I’ve been monkying around with my Canon 7D custom functions and getting it to match my Canon XSi so that when I go use both camera bodies, I don’t have any issues with one working a different way than the other. I use * button on the back to stop (or lock) the focus, so that the regular shutter button controls the AE (exposure) and taking the photo itself.

Anyway, Keith and I wandered around the entire Stanley Park seawall on our normal quest to find the resident eagles. We never did come across any of the eagles this time.

We stood around the little stone bridge at the west side of Lost Lagoon for a little bit. Showing some Aussie tourists how friendly the local chickadees actually are, especially when you have the proper seed for them.  While this was going on the two sparrows (I think that’s what they are) were gabbing to each other.

I have really been enjoying my Canon 7D’s high speed continuous ability. At 8 frames per second and a high shutter speed I can now freeze movement and capture instances I would normally miss with my Canon XSi. I still have to work on focusing on the proper spots on a bird though as this guy’s head isn’t in focus.

We popped over to the Vancouver Aquarium, but at the section that is “free”. Here a trainer is working with the recently rescued Harbour Porpoise the Aquarium as acquired. Wonder if they will release it back into the wild, or if it will join the spotted dolphins in the next tank over.

Now if you have ever gone on a photowalk with me into the more nature type places of Vancouver (Stanley Park, Lighthouse Park, Riefel Bird Sanctuary etc) you’ll probably learn I’m really good at seeing and pointing out critters that most people seem not to notice. The above photo is of a hummingbird, just not sure which one it is since the lighting is horrible on it. I cropped the photo to about 90% tried to increase the light levels and bring out any colour I could with Lightroom. I then tossed it into Photoshop CS4 and run NoiseNinja on it to clean it up a bit. Not bad for what I had to work with, maximum focal length at 200mm in a tree whose leaves are almost the same size of the bird and with no sun being out!

I should get a hummingbird feeder out sooner than later now! It seems that Spring is here…

Since the clouds were out and about it’s always a good time to do a hand-held HDR photo of Coal Harbour. The Westin (far left behind marina) is home to not only I.O.C (International Olympic Committee) but also to various families of the Olympics too. I heard a rumour that President Obama was supposed to stay there too but it looks like he pulled out and now the Vice President will be in town for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

So what, now the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics are 9 days away? What will I be doing? Probably just wandering around with my camera taking photos of whatever I happen to see. Too bad I couldn’t get accrediated to do some sporting venues for the Olympics I would have really liked to see Shaun White and them on the Half Pipe like I did at Cypress last year.

Yeah, I have been going through some of my photos taken during the LF FIS WorldCup event up at Cypress Mountain last year. I even did a first attempt at creating a sequenced shot in Photoshop too, I don’t think it turned out half-bad.

There is still some time left in this Winter season, perhaps I can get up to Grouse Mountain for an event or two, or at least head over to Whistler for the upcoming 2010 Telus World Ski and Snowboarding Festival!

By now most people know that Whistler/Blackcomb is home to many of the Alpine events for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Which is quite evident when driving up into Whistler itself. Various Olympic graphics are being put on the various fencing and tents, security measures are becoming a bit more evident and you can now see a Military presence. The snow base is great though, so no need to truck or fly in snow like one of our local mountains has to do.

Now in previous times when Robyn and I have gone up to Whistler/Blackcomb, Cypress or even Grouse Mountain, I tend to take Robyn’s Pentax Optio W10 point and shoot camera. Why? Well the main factor is that it is waterproof. Dropping it in the snow or getting wet isn’t a big deal. It also easily fits into one of my various pockets which makes it easier to use than a typical digital SLR camera such as my Canon 7D or my smaller Canon 450D (Digital Rebel XSi).

