I am really happy to announce that one of my photos was chosen by the good people at Hasselblad for their newsletter this month.

It's an honour to be recognized by such an iconic company that I am obsessed with.

This is the email I got:

Dear Mr Adair,

Thank you very much for submitting your favorite image taken with Hasselblad equipment for the AROUND THE WORLD section of the Hasselblad Bulletin.

We are delighted to let you know that your image has been selected by the editorial team from amongst the hundreds that have been submitted by photographers from all around the world to be published in the new issue of the Bulletin – May 2012.

Congratulations on a fine achievement and this means that your work is now featured amongst a gallery of images submitted by fellow Hasselblad users that is showcased to a wide international audience.

All the best for you and we hope you like the new issue of the Hasselblad Bulletin.

Your Hasselblad Bulletin Team 

Click HERE to go to the site. Or if you're too lazy, this is the photo I submitted

Seems like Instagram and Tumblr have divided my attention away from the ol' blog but I'll get back to more regular posts once the busy winter shooting season is over.

Pemberton is a small town north of Whistler that is surrounded by lush farmland and big mountains. We spend a lot of time shooting around that area all winter and it's a really unique place.

Here's a few shots from the Hasselblad I took a while back............

Has it been a month since my last confession.......I mean post...........apologies, 'tis the season of busy-ness and travel and mayhem.

Well, the snowboard tradeshows are wrapped up, the 2013 products have been released and shown to the world. In August of 2011 I went to New Zealand to shoot the 2013 product catalog with the DC Snowboard team. We shot the photos over the course of 10 days in the southern hemisphere. It was a really busy shoot for me. Everything from on hill action to studio product photos. Most of what you see below are photos we conceived prior to heading to NZ. We based many shots around the graphics for the pro model boards. Donkeys, DJ's, Gorillas,Helicopters and Beers........oh my!

New Zealand is an amazing and beautiful place. Special thanks go out to NZ DC rep Hamish Caunter and DC Snow art director Brian Thompson.

Back in the land of high speed internet so as promised Part 2 of my winter 2011 snowboard photography slideshow.

Different song. Some new photos and 2 minutes of your life you will never get back!

I will be dropping the full version of this slideshow, 10 minutes of action, landscapes and lifestyles, later today so stay tuned (or get tuned and then watch it.....................)

Remember: watch it in HD if you can!

2011 Year in Review - Short Version 2 from colinadair on Vimeo.

Different version with different music and some different photos. Music by The Breeders

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/ 

I told you I was going to milk the photos from this trip. Part 5. Back to the rice fields of Canguu from Part 2. The "scarecrows" are scattered throughout the fields and their costumes/outfits are amazing. I'm still uncertain about what they are meant to scare off. I didn't see any crows when I was there but I'm sure they have some kind of pesky scavenger bird there that warrants these statues.They might have been meant to scare off evil spirits. Balinese people are very spiritual so spirits and prayer play a big part in their lives. Regardless, to a foreigner like me these types of things make great subject matter for my photos.

This installment is based around my fascination with tourists. People in general are strange and do weird things but tourists are a whole other level of odd. They stick out like speed bumps in a school zone. Bringing their individual styles and cultural differences to a place that is not their own. Mostly what I like is how tourists are just groups of people standing around doing nothing. Maybe taking some pictures or eating food but serving no real purpose other than cluttering up what is usually a beautiful landscape and getting in each others way. I am a tourist like any other when I go on trips but I cannot see myself so I sit and watch others and try to figure out where I fit in.

So here is part 2. Not sure how many parts there will be to the series from this trip. At least 5. Less than 10. I know I said I'd post more next week but I just got too excited and couldn't sleep and it's Friday which I know is just super productive in office land so figured you would want more stuff to look at.............plus those HK airport shots in Part 1 are pretty bland.

This is the Rice Fields series. These were shot over several days with the Contax and the Hasselblad. These rice fields are in Canguu which has become a very popular surf spot and hence it is being developed heavily.These particular fields are surrounded by development and I suspect won't be around much longer. The sketchy little road we took to surf everyday ran right through these fields and it was definitely a hub for localized transport and activity. The contrast of Bali is pretty evident in these shots. Old farmers and young kids (I still don't know what these kids were up to. Fishing/hunting for some kind of small fish/animal but I couldn't figure out what exactly). The two women, one on a bicycle with a traditional hat on the other on a scooter wearing a helmet. Lush green fields and new housing. A lot of activity, some of it hard to understand but you just sit and watch and wait................

As promised the film is back from the lab and here is the first installment of photos from my recent trip to Bali Indonesia.

There are a ton of shots I wanted to share and because this is a pretty slow time of year for me before the snowboard season gets into full swing I thought I would milk it for a few posts. When editing I also noticed several patterns and themes within all the shots. This is partly due to some ideas that surfaced while shooting but also some random things that just fit together. I find that happens a lot when shooting film. The main reason being the camera format and use of one lens (Hasselblad 6 x6 and an 80mm). Over time I think I have begun to see things a certain way when I shoot with that camera so patterns begin to develop. I was also shooting my new Contax g2 with a 90mm lens. I hadn't shot a single roll with that camera before I left on this trip so I was shooting blind so to speak. I shot a ton of different stuff with it to see how it would react and what the shots would look like. It was kind of like just shooting anything that looked remotely interesting and hoping for the best. Overall I like how that camera works and I'm excited to shoot more with it so it becomes second nature.

The first series of shots is from a 16 hour stop over in Hong Kong. Contax G2 90mm lens.

There's lots more to follow so stay tuned next week.............

Monday is a difficult day for most of us. The weekend still lingering. A bit groggy and tired. Hi Ho, Hi Ho...............

10:28 am Monday and I have already learned something important that I thought might help you photographers but which can also apply to daily life whether you are a parent, an artist or just a guy who likes to watch football on Sundays.

 I found this little gem via a photo editor (originally sourced from Tim Soter blog).... 

".....I’ve learned to let a little control go over the years by sometimes “taking photos with my mind.”  You can’t always have the camera at your side, or up to your face – part of photography is missing things.  That’s a very difficult lesson to learn as a photographer, our pursuit is dedicated to controlling and stopping time.  I remember hearing a well known photographer that I respected say that “you miss photos all the time, and that’s part of photography” – it came as a real relief.  We’re human, the pursuit should be rooted in pleasure and sometimes it’s good to just acknowledge that you saw the moment, framed it and captured it and stored it on your personal harddrive of neural networking."

I cannot even explain the amount of times I have felt the guilt and remorse of "missing a shot",  while travelling, when working on assignment or even just out and about. You can't always have a camera with you.

This message is oddly inspirational for me as a photographer. It's basically saying don't feel bad when you blow it. And for years I have had that twinge of panic about missing a shot. Never mind all the photos I've shot, it's always "the one that got away" that lingers. Oddly, I remember that "shot" more vividly and clearly because of the fact that there is no photographic record of it. The tendency to snap a picture, and get ready for the next shot is ingrained in photographers. But something is often missing from the experience when you are thinking about exposure and framing. When you have no camera or no opportunity to shoot something you will absorb it into your conscience. The air tempeature, the smell, the sounds. It becomes something real to you and the memory becomes a powerful one.

All this aside...........I can't show you one of my memories. Well, not yet anyway......To me this shot almost seems like something out of the memory bank however I don't really remember much about this day or the moment it was shot.