I've been working on this for a while but I've also been actually working so it took a little longer than I thought. I know you've all been waiting for this so here it is. Well. PART 1 anyway. I've got a few more sllideshows from my 2011 photography done as well but one at a time..........damn!

Here it is. 2011 condensed into about 2.5 minutes. That's a year of my life crushed into a internet friendly timespace and size.

PLEASE, if you have Apple TV or a big screen watch it in HD it's so much better than this pinner version (Don't just click enlarge because it will look pixelated and you will think my photos suck!). Respect.

Riders include: Devun Walsh, Iikka Backstrom, Ryan Tiene, Aaron Biittner, Jody Wachniak, Andrew Geeves, Kimmy Fasani, Jonas Carlsson and a few others.............Music is by David Bowie.

 

    

 

If you like that you can watch the slideshows from 2010 here:

http://blog.colinadair.com/_blog/Colin_Adair_Photography_Blog/post/2010_in_the_Rearview_Year_in_Review_for_You/ 

Well. It was quite a night as Vancouver played host to BrainFarm Digital Cinema and The Art of Flight. This movie definitely needs to be seen to be believed. I highly reccommend watching it on the big screen if you get a chance.

I wasn't able to get my hands on any copies of the book but I was assured one or two would be coming to my doorstep soon. Stay tuned.

And because I didn't take any photos at the premier here are a few more outtakes from my trip to Patagonia with BrainFarm last year:

The landscape photographers dream location.

 

 

 

On our way down to Patagonia we stopped in Punta Arenas for a few days. We showed up at this little ski hill to ride and get rid of our "plane legs". We walked into the rental shop and the kid in there was watching "That's It. That's All". He could not believe that Travis Rice and Mark Landvik were standing in his little shop. He kept looking at the TV and then looking at Travis. He really was almost speechless. We rode around the mountain and this local must have called his buddies because all of a sudden there were about 10 kids riding with us. They kept calling him "Traveeeece" and "Trice". It was a fun day. Here's a shot of Travis just soaking Mark in the old puddle spray trick.

 Lando spent a lot of time getting wet on this trip for some reason.

 

Travis caught some sea urchins and we made ceviche out of it later that night.

 

 Alejo waiting for the helicopter to come in for refueling.

 

 

 

 

 

The Director Curt Morgan with the ultra slow motion Phantom camera. The shots from this scene in the movie are amazing.

 

Our pilot who barely spoke english and seems to barely fit in the heli in this photo. The language barrier was a bit of an issue for Curt who needed to direct the pilot how and where to fly the heli while he was filming. You can see the camera mounted under the heli. Curt sits in the front seat with a control station and monitor to operate the camera.

 

Curt Morgan.

 

Travis Rice.

 

Alejo.

 

Star gazing and sweet berry wine go hand in hand.

 

That's it. That's all...............sorry couldn't resist.

 

In case you have been recently comatose or in the 8% of the world where Facebook and the internet don't exist then you know that the new BrainFarm Travis Rice movie, The Art of Flight, has been released. Hopefully you've seen a big screen HD version otherwise you are missing out. Well, actually, I wouldn' know cause I haven't seen it yet but that's what I'm told. I'm holding out for Wednesday's Vancouver premier where I will be front row with my 3D glasses and garbage bag of popcorn.

I was lucky enough to go on a trip with Travis, Mark Landvik and the BrainFarm crew to Southern Chile's Patagonia region almost one year ago to the day. Followers of this blog will have seen those posts. If not, go here.

Now a year later, the movie is out. There is also a very limited edition book that contains some of my photos from that trip to Chile. I haven't seen it yet but I'm sure it's awesome. I will have copies soon and if I get enough we'll be doing a giveaway for sure.

In honour of the anticipation of the movie and book and a good night out on Wednesday, here are some unseen outtakes from my trip to Chile with BrainFarm Cinema. Hopefully I'll have some photos from the premier night as well:

Look really close and you'll see Antarctica..........Ok, not actually but it was only about a 1000 kms away as the crow flies.

Travis with the Red, White and Blue.

 

Apparently there are a lot of these in the movie.

If you were following the original blog posts you would know that we had less than ideal snow conditions on this trip. On an off day we took the super charged Chilean military helicopter to the moon. This is director Curt Morgan after being told by the heli pilot that he couldn't bring any moon rocks home with him.

