DANO Pendygrasse

odds and ends from an unusual life

Jumping through hoops for the Olympics.

All last year my friend Shin would disappear now and again for a secret project that he was working on. I didn't think too much about it until we started getting closer to the Olympics and the rumours started flying about a crazy ramp being built in BC place for the opening ceremonies. Right around that time I noticed that Shin was making a lot of trips to the city. And then My friend Johnny sorta disappeared from the twittershpere. Hmmm, something was going on.

Well secrets don't stay secret very long in the snowboard community, so by the time I attended the Opening Ceremony rehearsal I already knew that Shin and Johnny were going to be jumping through the Olympic Rings as part of the ceremony. What I didn't know was that the whole stunt would be preceded by a couple minutes of really well filmed freeriding shot last year, and that the jump was going to kick off the whole Olympics! Damn!

I wish I had a chance to see Shin hit the jump in the first rehearsal but it was amazing to watch Johnny stomp his indy on the sketchiest carpet and airbag landing. As the story now goes, the decision came down to a coin flip. I'm stoked to have known and shot these guys for years and glad that they had such a positive influence on the way snowboarding was portrayed to the world. Shin has said that the producers were really open to their input and made sure that snowboarders wouldn't be bummed on yet another misguided "hollywood" attempt at portraying us.

Here are some shots of the boys over the years.
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Johnny Lyall on a Whistler kink rail
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Johnny Lyall on a Whistler Backcountry booter.
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Shin at Whistler last season
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Shin Campos from the deep winter contest in 2008
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Shin Campos on Whistler last season.
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Deep Winter is back

Right now there are five photographers that are totally exhausted. They are competing this week, in the Deep Winter photo contest that Arc’Teryx and Whistler/Blackcomb have been putting on for the last several years. The idea behind this contest was to highlight the fact that some of the best riding that ever takes place in Whistler is during storm season, and the first week of January is a fairly safe bet for storms.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow the photographers head up the mountain and shoot enough photos to present a 3 to 5 minute slide show on Thursday night in front of 700 or so people. The rules state that you have to shoot in bounds and during regular operating hours. That essentially gives you less than 24 hours of total shooting time. Having done this contest twice, I can tell you that it is the most exhausting and exhilarating week of the season.

This week I’ll be judging the slideshows, so come out to the
Fairmont Whistler on Thursday night and watch the work of some of the best photographers in the business. Jordan Manley has won it twice, Paul Morrison has won it and I’m really looking forward to first time competitors Colin Adair and Nicholas Teichrob.

Here are some of my favourite shots from my two efforts and you can watch my second slideshow
here.

Good luck out there guys.

-Dano

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Winter work sets in.

Now it can be told...

So I started to work with my old friends at Monster again last week. As longtime followers of the blog know, I've been doing all kinds of different media projects in the last few years as a way to keep myself challenged and to continue to add experiences to my list. After the success of the Grenade Games last spring, Monster was nice enough to have me back to work on through the Olympic year. Which brings me to this event. I'm afraid that I can't give anything away yet because details are being pounded out as we speak, but suffice it to say, for all the people who can't afford, or don't want to attend the Olympics, we're going to make sure that there is an event you can get stoked on at the same time.

Stay tuned for details, this one is going to be good.

Oh ya, and then I'll be working on Grenade Games 6 too. My liver hurts already.

Also. I've been taking pictures of the buildings on my walk to and from the Monster Office for a long time now. Eventually the plan is to have photos of every building on the west side of Main, from Alexander to the viaduct, in all sorts of different media (35mm film, digital, large format, paint, whatever) and line em all up on a white wall somewhere so you can experience my walk to work. I'm hoping to get it done some time in 2010. I've been posting a bunch of stuff on flickr lately too. Weird.

