S.W.A.T.T Poker Run 2012

This past weekend I received a call from the guys over at Kitt Equipment/Trailer Sales to see if I would come up to get some photos of the SWATT Poker Run. I would be riding shotgun in a Polaris RZR XP kitted out, needless to say I said yes.

 

Polaris RZR XP (with goodies)

South Western All Terrain Trails (S.W.A.T.T) held their 2nd Annual ATV/SxS Poker Run over the BC Day long weekend this year. It is a two day event where on Saturday it was the mud pit and obstacle coarse challenge. Sunday was the Poker Run through the extensive trail system now in place up at Hemlock. The parking lots were turned into camping spots for the riders to stay. The upper parking lot was were the SWATT info tent was located as well as a huge display by Kitt Equipement/Trailer Sales who were one of the main sponsors for the event.

Kitt Equipment on display

SWATT info and swag headquarters

It was a dry dusty scorching hot day and it was only 9am. They broke the riders into groups and sent the groups out at different intervals to keep traffic jams to a minimum. Just as our group was about to leave it came over the radio that a machine was on fire on the trail. Well that detained us for almost 90 minutes while they had to deal with that. No forest fire but unfortunately a RZR  pretty much melted away just leaving the frame. Pics of that at the end so keep reading.

Waiting at the marshaling area for fire to be dealt with

One of the staff heading up to help put out fire

Eventually.........

I am still here!

 I know it has been awhile since the blog has been updated. The reason for that is no internet at home. For whatever reason, it has taken Telus since Christmas to get us a phone line/internet. ShawCable does not run down the road I live on. After a few more phone calls and a highly motivated Telus area manager my internet drought could be coming to an end.
 Come early next week I should be back in happy land. I have been limping by using a mobile hotspot and lets just say that was/is stupid stupid stupid expensive.
 Once the highspeed is up and running I will have a few back post with photos I want to put up and a couple videos as well. Also stay tuned because if your into the local motox scene I will have an article and video of local racer Tyler "Two Guns" Gibbs coming soon.

Thanks for your patience
Shawn

BTS Carol Cox "Goddess" photo shoot with Bryan Ward

 This past weekend an opportunity arose for me to shoot some bts (behind the scenes) images for recording artist Carol Cox. It was during her "Goddess" photo shoot with Vancouver based photographer Bryan Ward at his downtown studio. Primarily being a sports shooter I was excited to branch out and try something different. I must say I had a great time.

Carol Cox

  This would be the first time I ever met Carol Cox or Bryan Ward. I arrived a little early and after buzzing a few times Bryan met me at the front doors to his studio. Wow is all I can say , his studio is just plain kickass. Don`t take my word for it check it out for yourself Studio 31.  From his Manfrotto Rail system to his profoto gear it was all very slick and worked flawlessly and he is a fellow Canon shooter. After seeing that rail system in action it will be hard to set up a light stand in the future and not think about it.

Bryan Ward           Studio 31           Carol Cox

Shortly there after the makeup artist Jennifer Ruth , hairstylist  Ashley Young  and Carol arrived. From what I gathered the theme of the shoot was a goddess with three alter egos. So it was going to be a busy day for hair and makeup. The "goddess`s" are going to be concept piece composites. Check out Bryan`s portfolio and you will see he is very good in photoshop and has no problem swapping a bg. I can`t wait to see the finished images.

 Jennifer Ruth          Carol Cox           Ashley Young

Carol Cox       Jennifer Ruth

Ashley Young  Carol Cox   Jennifer Ruth

Carol was awesome to meet and be around for the day. She has so much energy and a positive attitude that you can not be in a good mood around her. Jennifer and Ashley were upbeat and great to talk too as well. Bryan was a great host. He was not expecting a still photographer on set and he could have very easily sent me on my way but he did not and I thank him very much for that. For someone who would like to try his hand at glamor/boudoir photography one day it was a great learning experience watching him work and interact with everyone and especially Carol.

Bryan Ward         Carol Cox

What else can I say, I had a great time. I got to sneak a peek on the  ins and outs of a pro fashion/glamor photo shoot and I  got to meet some great people. Who knows maybe this will be a door opener for me to do more of this stuff. Would I do more of this kind of photography? Absolutely!

Here are a few more images from the day.

Carol Cox    Bryan Ward

Carol Cox    Bryan Ward   

Carol Cox      Bryan Ward  

Oh ya can you believe it, not once during the day did I bother to grab a photo of myself with Carol or Bryan. So my wall of fame  is still empty!  But here is a photo of yours truly just to prove I was indeed there.

Links

Carol Cox Music

Bryan Ward Photography

Jennifer Ruth (M.U.A)

Ashley Young ( Hair stylist)

Conner Galway (Junction Marketing)

Cool two place sled trailer.

Well it is that time of year again. The temperature has dropped , leaves are falling and more importantly it is snowing in the higher elevations. What does this all mean? Why it means snowmobiling of course.Having said that I figured I would share some info on this cool little trailer I seen at Kitt Equipment this past week.

