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Just over a month ago, i was a different person but after 4 and a half days, about thirty thousand kilometers and more smiles than i figured i could obtain in such a short period of time, i now have a re-shaped perspective on what i want in/from life. It all started during a post work chill involving mitch and i around the time that Mitch's desire for pow had made a resurgence from deep within his parts. Thanks mainly to the return of his arm, to full potential, after breaking it a few months prior, chasing international powder. But this afternoon was like many others as mitch and i have been dreaming of this road trip down to the snow for about a year, it wasn't until this afternoon that we realised how obtainable this dream was! leading up to this point, week in week out, we preached the glory of the snow and how we should be amongst it, but like many a dreamer before us, we had no faith in the truths we preached... I don't know why this time was different and i wish i could pin point the trigger as it's surely the trigger to a lifetime of intense victory mode. After changing my roster and sorting out the necessities we were set. Luckily I hustled my gear from a fellow who stands in good stead among the gods of being a one-of-a-kind-glorious dude. Departure was now the priority.
The thought of a 16 hour drive from brisbane, making departure at 7pm on sunday night, was never ever considered a downside by neither mitch or i. infact the road is one of the best bits and one of the most obvious reasons why i love going on journey such as this. It's a fastforwarded perspective on discovery, what more could you want?
I think i'll stop ranting and throw up the pics now as i could easily write far too much but i need to have a quick preach before i do so. We are not crazy! You naysayers, you're the crazy ones. We are still smiling from this trip and it cost us as much as your average fiend would spend in 3 nights out and instead of landing on a 15 foot spring snow covered down they're probably landing in the gutter. The road is a powerful place and I've learnt more on this trip than i could've ever hoped for. Don't be a gay dude, go out, do shit, plan outragous things and get them done, it's the only way to live.
alright so, quick notices, these aren't all the photos- i kept about 150 shots from this trip but i'm not putting them on here as that would take upa few pages.. i'm thinking i'll make a facebook folder on wanderers or my personal one for the rest but that will be at a later date so i'll let you know.
for ze photogs: d90, sigma 10-20, 17-55 2.8 (woody) and 70-200 2.8 (frosty)
which brings me to my appreciation of BCH for scoring me all of these glory lenses.
travel bud: mitch stephenson
i can't describe mitch (no-one can) so I'm not going to try, just know that this is a dude that gets shit done to the max.
travel tool: mitch's road slaying subaru
journey prep...
first light after leaving brisbane, we were alongside some rediculously large lake (that was dry) just before we got into the a.c.t
just outside canberra
post canberra highway
the glory of spring!! we got sick snow though and wearing pants + a shirt is a pretty amazing feeling.
leisa and mitch- high noon 35 fter
we headed back to canberra on the monday night to sleep on some real beds- thanks leisa.
on the second arvo we went into jbyne and scored some serious food before heading over to the skate park.. this should help you gauge one aspect of mitch, after going all out in both parks as well as some gnar blacks for the whole day, we go to the skatepark and mitch starts skateing- i could hardly steady camera as my arms were so tired, my legs were even worse.... We ran into this really nice dude who turned out to be not only a fantastic dude but a photographer, sick skater and a professional boarder- so basically the epitome of a man that knows how to live, his name is Andrew Fawcett.
due to our goal of spending no cash we slept in the back of mitch's car on the tuesday night, alongside the banks of the melt-fed river that i'm sure would probably have a name..
i got a great sleep which i can put down to my exhaustion and not the 1.1m surf mat i was padding my distraught back with.. We rose and headed straight for the lifts, a casual 4 minute drive away, and got down to business.. i took the cam up for the morning hoping to score some flat light but by the time we were up there it was already heading straight down onto the snow :/ i found the snow pretty hard to shoot, knowing when and what and how is something that i'd need to spend more time on but i'm more than happy with the results from my first attempt, which put in stone the dreams of being a full-time snow photographer... for red bull.......
it wasn't as busy as it looks hah
raptor...
i ditched my camera after lunch and came out to board for a bit but my legs were giving way after 1/3 of a run ://////// so we bailed...
we stopped again in jindabyne and met up with mitch's friend who'd come down that morning ,scored an epic, epic shower, and then headed back for brisbane. We drove out of jindy just on sunset but i only got to shoot from the car as Mitch stops for no man. Although i missed a ton of shots because we never stopped i'm not really that torn, sure i would've got properly good shots and not drive-by photos, but had this been the case i doubt we would've ever made it to the snow- next time i'll have to drive myself and meet him down there haha.
last light, just out of jindabyne
the drive on the way home was a huge non-event.. we drove 3 hours, slept three hours and rotated. it was all business and we got home by 10:30... but when i got home i had no keys, the ultimate tears
for anyone that likes this post and has never made a journey like this, you need to stop being a doucheman and get wild and if you don't enjoy it than i wish you well.
thanks for your time.
█
Just over a month ago, i was a different person but after 4 and a half days, about thirty thousand kilometers and more smiles than i figured i could obtain in such a short period of time, i now have a re-shaped perspective on what i want in/from life. It all started during a post work chill involving mitch and i around the time that Mitch's desire for pow had made a resurgence from deep within his parts. Thanks mainly to the return of his arm, to full potential, after breaking it a few months prior, chasing international powder. But this afternoon was like many others as mitch and i have been dreaming of this road trip down to the snow for about a year, it wasn't until this afternoon that we realised how obtainable this dream was! leading up to this point, week in week out, we preached the glory of the snow and how we should be amongst it, but like many a dreamer before us, we had no faith in the truths we preached... I don't know why this time was different and i wish i could pin point the trigger as it's surely the trigger to a lifetime of intense victory mode. After changing my roster and sorting out the necessities we were set. Luckily I hustled my gear from a fellow who stands in good stead among the gods of being a one-of-a-kind-glorious dude. Departure was now the priority.
