Categories
Event Photography Photograph Skiing Sports

Stowe Derby 2012

You can find all photographs from the Stowe Derby right here. You can even search by bib number to order a print of yourself (or a friend!) Thanks for supporting your local photographers!

Our Stowe Derby day starts by swinging by registration to check in, pick up a lift ticket, and coordinate any last minute details. The early bib pickup system has made this process a lot easier; it used to be that there was a long line of people waiting to pick up their race packets, but now it’s a calm trickle of people.

From there, Tawny and I head to find scout a location with a view of the mountains. With the re-routed course this year, we took a few extra minutes to find a new spot.  Once that’s settled upon, I rush back to the start of the short course to grab a few quick shots of the chaos that is a mass start.

While the racers are making their way back towards Tawny,

I head up to Stowe Mountain Resort to get set for the Freestyle start. The first skiers come through fast and gracefully.

It’s funny photographing on the Toll Road. I like to shoot around the first corner to get some interaction between racers (and, I’m not gonna lie, to get some great crashes.) The thing is, it’s a blind corner so I do a lot of listening to know when to shoot. Generally, the first sound you hear is skis snowplowing down the first pitch before the corner. Next, the less experienced racers will often let out a little (or sometimes big!) scream as they realize they have to turn more than 90 degrees and have no edges. From there many will fall, but nearly everyone gets up laughing.

Scrape, Scream, Fall, Laugh – the pattern continues for quite some time!

 

This year there were definitely some powder hounds who had to get fresh tracks where they could.

I’m not sure what it was this year, but skiers took this corner wide and a number of people came close to the wall.

 

A few even hit it!

 

Racers then continue through the bulk of the course before reaching Tawny’s spot with views of a freshly snow-covered Spruce mountain with blue skies. Hard to beat that!

 

So about two hours later it all begins again with the start of the Classical race. A little further down on the course this time, a crowd has gathered to watch the carnage.

 

This guy makes it look too easy.

When the last racers have come through, I pack up my gear and head to the finish. Tawny captures everyone in the field with the mountains or Smuggler’s Notch in the background and I get to watch racers smile as they realize they’re within a few hundred yards of the finish.

Nice work everyone! I look forward to doing it all again next year! (When, hopefully, I’ll remember the sunblock.)

 

You can find all photographs from the Stowe Derby right here. You can even search by bib number to order a print of yourself (or a friend.) Thanks for supporting your local photographers!

 

Categories
Music

Clint Bierman & The Necessary Means

Clint Bierman put together a team of all-stars in The Necessary Means. Last night, they lit up Nectar’s celebrating their the release of their first CD together, “Click.” The Necessary Means is an 8 piece funk/groove project featuring:

Clint Bierman – guitar
Peter Day – bass/trumpet
Sean Preece – drums
Leon Campos – keys
Brian McCarthy – bari and tenor sax
Dave Grippo – alto sax
Daiki Hirano – percussion
Jeff Vallone – DJ/bass

The show was an electrifying collection of tracks from the album and newer pieces that got the crowd moving from the first note. The energy built with each song and Nectar’s was hopping all night long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s that, you want even more photos? OK – check out the full gallery.

If you missed the show, you owe it to yourself to pick up the album. Want a sample? Check out this video that Matt Kiedaisch put together for the track “Scratchzilla.”

 

Scratchzilla from Matt Kiedaisch on Vimeo.

Categories
Sports

Burlington, Vermont’s First Run

Run Vermont had a huge turnout for this year’s First Run! Maybe it had something to do with the temps in the 30’s and no weather to speak of. An estimated 900 runners of all ages showed up, many in costumes, all with smiles.

 

 

 

 

 

I know it was warm out… but running in bare feet in January?  Brrrrrr!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the final runners came through, the police trail car was playing music through the loudspeaker and people were dancing and skipping their way towards the finish line.

Nice job everyone! Thanks, Run Vermont, for hosting another great race. SkiPix.com will have all of the photos available in a few days.

 

Categories
Music

Rich Price – Moonlight Breaks CD Release show in Burlington

This past weekend, Rich Price celebrated the release of his 4th solo album, Moonlight Breaks, with a show at Burlington’s Black Box Theater. This was my first visit to the theater and I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a small, black (aptly named, eh?) room with moderately steeply sloping seats. Every seat in the house has a clear view of the stage and the acoustics are good. It’s an excellent place to see a show like this.

As a way of celebrating, he invited a very talented cast of musicians to perform with him including Jeff Deveau, Clint Bierman, Sean Preece, Jeff Vallone, Peter Day, Brian Chartrand, and Greg Naughton. The night started out with a more acoustic singer/songwriter style set that mixed new and old music. After a quick break, the band returned to play an upbeat mix of songs ending the night with two powerful encores.

if you haven’t had a chance to listen to Rich’s music yet, you owe it to yourself to give him a listen.

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (12)

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (11)

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (10)

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (9)

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (8)

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Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (6)

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (5)

Maybe I’m getting old, but I seem to be taking a lot of photos of kids at live music shows. This next one was taken this summer at Nectar’s – it was his first show!

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (4)

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (3)

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (2)

Burlington, Vermont live music - Rich Price (1)

If this subset of photos isn’t enough, there are some more photos from the show on my SmugMug site.

Thanks for a great show and an excellent album, Rich!

Categories
Family Portraits Uncategorized

Fall Family Photos in Burlington’s Battery Park

It’s been a very busy fall for me, but when Becky called up asking if I had some time for family photographs, I said yes. We were able to meet up in downtown Burlington for some photographs in Battery Park. I like shooting there because there are a variety of scenes to use ranging from 100% nature/outdoor, to a more urban look with the cement fountain and amphitheater.

Xavier was very interested, as most kids his age are, in the gear we brought with us.  Since this was a light shoot, we only brought a monopod topped with a shoot-through umbrella. It was fun to watch him experiment with what the umbrella did to both light and sound.