The 4th film put together by Ian Ruhters team Silver&Light. Very moving and inspirational.
Its been a while since I have posted on my blog sorry I have neglected you all for so long. A lot of exciting things have happened since my return from Costa Rica a while ago!
Upon returning I continued to go back to work for my dad doing construction work which was really a drag and definitely not for me. Im just not a construction worker type of person I would just rather spend that time doing something more creative with my life I suppose.
I have also since then moved to South Lake Tahoe!!! along with that I returned to school to try to finish that up not sure what purpose this piece of paper will do for me but I suppose its good to have a plan b.
Tahoe is an absolutely beautiful place I love it here. I knew that to try to make a name for myself as a snowboard photographer I needed change and this was it. A lot of photographers especially for fashion would try to move to New York or LA but for me Tahoe was my LA. Not knowing a single person here was definitely hard at first but eventually I made some new friends. One of my new friends is actually one my biggest inspirations his name is Ian Ruhter. I met him at his gallery showing down in Reno. I always found him to be super intimidating…which he was haha. But I have been lucky enough be and intern/assistant of sorts and it has been an incredible experience to be a part of his projects and help him out. He was known as an incredible snowboard photographer for most of his career shooting for Forum and many other brands. But now he has been shooting a lot of wet plate which is a form of photography form the 1800’s! Here are a few photos I took of the trip to mammoth we made.
Really beautiful stuff! He is selling huge prints of these on his site also if any of you are interested just click on the link on his name above.
Ian was also nice enough connect me with some local riders to go shoot with so finally we got a good dump of snow here in tahoe and I was able to go out and get some rad shots. It was a lot fun to get out in the backcountry with a solid group and get a big jump built. I really enjoy going out with a group who all have the same goal and motivation to get shots. Something I hope I get to do again this season if we get some more snow. I hope you enjoy the photos!
New video from the silver&light series!
So after I came back from Costa Rica I was itching for another adventure and thought maybe id go visit some friends here in Washington for New Years…and some shredding of course.
I needed to save up some money to make it happen so I went and worked for my dad again. I worked for over 2 weeks straight and put in over 80 hours in the last week! most ive ever done in one week for sure my body hated me but it was totally worth it.
So upon arriving my friend Jesse who was my skydiving instructor picked me up and right after I landed we drove over to ifly the indoor skydiving tunnel and within 15 minutes of landing we were flying it was pretty awesome way to start my trip off.
The next day I went to my friend Jakes house, his family let me crash at their place for almost a week which was totally awesome. We ended up going up to Stevens Pass 5 days in a row! We even camped in the back of the car one night it was pretty awesome. And everyday we rode we were hiking out of bounds getting FRESH POW turns it was legit!
This little mini trip back up here was a great way to start off the new year and it was good to see old friends. Hope this new year will treat me well I have a lot of plans for it as far as starting school again and shooting a lot more this season.
This trip to Costa Rica has been really incredible although it was only for a couple weeks. I met some really awesome people and got to do and see some really incredible stuff.
The first few days of this trip really tested me. Not knowing any Spanish at all when I arrived! Then once I had made it to where I was staying I had to somehow keep my sanity together as I sat in a little cabin with nothing but my mind for most of the day after shooting and editing which also depended on the time of high tide. As fun as it is going to the beach in paradise not having any social interaction made it seem Robinson Crusoe ish. But it definitely made me a stronger person mentally hard to explain how but it did.
But eventually over time I did meet some people and make some great new friends. My neighbor Beto who is literally a modern day Tarzan! This guy has awesome shaved chest hair designs and is known as a the local gnarly spear fisher. He told me a story about a time he went out and caught a fish that was 200 + pounds with a spear gun…and as he was fighting it a shark almost 6 meters long started circling from the blood from the fish, pretty intense. Anyway unfortunately I don’t have any digital photos of him I got to snap off a couple with the Mamiya though. So super stoked to see how those come out. Oh and he also went and got me some lobsters before I left they were ORGASMIC. We grilled them at the bar with some garlic and butter.
