can follow me on twitter here. If you're into that sort of thing.


fist tree!

light shadow

sausage?

looks terrible. tastes great.

tram to the top of Le Brevent.

Tags: France, Switzerland, Chamonix, Geneva, canon g9

I've never taken a vacation in the winter before. Winter is shooting season and shooting takes priority over everything else. That is all good and fine, but one day you wake up and that priority just seems, well, a little bit delusional. Or compulsive. Or maybe just misguided.

I just took a family vacation to France. My wife's family, that is. When the idea of going on this trip came up I looked at the dates and without even thinking decided I wouldn't be able to do it. Second week of March? Seriously? What snowboard photographer could take that week off to just, go snowboarding? In the Alps.

Well as it turns out, I could. And it was easy, all I did was say "yes" and then not book anything that week. The world kept turning. I didn't miss out on anything life changing. And I got to ride Cham with my wife and brother-in-law, in super deep powder and sunny skies to boot.

My priorities have changed a lot over the years, and never more than they have in the last 18 months. Photography is a really tricky lifestyle in that it is on one hand really needy, to show off, to put your work out into the world, and on the other hand very time consuming and often not particularly social. There is a reason that when photographers get together, you can't shut them up. It's because they have already used up the "photo talk" patience of their wives, girlfriends, and family and are just dying to talk shop with someone whose eyes don't roll back into their heads when you start talking about the minute details of a hyperfocal distance or photoshop actions. We go through the often solitary act of making photos, we often have nobody left to bore with our excitement for the things we make, and we compulsively consume information about anything that has anything even remotely to do with our job.

It could be worse. We could be proctologists.

So ya, I'm learning to take a deep breath a little more often. to not get lost in the chaos of winter and to keep my level of passion high. As a result I'm less consumed and more into photography than I have been in years. I've stopped being influenced by the machine of the industry I work in and I'm concentrating on fostering the elements of my work that are true to my vision and not commercially corrupt. They're honest. I spent a bit of time taking pictures last week, no time talking about taking pictures, and a lot of time thinking about taking pictures.

Ok, so here are some shots from europe that have nothing to do with any of that.


Things you find in 400 year old houses

Vines near Hilary's house, Geneva.

suisse

Blue house number.

No Dachshunds?!?! Get Draplin on the case!

Cham is huge

Uh, lady, I think you've had enough sun.

bike

sausages as far as the eye can see.

Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps. These black birds aren't crows.

The Aiguille de Midi. I'll have some shots from the top in the next couple days. Stay tuned.

Tags: Chamonix, France, Geneva, Switzerland, Vacation

Here are two monochrome shots from a few days apart. I love when the world is black and white without me having to change it. I hate cliche "shoe on the wire" shots, but I was walking along with Paul Rak and for whatever reason I couldn't pass the shot by.



shoes and wall. Railtown. February, 2009.

This morning I was waiting for a ride and it was really warm and beautiful outside so I went to the driveway to wait in the sun. I started searching around, knowing that there was a shot out there somewhere, looking for something interesting. I looked out at the mountains, tried a couple frames that were totally unremarkable, and then looked down at my feet. The slush on the ground was melting away (in fact when I got home a couple hours later the driveway was bare) and I looked into the slushy wetness. I looked closer, saw the bubbles and took a few frames.

I love this shot. There are always pictures. Everywhere, all the time.


Slush. Whistler. March 2009

Tags: Whistler, shoes

In the last 12 months I:

Got married.
Bought a condo.
Wrote a book.
Spent 20 (though not nearly enough) hours underwater.
Watched the magazine I helped start, end.
Sold photos to magazines and companies around the world.
Did the highest paying photo job I’ve ever done.
Was offered less than I ever have been for photos.
Took huge chances in my career.
Worked on a deeply satisfying personal project.
Worked too hard, but not smart enough.
Lost my priorities.
Found them again.
Fell further in love.
Started to put the pieces together.
Was humiliated.
Was proud.
Was intimidated.
Got over it.
Rode a bus.
Rode a bike.
Rode a boat.
Rode a helicopter.
Rode a snowboard.
Rode a plane.
Rode a (sky)train.
Rode a snowmobile.
Wakesurfed.


Sometimes I have absolutely no idea how I make it through the years. My life astonishes me.


Wind. Olympic Village. Vancouver.

Tags: Life, work, Photography, Experience, Dano

Today is the first day of the year where the sun stays up until 5 PM. For folks who live up north, the rapid lengthening of days is a welcome relief from the truncated sunlight hours we endure for several months each year.

Yesterday I came down from Whistler early for an afternoon meeting. When I was done, it was so nice out that I decided to walk down to Granville Island to get a hot cheese bagel from Seigel's. I've been treating myself to these little nugget's a few times a year since I was a teenager and they are basically the most amazing thing you can eat.

But they were sold out. It was Sunday and I had nothing else on my agenda for the day so I decided to take the Aquabus down False Creek and home. When I got down to the Ferry dock they told me it was going to be about 25 minutes so I decided to walk the rest of the 5 kilometers. I mean, it was a really spectacular day.

Along the way I met up with some friends, so some good sights and basically had about the most relaxing Sunday afternoon I could imagine.

Ok, that's enough of that. Back to work. Here is a map and a couple shots from the walk home.

-d




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ducks wait for the pond to melt.

I ran into Jon and Grace and took this while we were chatting.

Tags: ducks

It's been 6 years since we lost Craig Kelly. I called him "Snowboarding's last great leader" a few years ago when the documentary "Let it ride" came out and I think it holds true. Volumes have been written about Craig's influence so I won't go too deep into it. I'll let his riding do the talking. I wear a "remember Craig Kelly" button riding every day.

Tags: Craig Kelly, snowboarding, Photography

The Canucks have totally been sucking lately. Sanford even looks bummed here.

