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/ 

A while ago I was in NZ. Still need to post some photos from that trip but the editing has been slow. Sorry.

When I was there I scoped an issue of Australian and New Zealand  Snowboarding Magazine. They had asked me for some shots of Australian and DC team rider Ryan Tiene and some shots of Devun Walsh and Iikka Backstrom for an interview. It's pretty funny. Not sure you can read any of it with these small jpegs tearsheets but search it out online if you want.

All the photos are mine except the very last spread shot.

 

 

 

 

 

2010 is but a vague memory at this point. Like a night after too many adult beverages. A whirlwind of blurry images mixed with some random recollections and not a whole lot in between.

Thankfully for me, most of my life gets caught by my camera so I can look back and remember it. The winter is a non stop roadtrip and my bags usually stay packed waiting to head to the next shoot.

Before things get really busy for me this year I decided to put 2010 back on the burner and throw together a couple slideshows. 2010 was kind of an unusual year in terms of snow and shooting conditions. The weather was all over the place and so was I. Whistler, Utah, California, Alaska, back to Whistler, down to Chile and call it a season!

When I started making this slideshow I thought I had the photos edited down to a good showcase of my winter. Once I had it into the Slideshow module in Lightroom with some music and I got the timing to my liking, it was a 9 minute epic that I thought might bore the shit out of the general population. So I went back to the drawing board, bit the bullet and edited it down to about 4 1/2 minutes with different music.

So here you go, the long and the short of it. I'm heading to Japan on Monday for almost two weeks so I'll hopefully have some good images and stories to share.

I posted both versions. The short version from my YouTube account and the long version from my Vimeo account. Different music, different vibe and the long version obviously has a lot more photos so if you have time, watch them both. YouTube took the music off my Long version for some reason. The photos look like shit in fullscreen mode. Sorry. I also posted the short version link to my Vimeo page in case you like Vimeo better.

Here is the short version on YouTube.

2010_Slideshow_Long from colinadair on Vimeo.

Vimeo Short Version

The Whistler Backcountry is officially open for business!! Not that it has to be graced with our presence to be deemed 'open' but we had our first real day out there on Wednesday and it was a good one. Clear blue skies and smooth sailing on the snowmachines made for a great day. We didn't shoot all that much because the snow was only good in spots due to the high freezing levels last weekend and some wind affected areas. However, we did the full tour (over 100 km's) and scoped the area north of Whistler known as The Rutherford. As Devun put it we were "Cataloging" spots and making notes on what might be good for the next time.

Iikka is fired up these days and he sent it off a couple things. A good sign of things to come for the guy we are now calling "The Shot Monster".

Devun and Iikka are working on a video project of their own this year. There will be monthly webisodes as well as a full movie at the end of the year. It should be good. Lots of guest appearances by their pro shred friends like Eero Niemala and a others. More details and posts on our adventures will follow.

As for me, I'm heading to Mike Wiegle Heli skiing for 3 days with Dev and Iikka on Sunday. After that it's off to Japan in early February with the Canadian DC Ams for an article for KingSnow mag. From there it looks like a whole crew of the DC team will be in Terrace, BC for another heli trip. In March we are going to France and beyond that it's unclear but I'll keep you posted and will be updating with new photos and stories as much as I can from now on.

Here's a couple shots from our day sledding at the Rutherford:

Devun scoping the landscape. He sees things that nobody else sees. Like some kind of shred Shaman.


The great wide open.


The Shot Monster with his new Monster helmet.


The clouds rolled in right at the end of the day for this landscape scene. We call it Mordor when this happens. You need to leave pretty quickly or risk getting caught in a total white out while trying to navigate over a glacier with open holes everywhere. Not a good scene.

The 2011 issue of Transworld Snowboarding Photo Annual has hit the newsstands and internet. This is always an exciting time for us photographers because it is a showcase of the best images of the year. Kind of like Christmas. You just can't wait to see what's in there. If your photo is chosen it's like getting that new bike you wanted or that special sweater you've had your eye on. With more and more photographers entering the arena every year and shrinking magazing budgets, it's much more difficult to get your photos into an issue like this. I won't go into details here, but these days the major magazines are using their staff photographers more predominantly while page counts are shrinking. What this means for us company hacks and freelancers is a lower chance of getting published. It's just the new reality of being a photographer these days. Across the board, whether it's editorial or fashion, clients want more for less. Hopefully 2011 will bring some bigger budgets and increased ad revenues for the magazines. Transworld Snowboarding has always been a leader in snowboarding and this past year they have been doing an amazing job with their photo selection and content.

So I was really stoked when I saw my photo of Devun Walsh on one of the spreads (left page). I would say this is probably my favourite photo from last winter. It has a very classic feel to it. I like the crisp look of it which comes from the fresh, clean snow, the clear blue sky, the slight back lighting and of course the effortless style of this huge cab 3 by Devun. I personally think they should rename the cab 3 in snowboarding to The Walsh. No one does it better.



FYI : No one has been able to correctly answer any of the questions related to the previous post about my pro model AirHole facemask, The AdairHole (unofficial name). I'll give it another week and then probably come up with some easier questions or some other way of giving these away.

Ok. More Deep Winter madness. I am milking the shit out of this. But considering I spent so much time planning it and putting it all together I have nothing else to talk about lately............well, actually........I just love talking about myself cause I'm so fucking awesome.

On that note, here's a behind the scenes video from my shoot. It was shot by John Swystun and produced for Push.ca by Lenny Rubenovitch (hope I spelled that right). It really shows the seriousness and technical expertise of my shooting style. Don't come crying to me when you can't get this 5 minutes of your life back. You've been warned.

Push.ca - Colin Adair Deep Winter

(you might have to download a video player update but it takes two minutes and it's worth it cause PUSH has tons and tons of videos you can watch)

Remember, the actual slideshow goes online Monday on the King Snow site.

On January 4th to 7th I participated in the Deep Winter Photo Challenge in Whistler (see post below for more info). It was an incredibly intense three days of shooting and one day of panicked editing. I didn't win or even place in the contest but I'm really proud of what my team and I accomplished. I've never done any kind of slideshow before and did not know what to expect or how much time it would really take. All of the other participants are veterans to the slideshow contest format and it showed. They had excellent photos and great shows. They were definitely worthy of being on the podium in my opinion.

My goal was to do something totally different from the 'normal' slideshow format. I had a feeling it might hurt my chances of placing in the top three because it deviated from the judging criteria but at the same time I had an idea that I really wanted to see come through so I just went for it. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get it online.

With that being said, you will soon be able to judge for yourselves! My slideshow will be posted in the coming weeks on this site and others. I'm working out some details with a snowboard publication which will time the release of the video with an article about the shoot. I will keep you posted.........

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at some of the photos from the three days.

If you haven't heard of a little photo contest in Whistler called the Deep Winter Photo Challenge than now is your chance to get educated and use it in your next conversation in which you try to make other people feel really stupid.

I have been invited to participate in this years event. I was invited last year but unable to attend and I judged it a few years back so I'm excited to be taking part this year finally.

The basic details are as such: 5 invited photographers have 3 days (Jan 4,5,6) to shoot on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains with riders/skiers of their choice. On the 4th day (Jan 7th) they present a slideshow of their best images from the previous 3 days to a panel of judges and a packed house of rabid shred fans. It's a really fun night of images and entertainment so grab your tickets asap cause it will sell out guaranteed and you'll be standing out in the cold wishing you were inside with a frosty throat charmer.

For more info, bios, images, past year's winners and more go to the website...........

http://www.deepwinterphoto.com/