Tag / Japan

Now that premiere season is in full swing there is a fair amount of my most recent work doing the rounds from the ski companies. My first shot in this series is a shot of Wiley Miller taken during my trip in Japan with Level 1 earlier this year.

I spent 3 weeks with a crew consisting of Wiley, Tanner Rainville and Parker White along with director Josh Berman and Bravoski editor Tatsuya Tayagaki. Snow conditions meant that we spent long days in a van making the trip to an area around Kiroro resort with a mixture of riding in resort bounds and the surrounding side country. This shot was in the resort itself and had a log about two metres further back which was perfect for forming into a takeoff. We decided to let the area sit until there was fresh snowfall so made the trip back as soon as it was on.

The takeoff had settled well and on a very snowy day myself, Wiley and Josh ventured back over to try and get the feature dialled. There was no messing about from Wiley as he stomped it cleanly making his new signature ski pop through the snowy backdrop.

Japan was a great trip. There was not always great snow and we faced constant challenges but when the stars aligned we came out with the goods making this one of my favourite images from the season.

Wiley signing the poster at the Denver After Dark premiere

After Dark from Level 1 is doing the rounds in theatres at the moment and is due on itunes this October. The Japan trip holds its place with its own segment and i can’t recommend it enough.

A week has gone by since arriving back in the States after this years Japan trip and sorting through the images it’s funny how much a certain thing appears again and again and again; the little white van.

As you can see from the top image a lot of the Japanese backcountry around Niseko is often roadside – quite literally in this case. Because of the ease of getting to locations film crews tend to gravitate towards the little white vans as the transport choice to get around. During the first half of the month whilst filming with Level 1 Productions we travelled so far in the van that we were all glad to see the back of it. After a 2 day hiatus though, it was straight back into the van for me as i joined the Norwegian crew Field Productions for a further 2 weeks.

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Thursday was one of those never ending days. I spent the early hours of the morning attempting to beatbox in a karaoke booth in Sapporo after an evening of intense drinking. I woke up to the realisation that it was indeed 6.30am in the knowledge that my counterparts, who slept soundly in the beds next to me were probably going to miss their 8.10am flight. Bundling them into taxis i then had a few hours to sober up and get to the airport myself. The check in area was awash with people after snow had earlier cancelled a number of flights. Hidden amongst the throngs of Japanese business men were 50% of the Field Productions crew who i’d been filming with for the previous couple of weeks. It was inevitable really that at least 2 of them would miss their flights, actually i’m amazed the other 2 made it…

Fast forward a few hours and i’ve now flown from Sapporo to Tokyo followed by Tokyo to Los Angeles. Landing in a balmy LA with the time telling me it was 5 hours earlier than when i originally left Sapporo my mind was starting to wander. One more flight and i arrived in Denver and finally put Thursday the 10th March to bed after a chinese take out.

Bu none of this has any significance. As i slept on Thursday night word was coming in from various news sources that there had been a major earthquake in Japan. Having lived in Japan for close to two years i know that earthquakes are common place. The town where i used to live experienced small quakes every couple of months. But this one was different, this one was far from small. As the last few days have progressed we now know that at least 10,000 people have lost their lives, towns have been reduced to rubble and peoples livelihoods have been laid to waist.

With a head full of jetlag and a months worth of amazing memories i find it difficult to comprehend the hardship that the country as a whole must be feeling now. Japan often feels like a second home to me and its one country, even with all its idiosyncrasies, that i absolutely love.

So instead of talking about last months experiences in Hokkaido i’ll just share one point and shoot photo from sunset a few weeks ago. I hope that Japan can rebuild itself and find tranquility in places like this in future.

My japanese adventure with Level 1 Productions has just come to an end after two weeks of shooting in Hokkaido, the north island of Japan with a great crew consisting of Tanner Rainville, Wiley Miller, Parker White, Jimbo Morgan, Josh Berman and Tatsuya Tayagaki. During the trip we experienced such a variation in snow conditions making decision making tricky at times deciding what zones to head to. Luckily the snow gods were on hand to dump such a large amount of snow giving us at least a few days of deep Japanese Pow everyone comes to expect.

In comes the snow

Lots of great stories will emerge from this trip over the coming months and i can’t wait to see the footage compiled for this years movie.

We finished up the trip last night in Sapporo with a trip to a Korean BBQ. The guys have all boarded planes back to the States today as i’ve headed back to Niseko for a couple of days of sorting images, catching up on emails and maybe even treating my clothes to a laundry cycle.

I’m one week into a 2 week filming mission with Level 1 productions over in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. I’ve been dying to get back over to Japan since i used to live here and i leaped at this opportunity to get out here shooting in the backcountry.

The days are long searching for the best quality fresh snow as we drive around in our little white van on the hunt for some fresh Japan powder.

I’ll bring about a bigger update a little further down the week but until then here’s a sneak preview of the trip.

Huck Magazine has just released its latest edition.

Whilst over in Japan i shot some images of Dick Schulze for this issue. Dick is a 63 year old American who travels the world competing in the Burton Global Open series. Not content with just shredding, Dick enters all of the the Halfpipe competition on a circuit that takes him from New Zealand to Australia over to Switzerland then to Canada followed by Japan and finishing up in America….quite a journey!

Be sure to check out a copy of the Magazine, it makes for a wicked read.

I’m staying at The Pink House over in Niseko right now, a great little house pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The house consists solely of DJ’s with not a snowboarder in sight which is strange considering its location. We all headed out to Sapporo at the weekend for a Psy-Trance night they run. My initial aim was to photograph the whole event but it unfolded into a very messy all nighter with my camera untouched for 95% of the evening.

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Land of the rising sun and infinite powder, or so you thought. The last ten days or so have not been nice to us with fresh snow and rays of sunshine few and far between. The Asian Open came and went which was dominated by one man; Chas Guldemont. Here he is coping with Japan downtime by sitting beside a self playing grand piano. Many who were here would argue this piano held the spotlight as much as Chas did this last week….its playing as i write this!

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