VD'S PHOTODAWG BLOG



Hi Folks
Let me introduce myself.
Vernon Deck
Kiwi/import Swiss
Photographer
Cynic.

Any comments?? Send me MAIL HERE!

28/02/2010

Last night we parked the RV not far from Brighton ski resort. Seth arrived while we were all still asleep but Ryan and I got up fast and went on a breakfast mission to Einstein Bagels. When we got back Will Jackways had just been dropped off and was hiked down the road towards us with all his stuff. We all got ready and piled into Seth truck. We ended up having an awesome day with only one lift ride. We hiked a fair bit and found some fun little features. That evening we got a cab into town to go and watch Kandi Coded and ASG play.


Will Jackways, hiking to catch the RV tour.


Will-J over the stump


Gigi off on a solo mission


Dylan ready to shred


Truck full of clowns


Jason from ASG


Seth, Pat Moore, Ryan and Gigi watching the show

24/02/2010

Today was the Long Haul. We spent 9 hours in the RV driving from Vail to Salt Lake City. I spent a fair bit of the drive catching up on editing my shots from the last days. The others were either sleeping or watching TV all day. Once we got to Utah we drove straight up to Brighton ski resort. They have night riding till 9pm and Seth Huot grew up riding this place. He was amped to show us around. It was damn cold up there but we all had a ball ripping pow on the edge of the runs and generally jackassing around.


Jake and Dylan going in for a quick Kum&Go.


Gassing up


Laughing it up in the RV


Shaun kindly stopped at a camera store so I could try and fix my flash woes.


Gigi and Seth


Seth spinning off the cat-track


Scott Stevens one-footing the mini gap by the lift.

Another early wake up and it was off to Beaver Creek. I have never ridden in any of these Colorado resorts so I was amped to check some of them out. We met up with a few locals who showed us some of the log jibs that BC is famous for. We had a ball doing a few laps then slowed down and concentrated on getting a couple of shots done. I got a few that I'm really happy with, my season has finally kicked off! We got kicked off the hill at about 5pm by ski patrol and headed back to the RV. A short drive later and we were in Vail. Jamie Lynn's band Kandi Coded and ASG had a gig that night so we all turned up there at about 9.30. A crazy mosh pit developed when ASG came on and Gigi was ruling it. He got thrown out 3 times but survived till the end.


Cottonwoods


BC local Wookie, showed us the secrets and we ended up having a pretty fun session on this up-down log.


Benny, another local was charging all day. Thanks dude.


Having the RV waiting in the parking lot is real nice. We just get in, park up on the couch and Slater drives us to the next destination.


Slaters view. He drives this rig up and down the country to surf, skate and snow events all year. Mucho miles.


Jamie Lynn is a freak on nature, able to morph himself anywhere on the stage.


Just add Jager.

We all got up early and dragged our stuff down to the parking lot where the Volcom RV was parked. Its an awesome machine with beds for 7, tv's in each bed compartment, wireless internet and a beer tap. Sean Slater is the captain of this ship and drives us where we need to go. We headed off to Breckenridge to try and find something to shoot. With us in the crew are riders, Seth Huot, Gigi Ruff, Scott Stevens, Ryan Alito, filmers Jake Price and Neil Goss and Volcom TM/Photog Ryan Boyes. We found this concrete box thing to jib and it worked out ok. When I went to set up my flash I found out pretty fast that it had been smashed by some f#&king a-hole airport dude. So I tried to change it up and shoot motion blur shots. Anyway, it was good to get this trip of to a start.


The Volcom RV


Setting up the Concrete box.


Dylan Alito is a young riper from Breckenridge. Its his first big Volcom trip.


Scott Stevens Knew of this double rail so we went and checked it out. The people in the house next tot he rail were super cool and let me shoot from their balcony. Scott had a real scary bail on the first attempt but had another go and nailed it

The SIA is USA's version of ISPO in Munich. The last few years its been held in Las Vegas, now its in Denver. It was interesting for a couple of hours to check everything out and catch up with the odd person I knew. That evening was the Transworld Snowboarding Rider awards. John Jackson and Annie Boulanger both won best rider and best video part. After that was done we piled in a bus and went to a Pirates art show. It was in this sketchy cool old bar with Burlesque dancers, which is really just a cool name for Fat Strippers. They were super funny to watch and it was a good break from the normal HipHop after parties. The art show was in the celler, pretty mellow with some beers and good stories.


Volcom booth was noisy and messy as usual.


Another shot out of my 30th floor window.


The Fillmore, Rider awards venue.


Bjorn Hartweger was pretty stoked on this act.


Gigi, Basti and Scott Stevens chewing the fat


Snapshot of a busy floor.

So I bit the bullet and decided that I'd waited long enough for good conditions in Europe. Today I got up early and Eve took me to Zurich airport. Of course, it was snowing! Anyway, after a quick de-ice we were off. I'm spending about 3 weeks in the US starting off with a couple of days at the SIA trade show in Denver.


De-icing action




Newark airport. All US airports suck but this one is for sure one of the most frustrating. 3 hours of standing in lines after a 9 hour flight is not to cool. When there is 1000+ people waiting why is there still only 4 people checking passports?


Automatic train out to the oversea's terminal in Zurich


Made it! Hyatt in downtown Denver. Sleep time now.

04/02/2010

Any resemblance? Nah, can't see it. This is Theodore Deck, a distant relation of mine. One of my cousins in NZ researched the family tree and got as far back as this guy. Theodore grew up in a small town called Guebwiller, which is in the Alsace region of France, very close to the Swiss boarder. He was a very important 19th century Ceramic artist, coming up with new techniques, glazes, colors etc. Bleu de deck is still recognized today. In Guebwiller there is a Museum called Musee du Florival. Two floors are dedicated to his work. It was interesting to go down there and check it all out. He was a big guy in this little town, there is a Deck school, Deck hotel, Deck street, Deck sports ground, I felt like I owned the place. haha. I wonder what made members of his family want to travel all the way around the earth to settle in NZ?




Bleu de Deck. Thats his color and he used it a LOT!


You see!

02/02/2010

On Saturday we were up in Grindelwald for the Swiss round of the Volcom Peanut Butter and Rail Jam. It was all blue skies and warm , which meant the kids were hucking themselves all over the place. Billy and his Gang had set up a sweet course with pretty friendly rails. There was a tent with a bbq, drinks and peanut butter sandwiches that Jeff was taking care of, a bunch of picnic tables set up and a good mix of music cracking out over the course. The girls impressed me with their skills. There were 3-4 that really had good style and went for tech tricks. It was an awesome day and I'm sure that the 80 or so kids had fun and all went home with some good memeroies and some goodies in their backpacks.

A big thanks to the shaper crew and Volcom.ch for the fun day.



Two lovely cowgirls tally up the scores.


Winding up for a big 450 off


Sick style from the eventual winner.


Billy the Kid.


Prize-giving at sunset