Today was different, because I bought a Canon 7d, I now have an extra camera body. I thought about bringing my Canon 450D up with us to the mountains but falling on the camera has always been a fear of mine. Not from hurting myself mind you, but breaking the camera and leaving me camera-less. Today I brought along the Canon 450D along with the EF 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS kit lens. I used my 2L water backpack which happens to have enough room to fit my Canon XSi, the battery grip attached as well as the kit lens. I was stoked! In fact, I slept horribly because I was so excited to try and take my camera up with me!

Now I don’t know how many of you reading this actually Ski or Snowboard, let along carry anything with you when you do it. This was my first time and at first it was a bit awkward having that extra little weight on my back. I quickly got used to it and it felt normal.

We parked up at Base 2 (Parking Lot 6 on the Blackcomb side), geared up and headed up the Excalibur Gondola. From the Excalibur Gondola you head over to the Excelerator Express Chair. This is where I first took out the Canon XSi and started taking a few photos.

I fully strapped myself into my board and we proceeded down towards Glacier Creek Lodge. Robyn wanted to hit up 7th Heaven right away, so we did just that. At first it was a bit weird to have the extra weight, but that feeling quickly subsided as I twisted and turned down towards Glacier Creek Lodge.

We headed up Jersey Cream Express to where Rendezvous Lodge is located. We ducked down Expressway and entered 7th Heaven from below. By this time I barely even notice the small backpack and camera on my back.

The great thing about getting to Whistler/Blackcomb so early, is that there is virtually no one at the lift lines and a few people actually on the runs. Though I am sure it’s not like Fresh Tracks.

Once we got up to Horstman Hut the sun was out, the clouds were far away and the snow was great.

It was time to head down into the first main run of our day, we decided to take Cloud Nine as it seems everyone else was heading towards Hugh’s Heaven.

Cloud Nine was great even if it wasn’t a groomed run. The snow was nice and soft, there was some small patches of deeper snow too, which is always fun of course!

We cruised on down to the 7th Heaven lift and went up again. We did Cloud Nine and Panorama a few times before heading over to Glacier Creek Lodge for some lunch. Though before heading out, Robyn tried to capture me snowboarding down Panorama.

Ah so much fun. No I didn’t fall, I was waiting for Robyn to put the camera away and hand the backpack over. Though I did find riding without the backpack was weird and I felt off balanced. I think from this point on, I shall always have a dSLR with me on the mountain.

To get back to Rendezvous Lodge we took the Green Line out of 7th Heaven. We went past the lodge and headed back down to Glacier Creek Lodge for lunch. Robyn and I had a delicious lunch and rested for a little bit before proceeding back outside. At this time it seems that clouds were beginning to roll in and the sun was falling behind the mountains. We headed down Zig-Zig took the Excelerator Express chair back up to Glacier Creek Lodge.

Headed up the  Jersey Creme Express and down past Rendezvous Lodge. Robyn suggested we head towards the Big Easy Terrain Garden as she knows I want to take photos of people taking jumps, rails and such. We just went through the park, didn’t stop to take photos as I felt a bit awkward doing so. I’m fine for taking photos when I’ve been asked to do it, such as the time I went up to photograph the LG FIS WorldCup 2009 events at Cypress Mountain, or when I photographed the events at the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival last year too, but when it comes to taking photos of random people I tend to be a bit shy. I want to work up the courage to do it, I need to hang out at the terrain parks more often and take people photo’s right? People want to be photographed showing off their mad skillz in the parks right? That would be awesome!

At this point I was getting tired, I accidentally went through some massive mogul area (Sluiceway) up at 7th Heaven and that tuckered me out for the rest of the day. From the Big Easy Terrain Garden we headed back down to Base 2 and drove home.

It was an awesome day. Great snow, great weather and of course it is always fun riding along side Robyn. I was such a good ROI I think!

Some other photos from today:

From a photography standpoint, using my dSLR was just amazing for the results. Being able to control the finer aspects of the camera’s settings I think can help make a photo a little bit better. The great thing about so much sun was I could get away with using a lower ISO, smaller aperture and faster shutter speed. I don’t remember the last time I could shoot at ISO 100-200 with an aperture of f16 and still get shutter speeds above 1/500th of  second.

