Tuition Edition :: Trick Tips 101

I previously posted regarding a project that I worked on during the 07 New Zealand winter. I produced ,directed, filmed and edited a DVD called the Tuition Edition, that is going on the cover of this years April/May issue of New Zealand Snowboarder. A huge thanks to Chris Arnison for tying up the project with Motion FX and titles. The DVD is now complete, so make sure you go get yourself a copy of the mag when its out! Its a free DVD!

Chris Arnison Authoring the Tuition Edition DVD.

Chris Arnison & Robett Hollis rolling power moves in the DVDs final stage of production.

The DVD features New Zealands top riders teaching you basic tricks, from 5050’s right through to front and backside 540s. It will have you all set to go and get your jib and jump on at Snow Park this winter.

Bonus footage also includes, MDTV 2007 highlight episodes, which is about 40 mins long and has all the hammer competition footage from the season, plus some fun opening days and shred missions. GO GET THE MAG!

Farm Jam Video.

On the 27th/28th of Dec 07, the Frew Farm Jam went down just shy of Winton, Southland, NZ.

I was there shooting an article for Spoke Magazine, it was a pretty amazing weekend and some sick riding went down. The article will be out in the next issue of Spoke magazine, but for now, theres some vid footy on this clip on youtube.. it starts about half way through... EDH bmx boys ripping!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5pmG5ZhQgI

Pinky.

Blair Findlay turned up a couple of days back with his girl Kate in Sapporo. More kiwis for the crew! We had a couple of rad days in Sapporo, including spending one going to a Resort called Kokusai, which is about 40 mins from central Sapporo. Had a few fun runs with the crew. Good times.

Will Jackways and a Dam on the way to Kokusai

Blair Kate and myself have now traveled back up to Niseko. Will J, Abby and Lee have stayed in Sapporo on the search for some more rails. The train ride back up was as good as on the way down, a good way to travel.

Otaru viewed from the train.

Theres only a little bit of fresh in Niseko, but its still pretty fun, just had a solid day of smacking mushies with Blair and Kate.

Got one more week in Niseko, then back down to Sapporo again for a few days before I leave, hopefully get some more street shots of Will J & Abby. Hang there for a couple of days then its off to Germany to see Mattias Orlea, who helped with the production of ‘How About It’. Jeah!

The Big Smoke

Have been in Sapporo for a couple of days now. The city got dumped on a few days back, and theres about 1-2m of snow in most places. The jibbing potential is pretty ridiculous, with every block having so many rails or ledges, how ever having to dig out every one for a couple of hours before hitting is getting tedious..

A Photo I shot the other morning whilst on a stroll.. Sapporo Streets

Yesterday we shot a dope 29 stair down rail with some rivets on it, near a river. Was a pretty dope session. Abby 50’d the whole shibang, legit! Andy and Will did some rad presses, and also doubles on the rail.. pretty unique.

Andy K & Will J wanting more...

Andy K left at 5:00 this morning, got atleast half a dozen bangers of him, at present he should be somewhere near Frankfurt. We’ll hopefully be shooting in Tahoe. Had a few bevies last night to see him off!

From left, Will J, Myself, Lee and Andy K, bevvies last night.

Im just poaching internet outside an apartment just down the road from where we’re staying. Heres a shot from earlier in the day of us poaching!

Living the dream

And last but not least, we’re just about to go and scope out the cowboy rail. This is one big massive kink, round tube thing its sick. Blair Findlay also arrives tonight, and Logan Holt tomorow, bring on the good times!

The Cowboy Kink... Hopefully we shoot this soon!

Moving on...

Set up the massive kink rail in Kutchan yesterday. Will Jackways got cover of Australian/New Zealand snowboarder last year on a very similar kink just across the bridge. ( but hes also done this one, go figure! )

Unquestionable bangers!

Just as we were about to shoot, after a few hours of prep we got the boot from the road police! Gutted

Andy K, Nakamura, and Chook just after getting the boot.. doh

Today myself and Andy Kennerly traveled down to Sapporo from Kutchan on the express train. It was a super rad trip. For once the weather wasn’t packed in, so we got to see a bit of the Japan Country side.

