Nike Media Apprentice

It's been a while since I've updated this blog due to the growing use of Facebook. But seeing as I have just entered the Nike Media Apprentice competition I thought I would also add my chosen pictures here.

J'aime Paris

OK so Paris is meant to be the city of love right? Well I wouldn't got that far but we did have a nice time when Emma and I travelled down in May to catch up with my Mexican friends Agueda and Daniel on their whistle-stop European tour.

Naturally I snapped the Eiffel Tower:

But we soon got bored of that and made some comedy photos instead:

And at night time the VR on my lens gave some nice steady shots without my tripod:

But it's not only the tower there. Here's the Arc de Triomphe:

I can't decide which of the two photos below I like the most. Shame I can't combine the blurred traffic with us sharp in the 2nd photo to make the best photo.

Looks like I found another Church my mum would love - the Sacre Coeur:

There's quite a few step to tackle mind:

Where's Wally (Emma) in the photo below:

But the views at the top are worth it:

A few more Paris photos here or in slideshow format here

I've been trying to get all my photos out the way ready for our Whistler trip just in case we actually have time to stop on holiday and take photos - no promises though!

Keukenhof Sunshine Weekend

Back in April, Emma's friends popped over for their annual Sunshine weekend and they certainly got lucky with the sun. We visited the famous Keukenhof flower park which is apparently the most photographed place in the world. Judging by the number of photos I took, I can see why!

The problem is that once you've taken one photo of a tulip...

...then the rest look all the same!

But I tried some blurred variations like below:

Plus a bit of B/W photoshopping:

But I soon was over-flowered and started looking for people inspiration and there's hundreds of them there like below:

My mum would've loved it just like these below. Scorching hot weather and still in rain coats - just in case!

The girls enjoyed their time:

And I even found time to mess about with Emma:

There was some map confusion below:

But we eventually found the worlds largest (plastic) tulip:

I've picked a few of my favourite photos below but there's plenty more on my Flickr account here or in slideshow format here

naked photo

I have several photos and stories waiting in the sidelines to add to this blog, Kate/Jenny sunshine weekend, Paris trip, my brother visiting, Nicks stag do - the list is endless.

But the sun has been out for a while now and I've been enjoying my time away from t'internet.

However, this photo must leap the pack and make it on here by priority. It's the naked shots of my new baby:

Much love to Smith who has been going through the pain of ordering all the other parts I need and arranging the build. Plus Emma who has put up with my countless hours researching the parts I want.

5 weeks and counting...

Are two planks better than one?

This winter was always going to be tough to repeat last years snowboarding efforts but I still managed a good couple of trips. 1st up was my yearly pilgrimage to catch up with Mr C and his entourage in Lech, Austria.

After a dry period we got lucky with some fresh snow during our stay. I'm sure it was only enough to prevent me from driving up the hill yet not substantial to host some epic deep turns. Never the less we had good fun and it was nice to also see Eva who I met in Whistler last year.

So with the lads warm up trip out the way it was time to get away with Emma and fellow Amsterdammers for a week on the edge of the Les Arcs resort in a place called Peisey Vallandry. We stayed in a very spacious chalet a little down the slopes and arrived to find no snow!

One morning I was up early enough to catch the sun coming up over the mountains where I took the following photos.

In particular, the photo below is one of the best I think I have ever taken most of which is right time right place.

But as the week progress we had 15cm one night that was enough to entertain me on the snowboard until the majority was tracked out. Can't complain at the rest of the weather though as it was glorious sunshine. Which leads me to the questions as the title of this post - are two planks better than one?

Emma ski's, so I took it on myself to also give it a go. When the suns out and the pistes are fast hard packed, I'll have to say the ski's are much more fun. I've have no style or technique but it's not too difficult to get some serious speed whilst remaining on the edge of control.

I was soon leading Emma on some off piste adventures and hitting some natural gullys and the odd jump here and there.

We made it to the top of the resort at over 3000m one day and the views were stunning.

It wasn't till the end of the holiday that we went further afield and found the larger park. Shame really cos the red jumps looked perfect and really well maintained. Even the greens were sizable and I would've been comfortable trying rotations on them. I was on the ski's that day so thought I'd see how hard it could be? No daffys or helicopters from me but I nailed the green line of 4 kickers a total of 3 times with no stacks. We'll have to work on Emma's videography for future trips though ;-)

Now before my friends all rip me, I'll be the first to admit that I will never get the same feeling on ski's that I have experienced many a time on a snowboard. That freedom of expression through line choice would be I doubt I'll ever achieve on ski's. In the best snow conditions I am just not willing to put the time in on ski's - give me a board any day :-)

But it's just good fun to learn something new. Probably the same reasons why I bought that BMX a while ago that is still in someone's shed in Nottingham? So when I'm an old man and body parts don't work as well as they used to, I can see that I'll be skiing just like I can imagine I'll be golfing. Here's hoping I don't kill myself on a snowboard first!

All my photos can be viewed here or in slideshow format here