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121, 123 Main Street. Vancouver, BC.
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229, 231 Main Street. Vancouver, BC.
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Tonight is the night

It's been about 18 months since Westbeach first came to me with the idea of writing a book for their 30 year anniversary. Even though the book has been shipped to a bunch of media outlets, the actual big boxes of books only got here on Wednesday, which is lucky considering that tonight is the party to celebrate the launch of "Out West". I'm looking forward to seeing so many of the people who have been involved as well as a bunch of old friends.

We're starting things off with a private dinner for the people who've made this happen, then off to the Red Bull lounge for a VIP mixer with a bunch of awesome people from Westbeach's history as well as Canadian snowboarding legends, and finally we end up at Fortune Soundclub, Vancouver's new hip spot to keep it going.

If you've been following the Westbeach Heritage project then you've probably seen the videos (here, here and here) and maybe you've flipped through the first chapter of the book online here, but you certainly haven't seen all these folks in one place at one time in the last 15 years. Old dogs and young shreds all mixing it up together. Awesome.

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Bowman may even show. BOWMAN!
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Nix is coming.
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Anyone seen Alex Toporowski?
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Of course Cartwright will be there.
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Belzile? Check.

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SBC Cover

I got an email from Sarah Conrad just before I went to bed the other night. You remember her, we talked about her back here in April. She dropped a line to say "thanks" for the shot we got published. I hadn't heard anything or seen anything so it came as a bit of a surprise to find that it was the cover of the Snowboard Canada Women's Annual.

It's always nice to get a cover shot but I especially like this one. I had a good feeling about her Japan to fakie as soon as we shot it which is probably why I wrote that blog. I got the pdf from John Scarth at SBC today but I still don't have the issue in my hands. Gribbon has three copies though so hopefully I'll get my greasy hands on one soon. Here it is.

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boulder

Yesterday was the last day of the catalog shoot I've been working on. We shot a little bit of bouldering around the base of the Squamish Chief, a huge chunk of granite that is a climbing mecca. Despite some problems in the morning, by sunset we were making some nice pictures. I wish I had another week in there, there is so much to shoot. Look forward to another job that has climbing involved, I have some great ideas.

d.

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bike

So today was the Mountain Biking portion of the catalog shoot that I'm doing. It was really dark all day so we had to light everything and the priority for the brand is to show the clothes, so we weren't dealing with super gnar riding. Still it was really fun and Eric got to bust out a bit at the end.

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paddle

Shot some paddlers on Friday. Here are some outtakes. Off to shoot some bikes today. Cheers.

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Putting summer behind me



I stumbled into a little catalog shoot this week. My friend Mark broke his hip pretending to be an 18 year old skater and rather than letting down his client he asked me to shoot it for him. It's very straightforward shooting and I'm a little disappointed that I won't be pushing any limits, but as always I intend to bring something special to the job and find a way to over deliver. All this comes a little quickly and going from sleepy third world living to hectic first world organizing is a definite switch of gears. Wish me luck.

Here is a little slideshow from my diving gallery on Photoshelter. Some of the shots are old but there are a bunch from this past summer. I'm closing the book on diving for now and moving on to the next thing. Well, at least until the end of October when we head to Maui...

Enjoy,

D.



scuba dive - Images by dano pendygrasse
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Dr Sun Yat-Sen Gardens

I was ten minutes early for a meeting yesterday so I finally went into the Dr Sun Yat-Sen gardens by my house. The entrance is literally a block and a half from my front door and I've never been in. In ten minutes I managed to scratch the surface, but there are undoubtedly many more photos to be found here. I love Vancouver for its amazing diversity and the fact that there are little gems like this tucked away just about everywhere.

It's my wife's birthday. Give her some love.

D.

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I'm so sick of HDR, well balanced images. Let the highlights blow out you idiots.
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It's hard not to shoot the cliche shots.
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I love the f'ed up lines in this. Everything is going to be alright. Indeed.
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WOOF! WOOF...er, I mean; Bark.
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Flight

I had a really long trip home the other day. A 10 hour flight ended up taking somewhere around 28 hours.