I also made some friends at the bar. There was a group of beautiful girls that were there doing a turtle conservation thing for a few weeks. They would go out and patrol during the night and when a sea turtle would come out and lay their eggs they would go get them and put them in a safe place away from poachers and wildlife and when they hatch they would release them pretty awesome stuff. I went on a patrol with them one night but unfortunately didn’t see anything…BUT on the last night of my trip me and Keisha (the Aussie) went out at night and were watching the stars and as we were leaving she spotted something really big on the sand down by the water and she asked me “is that a log”? And I thought no way looks like a boulder. So went to check it out and it was a Baula turtle which is a super endangered species of sea turtle apparently there are only about 2300 left in the pacific. This thing was MASSIVE it was about 5 feet long maybe more from tail to head. It was like looking at a dinosaur! I didn’t get to take any pictures of it because your not suppose to use flash and it was pitch black out but ill definitely remember that. Thanks girls for a great time!
Keisha: The Aussie, Brooke: The Kiwi, Micaela: New Yorker
The next day I got on the bus to San Jose, which took 6 hours! But I figured I would get there the night before my flight so I don’t miss it and Ill just stay the night at the airport. There weren’t very many benches there though but I saw a group of guys hanging out so I went to join them and was like “hey guys what’s up! Can I join you guys” and they all looked at me with blank stares like wtf…. only one of them spoke English haha so they eventually got across what I said and invited me to join them and we played cards trying to converse it was a lot of fun. There was also an older couple there that fed us a bunch of food they had because we were starving and the stores were all closed.
Elvin: Nicaragua, Roberto: Spain, Mauricio: Mexico
Roberto actually had his mountain bike with him and spent the last 4 months riding from Peru and rode over 3,000 miles!
I searched for a spot to sleep but there wasn’t really anything open, and then I thought wait! I have a hammock! So I found a spot to string it up and slept in that for the night all the guys were loving it they thought it was the coolest thing, sleeping in a hammock in the airport! Only in Costa Rica could I have probably done this I thought.
The next morning we all awaited out flights, we were all starving so I bought everyone breakfast they were super stoked. And said if I ever visited them they would treat me to dinner so looks like ill have to go visit them. Lvin lives in Nicaragua which I would love to go surf at and Roberto lives in Spain and I really want to go there and do the Camano de Santiago pilgrimage walk and run with the bulls so hopefully ill see them again.
I am super stoked with my first experience traveling outside the country. Costa Rica was definitely a good country to start with since it was almost borderline a third world country where I was at with the lack of hot water or washing machines, they didn’t get electricity until 1996! It definitely was a culture shock to me but I had a lot of fun got to shoot some great photos of surfing and eat some really awesome food. I would have to say thought that my favorite part of traveling is all the interesting people you meet, the new friends you make. I think it really broadens your mind. I feel like most people just get stuck in the towns they have lived in for most of their lives and never take the time to go out and experience the world, which I can’t really grasp why you wouldn’t want to go out there and see the world.
The only real bummer for the trip was not getting to shoot in the water I missed out on that. Also forgetting my tripod on the bus because I am an idiot and forget things all the time. And last carrying around every bit of camera gear I own! It is such a pain to carry around a huge SLR 5 lenses and a giant medium format film body. As awesome of photos they take I think from now on unless it’s a big project shoot I will pick up either a 35mm film camera or a Polaroid and a Sony nex-7 maybe as my digital. It will save tons of room and stress on my shoulders.
I guess we will see where my next adventure is. There might be a trip to Canada for some blower powder slaying coming up…
PURA VIDA!!!
I have been here in Costa Rica for a week now and have about another 10 days left. Ive been staying busy shooting surfing everyday I feel like I finally have a good grasp of shooting from land now. And definitely some aspects of shooting surfing that ill be able to translate over to shooting snowboarding for sure.