Myself and Andy K, Kutchan Train Station. Struggling with baggage.

Pretty amazing just passed Otaru, where the railway follows the coast line. Theres about a foot of snow, waves, and even saw a few people out surfing. Lots of potential to shoot there!

Yet another self port, me and AK passing by Coastline.. En route Sapporo

Met up with Will J, Abby and Lee at the Sapporo train station around lunch time. Had a bit of a look around a massive shopping mall, soaked in a bit more culture, good times.Gonna be kickin round Sapporo for a while, shoot some rails as theres plenty of snow to get it done.. Updates soon.

Hung like a brick.

Wow, another dope hang over! Met up with Toddy from SnowPark last night, hung out at the Staff Quarters, got told some interesting tales. Met a few more kiwis, tryed some new japanese quisine, finished a few bottles of whiskey. Hit town, got drunker at the brick!

Spent most of the day yesterday roaming the streets of Hirafu looking for fun shots... Came out a pretty cool shot of Andy K boning a shifty with some japanese school children in the foreground. Pure art!

Andy K and Chook setting up a flat rail, but we got booted before we could session it!

We then hit the gondola up in the afternoon. Taking advantage of actually being able to see. Andy K did a butter to drop thing on this old Gondola Station.. Cool Video Line. Hopefully we shoot tomorow!

Andy K, Myself and Chooky in the Gondola.. Yoitei in the background...

New Friends, Old Friends, Great Times.

Been super busy since the last post! Getting more shots in the bag here and there. Had an amazing day yesterday, left the cameras at home and went riding with Chook and Andy K. Hiked the Summit of Hirafu, the cloud lifted, and got some amazing turns with the boys. That alone was worth coming to Japan for.

A couple of days back we built a jump down the bottom of One, Hirafu Resort. The local Pinkhouse manager Nakamura came and had a sesh.. It was around a 50 - 70 foot step down, depending on how big you went. Hammers included a massive back 1 from Nakamura, and a super corked Back7 nose from Andy K. Jeah!

Nakamura and AndyK hiking the Jap pow...

Paper Scissors.... Prior to bangers.


Abby and Lee have gone to Sapporo to pick up Will J today, they'll be back tomorow, hopefully we shoot a bit more round here. RMB and Blair Findlay turn up in a few.. good times ahead

Unquestionable Hammers

Spent yesterday setting up/shooting one pretty gnarly kink! It's attached to a temple, about 30 mins from Niseko.. Will & Abby had seshioned it before, but yesterday myself, Andky and chook gave it a whirl. Big props to chook for laying it down!

It goes around 20, flat, 15 with a kink with some serious woo. Came out with a coupla bangers, heres a sneaker peak!

Andy K and 35 stairs of unquestionable bangers

The Light!

Sore the sun for the first time since I've been here yesterday. Was incredibly therapeutic! Andy K and I hit up Hirafu, along with Lee Ponsio and Abby Lockhart.. We split up and made the most of being able to see further than the tip of your board!

It was real dope, got a couple more shots in the bag of Andy, and Lee and Abby scored some sick pow shots...

Andy and I built a wallride on this old lift tower thing, was real rad, got some pretty fresh layback wallride shottas... for now heres a couple of behind the scenes.

Me and Andy after getting business done. wallride in the background.

Me inside the building that we built the wallride on, sick bullwheel!

Hung like a....

The snow has not yet ceased! I can no longer see out the toilet window at the pink house.

Got pretty drunk last night, hit back some sake, whiskey and beer! Got to town at closing time, got pop corn for free with the beers, dope!

We've been out shooting the last couple of days, not so many hammers, but still good times. Heres some photos from a seshion in Kutchan last night. Couldnt quite get enough speed to make this wallride worthy, but good times all the same.

The Wallride set up... Couldnt get enough speed as the tow in car had to slow down quickly!

The crew, and me modeling an official Japanese road working sabre sword thing...
Andy K getting a head start!

DPS Oakley Transworld Ad.

Last year around October I shot a portrait of Jake Koia at this house in Arrowtown. Was pretty classic, set up ghetto studio in his hallway, and shot a few poses to be photoshopped into this Ad. Was in Transworld Photo Issue, Double Pager. Dope!