 

 This is Alejo, our Chilean logistics coordinator. He spends his summers guiding in Antarctica. He had so many stories and became the trip guru. You just never knew what he was going to say next.

 

This is Fan Fan (Stefan) our french ski guide. His home base is Chamonix so he knows how to get really gnarly.

 

 

Rice and Landvik charging to the next unknown, unexplored descent.

 

Alejo once again just because he was so fucking cool.............

This trip is almost over. I made my way up north with the BrainFarm crew to Santiago. They all went home because they've been here for almost 2 months. I had changed my flight a while ago and found myself with 3 days to kill. I'm over on the Coast in a place called Pichilemu. There are a bunch of surf breaks here, the most famous being Punta De Lobos, a nice left point break, perfect for my goofy foot styles.

We had to get out of dodge while the getting was good. We had exhausted our options down south in Patagonia and with a break in the weather before it got nasty again we escaped. It's an amazing place. Highly recommended if you like the outdoors. We were staying at an amazing lodge called Lakutaia. We were the only ones there as it's not really tourist season there yet but the staff were so awesome and the food was amazing.

Here are a few pics from the last week or so:

A crazy storm rolled in one afternoon. It came through in about 20 minutes. The light was amazing.



Followed up by a full moon later that evening.





The lodge also boasts the most southerly golf course in the world. It's in kind of rough shape right now because winter just ended but come summer, those 3 holes of golf will challenge the most talented short game players out there. I think Phil Mickelson is coming down for some work on his game.



Here is our plane. A Canadian made Twin Otter. The only plane that can handle the intense winds and weather of the region. It was packed so full of snowboard gear and BrainFarm's insane amount of equipment that we only had room for 6 people.



More to come from this trip and hopefully some epic surf shots..........

I've had to resort to some extreme solutions due to the extreme nature of the place we are in. Desperate times means desperate measures. The other day we drove by a park dedicated to the Virgin. I took the short pilgrimage back there in order to plead for some help in our quest. It's been two weeks almost and yet we have not been able to shoot any snowboarding yet. Traditional methods to bring us luck have been exhausted.......









Well. It worked! The heli is here! Now all we have to deal with is the weather, snow and constant wind...........Mark Landvik's expression here says it all.

We finally made it. Finally at our intended destination. Spirits are high.

We loaded our gear into a small plane and made the short 1 hour flight south. All I can say is it was worth the wait over the last week +. The place is unreal. Postcard scenery in every direction and plenty of stuff to do.

The helicopter is still not here. Is this unprofessional of me to report on? No. It's the reality of working on a snowboard film and working in a foreign country. It is also the reality of doing a trip that no one has ever done before. There are daily logistics to figure out and constant retooling of the gameplan. A day turns into a week, a week turns into two weeks. Return flights get changed. But the job gets done. Weather co-operating of course! We are deep in the shit now so no turning back. Prospects look good, we are on track and we are ready to go.

Today we hiked up the ridge behind the lodge to get a lay of the land. It was warm at the bottom and cold, windy and snow covered on the ridge. I was wearing shoes. There was fresh snow at that elevation which is a good sign because we will be much higher up and much further into the mountains when the shooting starts. We had a view of the entire valley and area which was really amazing.

After a couple days in Santiago we have made it down south to Punta Arenas but have yet reach our final destination of Puerto Williiams. We ran into the middle of the Bicentennial of Chile so everything was shut down for a huge national holiday for the last 4 days. Frustrating for us because we can't go anywhere until the paperwork for the helicopter clears. However, we have been able to get out into this region and see some of the country as well as enjoy the festivities around the Bicentennial.

We are moving from here on Tuesday and the real work can begin. Snow conditions down south are apparently good and we will be a short flight away from the furthest southern point in South America, Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn). The landscape and scenery have been amazing so far. Here are a few samples:

The view from my hotel in Santiago


Just north of Punta Arenas


We stopped at a small 'zoo' and this guy was not liking us too much. About 8 feet tall with nothing but a dinky wire fence between us and him. These things are freaky.


This little guy was the highlight of a huge bicentennial parade in Punta Arenas.




Down at Fuerte Bulnes, about an hour south of Punta Arenas, we were searching for sea lions and penguins but it's still a bit early in the season for them to be in this area. We did see a few seals but they kept their distance.