Pacific Forest Rally 2008 Highlights

Philippines 2008. The Ati.

Philippines.

From July 15th - August 5th I participated in an Anthropologic study through Thompson Rivers University of several Ati communities on the islands of Guimaras, Panay, and Boracay in the Philippines. Below I have posted a few sample images of my favorite shots from this trip. If you wish to see a more detailed gallery, send me an email at asnucins@gmail.com

I am finding it extremely difficult to write down my feelings about the trip, which has been life changing in many ways. I have found myself humbled beyond all expectation by the kindness and respect given without any thought of reciprocity by the Filipino and Ati peoples. The friendships I made with my host families in the villages I stayed in, as well as the new friends I made among the group of students that I was with have left fond memories that I will cherish forever. I admit to a feeling of sadness that I am not able to see many of these people again for some time. Drew St. Laurent and I, upon arriving in Canada, though seperately, quickly met up for lunch to reminisce and talk about our shared experiences on the trip. Arigato Sushi bar, delicious.

So again, below are a select few photos that I really enjoyed from the trip, and as they say in Tagalog. A very special "Salamat!" (Thank you) to Brad Brasseur, Drew St. Laurent, Alizee Bilbey, Shannon Strudwick, Ryan Pelley, Heather Swoboda, Justine Turner, Ashnola Lincoln, Chantal MacDonald and everyone else that made this trip what it was.

- Andrew Snucins
"BBSnuggles"

Baie-des-Chaleurs 2008. New Richmond, Quebec.

I was fortunate enough this year to attend the BDC Rally in New Richmond, Quebec. Where I met some amazing racers, organizers and spectators, and captured my favorite rally images to date. I have posted some of them below.

The event was action packed, exciting, and one of my most enjoyable trips to date. Quebec and New Brunswick were beautiful, but the drive and lack of sleep proved to be a problem, I was very tired by the time I stepped on the plane in Moncton.

Of course, the images below are just a few out of the hundreds of great shots I got from this event, you can view the entire gallery (and all my Rally galleries) at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrsmedia/























What a great time! Cant wait to go back to Quebec for more events. Maybe Defi!?

Mountain Trials 2008.

Mountain Trials 2008

Mountain Trials in Merritt turned out to have its own challenges weather wise in comparison to RMR. I think my camera has more dust in it than electronics.

However this rally worked out phenomenally thanks to the crew at http://www.flatovercrest.com allowing me to wander around with them and pick up tips. Special thanks to Dave Harvey (www.daveharvey.ca) and Jason Teale (www.jasonteale.com). Both of them were extremely patient with my endless line of questioning, and are both exceptional photographers.

Below I've posted some of my favorite photos from the shoot. However there are so many more than worked out pretty nicely that I just don't have room to post them.

What a great event!!!! Cant wait for the next one....and the one after that....and the dozen or so after that!








































Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all the volunteers for making it such a great event!

Rocky Mountain Rally 2008.

From May 22nd to 25th 2008 I was fortunate enough to attend the Rocky Mountain Rally based out of Calgary, Alberta. Prior action photographic experience includes Big Wall-Rock Climbing, Bouldering, Downhill Mountain biking, and various disciplines of White Water Kayaking.



Over these three days I was introduced to the photographic challenges of Rally Sport with the addition of torrential rain – hail – sleet – mud – vicious elk and the occasional flying rock.

For this event I used a Canon Rebel EOS XTi with a Tamron 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 lens.



A picture of me at the rally taken by my video camera wielding associate Travis. I believe most people that may not remember my name remember the distinctive color of my gore hardshell (very thankful for, the rain never stopped)

From a photographic standpoint the challenges of shooting objects moving at this velocity and setting included

1) Modification of desired shot style (motion blur, controlled freeze, aerial)
2) Light variance and focal length between car colors, distance and speed.
3) Rain. Solved by purchasing umbrellas from the local Wal-Mart. Alberta’s no PST was appreciated.



The rally set out on the initial stages in Kananaskis ,Alberta, where shots were taken from a vantage point roughly 1.5 vertical meters above the course on a slight curve. The hope was to capture shots of the cars drifting slightly as they accelerated into the corner. Like any action photography, these shots required very careful pre-planning of position, and for future Rally events, additional time will be spent reviewing topographic data to determine the prime locations for shooting.



It should be noted that the Rally event organizers did a magnificent job of providing marked spectator areas for photographers and interested parties at prime areas.

This stage of photographing concluded with an exciting shot of Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard (Car 1) losing a wheel right in front of my position. Later in the day my video partner Travis McKenna and I would be fortunate enough to meet up with Antoine and Nathalie further down the road and provide a bit of cell phone coverage and food. Very nice people! I was impressed with their cheerfulness and excited by their enthusiasm for the continuation of the event, despite their misfortune.



We also got to see a man find their tire! Hopefully it was returned to them





Above we see a competitor that took time out from their stage to tow a car off the track. Another example of fine sportsmanship.

The photos below are examples from the Kananaskis stage, as well as the Porcupine Hills stages that occurred the next day. Unfortunately I was unable to stay for the podium finishes.



All in all, an extremely exciting event, and I look forward to covering many more Rally events in the future! Later this week, a Sun Peaks Mountain Bike shoot will be posted.

Savona climbing April 2008

A quick trip to the Beach at Savona BC netted some nice climbing photos of Jaret and Matt. Stock XTi kit lens was used for safety purposes. However this did not allow for really good focal variance and some of the shots of the climbers ended up being far too close and zoomed in, lacking perspective.

Overall, still happy with the shoot, but next time we will hope for better weather.

Jaret led up the initial route and after following him up I hooked myself to a bolt and worked on shots as they climbed up two nice and easy 5.10a routes to kick off the summer and get the muscles remembering how its done.


Shot looking down at my belay devices.


My safety sling. In Beeners we trust.


Jaret leading up the initial route.


Jaret at the crux move of the initial lead.


Matt finishing the route in great time. A solid first day of the season.