It was really hazy over BC from all the forest fires.

More soon.

D.

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I'm coming!

I sleep till plane. 2 till this view. Port Royal or Salva is the hardest decision I'm making for awhile.

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Friends

I'm going back to see these goofballs. Can't wait.

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Moments in time - Matt Goodwill

After trying for years Matt Goodwill finally won the Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom in 1999. Matt was seriously one of the most exciting snowboarders to watch, but very few people ever got to see him in his element. He was a monster in big mountains and his high speed Alaska attack predated Johan Oloffson's reshaping of big mountain riding by several years. Interestingly snowboarding doesn't seem to pay him much attention or give him much credit, but in my mind he was one of the people who really rewrote the rules about how to ride the steeps.

When he won the Banked Slalom it was as inevitable as it was awesome. He looked almost relieved to finally check it off the list. He raised the ceremonial drum that was the trophy that year, and let out a native Washingtonian whoop that everyone there felt in their soul.

A great moment in snowboarding's history for sure for Steven's Pass's favourite son.

I always loved this photo but it never had a home.

d.

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Photography, ah yes...


So as some of you know, I'm about to take a trip down south. I'm going back to Roatan to do my Divemaster training and hopefully see a little more of Central America. Soon my blog will be mostly turquoise and jungle green.

I'm not rich, so I can't just leave the apartment empty and pay the mortgage. This is unfortunate. I have some paintings on the wall that are very valuable to me and that I'm not particularly interested in leaving to the whim of fate, so they are getting stored. They are 7 panels and the arrangement left me with a bit of a dilemma; what do I use to replace them? I decided to make 7 shots from around the hood, all taken with the canon g9 and converted to black and white. Of course then I went ahead and made way too many and now I have to choose.

Can you guys help me by picking your favourite and least favourite. I know some of you don't like to make public comments, so it's ok to send me a note, or feel free to put your comment in at the bottom. All this stuff has been taken in the last year and a half walking around my neighbourhood.

D.
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Sarah Conrad and Grenade Games

I was shooting with the WVSC today in the Blackcomb pipe and met our Canadian National Halfpipe Champion, Sarah Conrad. She's really nice and she threw down for my camera for awhile. Here is a sweet Japan to fakie. As we get closer to the Olympics I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more of her name.

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Throws down...
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and super pretty. This girl has a future.

We're charging into the Grenade Games now and soon I'll be blogging on a different site for he duration of the event. I'll post a link when it goes live.

Cheers,

D.



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crash

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.

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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.
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Brian Savard


Snowboarding is timeless.


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Quiksilver Showdown over the city

A couple shots from last Saturday at Grouse Mountain. Despite the fog I had a lot of fun shooting. Thanks to Jeff Silcock from Grouse for hooking me up.

I'm still really busy with too many projects and dealing with my truck. Sorry I don't have more to say today.

Grenade Games are coming soon and registration is open now right here. It's only open till the 8th so get on it!

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This kid had sweet tailslides through the kink. He and his friend never stopped hitting it all day. I love it when kids are stoked on shredding.
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seb toots won it
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ridiculous style
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Atsushi came third.
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belzile at the end of the day in the skyride.
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More photos from France and Switzerland

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.

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fist tree!
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light shadow
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sausage?
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looks terrible. tastes great.
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tram to the top of Le Brevent.
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Lessons learned in Chamonix

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.

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Things you find in 400 year old houses
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Vines near Hilary's house, Geneva.
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suisse
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Blue house number.
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No Dachshunds?!?! Get Draplin on the case!
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Cham is huge
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Uh, lady, I think you've had enough sun.
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bike
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sausages as far as the eye can see.
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Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps. These black birds aren't crows.
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The Aiguille de Midi. I'll have some shots from the top in the next couple days. Stay tuned.
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A black and white snowboarding photo. Of Mark Landvik. In the Kootenays.

