The Stash

The latest issue of Pleasure Snowboad Magazine (77) is on newsstands. It features a story that I've been working on last year, shooting in Avoriaz, France and Northstar at Tahoe, USA. It's about the new snowboard park concept by Burton called "The Stash". Those parks are so much fun to ride and of course it was a lot of fun to shoot there. Thanks go to Jeff, Northstar, Sami Saarenpää, Stephan Maurer, Sani Alibabic and Hannes Metzler.

Go grab your copy of Pleasure and check out the 7 page The Stash story yourself.

Hooray for Nikon

Usually I don't write much about equipment on my blog. If you would like to hear more, drop me a comment. On a quite frequent basis I answer questions on photography that people email me. I'm thinking of answering them on the blog so everyone can benefit.

Today I wanted to write a little something about Nikon, since I make a living by using Nikon products. I started using Nikon with an entry level SLR and soon got a F5. Now I've tried several cameras from their digital line, but almost 100 percent of the time I use a D3. I used to shoot a lot of Fuji Provia and if I was shooting in low light, I used to push the Provia 400 +2 stops. In that way I could shoot at ISO 1600 which did the trick for most situations.
I know that everyone is celebrating the high ISO performances that the new cameras have. I'm using it, but it's not the killer feature for me. I actually wish the D3 had ISO 100 as the basis ISO level. And here comes the 'but': I recently shot photos that would have been impossible other than using high shutter speeds at high ISO levels. This gave me a lot more room for ideas, stoked!
Another thing is the service. I'm a NPS member, means I can take advantage of the Nikon Professional Services. Apparently Nikon always used to offer great customer service. I based my decision to chose Nikon equipment back in "film days" on that. Today good service is essential to me and I'm having no complains whatsoever.
Brand loyalty as far as it concerns photographers is not such a big deal anymore in these days than it used to be. But besides having the right product line up, products that keep up to the expectations, the service is to me what makes the difference. So allow me a little hooray for Nikon here on my personal blog ;)

Urban Snowboarding

Recently I went shooting with my friends from Isenseven Movies to shoot some urban rail riding. Got some good snowboarding photos, quite far from the Alps.

I hope the shots will make it into the shred mags next season, so here are some random lifestyle photos for now:

Pleasure Photo Special 2009

Germany's Pleasure Magazine's Photo Special is on newsstands now. If you're into snowboard photography, make sure to grab a copy. It's one of the best photo annuals of all snowboard mags out there. I'm stoked to have some shots in this year's issue again.

Villa Wool 09/10 Sneek Peek

Here are a few examples of the simple, clean photos I shot for the Villa Wool hats catalog in Estonia recently. Look out for their 09/10 collection, great stuff!

Interview

here's an interview I did - click (in German)

travel

Snowboard season = travel time. Here are things I've learned:

Audio Books work just as good as sleeping pills, but with less damage to your body.

Security checks on camera bags can vary big time and don't necessarily need to suck.

Noise canceling headphones rule.

Watching the tv show Entourage is instant stress relief.

There's luggage racism. Airlines charge different fees on what you carry at the same weight and size.

Speaking of fees - extra charges are getting popular to an extremely annoying level. From booking to food to luggage.

The newer the plane, the less laptop friendly the seat pocket. Why is that?

the "meal"

PDN Photo of the Day

My powder shot of Christophe Schmidt got PDN Photo of the Day. Sweet!


PDN Photo of the Day displays photographs selected by the editors of Photo District News, a publication for photo professionals.