Tags: Vancouver Canucks, Hockey, sucking

So tonight is the Deep Winter contest in Whistler. For the last three days, 6 photographers have been shooting their asses off in terrible conditions with the aim of putting together an award winning slideshow tonight. I've done this contest for the last two years and it is easily one of the most exhausting photographic experiences I've ever endured. Considering the conditions, I'm more than glad to not be doing it again this season, but I am very much looking forward to seeing the results. And this year I will sit on the panel of judges.

I think that judging photography is stupid. I said "no" to the request half a dozen times before finally being convinced to participate. In the end, someone will win, but I know that just the experience of shooting for those three days and making a slideshow to present on the night of the fourth provides a huge sense of accomplishment to the contestants.

Here is a link to my show from last year and a couple shots from the contest. Good luck to all this years contestants.

Tags: Contests, deep winter, Life

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.

Tags: Photography, diving, Life

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.

Tags: weddings, maui, vacation, diving, t

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.

Tags: Roatan, diving, work, Life

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

Tags: Photography, canon g9, Vancouver, False Creek

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

whistler photographer, snowboard photos, snowboard photographer, vancouver city photographer, vancouver photos, 2010 Olympic photo, whistler stock photography, vancouver stock photos, snowboard stock photo, action sports photo, whistler outdoor photography, vancouver portrait photographer, whistler portrait photographer, mountain stock photography, blackcomb snowboard photo, whistler action sports photographer, british columbia stock photo, canada snowboard photo, Pendygrasse, False Creek Vancouver photo, pictures of False Creek Vancouver. current vancouver, vancouver photo blog, current whistler, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos, snowboard blog

Tags: Blogging, ramble, Experience, canon g9, willie

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.
whistler photographer, snowboard photos, snowboard photographer, vancouver city photographer, vancouver photos, 2010 Olympic photo, whistler stock photography, vancouver stock photos, snowboard stock photo, action sports photo, whistler outdoor photography, vancouver portrait photographer, whistler portrait photographer, mountain stock photography, blackcomb snowboard photo, blackcomb stock photograph, british columbia stock photo, canada snowboard photo, Daniel Stephen Pendygrasse, False Creek Vancouver photo, pictures of False Creek Vancouver. current vancouver, new vancouver, current whistler, new whistler, street photography

Tags: Photography, snowboarding, the 90's, Westbeach

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.

Tags: fishing

Pemberton Festival photos, band photos, and so on. Read More...

Tags: pemberton festival, music, Canada, canon g9, friends, fun

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.


whistler snowboard photographer, whistler stock photography, vancouver photography, street photography vancouver, vancouver city photographer, canon g9

Tags: movies, the 90's, work, History, Coverage, fun

My patriotism spilled over into a whole 'nother Day!

Tags: Photography, Canada

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

Tags: Canada

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.

Tags: t, willie, False Creek, canon g9, BC, Canada, work

First look after first day in the new place. Now we start turning it into our home.

Tags: Home, New, Vancouver

This is the view from my house. All week I have been watching it snow and snow. I've been riding a lot too, having some really good days with some really good people.

When I was living in California and working in the office, people would ask me what I missed about Canada and I would always say, the time from opening day until Christmas. That's when the storms hit and the crowds are still small, when the pressure to shoot hasn't gotten too hectic yet and I get to ride my ass off. Well after the mountain opened we had a couple weeks where the snow where it didn't snow and I started to question the whole Early season myth that I had been building in my head. Luckily the snow came and just in time. I feel like I have gotten my legs back now and I am ready to dive into shooting now. I've gotten it out of my system once again. It was worth it.

Tags: work, Photography, Home

Well here is a little blog entry just to talk about the updates to the site. It's mostly cosmetic, but there are some additions. New bio page, new link page. Other than that there is just better organization than before.

I've been riding a lot and my legs are sore. That's a good thing. Christmas week means I have to finish off shopping stuff, which I've never been good at, but this year I am a little ahead of the curve compared to past seasons.

I'm picking photos for the upcoming Gallery show. It's a huge process but it's cool to sort through old stock. I also have to choose images for a photo contest and teach myself how to use this new slideshow software that I bought. The "deep winter" photo contest is coming up in a couple weeks and I have to be able to make a slideshow on the fly.

Oh ya, and I decided to start adding pictures to my blog posts too, because Owen's blog is way more interesting than mine. This one is from the deep winter contest last year. It's me riding down lower insanity (!!!) on Whistler:

Tags: Website, Contests, Photography

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to sit down and write. Life has been throwing me one thing after another lately. I overbooked my Holiday’s to the point where I didn’t even feel like they happened, dropped straight into a photo contest and woke up on a plane to the east coast. Now I’m back in San Diego, putting the final touches on our last issue of the year, and I have a chance to take a deep breath. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; “life is long and interesting”.

I know I missed about three quarters of the people I wanted to see when I was home. I’m sorry. (One day you’ll forgive me goodze&hellip I’m looking forward to spending lots and lots of time making it up to all of my friends. I can’t wait to spend hours over a good bottle of wine and a meal explaining why I have felt the need to be gone for the last couple years. I can’t wait to offer up a weekend trip away up to the interior to make up for all those summer weeks I missed. I’m just dying to sit around the dinner table with all of you and listening to all the crazy stories of times I missed. I’ll sit back and smile and imagine all the fun you had, and pretend I was there.

Most of all I can’t wait to give all of you a present. It’s the best thing I have to offer and I have only recently realized how valuable it is. It’s a bit selfish, because it’s the kind of present that I get as much out of as you all will. It’s sorta like when Homer got Marge the bowling ball. Anyway, the present is time. Soon I’ll have the time to give all you that I haven’t been able to. I’m dying to have time for my friends again.

Tags: Time