The Mike Baker Banked Slalom

The Bern Viking

Video Games Event: Wachussett, MA

Ah, b+w film.

       I was recently asked to donate a snowboarding photo to a friends fund raising auction and this is the shot I settled on. I have been finding myself really drawn to the grainy b+w shots that I used to create so often back when I was shooting snowboarding all the time. I think it's time to grab a few rolls and come up with a new project!

ART for POW

I donated a 16x20 print of the image above to the ART for POW Online Art Auction that is raising money for Protect Our Winters, or POW for short.
POW is anon-profit organization dedicated to reversing the global warming crisis by uniting the winter sports community and focusing our collective efforts towards a common goal.
Climate change is a serious issue for all of us who are passionate about our winter sports and in some cases, it's how we make our living. If we harness our collective energy and put forth a focused effort, we can have a direct influence on reversing the damage that's been done and ensure that winters are here for generations behind us.

Please go check out and bid on all of the awesome work for a great cause!
http://benefitevents.com/auctions/artforpow/

Friday: Shots I did on Film

Tomorrow is the half pipe finals for the US Open of Snowboarding up at Stratton, VT. It's traditionally the last major contest of the season and one of the only times of the year the super pros snowboard on the east coast. Huge crowds, good parties, and lots of really good snowboarding. I have photographed the event many times and these images are some of my most memorable. I have pleanty of shots in the archives of super big half pipe tricks but these were just so much fun. They are of Vermont native and Editor of Snowboarder Magazine, Pat Briges. Pat had this idea back in 2003 to enter the event and write about what it was like from a "competitors" perspective. In classic Bridges style he shotgunned a Red Bull and lit up a cig in the starting gate. I didn't catch his run but I can be certain there was at least one very well executed hand plant in there. He's the king of the handplant. I think I remeber him doing handplants at Killington one time with a beer in his hand and not spilling a drop. Only Pat Briges man, only Pat!
Pat, if you happen to read this, thanks for the awesome memories. Keep killing it!

Tuesday: A Photographer/Artist That Inspires Me

All images © Cole Barash>>>>Click to see bigger.
This week I am featuring Cole Barash as the photographer/artist that inspires me. Cole got into the game super young. He connected with Burton photographer Jeff Curtes when he was in junior high and asked a ton of questions. And shot a ton of film. Now Cole's in his early twenties traveling the globe shooting top pro snowboarders and ad campaigns for Nike. To put it simply, he's killing it. He is pushing snowboard photographing in a positive art driven way with his silo series and his skills of production really shine in the fireworks night pipe shoot for Transworld.

Cole, I am really proud of how far you've come and look forward to seeing where you take your photography. You have influenced me since you were a young grom back in VT and continue to do so with every image of yours I see. Thank you!

Friday: Shots I did on Film

Please click on the image to see the photo bigger.
Here's a shot I did with Bryan Iguchi at the World Quarterpipe Championships at Waterville Valley, NH in 2002. That event (more party then contest) was a blast. They had lit a fire on the run in and the riders had to jump the fire while getting pummeled with snowballs and beer cans on there way to throw down on the quarter. In fact I had a shot of someone ollying the fire in Rolling Stone next to some of Tim Zimmerman's photos. This shot here ran in the first issue of The Snowboard Journal printed really well on super nice paper. I was stoked to be part of it. It also ran in Seth Butler and Mike Nevin's The Journal back when it was a b+w snowboard mag, not the full color art mag that it is now. It might have been in Eastern Edge too, I can't remember.
I shot this with a Hassleblad, 80mm lens and cross processed a tungsten film in c-41. It was lit by the sun through fog.
Enjoy!

Friday: Shots I did on Film

Shaun White at Mt. Hood in 2000

Kelly Clark at Mt. Snow in 2002

Kelly Clark at Mt. Snow in 2002
With all of this Olympic Medal stuff flying around I dug up a few images of our current medalists that I did with film. The first is a shot I did with Shaun White while he was filming for a Volcom video at Mt. Hood, OR back in the summer of 2000. This was before the main stream media labeled him The Flying Tomato or some muppet name. But he was ripping back then too. Everyone knew he was going to be bigtime, maybe not as big as he turned out but big none the less.
The other two images are of Kelly Clark in a space above her family's resteraunt at Mt. Snow, VT. We shot these for the now gone SG Magazine. It was a cool double page spread. Kelly was super nice and has continued to kill it.
Congratulations to all of the athlets for rocking Vancouver. I'll have to dig out some other shots I have of Hannah Teter and some of Ross Powers after he won the Gold too.