# Sun & Ski/Ski Sundown Rail Jam 10.9.2010



## severine (Oct 11, 2010)

On Saturday, Ski Sundown held a rail jam at Sun & Ski Sports in Avon (which was simultaneously hosting its grand opening sale). Sun & Ski Sports filled the former Ski Market location on Route 44 and they were smart enough to keep on Dave Newman to help run the show. Best bootfitter in the area, IMHO!

But I digress--this is about the rail jam. I don't know really anything about park stuff, but I thought it would be a great opportunity to practice some action shots. I was looking forward to using my 8mm fisheye lens but what I didn't count on was that I really couldn't get close to the action (for obvious safety reasons)--and therefore could not achieve the desired effect. With so wide angle of a lens, you really need to be close to make the most of it. Still, all was not lost. Got some interesting shots. Loving the color from this camera--I rarely have to tweak it any more than the occasional white balance, and that's my fault for always leaving that setting on auto. 

My 3-year-old loved the rail jam. Kept telling me to get out of his way so he could see what was going on and he even won a pair of Orage mustache gloves. He says he'll be hitting the park when he's a grown up.

Some photos, of course. The whole album:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrievibert/sets/72157625130198262/


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## skidmarks (Oct 11, 2010)

*Nice Color*

The colors in your pictures are great! I have to learn more about White Balance

Rail Jams have become a Traveling Circus for the same kids. They must go to every Rail Jam in the area.

Last week you should have seen the look of shock from "Team Riders" when they saw our low prices on FT Boots and Line Skis when Suburban Sports did it's rail jam. LOL it was a better deal than their Sponsors gave them. 

Kudos to Jarrod and Ski Sundown for creating these important events. I remember in the 70s when freestyle ramp shows were the big thing. These events create an important vibe.


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## Greg (Oct 11, 2010)

skidmarks said:


> These events create an important vibe.



Agreed. Now all we need is for them to figure out how to create a 10 turn bump run...


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## bvibert (Oct 11, 2010)

Greg said:


> Agreed. Now all we need is for them to figure out how to create a 10 turn bump run...



Yes!


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## skidmarks (Oct 11, 2010)

What size twisters do you need for that?

PS: We had a few Stratton Mountain  Mogul kids stop by the store yesterday. I think this www.Mogulproshop.com  thing has some traction


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## Greg (Oct 11, 2010)

skidmarks said:


> PS: We had a few Stratton Mountain  Mogul kids stop by the store yesterday. I think this www.Mogulproshop.com  thing has some traction



Awesome. Now get the pic of that poser off the page, and people will probably really take you serious....


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## severine (Oct 11, 2010)

skidmarks said:


> The colors in your pictures are great! I have to learn more about White Balance


I so love that the color comes out of the 7D consistently accurate and beautifully saturated. I'm almost always using manual mode now and setting my own aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Focus is sometimes center weighted single spot (it's easier to focus that point on where I want and then recompose, though the AF features in this camera are still a bit confusing and beyond my ability at this point--there are 19 focus points!) and occasionally I will manually focus. White balance is the only thing I almost always leave on auto. I know there are the old-fashioned pros who believe in using gray cards for white balance metering and setting it all in camera, and there are preset modes you can choose, too (like sunny, cloudy, fluorescent, tungsten, etc.) but in the end, auto often gets it right and if it doesn't, RAW works seamlessly in post-processing for changing to one of the other preset modes or manually adjusting the color temp. It's sort of like the arguments on here -- skier versus equipment. Some would say I'm not a true photographer because I skip that step. I beg to differ.


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## skidmarks (Oct 11, 2010)

Greg said:


> Awesome. Now get the pic of that poser off the page, and people will probably really take you serious....




That's a great idea!!


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## MommaBear (Oct 11, 2010)

Nice shots Severine!


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## skidmarks (Oct 11, 2010)

severine said:


> I so love that the color comes out of the 7D consistently accurate and beautifully saturated. I'm almost always using manual mode now and setting my own aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Focus is sometimes center weighted single spot (it's easier to focus that point on where I want and then recompose, though the AF features in this camera are still a bit confusing and beyond my ability at this point--there are 19 focus points!) and occasionally I will manually focus. White balance is the only thing I almost always leave on auto. I know there are the old-fashioned pros who believe in using gray cards for white balance metering and setting it all in camera, and there are preset modes you can choose, too (like sunny, cloudy, fluorescent, tungsten, etc.) but in the end, auto often gets it right and if it doesn't, RAW works seamlessly in post-processing for changing to one of the other preset modes or manually adjusting the color temp. It's sort of like the arguments on here -- skier versus equipment. Some would say I'm not a true photographer because I skip that step. I beg to differ.



On manual film cameras I've used gray cards in the past but I'll have to learn more about this white balance stuff.


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## severine (Oct 11, 2010)

skidmarks said:


> On manual film cameras I've used gray cards in the past but I'll have to learn more about this white balance stuff.



It sounds like you're already knowledgeable about it, just not in the same terminology.  Cool/Warm. That's all you need to remember. When a picture looks too cool or too warm, it's usually the white balance that is the culprit. Lower the temp to cool off a warm shot and raise it to warm up a cool shot. That's my best understanding, anyway.


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## jarrodski (Oct 13, 2010)

Greg said:


> Agreed. Now all we need is for them to figure out how to create a 10 turn bump run...



not out of the question.  chris and i have a plan, but its too complicated to pull of for this season.


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## bvibert (Oct 13, 2010)

ishovelsnow said:


> not out of the question.  chris and i have a plan, but its too complicated to pull of for this season.



:-o

:beer:


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## skidmarks (Oct 13, 2010)

*Wow*

wow that would be cool!!


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