SnoCross 2008!

This weekend I snagged a pretty cool assignment from the Burlington Free Press. The Expo was host to this year's SnoX Challenge where hundreds of snowmobilers gather to race and jump around a course. I've been snowmobiling twice in my life and it was awesome - a bit scary - but awesome. We would tear across Rangeley Lake in Maine sometimes pushing 60mph since it was a straight shot, but these guys are tearing across rhythm courses, jumps and turns all while racing other riders. A couple guys dumped their sleds and there were some close calls, but man was it exciting.

When I showed up I knew I needed a press pass and orange vest to wear at the track so that the riders could see me. What I didn't know is that the vest was, yes, orange so the riders could see me but really it was intended for if and when I get run over. Great. I wish I had a picture of me in the tek-vest, it was quite the experience. Enjoy!

snowshoesnowshoesnowshoe

We have had the most amazing and incredible snowfall in Vermont so far. December proved to be the perfect month for the fluffy white stuff - so of course - Tom and I had to go play with our new snowshoes! We've been dying to get out and stomp around with Bear after the pitiful winters we had in Boston the past few years. On New Year's Day while everyone else in the world is nursing a hangover, Tom and I headed up to Niquette's Bay for a crisp morning in the woods. We linked up with a few other snow shoers along the way, Bear made a new girlfriend and we started off the New Year perfectly!



There's my handsome Tommy.



Tom, Jason, Sharon, and Eric on our latest excursion to the Indian River Reservoir.



Boscoe - the huge, 85 lb chocolate lab, has a jump like no other. We discovered it after hanging around the cliff jump at Niquette's Bay this summer.






Boscoe almost knocks Jason out of the way!



Tom taking a breather and soakin' it in.



A cute little snowman greeted us at Indian River Reservoir - grass skirt included.



My Bear racing along the footbridge at Niquette's.



What a gorgeous morning - I love it when the snow sticks to the trees - everything is so quiet.

delayed, belated xmas

After putting it off for so long, I've finally sat down and gone through all those Christmas photos for edit. I celebrated big time this year with four Christmas get-togethers - whew! - and I think it honestly took me until now to fully recover from all the roasts, pies, cakes, egg nog, wine and the really difficult part - the presents. Here's a few from my Jericho celebration at my Dad's - one down, three to go.



I don't think I could've said it better myself. Will has the ultimate look of candy and present-induced exhaustion as he lays upon the pile of wrapping paper and toys strewn about the living room. I feel ya buddy.



My new protege! Turns out Charlie is quite the little photographer and snapped a few incredible shots at the Christmas party. Wendy, Will and Jonathan enjoy his slideshow.



Dylan demonstrates the pooping chicken toy - ha!



Kids being kids.



Will discovering the wonders of chocolate. Mmmm.

first night burlington

I had the pleasure of covering the New Year's celebration in downtown Burlington for the Free Press: First Night. A 25-year tradition, First Night rings in the new year with music, dance, art and song with a variety of performances and showcases highlighting all the creative goodness Burlington has to offer. I lucked out with a not-so-nippy night and even ran into a few old friends and also some new ones including fellow photog and Free Press freelancer Daria Bishop. Here's a selection of some of my favorite photos and moments I captured before I tipped my pint to 2008!



This was awesome. The Dragons and Drums Parade was zooming down Church Street and I hopped into the winding dragon for some sweet shots. This kid was gracious enough to let me flash my camera numerous times until I was happy with what I got. This was a sort of "Hail Mary" approach as I was running backwards and sideways during the entire shot.



Out of the fray I snapped this shot of a group of kids waiting to wind their way through Burlington in the Dragon parade.



I captured this moment of a girl simply radiating at the bar talking with someone I can only assume she was really happy to be with.



My first shot. I knew tonight was going to be great as soon as I walked by Muddy Waters and saw this little guy waving to me. After playing some games through the glass I of course couldn't leave without snapping a few frames. You can see his proud parents watching this cute moment in the background - this little guys 15 minutes came much sooner than most!



The lighting of the snow torch-chili pepper-thing. No idea but I'm always a fan of anything creative....lighting snow on fire? Check.



Church Street was lined with cut-outs of famous paintings that people could poke their heads through. Captured some funny moments but I just loved this girl peering through with her huge ski gloves on.

