Tag / Les Deux Alpes

This weekend was my third visit to Les Deux Alpes for the annual Kumiyama event. As with previous years this Ski, Snowboard and Photography competition was Japanese themed and it carried so much more significance after this years earthquake back in March.

As with all the other years, this one was so much fun and a great success. I blogged about event over on the ESPN Freeskiing blog which you can check out and also took part in the photo competition, which i’ll give you more details about over the coming days.

Until then remember the motto, WE RIDE FOR JAPAN!!!!!

Skiing in France in July? Tatsuya Tayagaki, Shinhi Osada and Kentaro Tsuda get their Super Mario gear on to take on the Kumiyama course.

A few things to take into consideration when thinking about snowboarding in the summer:

1. You have to consider what to Wear. Yuya was along the right lines but Kiichi thought he was going surfing.

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It’s been a very quiet couple of weeks back in Chester and i find myself updating my Computer and lighting equipment before my Australia trip which will begin in two weeks time. I’ll be off to the Big Chill music festival later this week where they’ll be some Zombie madness going on (will explain at a later date).

Until that happens i’ll leave you with how the Japanese eat French bread……..

Here goes part 2 and its time for the portrait images. Hope you enjoy.

Last week over in France it was cool just wandering around the town of Les Deux Alps and checking out some of the resort during the summer months. They have so many chairlifts there and i can only start to imagine how busy and hectic it is during the winter. As for now, just peace and greenery….

Last week Japanese snowboarder Yuya Nakayama asked me where the post office was as he wanted to post a letter back home to his girlfriend. Yuya doesn’t believe in owning a computer and has no time of day for the internet preferring to write letters to people instead of emails. For him receiving a letter means so much more than receiving an email, “no hitting delete” as he put it.

I agreed with him at the time but it wasn’t until today whilst i was waiting for my disposable camera to be developed that i had the same feeling. There’s something so great about being handed a wallet containing photos that you haven’t had the chance to see yet – in todays digital world you hardly ever get that feeling.

So yeah, as i just said, it happened today when i went to pick up my photos for the Million Little Pictures Project. I blogged about this project here back in May. When i was last in the Uk i picked up my little new camera friend and it then accompanied me  on a snowboard trip to France. There are a couple of shockers in there including an image that was taken in my bag but overall i’m super happy with the memories that came out.

There is a timeline that these images follow of which i haven’t remotely stuck to whilst making the mosaic above. The images are random to say the least, mainly a case of where i was at specific times. The one that made me laugh the most was the one from in Zurich airport. I was on a moving walkway at the time and had to keep running back to get the shot. Please check out a better quality image here. I can imagine it now……”Welcome to the Alps, in no time you’ll be able to snowboard like this!” Genius photo editor at work…..

These images will now be shipped off to Atlanta where they will form part of a gallery of 24,000 images from around the globe.

Disposable cameras = good times.

I’ve just returned from a great week in the French Alps and now begin the task of editing everything from the trip. My snowboard was reunited with me at Lyon airport yesterday evening. I think it had a fun week without me.

The highlight of the trip was Wednesday nights photo shoot. I’ll blog about it once i’ve had a good look through all the photos but until then i’ll leave you with this.

Sometimes we realise just how small we are…….

Have a great weekend.

Kumi Yama – A French Organised, Japanese-themed ski and snowboard competition held in Les Deux Alpes in the heart of summer. It makes perfect sense.

The last weekend has just passed here in Les Deux Alpes where i’ve been basking in sunlight at an awesome winter event. I’d received my invite a few months ago to take part in the photo and graphic contest that was part of the weekends schedule. Things didn’t start well as my snowboard bag went astray during the flight and i had to hitch a lift to the mountains as i realised there was no way to get where i was going from the airport.

Once i got over here though everything fell in to place. The contest, vibe, organisation and the people were all awesome and watching some of the teams fight it out over the super original course was so much fun.

The photo contest was a hard fought battle and i was amazed at some of the graphic designs on display at the gallery evening. My graphic designer was over in England and considering not one phone call was shared between us i was stoked with the outcome.

Mine and Pauls graphic story

There’s a website called Sleeping in Airports and i often take a quick look at it to check out if i can save some cash on hotels whilst on the road. Leaving Heathrow at 6am tomorrow made it only sensible to rough it at the airport. Heathrow is renowned for not being very nice to be in but i think i’ve found a little gem with a Costa coffe shop tucked away, open all night and with free internet. Jackpot.

Time to catch up on blog reading and solve a murder – nobody else wants to

I’m on this very last minute planned trip over to Les Deux Alpes to catch up with the guys from Kumi Yama. They’ve organised a competition up on the Glacier and i’ve been invited to take part in the photo competition in conjunction with the snowboarding and skiing. Its going to be a great chance to hook up with some Japanese riders who have flown in for the event and to experience summer snowboarding for the first time in Europe.

For the competition i’ve got to produce three images with one of them being inter-linked with graphic design. For that aspect a designer friend of mine will take the reigns and hopefully we’ll produce the goods. Will keep you updated as the journey unfolds.