It doesn’t necessarily feel like spring here in the Pacific Northwest, but there are signs it’s inevitable. Flowers are sprouting, the snow is melting faster…

For a very limited time I’m offering 50% off any photograph that has snow in it! Below is a small selection. View even more WINTER PHOTOGRAPHS here

View photos at SmugMug

View even more WINTER PHOTOGRAPHS here

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Sometimes you forget why. The other day I was reminded. Below is a photographic journey into the central Washington Cascades for a day of backcountry skiing.

View photos at SmugMug

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After a week acclimating to sea level, and work, I’ve begun the enjoyable but tedious task of sorting through the 500+ photos I took from last weeks road trip to Steamboat. I’m curious as to what others do to organize photos.

The first two steps I typically take are pretty straight forward: download all the images onto my external hard-drive and then load them into iPhoto on my Mac. Using iPhoto I can scan through all the images very quickly, deleting those that are junk and noting the others that are keepers. The ones I find worthy, I open in Photoshop for any necessary post-processing, which I really try to limit because this is where hours, days even, can fly right by; time I’d much rather spend outside taking photos! Some of you may ask why I just don’t view and sort in Adobe Bridge. Good question…I do…sometimes. iPhoto just moves faster, that’s all.

Here’s one photograph from the trip, a frigid evening in Steamboat Springs, Colorado – “Ski Town USA”. I placed the camera on the railing of a foot bridge.

Steamboat Springs, CO. "Ski Town USA"

camera metadata:

• ISO 400
• 3.2 second exposure at f/18
• Canon Rebel XT w/ 17-85 IS lens

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I just posted a quick update on our trip up to Whistler on backcountryskiphotos.com. No ski touring was had, but we did manage to spend a bit of time skate skiing at the new Olympic Park nordic center. And, I was able to capture this one shot before the weather turned, again.

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A friend just forwarded me a link to some winter photographs taken up at Mt Baker yesterday. The images, showing about two inches (!) of snow up near Artist Point, could very well be (or could they?) indicative of a big winter in the Pacific NW. This is good news, no great news, not only because I’m looking forward to many days in the backcountry with friends, but I’m really hoping to get lots of backcountry skiing photos this year.

Here is the link to the Mt Baker images on Flickr

Pray For Snow!

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Well maybe not, but it’s hard not to feel it in the air these days. Mornings are crisp and cool, snow levels are dropping (well sort of…I think the top of Mt Rainier may have had a dusting recently) and a friend of mine in Whitefish just sent some hiking photos from Glacier National Park and there had to have been at least 3 inches of P…O…W…D…E…R!

Yes I love winter, even here in the Pacific northwest. Because for every inch of rain that falls here in Seattle, a foot of snow falls in the Cascades. And since it rains quite frequently here, it also snows…a lot. I’m not a resort skier, I hate lines and lift ticket prices are just about absurd. (Relatively speaking that is…they’re actually on the cheap end here.) So for myself, and the growing masses, looking for endless face shots, unknown adventures with friends and desolate mountains, the backcountry beckons.

So although winter may in fact not arrive for many months, I just posted (and will be posting more) some backcountry skiing pictures from seasons past to get everyone in the mood.

[View with PicLens]

Pray For Snow!

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It was quite difficult for me to stand by and watch as the gun went off during this past springs Spearhead Passage Backcountry Ski Race at the Whistler Backcountry Freeride Jam. I’m typically not the one to watch such epic events. Fortunately, some last minute networking with the media folks found me arriving atop Whistler Mountain with the racers not for the race but instead as a photographer. My goal for the day: snap some ski photographs. Easy enough right?!?!?

First, the reason I wasn’t racing was because I felt like shit (and rightly so, because I was sick for the next two months!) Secondly, I wasn’t necessarily prepared for the frigid temps found atop Symphony Bowl, Flute and further points east (on the race course.) So I did all I could do to snap some inspiring backcountry ski photographs before my batteries died and my hands froze solid. Well, apparently some of those photos were good enough to  show to the public, because a couple are on display at the home page of the Freeride Jam website HERE (or click on the images below for a short slideshow)

So my advice to all those photographers out there: NEVER be afraid to ask the media if they need a photographer for an event! Don’t expect to get paid initially, but I can (almost) guarantee that if you offer your services in exchange for something that doesn’t necessarily cost them money, you will find your services are very welcome. If they aren’t paying you, ask for a link on their website or at least credit wherever your images get posted.

[View with PicLens]

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I should have been racing, consumed only by the sounds of my heart pumping, breathing in the frigid alpine air howling over the peaks and valleys surrounding the Coast Range of British Columbia. But instead I found myself hovering over the snow, reaching the distance peaks in minutes, not hours. The snow mobile provided by the organizers of Whistler’s Spearhead Passage ski mountaineer race whipped me to a spot called the Flute, where I could catch the leaders of this very cool alpine ski race before they continued on deep into the back country and up to Whirlwind Peak.

It’s rare that I wasn’t participating in an event like this, but if I can’t race I might as well do my best to photograph and convey why we put ourselves through such efforts. Unfortunately I didn’t capture many images of racers faces, because after 4+ hours of ski racing and enduring endless winds, frozen drinking water and little food, these guys were whipped and it showed. Instead I hoped to share the magnificence of the terrain, the ruggedness, the raw beauty of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia’s stunning coast range. Come back shortly for more adventure photographs as these are just a few from the Whistler/Blackcomb Spearhead Passage mountaineer race

Click on the images below to enlarge

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Can it be true, is winter finally coming to an end? Who knows. It’s still quite cold here in Whitefish, Montana, and the mountains are coated in a blanket of fresh snow. But it’s quite possible we’ve had our last big winter storm of the year, which dumped nearly two feet of the white stuff in the higher elevations a couple days ago.

Yes I should have been out taking hundreds of winter photographs but instead I was powder skiing one day and riding in my first ‘training’ bike race of the year the next. I did manage to capture a scenic photograph while out for a quick drive though. It’s not much, which is what I really like about it. For me it illustrates why I’ve enjoyed living in northwest Montana so much for the past 5 months. Peaceful, quiet, tranquil. Wild.  Colorful. 

Click image to enlarge

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Over the years I’ve been focusing more and more attention on capturing unique and inspiring landscape photographs to share with anyone willing to stop and look. So needless to say, it’s a very satisfying feeling when someone approaches you not to purchase an adventure or landscape photograph, but instead to ask about using an image to represent their company or organization.

The other day I was contacted by the Washington Environmental Council, who was interested in using one of my winter landscape photographs from Leavenworth, Washington, to represent their organization in an end-of-year announcement to all their members and supporters. As a member of 1% For the Planet, I strive to use photography as a means of environmental conservation. So needless to say I was quite happy to donate this winter photograph to the WEC.

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