I grew up watching the ski movies of Greg Stump. Greg’s movies not only highlighted amazing locations and skiing, but also contained a story line. Translation – not just containing what has been deemed in the ski films of today as ski porn. Now enter another visionary. I have known of Vancouver based photographer Jordan Manley for many years. His work inspires me on all levels. He is now bringing his still image skills to video and the latest episode of his A Skier’s Journey Series highlights his creative take on the world in the alps of Japan. Jordan is going to bring the ski film industry into a whole new era. Thank you for now inspiring me on multiple levels Jordan. Let me know what you think of his work.
Tag Archives: winter
Shrunken Teton Syndrome
This week’s motion post is taking us to my favorite spot on the planet. Well maybe not the planet, but definitely in North America. The Tetons of Jackson, Wyoming. A little tilt-shift video created by Tristan Greszko - absolutely fabulous!
And the Winner Is…
Heather told me I was crazy. No one was going to be able to guess the location from this last post. Yet the first comment from Robert Levy was pretty close. Then comment after comment got closer and closer. I was in fact in Canada, and in Vancouver earlier that day, but when the image of Jade and I was taken we were in the wetlands of Boundary Bay photographing snowy owls with our friend Art Wolfe. Jade was playing her usual hard to get, but amazingly she managed to sit next to me for close to an hour. Not bad for a six year old. I guess a weird looking white bird that can spin its head around three hundred and sixty degrees can grab the attention of even Princessa.
Last Monday began in Vancouver, migrated to the Arc’teryx outlet store, then went to the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary where we discovered and photographed a barred owl, and finally finished in the marshes of Boundary Bay photographing snowy owls. Not too bad for a single day across the border. Jade has now traveled out of the United States over five times. Here first trip was when she was 11 months old and discovered that sand on the Caribbean in Mexico was not to be touched by bare feet.
Oh, and the winner…David Clumpner was the first person to successfully guess Boundary Bay. David, if you want to pick an image from our stock site or portfolio site, email that selection with your shipping address to me, we will get a 16 x 24 print out to you in the coming weeks. Thank you to everyone who commented. We will be thinking of additional ways to give more stuff away in the very near future.
Take a Guess and Win!
On Monday friend and fellow photographer Yuri Choufour snapped this image of my daughter Jade and me. If you guess where we were and what we were photographing, you will get a print of the subject. Answer coming next week.
iShave
Most serious cyclists break out the Bic at one point in their life or another. “It is for the road rash.” or “For the speed.” Or maybe because they just feel cool with silky, smooth, super, supple, soft legs–for a day. Yes, I do shave my legs, but not in some crazy cyclist fashion, even though I manage to ride an average of four days a week. No, I shave because of my ski boots. And because I am not one hundred percent confident in my masculinity (not true I swear), I don’t take those babies down from the groin to the ankle either. Nope, I take it off only where the intense pain lies in my ski boots–right in the shin. You see, what happens as I ski day-in and day-out those little shin hairs get wedged between my ski sock and ski boot and every time that I pressure into a turn, those hairs get torqued. Torqued to the point of ripping out. Just do it fast like a band-aid. So badly so that they will bleed profusely. Nice. When my wife is not looking, I steal her Bic in the shower, add her soap, and take those puppies down. And of course in pure manhood, I leave her the present of all of my leg hair floating in her razor. I usually hear the “fucking man” from the shower at 5am while I am still in a dazed dream state. Now we just need to add snow to this freakin’ winter.
The Last Powder of 2011
Well, finally, it snowed. It has literally been since November, but on the final day of the year, Mount Baker got hit with a foot of new snow. Owen Dudley, Tyler Hatcher and myself headed out to see what we could make of a perfect stormy day. You can view more of the images on the Mount Baker Ski Area website. Now, we just need this to continue so we can do it again, and again, and again–much like the movie Groundhog Day. I guess if you love it, repeating it is not really a torture. Happy New Year!
ski | REPORT – The Trailer
We (meaning me and a dozen skiers) spent most of last winter photographing skiing. Along the way, I captured some motion footage to go along with the five thousand stills that made the edit. Tie that together with a simple concept and you have a lot of time spending money. Actually, you might as well be burning hundreds at a time. You wonder why blockbusters cost so much to make? Because it just isn’t easy. And all I want in the end is to have a five minute long piece that highlights what I do through the winter months on a daily basis. Finally, I had some time to sit down and cut together the trailer to hopefully get you in the mood. A little foreplay shall we say? Enjoy. Coming soon to a social media site near you. Actually, right in front of you.
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays from all of us at jay goodrich photographer inc. to all of you and yours. May it be the best yet!
The Gift
I have been skiing for 25 years now. If I were about to turn 30 and not 40, I probably would be some kind of professional athlete instead of a photographer. Maybe? I only say this because statistically most professional athletes are exposed to their sport at an early age, usually before they can really walk. The “experts” say by 5, I didn’t start skiing until I was 15. However, there is nothing to say that I wouldn’t hate skiing if I were exposed to it at that early of an age and be exactly at the same point in life regardless. I can say though, that skiing is my sport. It is my heroin. No reasonable offer to ski will be turned down, ever, period. I can’t really explain why, I just love it. There are many mistresses in my life (sorry to my wife and my kids) fortunately, they are all favorite lines in the backcountry of some mountainous place. Some have hated me, some have treated me with open arms and others have gone unnoticed. The key to all of the best lines though is the snow. The best dressed gets my respect, always.
Recently, I had hands-down the best day of this season. It was the culmination of a week long storm cycle that brought close to 8 feet of new snow to the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. The snow phone at Mount Baker Ski Area reported 16 inches new in the past 24 hours and snowing heavily. I arrived at the maelstrom only to agree whole heartedly. It was dumping! Close to 2 inches an hour at times. I think there was 8 additional inches by Noon. Then came the crescendo, the break, visibility. Intermittent at first, then more and more towards clear blue bird. I pushed on, my sore and tired body fueled by the availability to see. A day that ended at 4:30pm with this–the gift. For every skier, the beauty of the mountains, beholds the key to finding those amazing lines.
Going Down Big
Chris is one of my best skiing buds of all time. I don’t know how many days we have logged together, but I can tell you that it is probably close to 1000. He was one of my first friends in Vail, and that friendship is still going strong today. A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from him with a completely off the wall idea. Let’s go to the Olympics. My initial reaction was hell yes, then I thought about the money and backed out, then I talked to Heather and she said what are you stupid? The reply to that question does not need to be answered here or in the future. That pushed me back to my initial response, hell yeah. Plans were formulated, magazines were contacted, letters fired off in all directions, then responses came back, a little success. Now we have a story to shoot, I think, if Whistler doesn’t change their mind. Anyway, last night Chris showed up at my doorstep. And consequently, we, he and I, are headed to Vancouver tomorrow. Yes, I am headed to the Olympics for a few days of shooting, eating, drinking, and hopefully some skiing on snow like the image above. It is entirely possible with the weather that is supposedly coming in…we’ll see.