Alex O'Brien Photography

After leaving CO I headed back to a snowstorm in UT with the idea of sticking around for a few weeks.
That idea lasted a few hours before I threw my bags and snowmobile into Peps truck and we headed off to California to meet the Nimbus Independent film crew. We spent a week building jumps and hitting natural features in one of my favorite sled zones. Working with this crew is always fun and this was a much better option than going to the Xgames which is where I usually am this week. I think I like watching it on TV better although the ski big air event must have been crazy in real life. We went sledding near an active military base and while we were out there 2000 members of the army were training for Afghanistan. I hope they all make it back safe.

If you ever stay at the Topaz Lodge on the weekend do yourself a favor and stay away from the seafood buffet
Erin and Eric Pollard. This was Eric’s reaction to Bobby Browns tricks in the big air.

A for effort on this one Pollard.

I took a trip to Vail to shoot Seth for a few days at his home mountain.
The snow conditions were not great and the avalanche danger was pretty high so we had a few limiting factors but Seth is a true pro and can always get something done if it needs to happen.
Seth still skis pretty much everyday in Colorado when he is not on some dream trip. Even after all these years in the game this guy still has the passion.

I went out with 4bi9 for the first time the other night. We went to a rail I had shot 4-5 years earlier with Pep Fujas. These dudes are so good its crazy. I have a feeling their video is going to be a pretty big hit next fall.

Tanners had a few meetings with the tattoo gun lately.

This house is right down the street from where I live. I looked out the window and saw ashes coming down like it was a snowstorm.

I dragged Pep out to the Spiral Jetty with me to check out this spot and take a few portraits.  Its an interesting place that I would have never gone to if someone hadnt decided to put an art piece in the middle of nowhere.  The salt sounds and feels just like snow on a really cold day which is a strange to experience when its 90 degrees out.  Its the closest thing I can imagine to the Ice 9 plague in the Kurt Vonnegut book Sirens of Titan. For some reason there are lots of dead pelicans scattered around this place.  There is also oil coming out of the ground which I have never seen anywhere else. Pep took most of these photos

I heard about Shanes death while I was in Norway. I somehow could not believe it even though I knew it was true as soon as I heard the news. I missed his memorial service by one day but I heard some of the stories JT told and they made me laugh which seemed fitting.
I only knew Shane for a few years but he was one of those people that could get along with pretty much anyone. The last time I saw him was a few months ago. I stayed with his family and we did a few sunrise tours around Tahoe with Kip Garre. At the end of our first tour Shane opened his backpack and realized that he had hiked up and skied down with an extra set of trekkers in his pack. Kip and I were laughing at him for doing the whole hike with all that extra weight when I opened up my camera bag and realized I had just done the whole day with my laptop in there. That will be the closest I’ll ever come to one upping Shane at anything.
Shanes stories still make me laugh out loud when I think of them. Most of the time they ended up being so funny because they made him look kind of bad in the end. He was one of the rare people who truly understood that if you cant laugh at yourself you probably aren’t very funny.

After 2 weeks in Scandinavia, the JOSS photo/video contest is finally over. When the dust had settled our team scored last place from the judges but won the peoples choice award. I think it was the perfect result for us. We were psyched that the crowd liked our video so much and I think we were all happy with what we produced. For me a trip is only as good as the people you travel with. This one introduced me to a lot of people who I now consider friends and allowed me to get to know some old friends a little better.
Here is a slideshow with some of the photos. Please pardon the awful music, its a long story.
Joss slideshow
Team USA Video

Took a quick trip to Tahoe.
They didnt have any snow but I went for a hike with Shane and Kip and had a good time anyway.