An interview with Re Wikstrom, by MFF's Ginger BoydOpening Excerpt: She was warm and friendly despite the early call time and lack of coffee. Re was quieter than some of the other voices present that day, but she radiated kindness and confidence in a way that made me feel instantly comfortable. I had to know more about her. Indeed, it was about 6:30 in the morning when I first met Ginger Boyd. We were all gearing up for a long day of shooting and I was focused on the task at hand. Little did I know she had a sixth sense, and she was paying attention to more than riding laps for the camera. It truly is incredible to find out that someone you met so briefly, could identify and appreciate -- no less share with the world -- all of the things you have been quietly and passionately focused on for well over a decade. I cannot offer enough thanks to Ginger and MFF for taking the time to share my story. Seriously. Ginger below: https://www.machinesforfreedom.com/blogs/stories-womens-cycling-blog/re-wikstrom-photographer
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I am beyond excited to team up with Wheelie Creative and Abby Cooper to coach at the inaugural winter workshop happening THIS MARCH, and happening in my home state at Snowbird! There will be on-snow coaching, a classroom session, art show, and a panel discussion featuring women from the outdoor sports industry. This is going to be RAAAD!!!!!!
www.wheelhouseworkshops.com/ "Only ~20% of action sports photographers are female. That means the lens through which the world of action sports is shown is 80% not-female. Diverse perspectives tell a bigger story, more stories, and different stories. Our mission is to get more cameras in the hands of women through creative adventure & action sports workshops . Let's tell a bigger story." Thanks to my good buddy Zac, who was bored with the outdated ski photos in the store-bought calendars, and asked me if I would ever make a calendar; now I've gone and done it! It's chock full of strong, confidence ripping women skiers and features 13 of my favorite photos from the last 13 years. I would LOVE to share this with the world, so I am offering them for sale for a limited time. These will be made to order, and as such will take a little more time than we are used to in this modern online-shopping world. I hope you'll agree it is worth the wait!
$35 plus S&H. Please click the "about" link to send a message through my site if you're interested in purchasing. Cheers! Super PUMPED on this project. It included some of my favorite elements; a crazy idea, pushing a few limits, breathtaking scenery, and good humans. The crew embarked on a 40+ mile ride with over 7k vertical, most of which was above 11,000 ft (gasp for oxygen much?) from Aspen to Crested Butte, CO. I documented the first half of the journey with the help of an ATV and jumped on my bike to ride the last half, including the final push to Star Pass, and the next 20 miles into town. We rode straight to Elk Ave avenue and walked straight into the restaurant for dinner. Chamois, helmets, and all. There was a crew of 4 riders from CompetitiveCyclist.com, and one of them was Pip Hunt. Being in my nature to call attention to the rad women in the universe, I wanted to share a mini gallery focused on Pip's journey. It begins the night before, getting the bike set up from the confines of our small hostel room. Then comes the incredibly steep grade climb to the top of Aspen. It is followed by a long "rolling" section of ~12 miles across Richmond Ridge, and when I say "roll" this still included plenty of wicked steep hike-a-bike sections. It was a slow grunt to the top of Star Pass where the looks of fatigue from 12k lack of oxygen immediately switched to pure joy; both at the prospect of reaching the high point, and at the idea of the incredible descent we were about to be treated to. After an array of high meadows full of wildflowers we dropped through pine forest and aspen forest (and yes, the trail was SUPER FUN!), and crossed a few creeks before the final pedal into town. Enjoy! WELL. I am proud to say I voted.
And offer my gratitude to Susan B. Anthony for her lifelong dedication to fighting for women's right to vote. In 2003, digital photography was still relatively young, but "Advanced Digital Photography" was a requirement at RIT (I'm sure they just call it "Photo II" these days). At the same time, "QTVR" was this fancy new technology (I know! It sounds funny to say that now!) and our class undertook a Panoramic QTVR photo-reenactment of Susan B. Anthony's 1873 trial for voting illegally. We shot it in the very same Ontario County Courthouse of the original trial in Canandaigua, NY. I no longer have a digital copy of this image (though I know there is a print being preserved back east). So I'm not here to show it off, just to share the memory. Our professor at the time, Doug Rhea, also deserves a great tip of the hat for helping to arrange this project in the first place. A very small piece of the larger image is still archived on RIT's site here: http://www.rit.edu/news/newsevents/2003/Feb02/story.php?file=susanbanthony It sure was an honor to be named in a list of "5 World Class Female Photographers You Need to Know" by Grind TV. And this wasn't limited to skiing or winter sports. Seriously, quite the honor! The surf ladies are new to me, and I am LOVING all their work so much. And Krystle Wright, well duh, she is a amazing! And I love that we've crossed paths a couple random times here in Utah along her Nomadic way. Since I'm a nerd, I looked up all their websites, and you should, too! I'll make it easy:
Lucia Griggi - http://www.luciagriggi.com/ Sarah Lee - http://sarahlee.photo/ Sachi Cunningham - http://www.sachicunningham.com/ Krystle Wright - http://www.wrightfoto.com.au/ I saw the sun rise the last two days in a row (awake by 5:45 and 4:45 respectively). Always a quiet magical time of day, always worth waking up for, and always amazing light. The above shot was from a sunrise mountain bike session with two women who were equally stoked on the sunrise, Rachael Burks and Shaun Raskin. On this day we had the pleasure of seeing the sun rise, then watching the moon rise just as the sun was setting. Talk about magic hour!?
Time to catch up on a few Z's now! SO MANY PRETTY FACES!!! These photos were created exactly one year ago (to the day!) in the Cariboo Mountains with Mike Wiegele's Heli Skiing. Leah Evans and Izzy Lynch put this trip together to film for the all women's ski film project, "Pretty Faces," which made it's debut in the fall of 2014 to sold-out-show, after sold-out-show. Leah and Izzy so wonderfully invited me along to document the experience in Blue River, BC through still photos. To see the last photo of this bunch un-cropped and in print, along with more from my days with the Pretty Faces film project (arguably the most influential ski movie of the year -yeah, I'm claiming that!), be sure to pick up a copy of the latest Mountain Magazine! It just so happens to be their gallery issue, so if you really like photos, this one is definitely for you!
What were you doing a year ago today?!?! P.S. Today I was in the office all day. So... you know... you win some, you lose some. ;) We made it to our whistle stop. Another grand adventure underway with the mission of four women to use the VIA Canada Railway to access backcountry skiing across northern British Columbia. Bags are tossed to the side of the tracks, with no sign of the friend-of-a-friend with whom we have had little communication. We hope we're in the right place. As the train pulls away we are warned to be wary of cougars, or mountain lions, or whatever large predatory cats may be living in "the bush" up here in Northern BC. The manager from the train points to Leah's whistle. In a non-chalant way, she advises to just blow that whistle if any large cats come our way. A threat we weren't entirely sure what to make of. Did she really just say that? Are we really watching this train pull away and leave us in the middle of nowhere? We sure are. And sometimes you just have to laugh at all of that.
VIA Rail Train Trip through Northern, BC, Canada with Leah Evans, Molly Baker, and Brigid Mander. |
