Merry Christmas and more

Snowy Owl

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, as well birthdays to Crazy Steve, Chitaroni and other people probably. Snapped a few photos of Kyle and Steve over the Holidays while observing at Taz. But let's get to the goods, what I am really excited about.

While my goods friends were visiting, I stumbled across a snowy owl landing on my garage right in front of me. I snuck into the house and even removed my keys and change so I could be stealthy with the camera. He was gone when I returned 10 seconds later though. Fast forward to Christmas day - while driving on the highway, I see him (or well, another owl at least) perched in a tree but I don't have the camera. Of course. Then yesterday while on the way back from my sister's on the backroads I spot him with Brenna perched on a fence post near the road. I have the camera but the sun has just set. I snap a photo that would have been worthy had I not found him today. So today I returned to the fence post area to see if he is around. I don't see him, but I see a large dark animal feeding on a carcass in the same field. It's far away and figure it might be a fox or a coyote picking up scraps. I ignore it and turn back, but as I pass the "animal" a second time I notice a distinct white head. I have sharp eyes, but they are not what they used to be. I can't tell what it is, my gut says bald eagle but my brain says no way not out here. I use the camera zoomed to the max and shoot a photo, then I zoom in on that blurred subject. Sure enough it is a massive bald eagle feeding on what appears to be a downed vulture, raven, or maybe a game bird. The photos of the eagle are cropped and attempted to be sharpened a bit. Thank goodness for my versatile 18-270 tamron lens! Excellent walk-around lens for stuff like this. A Raven actually comes in to feed and shoes the eagle away. I spot him flying away, snap a few photos in the distance and then race in my car to catch upto him. As soon as I got closer I snapped a few more, but his path of flight was where no car can go and all I could do was watch him fly away in awe. This is the third bald eagle I have seen (Florida and Pennsylvania) but I don't think I was happier for the others than this sighting. Right in my backyard! I had to hit crappy tire, so I made sure to take the long route along the highway since I was doing well for bird spotting. I knew I would likely see a hawk or two, and maybe the owl. Well sure enough I found the snowy owl. I had to exit further and turn back in the opposite direction. I snapped a few and scared him off in the wrong direction. So yes, I reversed down the 417 and got closer for some even better shots! And you know what? What I bought at crappy tire was on sale too! Wow what a day. Make sure to check out the birds down below. It's pretty well known I love animals. But I just really get into these predatory animals, there is something so neat about them. They really are at the top of their food chain it seems and it's really exciting to see these rare (to me at least) animals doing well in the area.

Have a safe New Year.

Big Nickel Trip 2013

Josh gainers unknown water off a train bridge in Sturgeon falls. We estimated this jump at about 48-50ft. He did the gainer first jump. Then did it again perfectly as well. Then he called it there like a wise man. Don't think you're cool by saying it's not that high. A: you can't even see how much more he drops into the water. B: he did it first jump, INTO UNKNOWN water. C: the friggin' guy jumped off a beam, sideways, no running start, just standing balancing on a beam. D: Josh is the shit

It's important to me to make it down to Sudbury at least once a year. I have good friends there that do lots of driving to hang out on my account. Last year I failed, I didn't even make it once. I was able to break the slump. I didn't ride as much as the maniacs pictured below, but I felt good and had a blast hanging out and laughing. And yah, this post can only start with the best move of the trip. Josh is nuts. Oh and that is Rich Red photoshop job above there there. I opened all the photos I wanted to make a sequence of in some foolish paint program for 4yr olds and cut and past Josh into the relative area he should be, overlap and all. All shot on the T3i with Tamron 18-270mm which has been acting up. I also broke my fisheye trying to film Kyle. But I just got a new 50mm lens to sorta make up for that. It's my third one after smashing one in Spain and having one stolen in Gatineau. Enjoy.

2012 end of summer mix edit

2012 end of summer mix from Dirty Lens Productions on Vimeo.

I had a fun summer doing all sorts of things. Here is a video simply smashed together since I had too many random clips and not enough to do proper individual edits. Cherish the warm sunny days, they won't last long now!

Make sure you click the vimeo link and go my page and watch in HD. It won't be amazing quality because I don't have vimeo plus, so I had to squish a big vid to fit a small margin...

Enjoy!

