Andrew Burns

Well for my next installment I've decided to feature a shot of Andrew Burns from a couple winters ago.  This shot is in Rutherford, my 2nd favourite zone around Whistler.  I can't explain exactly why I like it so much but its mainly because of it's pure size and vastness.  You can go well over a 100 miles in one direction.  Everything is so deceiving.  Small rocks from a distance end up being good 60ft drops and when you think you're near one side there's still another mile to go.

This day was my first day shooting with Kevin Sansalone's Sandbox.  I had never met any of the riders before but ended up shooting with Andrew, Rube Goldberg and Max Ritchie.  New crews are always fun as you end up meeting new people and usually good friends.

Andrew picked out this line that looked pretty mellow.  More of a warm up for the rest of the day.  It had some nice pow turns above, a decent drop, and then a couple more turns below it.  As Andrew was coming off the cliff his sluff had caught up with him and as he was launching off the cliff the new storm snow around the take off all slid off to make this beautiful waterfall.  The picture is possibly deceiving in that it might look like a serious avalanche but fortunately just a small sluff that made for a great photo.

Good day!

-kirby

follow my footsteps

Well today I decided to commence “the story behind the shot” or maybe a more creative “follow in my footsteps”.

The first shot I’m going to feature is coincidentally also my first shot ever published in a snowboard publication. The image is Justin Baun shot at Kicking Horse Resort in Golden BC. Dano Pendygrasse picked this image up while he was running the photo department at the now defunct Future Snowboarding. Dano was a good photo ed in my opinion, mainly because he ran the type of images that I had liked to shoot. Win win for both parties.

This particular photo was shot in a zone dubbed the backside of “O-zone”. If you take the “my blue heaven” chair up and hike across the ridge, this is the face you end up dropping into. It is very crazy terrain unless you know where you’re going. Luckily Justin grew up here and knew most of the knooks and crannies of every line.

I really like this shot for a couple reasons. First, the action is good, really good actually. Second, I love just how the sliver of light is hitting that little nub. If this were in full soon, I highly doubt it would look as dramatic. The final reason I like this shot is the angle. I love pow shows where it gives the sense that you’re about to drop into the line as well.

That concludes the first “follow in my footsteps”. Stay classy!

website/broken ankle

Well a lot is new since my last post.  The new site is up www.jonkirby.com  happy with that for now, who know's might change my mind later!  

Had a pretty eventful December/January.  Headed to kamloops for some grinding

 then calgary, and then took the long way home going through idaho.  

Went to vegas to "network", won some money.  

Came home and slipped on some ice in my driveway and prematurely ended winter.  

So the next 3 months I'll attempt to fight off cabin fever for as long as possible!

Maybe start a new "the story behind the shot" post.  Something to divert my attention from Xbox, daytime tv and how bad I smell