Nate Holland at Boreal Grand Prix

Nate Holland Pre US Grand Prix Interview from PortersTahoe.com on Vimeo.

This last week wraps up a crazy schedule for 4peat XGames Gold Medalist Nate Holland. Nate is happy to be home and to be able to race on home turf here in Tahoe. This weekend is the USSA Chevy Grand Prix tour at Boreal Mountain Resort. I was able to catch up with Nate and get a few runs in with him and play with some new toys I've recently acquired.
In particular, I've recently acquired the much talked about Canon G10 camera. This little lightweight Point & Shoot has a plethora of features including video capture that I was able to interview Nate with. It can also sync up with all my Canon dedicated flashes & studio strobes( tests to be coming soon). I also got my hands on a GoPro helmet cam. I've just scratched the surface of multimedia things you can do with all this gear...this was my 1st attempt at doing something in this nature. Come on out to Boreal and check out all the action this weekend.

The Easy Life

I tell ya, this is the life. This is what definitely keeps me going.

Mount Rose Jan 6, 2009

I love receiving last minute phone calls with the 2 stroke hum of snowmobiles in the background. PortersTahoe.com Team Rider Brendon Drury hit me up and said he and his younger brother were up at Mt. Rose riding around on his snowmobiles in search of some terrain for some snowboarding.

It is always fun riding side saddle getting up to your destination as it can be quite a task. I did bail once off the sled on my belly like a land seal! Out in the backcountry you never know what kind of characters you'll run into as we ran into these slednecks who offered us cheeseburgers, beer and some of that funny smelling "rope". After a brief chat with these friendly dudes (Brendon snatched a brew), we proceeded to find our zone where we could get some shots. Brendon dropped into a face that was really sunbaked and it was hard to get the spray that we wanted. It was a fun turn but we wanted more.Brendon got another ride up on the sled and I was scouting a zone trying to find a good place where he could snap a turn. The snow surface had about a 3-4 inch crust layer on it so I had to find an area that was thinner. I found just the spot.
Brendon hiked over to where i was camped out & we planned our shot.
In pure anal photographer fashion...I had to light this shot up. Packing light this time out I had my Lumedyne 400 WS Action Pack, Canon 1D Mark II, Canon 15mm fisheye lens, Canon 50mm 1.4 prime, and my Canon 70-200mm lenses. This is a great 3 lens & one light setup to have out in the backcountry or anywhere for that matter.This is what we got.

Not bad considering the snow only had an inch of crust in this zone. He did break through to the bottom and hit the rock, but in the end it was all worth it. On the way down we had to stop just one more time to take in another epic Lake Tahoe sunset.

Tahoe Vista Session

This last week in Tahoe we've had very moody climate changes. We've experienced white fluffy dry snow, heavy wet snow, freezing rain & snow, overcast & cold, and the bluebird sunny and gorgeous. I just so happened to have an engagement session with Erica & Gabriel on a bluebird and gorgeous day. Thanks you two for being great subjects and not afraid to have some fun in front of the camera. Can't wait till your wedding at Edgewood!