Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Photos


Some photos from Carmel, the drive to San Francisco and South Lake:

Big Sur


Carmel-by-the-Sea

Carmel


Big Sur - self portrait

On the edge of a cliff


Carmel - 3:00am


Product of boredom - self portrait


Tahoe sunset


Tahoe

As I write this a storm is moving into the Tahoe area. This is big news for me because after 3 months and over 15 ski resorts I am yet to have a powder day this year. There should be two storms moving in this week, each leaving behind up to 4 feet of snow(I hope). Needless to say I will be up in the mountains nonstop for the next two weeks before my winter is officially over and I begin my 3 week trip back to NYC.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Photo(s) of the Day

I have no real excuse as to why I haven't been posting lately. A lot has happened recently, nothing too exciting, just some changes. One being that I'm officially not living out of my van for the month, which is exciting for me. Over two months of van sleeping and couch surfing and I finally have a bed to call my own, sort of. I'm staying in a motel 75 yards from the Nevada border and all the South Lake Tahoe casinos. Fortunately I'm not big into gambling or I may pick up another bad habit.

Anyway, I'm heading to Sacramento for a shoot with Karen and then to Carmel to see Mike's show and then to SF to for a few days to shoot some apartments.

For now here are some photos from the east shore of Lake Tahoe:



Saturday, March 6, 2010

Photo(s) of the Day

I randomly stumbled across photos from my trip to South America so I decided to post a few photos from that. So this will be the random photo post starting with a few from Colorado:

Before sunrise, driving from Denver to Crested Butte

Middle of Nowhere, Colorado

Highway 50 in Colorado

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Colonia, Uruguay

At the end of this rainbow is a fat man in a wheelchair and poncho - Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Dramatic-look Lizard - Iguazua Falls

Iguazu Falls, Argentina - Brasil is across the river

Felipe's "Oasis" shot - Valparaíso, Chile


Juan Lopez, Chile

Friday, March 5, 2010

Lake Tahoe Back Injury

So it has been a week since my injury and I'm starting to go crazy. I can't stand for an extended period of time without problems and I certainly can't snowboard. I am in Lake Tahoe and they are getting snow every few days and I am forced to sit around and watch it from a sleazy motel room.



Last Thursday a few friends and I were up at Squaw Valley and were taking our last runs. We were by the bottom of the Solitude lift and I traversed and climbed up a little to hit a fun looking 8 foot cliff. I shot off the cliff and landed solid but with a lot of speed. It was getting bumpy and tracked out so it was hard to slow down. I saw a patch of powder ahead and I planned on carving through it to slow down and get a nice turn in. I hit a bump off-balance and nosedived on the landing which sent me into the air backwards. Expecting a soft, powdery landing I put all my weight in to it. But I was immediately stopped by what felt like a jagged brick wall in the middle of my back. It made a sickening noise, similar to the sound you get when trying to snap a soggy branch. I gasped in pain and imagined all my organs being punctured and leaking all over my insides. I looked behind me to see what ruined my day, which probably wasn't smart at the time considering the trauma to my back seconds earlier. It was a gnarly tree stump or bit of exposed fallen log maybe 6 inches in diameter.

After my friends and I decided against calling Ski Patrol, we headed back over to the gondola and down to the base. Nick ran to get the car while I waited. He returned moments later with the car idling 50 yards away. He came up to me, grabbed our snowboards and headed to the car and returned again, to tell me he locked his keys inside, with it still running. Perfect. At this point it was two hours after the accident and my vision had been blurring for ten minute stretches and I tasted blood at random moments. So my imagination was going wild, inventing rare medical cases I'd most likely have.  I saw all the blood and other fluids from all my organs spilling down my body on the inside to my feet. Each moment making my chances of survival less and less. It's amazing the thoughts that can run through your head when something traumatic happens and you just don't know what is going on.

Twenty five minutes later, loaded into my own car, I was being driven by a Chilean friend to the hospital in Truckee with another riding on my bed in the back. Fortunately it turned out I was wrong and wasn't dying . All I had was a fractured rib, a bruised lung and what would soon be, a nasty bruise in my middle back. I also happened to be very lucky. The doctor told me if I had hit the log an inch to the right on my spine I could have broken my back or even been paralyzed. Lucky indeed. So they gave me a prescription for painkillers and sent me on my way.

Now, a week later and I feel no closer to getting on a snowboard. After several days in this motel room I began to go crazy. I had sacrificed too many hygienic standards and the mess, constant noise, disorder and stench pushed me to my limits. 72 hours straight there would drive even the most open minded person mad though. No offense to the people living there. They are good friends and good people, but they are living in a shithole. The last few days were spent with my Aunt in Portola Valley and now San Francisco with a friend. The recovery was going well until I spent six straight hours on my feet yesterday taking pictures at my friend Taylor's parents' home in Sonoma. I head back to Tahoe tomorrow to hopefully begin shooting photos again, but we'll see if I'm up to it.

Here are some photos from my time in Lake Tahoe so far:


Nick, Foster and Cote building a jump near homes in Alpine Meadows

Jump building - the jump throws you over a tree and down a slope

Cote hiking

Cote, rodeo

Alpine Meadows homes

Nick Ellis on a North Lake dock


The three roommates minus one - Foster, Nick, Cote

Sunset at North Lake