The thought of a 16 hour drive from brisbane, making departure at 7pm on sunday night, was never ever considered a downside by neither mitch or i. infact the road is one of the best bits and one of the most obvious reasons why i love going on journey such as this. It's a fastforwarded perspective on discovery, what more could you want?
I think i'll stop ranting and throw up the pics now as i could easily write far too much but i need to have a quick preach before i do so. We are not crazy! You naysayers, you're the crazy ones. We are still smiling from this trip and it cost us as much as your average fiend would spend in 3 nights out and instead of landing on a 15 foot spring snow covered down they're probably landing in the gutter. The road is a powerful place and I've learnt more on this trip than i could've ever hoped for. Don't be a gay dude, go out, do shit, plan outragous things and get them done, it's the only way to live.
alright so, quick notices, these aren't all the photos- i kept about 150 shots from this trip but i'm not putting them on here as that would take upa few pages.. i'm thinking i'll make a facebook folder on wanderers or my personal one for the rest but that will be at a later date so i'll let you know.
for ze photogs: d90, sigma 10-20, 17-55 2.8 (woody) and 70-200 2.8 (frosty)
which brings me to my appreciation of BCH for scoring me all of these glory lenses.
travel bud: mitch stephenson
i can't describe mitch (no-one can) so I'm not going to try, just know that this is a dude that gets shit done to the max.
travel tool: mitch's road slaying subaru
journey prep...
first light after leaving brisbane, we were alongside some rediculously large lake (that was dry) just before we got into the a.c.t
just outside canberra
post canberra highway
the glory of spring!! we got sick snow though and wearing pants + a shirt is a pretty amazing feeling.
leisa and mitch- high noon 35 fter
we headed back to canberra on the monday night to sleep on some real beds- thanks leisa.
on the second arvo we went into jbyne and scored some serious food before heading over to the skate park.. this should help you gauge one aspect of mitch, after going all out in both parks as well as some gnar blacks for the whole day, we go to the skatepark and mitch starts skateing- i could hardly steady camera as my arms were so tired, my legs were even worse.... We ran into this really nice dude who turned out to be not only a fantastic dude but a photographer, sick skater and a professional boarder- so basically the epitome of a man that knows how to live, his name is Andrew Fawcett.
due to our goal of spending no cash we slept in the back of mitch's car on the tuesday night, alongside the banks of the melt-fed river that i'm sure would probably have a name..
i got a great sleep which i can put down to my exhaustion and not the 1.1m surf mat i was padding my distraught back with.. We rose and headed straight for the lifts, a casual 4 minute drive away, and got down to business.. i took the cam up for the morning hoping to score some flat light but by the time we were up there it was already heading straight down onto the snow :/ i found the snow pretty hard to shoot, knowing when and what and how is something that i'd need to spend more time on but i'm more than happy with the results from my first attempt, which put in stone the dreams of being a full-time snow photographer... for red bull.......
it wasn't as busy as it looks hah
raptor...
i ditched my camera after lunch and came out to board for a bit but my legs were giving way after 1/3 of a run ://////// so we bailed...
we stopped again in jindabyne and met up with mitch's friend who'd come down that morning ,scored an epic, epic shower, and then headed back for brisbane. We drove out of jindy just on sunset but i only got to shoot from the car as Mitch stops for no man. Although i missed a ton of shots because we never stopped i'm not really that torn, sure i would've got properly good shots and not drive-by photos, but had this been the case i doubt we would've ever made it to the snow- next time i'll have to drive myself and meet him down there haha.
last light, just out of jindabyne
the drive on the way home was a huge non-event.. we drove 3 hours, slept three hours and rotated. it was all business and we got home by 10:30... but when i got home i had no keys, the ultimate tears
for anyone that likes this post and has never made a journey like this, you need to stop being a doucheman and get wild and if you don't enjoy it than i wish you well.
thanks for your time.
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Sick post. Having just spent 4 months road tripping in Oz I totally get what you mean (though it was never any full on hit and runs like this). We have such an amazing country at our fingertips, all it takes is a car, the willpower and an idea.
ReplyDeleteI hear people say they're too busy, but what's more important than living life?
Epic photos and more importantly an epic story. Makes me want to get in my car and drive somewhere wild but I'm in London with no car, so I don't think that's going to happen any time soon... oh and I lost my keys on Wednesday too. Spooky.
argh dude i'm very jealous!!!! you're right dude, australia is insane and making your way around it is far too easy when you consider the rewards!
ReplyDeleteson you need to get on a train and venture if you got now wheels!!!! do you have your camera/actively taking pictures?!
Yeah, I have joined the uni's photo society, £15 for a year's darkroom access, free printing paper and subsidised film so I am going to get my hands dirty with an old 35mm SLR. And I have my 7D with some primes for other stuff. Total new learning curve but it will be good fun.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, def need to look into training it out of the city a few times. London has loads to see and shoot though, just way different to what i'm used to! Gotta keep my mind off surf thats all!