Perhaps I’ll work my way up to bring along my Canon 7D, but for now the Canon 450D works perfectly fine for this sort of thing. Well except for getting action shots. While Robyn was trying to photograph me coming down Panorama, the buffer filled up (it doesn’t have much of a buffer to begin with) and there were some great shots missed. Though I do like what she did manage to capture.

When I get more into it, I can look at purchasing one of those Burton Camera Backpacks or perhaps one from F-Stop. Then I can bring more camera gear with me, though I’ll probably have to get into better shape to carry a 28L pack while riding the slopes. I can hang out around the Terrain parks at the various ski mountains we have and work on my portfolio and experience! After all, I’m not too shabby with a camera, right?

I’m not sure what a photographer’s greatest moment can be, but for me it was the feeling I got from having my first photo published, well being asked for a photo in which would be published in a book. Not only was that a cool feeling, receiving the book in which my photo was published is even better!

I received an email from a publisher asking me about a particular photo that they wanted to use in a book about the history of snowboarding, the bonus? Ross Rebagliati was writing it! If you are from Vancouver, or even Whistler, Rebagliati is a pretty big name in the world of snowboarding. Who else has a park and a ski run named after them?

Off the Chain: An Insider’s History Of Snowboarding

Now I’ll be honest, I haven’t finished reading the book, but I am really enjoying the information that Rebagliati has put together as well as his journey through snowboarding. The ups and the downs. It is cool to find out how my favourite sport came to be, starting out with modified pieces of wood similar to surf boards and skateboards, to what influences the design of snowboards today.

“With Ross as your guide, you’ll tour with the sport’s best riders, drop into the wilder side of snowboarding culture, and find out what really happened in Nagano as Ross won, lost and regained his Olympic media. Along the way you’ll check out video shoots, navigate the backroom dealings behind the sport, and hit some of the world’s best boarding destinations. Strap on your board, throw caution to the wind, and get ready to rip in the refreshingly candid and lavishly illustrated Off the Chain: An Insider’s History of Snowboarding.”

Even though I have only read the first few areas of the book, it has been some great reading. With aspects like, how the sport came to be and where it will go in the future, some history of Jake Burton and Tom Sims and more. I can’t wait to read more into where Ross Rebagliati’s career took him and how the whole Nagano Olympics went down in regards to his Gold medal.

Enough about that, more about the photo they used!

That’s right, signed by him too! This will definitely be something I keep forever!

There is my photo (page.112)! The caption above tells who the four riders are, where they are and that I took the photo! That’s pretty cool, well for me anyway.

This is the original shot, well the one I uploaded to Flickr that got their attention. Boardercross (SBX) is pretty cool event, but unfortunately we did not win tickets to the event during the 2010 Winter Olympics. At least we got to see the same competitors at Cypress though. Cool nonetheless!

If you want to check out the book at your local book store here is the info:

• Title: Off The Chain: An Insider’s History of Snowboarding
• Author: Ross Rebagliati
• ISBN: 978-1-55365-487-2
• Publisher: Greystone Books

What’s next for my photography? Who knows! It’s a start right? With the up  coming winter season perhaps I can have more oppurtunities for photos such as the ones I took up at Cypress Mountain or at Whistler. Though it looks like it might have to wait until the 2010 Winter Olympics are over.

So here’s to me wishing for more of my photos published in cool projects such as this one! I can toot my own horn right?

Most readers of my blog will know I have many passions in life (one of which is my relationship with Robyn) though recently, the other two I have been focusing as well,  is photography and snowboarding. It looks like those two passions of mine are going to fuse together this weekend up at Cypress Mountain; LG Snowboard WorldCup 2009.

Robyn and I first learned about the WorldCup Event up at Cypress through one of our friends. I was pretty interested in seeing if I could obtain media accreditation for photographing the snowboard events. Our friend mentioned it might be hard to obtain since VANOC and the municipality of West Vancouver was in charge of the event.