Keep tuning in!

adventures in brooklyn

Ok ok, here are more of the Holga prints from my trip to Brooklyn over my birthday weekend. See my post below for my first and favorite shot on my new plastic-body, low-tech Holga 120 camera. I should really post a picture of the actual camera since it's so cool looking - the whole weekend people were asking why I was taking pictures with a G.I. Joe camera - HA! It was really strange and foreign to me to just forget about ISO settings, apertures and shutter settings and simply focus on framing. Framing a square format was a bit different, too. And of course, the biggie, not being able to see the image immediately after I shot it really brought me back to the good ol' darkroom 35mm days. As much as I love the convenience, cost and speed of digital I do miss the hours spent losing myself in the darkroom.



I love these scene. We found such good vintage nostalgia here and I'm not sure what it was doing there.



Here we are approaching DUMBO in Brooklyn.



Dani and Hilary walking down a perfectly graffitied street. I'm not one to support graffiti but it definitely has its place and can lend to a more interesting shot - photowise.






Hilary.



Channyn's double exposure. You can barely make out the faint exposure of her on the left.



Dylan and Channyn.



Dani and Bill Clinton at brunch in Brooklyn.

big snow!

woohoo! We have had the most amazing early snow this year in Vermont. I've been begging for a solid snowfall for the past two winters and I've finally gotten three big storms leaving no less than one foot - amazing. Just last night as I was nodding off I said "I hope I wake up to a foot of snow tomorrow morning!" and sure enough, like a kid on xmas morning, I peeked through the blinds and found this (see below). Having a few hours to kill before tonight's New Year's coverage for the Free Press I decided to try out my new snowshoes and take Bear for a walk at Shelburne Farms. I've always loved this spot and I think it may be Bear's new favorite as we stomped around in the deep stuff for an hour or so.



Before we get ahead of ourselves, this is what greeted me when I came home from snowshoeing! HA! My awesome neighbors George, Steph and Joe built this big guy in my parking spot. And after laughing about this little prank, Joe and Sarah had some tasty french toast hot off the griddle for me. I love my neighbors - you guys are the best.



Here's my brother Todd and Bear in one of my favorite spots at Shelburne Farms.



Some frozen berries still dangle from this tree at Shelburne Farms. Yes, that's Todd and Bear off in the distance.



Tom and I took Bear along the Winooski River on Sunday and came along these stumps - looks like the beavers beat us to it!



Here's Bear at Shelburne Farms again running along the great arbor trail.



My two babes.



He got a real kick out of this trail.

my new toy.

It's been far too long since I've posted and the holidays really took their toll on my blog, but I've finally picked up the prints from my new Holga! I was in NYC a couple weekends ago celebrating my birthday and I treated myself to a new, little camera treat: the Holga. For those of you who don't know what a Holga is, it's an extremely basic little camera with minimal aperture settings and you never quite know what you're going to get with it. The picture below is by far my favorite of the three rolls I shot while walking the streets of Brooklyn. I'd love to say I know exactly what I did to create this funky image, but that's the beauty of the Holga - you relinquish all control and really just focus on the composition.

Here's my shot from DUMBO in Brooklyn. Enjoy!

too long. too old. HA!

It's been too long since I've posted something for you. I do have an excuse! I've been in NYC celebrating my 24th with my "old college buddies" who are scattered around Brooklyn, the Village and the lower East side. I had an amazing time catching up with everyone and walking around the streets with my newest addition to the camera crew....my Holga. It was my cheapy present to myself that arrived right before I left for the airport and I am so anxious to see how the shots came out. I've been shooting strictly digital for a number of years now and must admit I'm VERY accustomed to an immediate result. How did I ever manage to take pictures before? Faith, I guess. My new, little camera was a hit at the birthday parties as it looks like something from a G.I. Joe episode. I'll include a picture later.

For now I'll leave you with a cool piece that I think fits perfectly with the "getting older" birthday theme I've got going on here...and to top it off with tying it into this past weekend, I found it on the New York Times. Enjoy!


Living My Life Faster - 8 years of JK's Daily Photo Project from c71123 on Vimeo.

mira

Presenting...Mira Stanley. Mira is an incredible talent whom I met back in Boston. We were both doing the whole "struggling artist" thing, slingin' margaritas at a Harvard Square restaurant and well, we became fast friends. Mira introduced me to a lot of great up and coming artists, we liked to play around with her piano and recording equipment and occasionally the bongos she finagled off of someone. Now Mira is far away in Colorado and even though I miss her bunches she sends me some of her work from time to time. Click on the play button below her photo and enjoy!


Mira at one of our photo shoots lookin' lovely as ever!

brrrrrr

This is how I felt stepping outside this chilly, winter morning. Don't get me wrong, this snow is fantastic and it's beautiful but it is still a pretty harsh wake up call.



Oh, and this kid is great. I shot his Special Olympics training last spring at the Y and as you can see, he wasn't too eager to jump in that chilly water. We got something in common, kid.