What caught my attention was the long tongue and front ramp on a single axle. Most I have seen with a front ramp are two axle. Turns out this is an all aluminum trailer and is light compared to it steel brothers. Two of us moved this trailer around the parking lot with little effort. I see potential for this little guy in early season and spring riding conditions when you have to venture up the logging roads to offload. A couple guys could easily unhook this guy and spin it around by hand in tight turn around conditions.

Here are the actual specs and price for this Sled Shed.

-aluminum snow mobile trailer.”SLED SHED”  The trailer is 8-1/2 wide - interior 8'2" WIDE.  Inside Height 6’.  Front Exit Ramp Door 48-1/2"WIDE, 3500lb axle with electric brakes, ski tie down clamps,spring assisted ramps,led lights,dry weight of trailer approx 1500lbs, payload capacity of approx 2000lbs,inside of trailer lined with 3/8” plywood, smooth wall exterior aluminum..INSIDE BOX LENGTH OF 12’+2’ V-NOSE  $7350.00 

  What I like the most is the long tongue. Like a lot of guys, I run a snowmobile deck on my truck in the winter and tow trailers. I know I`m not the only one to have pushed it turning around and put the corner of the deck through the trailer. Not an issue with this trailer. 

So if your looking for a light weight all aluminum sled trailer be sure to check this one out. If you do, make sure you mention HighMark Adventures and receive a 5% discount.

You can contact them here
Kitt Equipment
1-877-823-7199

Yamafest 2011

Well it was that time of year again. Time to make the road trip to Revelstoke, BC to take part in a Yamaha tradition. For the last ten years Yamaha Canada has been putting on this event to to showcase their next seasons products for the snowmobile industry.

HillCrest Hotel Coast Resort  was Yamaha`s headquarters this year.

 But it is so much more than that.Usually on the Saturday up on Boulder Mtn near the "Sugar Bowl" they set up shop with all the next years models for you to test drive. The biggest attraction was getting to try Chris Brown`s Nytro with MCX 240 turbo installed.

Yamafest demo rides Sugar Bowl , Boulder Mtn

Here is the list of what they were demoing.
2012 Nytro MTX with all new Camo "Ascent" 2.25 track. New Drivers, Skis and Seat.
Chris Browns Nytro with MCX 240 kit
Apex EPS with MCX 290 kit
Apex XTX EPS 144
Nytro 153 SE
Venture GT
Grizzly with Tric Track kit(photo by PowderPuff)

Chris Brown`s 2012 Nytro with MCX 240 kit

 This year was a little different in that Yamaha and their partners were teamed up and offered up a mini passport porker run kinda thing. When you signed up to take part in the test rides you were given a passport. So starting in the parking lot and on the trail up there were check points for you to stop and check out what the partners have to offer. At each stop you get your pass punched.

Passport Partners were:
509  ( First stop)
BCA (Second stop)
Canadian Avalanche Center  (Second stop)
GYPA, Klim, FXR,  (Third Stop)
Yamalube, (Final Stop)
SRS and Revelstoke Snowmobile club supported as well

Randy Swenson assisting a demo rider

Due to some circumstances

BigDawg Shootout 2011 "Invite Only" did not pan out!

Paul tried to organize a low key ``invite only`` competition with a select few of some of the best riders in the Pacific Northwest. Supposedly a lot of big names in the sport were coming. But in the end not a lot of riders showed up. The weather was not encouraging for Saturday so that must have kept people from making the long trip.

It was snowing in  Whistler Village Saturday morning and visibility was  poor with  very low cloud cover. It did not look very promising at all. With a lot of the riders not showing up, the BDSO revival was pretty much dead. But for some of the riders that did show up the bad weather was not going to stop them from riding. This was a good thing for me.

I met up with Paul Gibbs, Cory Micku and some of  his buddies from Vancouver Island who made the trip. We all went up Brandywine to play in the trees. Well lets just say it was my lucky day. Weather was crappy in the beginning but just like it always seems to happen in Whistler the clouds gave way in the afternoon and the sun came out and with everybody else playing tourist in the village I was the only one out there with  camera gear to capture the action.

It was a blast hanging with these guys. All these guys can ride and they never stop. Just like the energizer bunny they just keep going and going. It was fun to watch and shoot.

The snow was great at the beginning of the day but got heavier as the day wore on and the sun came out and warmed things up. It was deep but heavy.

My first Roller Derby

 Well the other night I shot my first Roller Derby, it was my first bout. It was between the host team/league, Reign Valley Vixens and the visiting Armstrong/Okanagan Raggedy Rollers. It was the opening bout to kick off the season. It was held at the Abbotsford AG Rec Centre.

 

This being my first roller derby I was not sure what to expect when I showed up. When I walked in what I did see was all the sisters, friends and family  setting up the event. From laying out the track, to lighting , to putting chairs out for the spectators. They also had concessions, a beer garden and merchandising booths. These girls did it all and this was before they got ready for their season opener. It was  impressive to say the least.

Partial proceeds from the event went to  support the local  food bank and they raised 760 bucks Way to go girls!

If you have never been to a roller derby