Yesterday was a little rough thought. I was shooting in the water about knee deep getting this sick shot of Tony sitting on the nose of his longboard with the sweet jungle background but as I got low to get the shot, a wave came in and splashed my camera and shut it down. So my camera was out for the day maybe even for the rest of the trip I thought since saltwater and cameras dont mix too well. So i left it covered in towels to dry and shot the rest of the session on the Mamiya film camera which to be honest I have more fun shooting with even thought I dont know if I got the shot till I get the film developed. Anyway later on in the night I try my camera out and it works! Thank god.
Otherwise this place is crazy I have howler monkeys in the trees by my place, huge iguanas and who knows what else and a ridiculous amount of stray dogs all over the place. There are bugs everywhere I itch all over my body from bug bites. This morning I woke up with a swollen lip from a bug bite haha. I also learned that the town im in didn’t get electricity until 1996! All this might make it seem like a rough place to be don’t get me wrong it kind of is for people that are fresh out of the US and not staying in a fancy hotel. But the beauty of this place is incredible. And the lifestyle here is so laid back. You’ll here the phrase pura vida a lot here. And its almost like the phrase of the country it means pure life. Everyone here is all about just living life and being on that stoke.
PARAISO!
I have been here in Costa Rica for a few days now and officially got to experience Costa Rica in its true beauty. Ive never really traveled outside what I already knew. Ive been to Canada and Japan but those weren’t really too big of a culture shock to me considering I am half Japanese and speak it almost fluently. So this place is a huge shock to me.
I had to ride a bus from San Jose to Santa Cruz, which was over 4 hours. But the whole entire way it was like we were driving through either farm lands or jungles and the entire time it was green everywhere you look. The country is just full of life.
Upon arriving at the bus station I met up with Tony Roberts who I am doing a surf photo internship for, he is also one of the only people I know of that knows my dad from back when he was a surfer/skater. Ill be doing a little photo series on Tony so once that’s done ill give you all the details and story about him and his photography. He might even have some slides of my dad skating which I am super stoked to see.
The town im living in is RAW. I don’t think pictures do this place justice. Your surrounded by a forest it seems like but right on the beach, the water is warm like bathwater the surf is awesome, the people are incredibly friendly their just full of life and living in the moment.
To start my traveling bug this place is really great, I love the fact that im in such a culture shock. I feel like anyone can travel to a place like Canada or even Australia, but is that really challenging is it really putting yourself out there? I love the idea of being somewhere that’s so rich in culture and being completely out of my comfort zone, not knowing the language but meeting incredible people.
So for the next 2 weeks Tony has plans for us to surf and shoot everyday then critique and such stoked to say the least. Im still in shock that this is happening and im here its truly incredible.
Oh but one negative thing due to my HUGE fear of spiders this place is pretty scary for me haha.
PURA VIDA!
Well after working construction for my dad for the last month. Its time im finally going. Anyone I talk to about my trip trip to Costa Rica says, “Oh my gosh thats so awesome sounds like a lot of fun!” But to be completely honest…im terrified and scared. I dont speak any spanish for one and I have to manage to get on a bus to some tiny town on the coast and im absolutely terrible with public transportation.
I’ve always talked about just heading out to somewhere i’ve never been but when it comes down to really doing it…its really scary. Even with my move down here to california permanently I didn’t know if it was really the right decision or not, I just knew that I couldn’t handle staying there. Now that im here I have no friends, no one to talk to but my blog. But maybe its for the better, a fresh start, a new identity. I always thought of myself as someone that did better alone then with people but I do miss the company of others.
“Moving means a fresh start, where no one knows your name, your past. You can recreate who you are without really having shit follow you. History thrives when you stay in the same place, people know you, know your stories, your shenanigans, your life, etc.
It’s the reason why people usually leave their hometowns after high school, to redefine who they are.
My moment is coming, just it’ll happen by surprise”
-Miya
But I guess here goes nothing. As one of my friends Sean Johnson from Washington would always say. “PSH DONT TALK ABOUT IT! BE ABOUT IT!. So I guess If your lucky enough to find the way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.