So what did I do? When we got home I looked through the LG Snowboarding WorldCup website to see how one might be able to obtain media accreditation. I read over the information provided on their site and noticed that an application form had to be filled out and sent in a week prior to me reading this information. I thought I would email them and ask if I still could get accreditation. Doesn’t hurt to ask right?

My LG Snowboard WorldCup 2009 Media Pass

This week I received an email saying I was accepted for media accreditation and I could pick up my pass for the event. I was ecstatic!

For me this is a great opportunity to combine two passions of mine as well as experience a sporting event as a photographer, it is a dream of mine to get into Sports Photography. Attending games such as baseball, football and even hockey I was always taken an interest of the photographers and their camera gear. Being able to capture such action to me was pretty cool their results are always astonishing.

So this now being my first (of hopefully many) media event, I’m excited to get out into the snow with my camera and capture some of the most exciting action in sports for the Winter season. I’ve also read that Shawn White will be attending the Half-Pipe event too.

Many 2010 Winter Olympians will be in attendance for this event hosted by Cypress Mountain. There is also over $150,000 in cash up for grabs too.

Me Riding Down Blackcomb Mountain this year

According to the website, the Half-Pipe tickets for spectators are sold out. That still leaves the PGS (Parallel Giant Slalom) and Boardcross events for spectators to see. If you have a season pass to Cypress you are also allowed to go watch the events without paying the $10 ticket prices. Tickets can be purchased at the Park Royal shopping centre in West Vancouver if you plan on attending.

Be sure to follow my photographic journey at the LG WorldCup Event over at WestCoast Alpine.

Will I Be Speaking?

I won’t be, though perhaps one day I will. I’m shy in front of large groups of people. There are numerous topics I could probably go over in regards to WordPress but I will be available to answer questions anyone might happen about WordPress while we’re up there. In fact in the new year also I will be launching an new project of mine that has to do with WordPress…more details coming soon.

Where is the Fairmont?

Well if you are going to make it up to Whistler for this exciting WordPress WordCamp, the Fairmont (Chateau Whistler) is located in the Upper Village at the base of Blackcomb. Pretty much a ski in and out location. The Wizard Express chair is right there at the backdoor of the Fairmont.

The Whistler Village is about a 5-10 minute walk from the Fairmont so getting to the shopping, restaurants, and the bar scene is pretty easy if you are going to stay at the Fairmont.

So if you can make it up besure to say hi to Robyn and myself.  We’re both looking forward to going up, meeting everyone there, having fun and also hitting the slopes!

Well it seems to be getting closer to that time of year when I can break out my Burton Snowboard and other gear to get ready for the upcoming snow. I read various local reports, status updates on Facebook as well as looked out the window and all the local mountains got a dusting of snow! Which means Cypress, Grouse and Seymour all received some snow! Hopefully this means that the snow conditions this year will be awesome! I am looking forward to the new lodge at Cypress.

Why do I care about the snow?

Well Robyn got me into snowboarding and I only had the opportunity to hit the snowy slopes 4 times last season (spring season at Cypress and then Whistler/Blackcomb) so I am getting pretty excited for snowfall this season.

I have most of my gear too! Burton snowboard, boots, bindings, North Face jacket, pants and gloves. All I need now is a helmet and I am pretty much ready to go!

Golden Ears Mountain

Anyone else excited for this year’s winter season?

That is right, Whistler/Blackcomb is still open and the snow has not all disappeared yet. True, Whistler mountain is technically closed as they get ready for the Mountain Biking season but that leaves Blackcomb open for those snow junkies who do not believe their winter is over. In fact, Blackcomb stays open until June every year, though I am sure the snow in June is definitely not the easiest to go down.