There isn't a lot of demand in the snowboard media for photos that have an emotional depth. People focus on the "trick porn" a lot and although you may see lots of well executed portraits and "lifestyle" shots, they are more often than not staged, plain, soulless images made to emulate the photographers favourite technique instead of capture anything transcendent or intimate. That's fine, it's just snowboarding and there really is no need to aim high...

I've always liked photos that evoke a feeling, especially one of familiarity. I like when you can look at a shot and know what it feels like to be there, to feel the snow, the cold on your face, the wind. I like when a photographer stops wanking off with their technical ego and starts to pay more attention to what is going on in front of the camera. I guess I'm tired of seeing technically perfect and creatively anemic snowboard photos.

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David Rouleau snowboards for my camera.

Dave Rouleau. Gap to frontboard. Whistler.

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Vancouver Downtown Eastside.

Vancouver's downtown eastside is rough. I spend a lot of time walking down there and I've seen all sorts of madness from the bottom end of humanity. Drug abuse makes people into husks. One dimensional creatures with a simple agenda; get more, do more, by whatever means. Crime is rampant and the streets are full of characters that you don't want to meet in an alley after dark. I don't make eye contact often.

There is, however, a lot that I want to take pictures of. I've begun to get a little braver with the camera, and it comes out pretty much every day now, but I'm still not ready to take a picture of an addict in the middle of a psychotic speedball episode. It's not really what I'm interested in to be honest. It feels a little cheap to go looking for the truly depraved so that middle class folks can point at the pictures and say "that's the problem."

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power.
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cranes/lights.
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rooms.
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the fog



Vancouver is setting a record for the longest stretch of fog ever. I mean, I heard that anyway. It might be true, maybe not. This was taken at noon. (That also may not be true.)


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snowy dreams

Remember winter?


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Roatan dive photos - Photoshelter gallery

Check out some shots from diving in Roatan, Honduras.

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Mark Landvik

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Brushie

I've been following the VBS.tv series "Powder and Rails" since it started earlier this year and although the episodes are short and they come out erratically, it's fun to watch my youth being given the documentary treatment.

This week there have been a couple of episodes on one of my favourite riders ever, Jeff Brushie. When Jeff was still a teenager he came out to Whistler and lived at the end of a dead end hallway in our house. He was super stoked on riding and was content to make himself a little bed in the corner, live on next to nothing and ride every day, all summer long. When I started shooting pictures in 1991 he was one of the first guys I shot and over the years I got to shoot with him quite a few times.

Brush was the kind of rider who set the bar for style. If he changed how he did a trick, the very next day half a dozen pros would do the trick his new way. I guess some would call that a compliment. Jeff had pop back when hardly anybody did and he was always crowding the top of my frame.

Style is harder to put your finger on these days and maybe as a result there is less emphasis put on it in snowboarding. I think that is a shame. Brush will always be the king of style.

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Blackcomb, Summer 1991.
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Blackcomb, Summer 1992.
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Squaw Valley, 1993.

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Snowmass, 1994
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Westbeach Classic. Whistler, 1996.
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waiting

Winter is taking its sweet time this year. Here is a wall from Antigua, Guatemala in 2007. Layers and layers of paint, plaster and concrete. 400 years of bumps and wear.

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backlog

I've been shooting lots of stuff lately and not posting any of it. So now I have a whole gang of photos just burning a whole in my hard drive. Here are some of them. Enjoy.

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grrrr. i'm all enraged and stuff.
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sun/blinds
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this crow is not one bit intimidated b those spikes
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gold medallists will stay here
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I'm a sucker for this kind of thing
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more damn crows.
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this is the last photo I took in maui. from a moving car.
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dog walks look like this. it was way colder than this.
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we have two young trees named yarbit and narbit. this is narbit.
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Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 7

Well folks, it looks like Whistler has pushed forward their opening day to tomorrow, so this will be the final episode of Snowboard Photo Blog: Version 2. It's been fun, I hope you guys have seen some stuff you liked. Now that it is shooting season again you'll start to see some fresh shots up in here!

