A Bunch of Photos I Never Thought You’d See

Words & Photos by Mike Jones

As a creator of anything considered artistic, we are continually subject to criticism, constructive or otherwise. The worst, or perhaps the most common (at least for some of us) is simple rejection. It's a natural part of the process. Depending on how seriously we take our craft, we put our confidence, ego, and emotional stability on the line every time we submit our work for consideration. Many times, our results of countless hours of blood sweat and tears are left on the cutting room floor, as it were, for reasons numerous and broad in nature. In some cases, one is left with an ever-swelling collection of work which they deem worthy of public display. In some rare cases, one is afforded an outlet by which to satisfy this yearning. This is just such in instance.

The title image is of my friend David Craig, doing what he does best. I enjoy sledding and shooting Dave, we always seem to make good use of down-time waiting for light or whatever.

 

Here is Dave getting some muchly-deserved soul turns. The first instant every time I look at this picture I get a hint of that feeling of throwing pow like this. That's a good feeling.

 

 

This is Lucas Ouellette on a ledge in Vancouver. Night was coming quickly and it was snowing. We looked around for some snow to pile up in case he came off on the tall side, but what you see there is mostly blocks of ice. Lucas is now a father. That's the relevant, but now you know.

 

 

This is Jake Fine on a bunker in Peterborough, Ontario. I grew up in P-Town. Jake is a left-handed, colour-blind, ginger jew. You might imagine Jake takes some flack, but always in good fun, which is what Jake is all about. I don't know who "JP" is.

 

 

Rider: Unknown. Event: Grenade Games. Style: Fantastic. This wasn't shot on black and white film, I desaturated electronically on my computer. I don't like shooting contests, there's always plenty of lurkers and banners and garbage in the background.

 

 

Andrew Burns pushing some snow around amid colourful skies and moody valleys. Burns gets at it hard, and understands the business of making a living riding a snowboard. Check out his Shipwrecked webseries.

 

 

Adam Chuntz, 33MAG interview veteran and happy-times connoisseur. Being around Chuntz always feels good. I don't know if he's ever stopped smiling. Coldsmoke tracers on Rainbow Mountain.

 

 

Jay Gretzinger roadgap in the Pemberton back country. He's going way big and way downside-up. Jay recently moved to Nelson, and even more recently built me a splitboard! This was a terribly-cold day, and for some reason photographers always get left sitting in a hole in the shade…

 

 

Here's a bootpack. It's not always a kush ride back up on a sled. Gord Emery is no stranger to earning it.

 

 

And sometimes it's an extremely comfy ride! This is making this happen in style. What you don't see is the stress of watching dollars burn with ever turn of the rotors, and the pressure of having to stomp and double-cork right here, right now. Luckily Craig Mcmorris is that kinda guy, and John Swystun caught it for the first annual Intersection film contest.

 

 

This was a neat situation. Geoff Brown had to ride across a busy street to back-270 onto the pink rail in PG. The cops showed up, recognized that we actually had a relatively safe set-up happening, and let us get the shot.

 

 

 

 

What more can be said about Craig Bowl-u that hasn't been already? Well, maybe that he's really a super-great friendly guy! Sorry Craiger! Double-corker in front of the Whistler trailmap.

 

 

This sunset went from blue sky to stark black in a matter of a couple minutes. The guys scrambled to get precious few hits in while the colours were firing. Luckily Nick Roy got a back lip in right in the middle of it.

 

 

Jay put in the work to summit this peak in the Tenquille zone. He ripped his line and cruised out casual.

 

 

The end of a great day, everyone just hangin out enjoying the sunset before the long, bumpy ride home. Gord Emery tells me he wants to jump off the cornice. I laughingly suggest, "bet you can't tamedog it!" Gord tamedogs it, bolts, first-T. What a way to end a session.

 

So this has been a small selection, some of my favourites from some favourite moments with some favourite friends. Believe me there's a lot more where that came from, and every photographer you know has a collection of their own.