This past Sunday, Robyn and I went up to Blackcomb to have a bit of fun and for me to try out my new Burton snowboard. Robyn warned me about what I was getting into and that I might find it more difficult than what I have experienced on Cypress Mountain. She also reassuring me that my runs on Blackcomb are longer than those found on Cypress. Another point of interest is that no Blue runs are created equal, she did make me aware that a Blue run on Blackcomb can be the equivalent (or harder) than a Black run on Cypress.

Our trip to up Blackcomb would be my fourth (yes 4th) time ever strapping myself into a snowboard and I thought to myself, not only am I trying out a new snowboard, I am also taking on Blue runs which are longer and steeper than any of the runs I have previously gone down.

Now once we went up on the Excalibur Gondola, then over up the Excelerator chair we were presented with the above view. Pretty breathe taking if you don’t mind me saying. Whistler Village from above is definitely an awesome view.

Strapping Myself In

The two of the Blue runs we went down (Rock and Roll, Ridge Runner) were pretty fun but the last run we did (Zig-Zag) was pretty icy and with only being my fourth time snowboarding I took it pretty easy as people zoomed past me. Robyn and I were noticed that a large amount of people were falling (both skiers and snowboarders) which got Robyn and I a bit worried. Most so because they seemed to recklessly zoom down the mountain not really paying attention.

Rest at the top, no I did not fall

Overall we had a great time. There was a time when my leg muscles decided they didn’t want to cooperate with the rest of me and I bailed, not so gracefully either, though I would probably go back up to Blackcomb once more this spring season if I had the opportunity. With the warmer temperatures coming the snow will be turning for the worse and a relatively new snowboard like myself will definitely not enjoy icy conditions. It was bad enough hearing the snow crunch (or was it ice chip?) as I tried to slow myself down.

I am looking forward to the next winter season so I can get back up on my snowboard. Now it is time for camping, hiking, sailing, kayaking and all those other fun outdoor activities.

Robyn informed me that we should check out the prices of demo gear up at Whistler/Blackcomb. Whistler/Blackcomb is known for their good demo/rental gear and they rotate their equipment each season. We went up to Whistler/Blackcomb during the Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival to see what sort of deals we could get on snowboarding gear for me.

We were in luck. One location had a few boards and looking to get rid of them. Now since I am new to snowboarding I know very little about the gear and what to look for. Robyn’s friend that we met up with used to sell ski and snowboarding gear so luckily he was able to help us out.

The board that we found for me was a Burton Baron Wide (wide because I have size 11 feet) and was at a decent price of $150. I later found out the board retails for $450 – $500 so that’s a really good deal. The shape of the board was pretty good. The top is a bit scratched up but that doesn’t bother me, it’s the riding surface I should care about and the shop tuned it nicely for me.

I was also able to pick up Burton boots and Burton bindings for the board. The bindings have never been used and look pretty cool. Much easier to release than the rental bindings I am used to. Hopefully I have the bindings in the right spots. I tested it out and it seemed alright but I won’t know for sure until I get it up on the mountain in the snow.

Overall I paid $250 for the whole setup. Pretty good deal huh? We later found out that the following day all the demo/rental gear on the mountain was pretty much gone, all that was left in the shops were some of the mountain bikes from the previous season they were trying to get rid of before the new stock of mountain bikes arrived for the spring/summer season.

The only thing that is disappointing is that this season is over. We might check out Blackcomb’s Glacier skiing/snowboarding since they leave parts of the mountain open until June. I can’t wait till next season to really get a feel for this board.

Cypress Mountain is located in West Vancouver which is north of the downtown core next to Grouse Mountain. The nice thing about Cypress is that it has two mountain sides the come down into a valley which creates the ‘bowl’ for which some locals call it; Cypress Bowl.

Looking up the West Bowl

As some of my visitors know I am relatively new to the world of Snowboarding and I have enjoyed every minute my feet have been strapped into the bindings of the snowboard. This past Sunday I was able to be take another lesson, but this lesson turned out to be a private one. No one else seemed to be doing snowboarding lessons during the last day of Cypress Mountain was open. I can see why, but it allowed me to have a one-on-one time with an instructor to better my skill.

