Category: Film & Photography

Photos from Niseko, Japan

January 22nd, 2009

We picked up another rental van yesterday so I finally have space to breath during our car rides to the mountain and back.

 

I finally made friends with a girl so I don’t have to hang out with 11 dudes all the time!  Yui is my new friend and tomorrow we will go Onsen tomorrow

We went for another hike today.

Here was my lunch, a delicious banana and chocolate sandwich.

So tasty after a long day of hiking in the backcountry.

We went out tonight in Kutchan for dinner and drinks. 

It’s 1 am and the roommates have turned the lights out (yes all 5 of my roommates), so I will update more tomorrow.

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Another Snowy Day in Niseko

January 20th, 2009

I can count the number of times the sun has popped on one hand since my arrival to Japan.

It never seems to stop snowing here.  The clouds move so fast, the light is fickle.  We have been chasing it for days trying to nail the shots.

The elusive sunshine, popping through the clouds.

Two days ago, I took the entire day off from skiing.

I made some delicious tofu cakes, pepper and tomatoes.

Japanese food is so tasty (or oiishii in Japanese).  I am going to bring so much candy home.

This was another delicious snack I had–it was like a sweet sponge cake.

It was light and airy with a slight lemon flavor.

Here’s the Grand Hirafu gondola (I like the little penguin ski guy on the building).  There are so many cute little animal characters here–I find Japanese culture to be very inspiring.

Cool night shot going under a bridge.  I’m finally getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road.

Ben has been a good driver during this trip. 

Japanese snow removal

Cool Japanese bus.

I think this is hair dye for men, but I’m not sure.  Definitely photo worthy however.

Same with these–Love Love Sand.  Sounds like a new slogan for Roxy.

So after stopping by the Seico Mart where these photos were taken (and where we purchase most of our food), the crew headed to the backcountry for a tour.

Beautiful trees.

Still tired–lots of hiking here.

We had a small rain event the other day, so there was a weird layer in the snow, but the top had a fast zipper feel to it.  Not the super blower pow we’ve had, but still lots of fun.

There is another storm coming at the end of the week that’s supposed to drop a lot of snow here.

We finished our day by building two night jumps off a bridge and filming with lights and a generator.

I wore two jackets to stay warm.

Today, I might just go shred the resort to my head and take a day off of filming and practice my Japanese with the locals. 

More photos soon!

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Japanese Powder Daze

January 18th, 2009

I think I am still jet lagged–

The past 6 days since I got here have all run together.  I’m beyond exhausted.

This morning we woke up around 4 am to go for a hike/  We arrived at the trailhead about 30 minutes away only to find the clouds rolling back in so we came back to what I call home in Kutchan:

The rest of the crew went back to sleep but I was all hopped up on iced coffee and stayed awake all day.

Anyway I wish I could write a cohesive blog but I am so tired all I can think about is how nice my pillow will feel.  I’m just going to post some pictures and call it a night.

Morning exhaustion

Another full car in the morning darkness

Every morning we pile into the Toyota Wind Tourer (and we imitate Warren Miller’s narration)

5 fives

I <3 Trees

One of the most exciting things about this trip has been the grocery store.

Dinner–yummy octopus tentacles

And don’t forget your Crunky!  I love Japan.  There were so many interesting things at the grocery store that I wanted to eat.

We ended our long and exciting day by making a group sushi dinner, which I will post pictures of tomorrow.

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Spring Snowbird Ad

January 17th, 2009

I just got a copy of this in my inbox the other day.  This is from the day I gave myself a black eye (not on this jump by the way).

I have been trying to get someone to do this shot with me for a long long time!  Next time we’re going to throw huge daffies.

Today, we got up at 4 am to go for a hike, and we got to the trailhead to find it snowing with very flat light.  We waiting around in the darkness for awhile to see if we could see any breaks in the cloud and then decided just to head back and rest during the day today.

We might do some nighttime filming tonight.  I am so tired from hiking and skiing hard the past few days and am personally relieved to have a bit of a down day to rest my calves and stretch.

It’s still snowing here.  I guess it might warm up over the next couple of days.  It would be nice to see around the area more, but I can’t complain about all the deep snow!

I’ll have some ski shots up soon from the photographer here.  Check back for another update from Kutchan, Japan!

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized

Niseko Powder!!! Japan Day Three

January 16th, 2009

Storm totals this morning were in the 80 cm range.  That’s almost a meter of snow in two days. 

We woke up early and had breakfast around our modest home.  It’s interesting here in the mornings with 7 people trying to eat in a small living space.

Roommates Anthony Bonello and Stephen Brawn enjoying some fruit salad and bran cereal breakfast.

After loading up the van with 8 people, 3 movie cameras, 1 still camera, backcountry packs, skis and snowboards (it’s a challenge everyday), we headed back to the same zone we hit up yesterday. 

I always tuck myself into the corner of the bus, sandwiched between broad shouldered ski dudes and tons of equipment.

It wasn’t snowing nearly as hard today so I actually got to see some of the sights around.  It is beautiful here.  The mountains here are all inactive volcanoes but the air smells of sulfur.

Here you can kind of see the peak behind the cloud.  We had about 30 minutes of blue sky today, the rest of the day it continued to snow.

JT Robinson got in last night bringing the number of people in our 6 bedroom apartments to 11 or 12, I can’t remember.

I’m stoked on my hiking steeze.  I’ve been using my scarf as a headwrap.  And the Roxy Mumbo Jumbo skis are awesome to skin on!  They are like big, floaty snowshoes on the skin trails.

The bootpack

Sweet grass productions director Nick Waggoner and photographer Mike Brown setting up the shot.

JT ripping it up Niseko style

The only other skier besides our group I saw today.  He was stoked!  I tried to speak in Japanese with him and quickly realized how poor my Japanese is.

My new goggles!  Love the lenses.

Forrest Coots and Mike Brown hi-fiving after a great day.

After skiing we stopped by this board shop where this guy Taro shapes surf and snowboards.

Taro showing off his latest creation.

Taro showed off some of his photos and we looked at Japanese surf and snow magazines.  It was so cool to walk into a shop in the middle of another country and have the same vibe, the unspoken bond between loves of snow and surf. 

We finished the day with burgers and beers at Jojos in Niseko.  I finally got to take a long shower and wash out the hand soap I accidentally washed my hair with at the hot springs yesterday.

More pow and pics tomorrow.

Posted in Film & Photography, Skiing, Travel, Uncategorized