Today we have Chris Wimbles from December last year. I had a shot of Wimbles in the Frequency photo book recently and in the caption I spoke a bit about how he is a real working professional. Never cracked the Shaun White status, but gets out there and works his ass off to get published all season long. I respect that. A Working Class hero is something to be.

Have good shredding folks.

-dano


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Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 6

Hey Folks,

Welcome to a brand new week and more shred photos. Thursday is opening day on Whistler, so this will be the last week of Snowboard Photo Blog until I have new shots to share. It was my birthday yesterday and tons of people did cool things to make me happy, which is nice. I'm older, no wiser, and still doing what I do best. Taking pictures of snowboarders.

Here is Eric Jackson again. "But you just showed him on Friday" you say. Well yes I did, but so what. this is one of my favourite shots from last year so I'm showing Eric again.

Have a great day out there. I'm going to write a chapter for the book.

-d.
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Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 5

Facebook tells me that it is my friend Eric Jackson's birthday today. My favourite kid and a great snowboarder, Ejack keeps me stoked and keeps me laughing when we shoot together. He is everything I like about snowboarding these days; he is a young progressive rider but he takes on the whole mountain instead of just getting stuck in the park. Luckily he has had some great mentors like Mark Landvik and Mads Jonsson, not to mention his brother John. I like taking pictures of Ejack.

Happy birthday buddy, can't wait to get out to the secret spot with you again. It's your year to slaughter.

Here is a double shot of Ejack.

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Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 4

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

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

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.

mads jonsson, snowboard, dano pendygrasse

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Snowboard Photo blog v2: part 1

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.

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Devun Walsh Photo

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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whistler snowboard photographer, snowboard photos, snowboard photographer, vancouver snowboard 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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos, canadian stock photography, winter mountain photos, snowboard photos, snowboard pictures, Canadian snowboarder
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Mathieu Crepel


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.

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

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.


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The Descendents

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.

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subtle rarely wins online

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.


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A misty morning in Northern California.

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...


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Vintage Snowboard Shot

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...)

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 13

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.

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 12

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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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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos, canadian stock photography, winter mountain photos,, snowboard photos, snowboard pictures
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 11

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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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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos, canadian stock photography, winter mountain photos,, snowboard photos, snowboard pictures
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 10

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.


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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 9

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...

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Romain De Marchi from Absinthe Films shoot. Coast Mountains, British Columbia.
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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos, canadian stock photography, winter mountain photos,, snowboard photos, snowboard pictures
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 8

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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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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos, canadian stock photography, winter mountain photos,, snowboard photos, snowboard pictures
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 7

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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histler 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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos, canadian stock photography, winter mountain photos,, snowboard photos, snowboard pictures

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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 6

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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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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 5

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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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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 4


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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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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 3

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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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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos
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Snowboard Photo Blog: part 2

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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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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos
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Snowboard Photo Blog

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.

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Sammy Luebke at Mt. Baker. Such good snow. Such good style.
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 photo, vancouver photo blog, current whistler photo, whistler photo blog, street photography, snowboard pictures, snowboarding picture, mountain photographer, canadian portrait photographer, canadian mountain photos,best snowboard photos, snowboard blog, pro snowboarder photos
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Back to the good stuff

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?

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rainforest
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pull this lever
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lifeboat icon
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rainy windows
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boat. wake.
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Bc feels like this more often than not. Arriving back in Tsawwassen.
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from one boat to another
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A hard night

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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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
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False Creek at night.

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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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
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fireworks

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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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,
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
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Dog days of summer

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.


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I think you will notice a theme
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trash chute and construction
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great f'n shapes, reflections, and light
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that balloon is so crooked
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bald dude taking a morning break.
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model courtyard

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!