Grand Hirafu

We've had a couple of days on Grand Hirafu now, and its pretty mind blowing, the snow has not stopped falling. Yesterday we hit the hill, a tad seedy around 1pm, and managed to score some small clear patches. Andy Kennerly, Will Jackways, Lee Ponzio and I went and shot some mushies in 'One' area of the mountain. More shots in the bag!

Drove to Sapporo last night to drop off Will, and came back this morning. He's off on a trip with Johnny Mac, Nick Brown and some other dingoes down south. We'll be picking him up in 5 days.

For now, heres a shot of Andy K and I yesterday arvo, super stoked after shooting and finally able to see the surroundings!

Peow!

Today I learnt just what all the Japan fuss is about! I'd been staring at the snow for the last few days, shooting photos but as my board was lost in transit, I hadnt actually ridden yet! Got to shralp with the crew today. For sure the best snowboarding I have EVER done in my life. Endless pillows of bottomless snow... mean gondolas, and a frozen balaclava! Resulting in a grin that is still on my face...

Everyones out night shredding right now whilst I get down to business... We didn't shoot today, but for now heres a throw away from yesterday of Will Jackways enjoying some road side pillows....

The Rail that should have been...

I've never felt so much inspiration to shoot scenics!

Today was spent on another search for some rails to shoot... Im constantly amazed by the amount of crazy Japanese Architecture and interesting people! We had a good shoot on a nice little down rail at a temple, real fun sesh, got a rad sequence of Abby Lockhart.

The temple set up...

We then moved onto another small settlement, near the ocean, and found a real nice down rail, right beside a very calm river. It was amazingly beautiful.. We were setting up and got kicked by the police.... check the snap for what would of been!

Locals...

The Land of the Rising Sun

After an extremely hectic October/November/December in New Zealand I've decided it was time for a change! I arrived in Japan 2 days ago on Thursday 9^th of Jan. I am currently sitting in a hotel lobby at the base of Hirafu Ski Resort. I will be spending a month shooting snowboarding photos around Japan. Had a pretty interesting trip over consisting of some long plane flights, lesbians at motels, old women with crazy coughs, really fast trains, and not many foreigners after Tokyo.

Will Jackways, Andrew Kennerly, Lee and Chook picked me up from the down town Sapporo Train Station at around 1am Friday morning. I had gone from around 28 degree heat, to -12, and It was straight into the $6 bottle of whiskey for the drive back to Niseko, I was in constant awe the whole way back. So many endless opportunities to shoot just off the side of the main road!

Will Jackways on the drive from Sapporo - Niseko

Air New Zealand had somehow managed to loose my board bag between Auckland and Tokyo. Its meant to turn up after 5 oclock today, fingers crossed. We got straight into it on my first day after very few hours sleep. I rocked a whole lot of borrowed gear ( nothing too new here ) Its been dumping its tits off and everything is on. The boys bought a hi ace meaning we can pretty much smack up anything in sight! We’ve Already got a couple of hammers in the bag first day. Yayer! Will dropped a big piss off building in Niseko, crew shredded some road side pillows, and a final session was had on a Wallride beside a dope bridge. I cant post my hammers here as they are saved for the publications, but check out between sessions!

Looking up the main street towards Hirafu

Will J and a dope Japanese Road Worker!

I will be traveling for just over 3 months between Japan, Europe and America, shooting snowboarding stills. I will be updating everytime I can get to an internet connection, so keep checking backl. I get back to Wanaka to set up base for a very busy 2008 NZ season late April.

A New Beginning

Well Tuck me into bed and call me Susan! New blog, ew company, new country, new people! Jeeze Louise. A lot of news to tell. First up, the reason behind this blog is that I’m in the process of setting up a new media company called - Zeros&Ones . I will be frequently updating everything to do with the company here, along with other interesting/amusing/relevant news! So keep checking back. Zeros&Ones Website will be dropping late February with any luck, with all of our work set out for 2008!

DystoMedia is still alive and kicking over at www.dystomedia.com – Go get your self a copy of ‘How About It’. We’ve just had a 5 page article in Australian Mountainbike Magazine, Revolution so make sure you pick up a copy of that too!