My instructor thought it would be best to go over and improve technique than anything. He was thoroughly impressed that this was my 3rd time snowboarding and wanted to help me reach my goals for the day. Pretty much my goal was to be able to do more challenging runs (moderate blues) but he wanted to take it further.

We went over the fundamentals of a good turn, as well as good strategies on when to do wide turns as opposed to narrow turns. Since this was a private lesson he watched me ride down the hill commenting along the way pointing out things I needed to work on to improve my riding; such as keeping lower to the ground so the board doesn’t chatter when I go to slow down. When we reached some flat sections he suggested to have fun and get to know the board more. He had be run some exercises like balancing on the back of the board while bringing the nose up. He also got me into doing ollies which is the basis for jumping (like in skateboarding). Even though I could only bring the board off the snow just under a foot in height it was definitely something that I enjoyed doing. After all isn’t that what I want to do snowboarding? Jumps? Of course!

Metro Vancouver as seen from Panorama Ridge

After a grueling, but positive, 2 hour private lesson I met up with Robyn and we rested for a little while. I was tired after going down moderate blues, learning how to take steep terrain and even riding through trees! After our brief rest I was ready to hit the snow again but this time with Robyn. After a run or two Robyn suggested we hit the West side of the bowl since I had not been on that side yet. We did a nice green called Panorama Ridge which offered a decent view of the Metro Vancouver area below.

Going up to Cypress Mountain has continued my enjoyment of Snowboarding and wishing that the mountain was not closing for the season. Sure Whistler is open until April 20th, and Blackcomb is open until June, thought the local North Shore mountains will be closing their runs shortly as I am sure the other mountains in BC will as well.

I do realize that my previous posts regarding my snowboarding on Cypress I have spelt Cypress wrong. I was able to catch it when I tried to look up ‘Cyprus Mountain’ and not ‘Cypress Mountain’ via Google. Oh well!

Now the girlfriend (Robyn) has a friend that works at Cypress Bowl so they (Robyn and her friends) have been going there when they aren’t skiing up at Whistler/Blackcomb and last week was my first time snowboarding. I liked it, it was a little tricky at first and definitely workout using muscles I am not used to using. Let’s face it, sitting in front of a computer doesn’t require much muscle movement. So yesterday was my second time up on the mountain and also placed in the Level 2 snowboarding lesson.

I originally wanted to do Level 1 over again but the girls wouldn’t let me. They placed me into Level 2 and I am totally thankful for it. I would of been so board in Level 1 lessons and the Level 2 lessons helped me work on my technique for turns. Carving is so much fun on a snowboard!

After the lessons were over (I improved quite a bit), I took to the bunny hill by myself and managed to go all the way down without bailing once. I meet up with Robyn and her friends and Robyn wanted me to try a Green hill. So we did, sort of.

Going up one of the chairs the top only had two runs: Freestyle and Blue. No green here for me! But I manged to go down the Blue run with no problems (falling twice) but recovered nicely. I did enjoy it even if the run was a bit icy. After making it down the hill (working on my turning technique and not bailing) we headed to the next chair that really lead up to the green run (Collins). This was an interesting run and fairly long too. I really enjoyed it (again bailing a couple of times and at which point I was getting pretty tried) and now I think I am hooked on snowboarding!

Snowboarding has a pretty easy learning curve to it I think. The initial starts is a bit different but once you get the hand of it and your muscles learn then its pretty fun. Skiing has a much larger learning curve to it but I didn’t take to skiing as well as I took to snowboarding. Both are really physically demanding though, but a lot of fun.

We will be trying to get another run in after our trip to the Dominican Republic and before the end of the season (April 14th or something). After that it will be on to the summer activities and getting into better shape so that I can attempt Whistler/Blackcomb!!

So who out there is into winter sports?