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What do salad dressing and feminism have in common?

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?

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More shots from the hood

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:

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Cirque du soleil is across the street all summer
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One of those cool buildings that gets really thin and one end. This one is called Hotel Europe.
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Lone dude on the soccer field. Looks like the turf needs some work
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Taking a break.
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Sailing is hard
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I love what old glass does.
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The dominion building and victory square.

stock photography, vancouver city photography, vancouver street photography, buildings in vancouver, whistler photographer, snowboard photos
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Prints

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.

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The summer. It is come.

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.


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She casts a long shadow for a short dawg.
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Pixelated clouds
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Nuclear.
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Lunch.
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these colours were making my eyes hurt.

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evening glow

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nice new shapes
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Greg Heisler workshop superpost

I just wrapped up a week-long photo workshop with Greg Heisler. Vancouver Photo Workshops put it on, and even though I've been shooting for over 15 years, it was my first ever workshop. 6 weeks ago I had no idea that Vancouver even HAD photo workshops let alone with photographers of the stature of Mr. Heisler. If you aren't from the photo world and don't know his resume, suffice it to say that he is a very heavy cat, and is probably amassed one of the most impressive bodies of work in all of portraiture, and certainly of the last 3 decades. He currently has 74 covers of Time Magazine as well as countless other photos in just about any magazine you can think of. So there.

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Greg explains photography to the class: "First, get a camera. Now, make a masterpiece! This shit is easy."

One of the added bonuses of this week was the timely visit of Jay Maisel to Vancouver. He also happened to be doing a workshop, so we shared lunch one day, and he and Greg did a talk on the first night to a packed house. Jay is in the enviable part of his career where he can pretty much just stroll around and make photos of whatever he feels like. Being a master has its benefits.

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Greg listens while Jay tells it like it is: "No you asshole, you're wrong!"

The workshop took place at the Ironworks studios in Gastown, an old industrial building with fantastic bricks and beams and skylights, all the things that make us nerd photographers happy when we are looking for backgrounds. There were a dozen or so people participating and besides Scott Serfas (who signed up minutes after I told him about the course a few days before it started) and I coming from a similar background, the other photographers were a diverse and interesting bunch. We had everything from the seasoned Newspaper photographer from Seattle, to the photoshop wizard from Vancouver Island, to the San Francisco stock photographer and many more. All in all a varied and talented group.

Of course I won't go into the details of the course, but it was really great to have 5 days to listen to a veteran explain his work, his process and many techniques as well. After a few days of conversation it's easy to forget that the man cracking jokes in front of you has shot so many hugely influential and interesting people. His humility and attention to detail are an indication of where his success comes from. At the end of the day he is a guy who loves making great pictures, and being that everyone in the class felt the same way, it made for some great conversation.

Thanks to Marc Koegel who is the director of the Vancouver Photo Workshops, his little venture in Vancouver is a huge asset to us locals and as it grows I look forward to attending many more classes. Now if I can just scrounge up enough dough to do the Gorman one...

Here are some shots from the week:
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A little lecture at the Ironworks
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"No Scott you have it all wrong..." Wait, I think he's winking at you!
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Explain to me "the light."
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Um, I think it might be infected
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The ever pensive Mr. Heisler.
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A change and some rain

So I have to change the address of my blog, and I'm going to be doing that over the next couple days, so for all you millions of people who have your rss feeds directed to this web address, please check back in a day or two and re-subscribe to the new address. I've been putting off doing this for awhile, but as I get to know more about all this web nonsense, I can see that I'm going to be a bit phooked if I don't change now.

So how is the weather in Vancouver?

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It's RAINY

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from the hood

Just trucking away on submissions around here. Getting a budget and business plan in place for the summer project. Hope to get the green light by the end of the week so I can break the silence and get to work.

I still find time for walks around the neighbourhood. It has finally become spring around here and we've been loving the warm weather. Here are some shots from the last few days. The last one is HIGH-larious.