2012 Tdot Embassy Spring Trip

I finally got my edit up on my own vimeo player. Enjoy this quickly in HD when you click on the vimeo link. I feel like I haven't ridden all year, then I watch this and realize I didn't too badly for my schedule. Although, I neeed to ride more. New end of summer edit coming as we speak. Enjoy.

over cooked and over due

Kyle Lafleur generously got me Iron Maiden tickets in Toronto for my bday. In all my years of listening to metal, I never really liked Maiden. They were awesome live. As good or better than any show I have seen. Great sound and superior stage presence. Here the stage is lit with flames. Next bunch of photos are randoms of my iPhone.

 Holy hell. One word to describe summer; BUSY. A second word? Fun.

Sorry for the lack of updates. It's just been so insane that finding half an hour to do this has been tough. But that is good, that means I haven't been on a computer all summer. Great news. Enjoy the pics. More to come in the next few weeks, as well as summer mashup video edit. Another great summer in the books!

road trip: Toronto

Chris Silva walltaps a really neat DIY mini near some train tracks

I packed up and went solo all the way to Toronto to see Prashant, Leland, and Pat at their new place together. I hadn't seen the guys in far too long, and Pat/Lelo were about to embark on a cycling trip across Canada. I rode Gananoque, Napanee, and Trenton parks on the way up and had a great time by myself, which is rare. My Civic passed 375k on the body and then I parked it for thew weekend which was a nice change. Luckily I didn't get ticketed, towed, or robbed since my car no longer locks. These guys live in a super interesting industrialized building that is basically a bunch of studios rented out for living situations to all sorts of weirdos that you come to expect. Mostly hipsters. Prashant did not like how I threw that word around, but it's true. The guys live in an ex-dominatrix porn studio. The place is really neat, the history of it makes sense with some of the styling. You would just have to be there to understand. Toronto was alive and the weather was good. We were able to bike everywhere. I rode a bunch of spots I have never even seen before and really enjoyed myself riding street and cruising around. I actually slept ok and ate relatively well. That is a big change because bmx trips for me are normally less sleep than I want and snacks all day, then lots of pain and more drinking. It helped out because I don't normally ride 3 days in a row anymore, but my body help up ok. Kyle came down solo as well from Sudbury and stayed at his sister's. He made several appearances and shredded as usual. I got a lot of filming done over the course of the weekend and it turns out I am doing a web edit for Embassy of the trip. It's almost done and much, much longer than I anticipated. But it if wasn't drawn out, then it wouldn't be my edit. Come back soon for more.

Best of luck on the trip guys and thanks for the hospitality!

my 30th bday and more

Rich's 30th b-day weekend edit from Rich Red on Vimeo.

First off, don't dare watch the above video on here in shit definition. Use it to go into my page or click the top right link to get to my vimeo page. So many things have happened and I am still stuck without the T3i. iPhone photos will have to suffice. Not the nicest, but it is handy on the go. I did buy a new camcorder, the Panasonic AG-HMC40. I couldn't resist any longer. The restrictions of a DSLR for filming were driving me nuts. It even came with a good fisheye so I am back in business. You will see how Kyle just about smashes together a full edit in no time at all. We rode for one single afternoon. That's it. Crazy. Ben Kaufmann and the Craz-E-Crew also made it to the Canada's Got Talent semi finals. They did a show live on television and it was awesome. They didn't end up going any further because Canadians somehow how prefer dudes doing opera covers and guys in spandex looking a fool. The judges made it obvious they were the best though. Good job! Just a reminder that I have the best girlfriend and friends. Everyone came to together and made my 30th birthday a real special one I won't forget. Thanks to everyone for everything! Here's to many more good years!!!

almost pool season?

I won't say no to a good pool session. But facts are facts, and pretty much nobody is going pool hunting without Jeff. Jeff ain't here. That means I ain't riding pools this year. Here is a quick look of some of the guys "shralping pools" as it was commonly referred to a few years back. That was a great year. Thanks to everyone's kean eye and Jeff's motivation. I realize that last part is an oxymoron.

Jeff shreds, excuse me, shralps the meadowlands pool. When full of water this was a frequent illegal swim hole as well with a really fun diving board and safely deep section

2011 Sudbury trip photos

Here is a small gathering of photos from 2 different trips. We mostly go to Sudbury to ride the amazing trails with our hard working friends there. Sudbury is a fun place to ride. The park is good, the street is great, and the trails are just amazing. I am very lucky to have such hard working and generous friends. Make sure you are welcome showing up riding someone else's trails. It's not a skatepark and it's not yours. Be kind.

Jorden lays a flattie over Kyle as he berms by