I don’t know which one I like more.

Both photos are of ms. Olivia Arden and shot on a Canon EOS 1D Mark III with Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM lens under ambient light.

See the image on flickr by clicking on the photo above.

Stoner is hands down the best dirt bike rider I know. He has won countless races throughout the US and has even been to Travis Pastrana’s house to ride before. Last year he won a large race in PA and this year the event organizers wanted to sell t-shirts with images of the winners riders on them. Jerod phoned me up about shooting him for the shirt and we set up a date.

At his house he has a few tracks and after looking around them we selected this turn for our shoot. I used my Elinchrom Ranger RX with A-Head along with two Sunpak 555s fired via PocketWizard Plus IIs to light the image. It was shot on the Canon EOS-1D Mark III with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM lens. My exposer was 1/250th at f/5.0. It was critical for Jerod to hammer his turn at the same spot each run because of my low DOF. Below is a another image of Jerod along with one photo of his buddy on a different turn.

-Jerod Stoner

-Sean Doran

-Meet up at Sandwich Man for a hoggie and beer

-Good artwork all around the shop

-Dan the drummer

-Joe the Bassist

-Marty the Vocals

-Mark the Guitarist

-Went back to the bar and they started to play

-Mark and Joe

-Marty standing out

-Dan can play well while posing it up for the camera

-Joe sang a Green Day song

-The crowd got involved

-Mark looking like a shark

-Group shot to end out the night

I had a great time the whole night, the band was really nice, and it was fun to shoot something different. The whole night was shot at 3200 ISO with a shutter speed of between 1/30th to 1/60th at f/2.8. These are settings my camera never sees. Speaking of cameras I shot that night with the Canon EOS-1D Mark III and used the Canon Fisheye EF 15mm f/2.8 and the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. I loved being able to shoot at f/2.8 in the low light with the added benefit of separating my subjects from the sometimes crazy background. In this case I think the gear would make or break a shoot. It would have been nice to edit the images in LR 3 to get rid of all of the noise from shooting at a high ISO, but I think LR 2.7 did a fair job.

Shot at 1/500th at f/4.0 ISO 100 with Canon EOS-1D Mark III & EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM.

Every year I like to make it up to Big Boulder Ski Resort in Blakeslee Pennsylvania to shoot their park for the various magazine’s resort guide issues. Big Boulder is host to a park that has been in the Transworld Top 5 East Coast Park for the last 3+ years.

-Matt Bothfeld

Always down to get the best photography Big Boulder set me up with a closed park and access to it’s team of riders. It’s always a great time hanging out with some of my PA buddies and shooting photos. We has a session on their three jump line for most of the day before moving down to the plaza to shoot the rails. Dom Luza started off the rail riding with a quick switch backside boardslide on the DFD.

-Dom Luza switch backside boardslide

The day ended with a long session in the plaza on the down barrel rail. Trip Brown and Matt Roberge were there with video cameras so Bobby, Kyle, and Dom laid on the big business. After about 100 different tricks were done, everyone called it quits and headed into town for a bit of pizza before going our separate ways.

-Kyle Luza switch nosepress late at night

For the trip we were about to take on day 2, we sure did not wake up early enough. Mike, Justin and myself were late to bed seeing the night before was New Years and consequently we were late to rise. Once we did get ourselves up, it was for a quick breakfast before we piled into the jeep and hit the icy road. The destination of our drive I am still not allowed to speak of, but it is a local spot that has graced the cover of Easter Edge.

-Justin in the morning

We were hiking in from a new location that Pat said would shave about an hour off the hike and avoid the mean attack of a junkyard dog. The snow was about a foot deep and the hike was long but after two and half hours we arrived at the summit. I dug a quick pit to test the stability of the snow while Mike cut off some of the cornice and sent large amount of sluff down the slope. Last time I was here we had an avalanche so we played it on the safe side and avoided our original slope for one with a more mellow angle.

See you at the bottom

Pat went first, but we each took a ride down to the bottom. It was a steep and fun ride. Once at the bottom I set up my camera while the guys took a hike back to the top. This was Mikes first time riding deep powder and he did very well. Hooked on the pow, he hiked more then anyone and bagged a bunch of shots. Unfortunately our late morning was catching up to us as bad weather and the evening started approaching. We knew it was a long hike out so we ended the session early and started out. Arriving at the jeep in total darkness we each shared a beer and headed back to Pat’s house.

-Mikey B Natural Pow Rider

I had secured us passes to Stowe Mountain Resort and we spent the next two whole days riding on and off the resort on the Mount Mansfeild side. With lift access and fresh powder up to waist deep in some spots, these two days were probably the highlight of the trip. Pat’s guiding knowledge really shines at Stowe and he lead us to all the goods. Each line was untracked and he knew where all the cliffs, drops, gaps, and exits were.

-Mike Bennett in the Stowe Gondola

Eager to get some lines for myself and seeing I was at my favorite mountain on the east I road the whole first day without a camera. The second day we got to work and everyone snagged good photos on each run.

-Justin Mullen blast off a cliff in a cloud of powder

-Pat Walsh demonstrates how it’s done

-Justin leans back into a heel side

Justin, Mike, and myself were sad to leave but Mike had to get back to work and Justin and myself had to get ready for Tahoe. Stowe will always remain as one of my favorite mountain in the east coast. If you have the chance to go there you should take advantage of it. With early seasons that always have the pow its a great place to visit over that christmas break/new years break. A huge thanks to Pat. Without him this trip would not have been possible. Leave me a message if you would like to get Pat’s email for guiding trips with your own group.

L-R Pat Walsh, Justin Mullen, Mike Bennett

Don’t forget part one.
http://www.benbirk.com/blog/2010/07/09/winter-in-summer-stowe-vt/.

Justin recorded video and made an edit from the trip.
http://www.benbirk.com/blog/2010/01/05/stowe-vermont/