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waiting for mommy.
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traffic pattern change. ain't that the truth.

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t said that this looks a little like our wallpaper.
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boots on the ground

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juckstah-poe-zishun

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such a cliche, but so rad. shaka!
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the title of the washed up book is "How to Start a Home-Based Photography Business". Timely Visual Metaphors are epic.
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The rooof is on fiyah!

So I've been dying to shoot on our rooftop patio ever since I moved in, and yesterday was the first day that I had enough time and the weather cooperated. Dave and Keith were in the neighbourhood so they got to be my first victims. Thanks guys!

We did a couple different set ups and it was good fun. I learned a thing or two about the space and I'm stoked to do more. How did we do?


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Dave
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Keith
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the 19 laces project

Recently Nike 6.0 sent a package as the sometimes do. There were some shoes, a t-shirt, a nice notebook, and 19 orange shoelaces.

I have no use for 19 orange shoelaces. I was, however, intrigued by their inclusion. What was I supposed to do with them? Why 19?

So this is the first in a 19 part series of the 19 shoelaces. I have about 6 ideas right now, so the rest will have to develop organically.

Welcome to the 19 laces project.

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it's hip to be square

I'm not sure why, but I always like square format landscapes. The more spare, the better. I'm almost done with my edit and I'm into all the details shots, the things that aren't action and aren't portraits, a lot of these are more creative, some are landscapes, and some are not. They generally don't find a home in the magazines I submit to but inevitably become my favourites.

Here is one I like and wanted to share.
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This light lasted seconds. Clouds were racing over the sky and the light was changing so fast. I turned and saw the lines here and the light changing. I shot quickly.
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Winter is over?

I keep hearing it's Spring. I suppose there is some evidence to support that; The US Open is this weekend in Vermont, flowers are blooming, the bums are moving from the heating grates back to the beach in Socal, but around these parts I'm going to have to say that winter has not given up just yet. We just spent two of the deepest days of the season shooting. Everyone was blown away by the quantity and quality of snow and it took the better par of the first day just to reach the alpine.

Overnight it snowed again and the forecast is for even more. Here is just one shot of a couple of amazing days. Chris Wimbles moving around some of the white stuff.

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texture

I've been looking at snow my entire life. I'm endlessly fascinated by the different textures, shapes and forms that it can take. I have hundreds and hundreds of photos of the texture of snow. Here is another one from the other day.

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g9 stuff

As promised, some g9 stuff:

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shopping is hard

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our front yard. (it's a parking lot for now)/ wind vane chimney.

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sled drop parking lot.

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rouleau/cartwright/breakfastjoint
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Solberg and a sunset.

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a branch

I love going through photos. It's like going mining for gold and every once in awhile you remember a shot that warrants a closer look. This came from Revelstoke earlier this season. There was a mid-mountain layer of ice mist that stayed put pretty much the whole time we were there, and with a lack of wind all these perfect snowflakes accumulated on everything. About 100 vertical feet before breaking through to the sun, there was beautiful diffused light, and crystals hanging in the air. It was a really unique feeling.

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my g9 weighs a ton

So I was in the park at Blackcomb this week, taking care of some contract shots, and in the process had a little time to mess around. Everyone knows I'm a Nikon guy, but my point and shoot is a Canon g9. It's a great little camera and you can read all about it here or wherever you like to get your online info. So in between laps of my riders, I had my g9 out, you can set it all manually so it's a really flexible tool. So much so that I decided to see how it would hold up against the dSLR and 70-200VR glass.

Is this photo from the Nikon or the G9?

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Well of course it's from the point and shoot. But it's pretty amazing that a 500 dollar camera can match angle and composition with a 7 thousand dollar rig and not really be that far off. I'm still getting used to the g9 but I have no doubt that I will have lots of photos published from it in the next 12 months...maybe even some action.

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