AUGUST 2014
WHEN TO KEEP GOING
The trip to Japan, I had time to focus all of my energy into photography and filming. During this time I felt alive, good, and my creativity came back!
Between the 2nd and 3rd week into the ski adventures in Hokkaido, I injured my knee while skiing… not even doing anything cool (of course)! I was pissed at myself and also I had another 3 weeks of being there! We got back to a friend’s house in Sapporo and had a student studying to be a doctor do the ACL test. He said no it doesn’t seem to be torn, but I didn’t feel good about it. I spent two days icing it and trying to walk around Sapporo, feeling a bit lost.
Four days later, we met up with some other skiers and spent the day filming and taking photos at Teine. I knew skiing on it was not the best thing, but I honestly didn’t care… if it was torn there was nothing to do about it now! I spent an hour in the morning testing my knee skiing groomer runs and it felt good enough!
STONP or DIE-the female gaijin filmer
Okay, so just having the chance and opportunity to film and work for the most incredible snowboarders in all of Japan was MINDBLOWING. I still can’t believe that was a part of my life. Remember, not only am I a woman but also a “foreigner”(aka gaijin) in Japan.
When things didn’t work out as planned with my all women’s film, I quickly realized that I need to change something and immediately packed up my stuff and got on a train back to Sapporo from Kutchan. I was feeling a little bit like I had failed, so I wanted to go get a drink at my favorite bar - Bar Zanshin. When I walked into the bar by myself, the bartender and now friend said something along the lines of, “You’re Dani right? Do you take video? Do you know Kazu Kokubo? Well he and his movie are looking for a filmer for a month. You interested?” I can’t imagine the look on my face, but I believe I said something along the lines of HELL YES I’m interested! So that was it. I sent the bartender Alex my info, my demo reel and other videos I had made, and then waited. Some time later, he messaged me and said Kazu says your video is okay. About 2 weeks after that, I had my first day filming with Kohei Kudo. I learned that I will mainly be filming everyday with Kohei. I remember my first day, I had no idea what to expect and I was babbling in English to another dude the whole drive up to the spot because at that time I didn’t think about how quickly I was speaking. The first day of filming with those guys was perfect, the sun was shining, there was a nice jump set up, the hike in was very quick, and the guys made me feel so comfortable! It was surprisingly easy to communicate.
BUT, I quickly realized that my hand-me-down (not to mention SMELLY... sorry guys) outerwear and lack of a down jacket was not going to cut it at all for the rest of my time with them. I finally came to the realization of why I have yet to be a professional in this industry. Because why do I keep doing the same thing…. downplaying my gear, not wanting to bite the bullet and get the right things that I need even if they are more expensive… if I keep living this way, I quickly realized I will never be successful. I am so thankful that I learned this lesson, and many other lessons from filming with STONP.
Kohei told me from the beginning he can’t really speak so much English in the mornings after just waking up, I laughed and thought yeah probably same for me with Japanese. Honestly, I loved the car rides to the spots every time. Mostly we would sit in silence with some music bumping and sometimes he’d take a phone call. I enjoyed hearing Japanese.
Everyday filming, I had a rough idea of what the day would be like… but in reality I had no clue. My whole time with them we were filming almost all backcountry spots. I had a bit of trouble at some of the spots, me being a skier and them snowboarders, it is a different way to hiking up the mountain. I had never skinned everyday before… so this was fairly new feeling to me. Hiking up the mountain with 20lbs of camera gear on my back, made me so much stronger, but also slower (add lots of swearing on the way up). I remember another STONP photographer and friend said to me “Dani, when you go home to America everyone is going to say you are strong woman!” I laughed so hard. He was right though! They were much faster than me, but most of the time my timing of when I got to the spot was alright, due to set up time. Somedays I wonder if they were not happy with my skill level or my speed of hiking up. Actually, I still wonder that. Maybe we will talk about it one day hahaha. There were so many great days, days where we laughed, had nice weather, got the perfect shot. Strangely enough… the year for snow in 2015 was not a good for Hokkaido… all the guys said that and I saw it too.
I loved my time with these guys. What a difference it is to work with professionals, like fresh air. I never felt like they judged me based on the fact that I am a woman, basically they treated me as an equal which I really really appreciated. I’m sure sometimes I fucked up and vice versa. I will never forget my time with them. I am forever grateful to have such a rare and amazing experience. I hope they will continue to remain as my brothers and friends for a long time. いつもありがとう。笑ありがとう！
There is a word for my experience in Japanese that Alex told me: ばっちり
Meaning lucky timing.
If you want to see their final movie, and YOU WILL. Wait for it to come out on DVD or iTunes! Right now it is making its premiere throughout Japan.
Everything about that one day was perfect. After that, I was set on staying in Japan for the rest of my time there to keep taking pictures and filming. Though most days I was in pain, I felt determined to keep going and everyday hoped that it would feel better. When I got back to Salt Lake City I kept skiing and headed up to Alta on gaper day (and also what happened to be one of the deepest pow days of the year). Who would’ve thought that later that same day sitting in the doctor’s office I would find out that I had in fact fractured my leg while in Japan! I could have changed my flight and left right after the injury, but deciding to stay and keep going was the best choice. I got some beautiful images out of the whole trip and I am thankful for that!
ADVENTURES
Sleeping in a Japanese Internet Cafe
You arrive in Nagoya city after your second long day of hitchhiking from Tokyo. It's 11:00PM and you had no plan of where to stay for the night.
You venture into a "Love Hotel" thinking that this would be the relatively inexpensive. But even they didn't have any rooms available, you were feeling slightly sketched out and exhausted at this point. Which brings us to your last resort - Internet Cafe. You secretly wanted to have this experience anyway... and it's the cheapest option. Besides, you've already slept in many airports...
You find one a few blocks away, and climb up three flights of stairs outside to find the door to the Internet Cafe. When you walk in, you are greeted by the worker at the desk and asked how many hours your stay will be. Instantly, you are greeted with the stench of cigarettes and funny odors. The "cafe" is dim, the sounds of constant clicking of keyboards and mouses are apparent, some people are snoring. You pay the 20$ for the 8 hour stay. You pass by all the cubicles and since you are "tall" you look over into some of the others. Some people were still awake. There is a small black mat for you to put out and stretch out on, yet it's not long enough for you to extend all the way. You were surprised you didn't hear anyone beating off... hey this place is filled with all sorts of characters. You take full advantage of the flow of free drinks and use of the computer in your cubicle. Finally, you make your attempt to fall asleep with the lights on all night and people still clicking away. After a long night of tossing and turning, you wake up feeling.... well.. not exactly refreshed. You make sure to grab that complimentary coffee before you venture out for your final day of hitchhiking.
Tulum, Mexico
Photo Editing
I've always been great at Photoshop, but working as a fashion photo retoucher last summer really opened my eyes to how much work goes into photo retouching (most times the photographer doesn't do his own editing - the company does). We would spend a maximum of 3 hours on one photograph at a time. Those photos I edited are online live now on their website, but here is an example of the small things you can do to make your photographs slightly better!
By using the clone stamp or healing brush tool, I slightly removed the branch that was in this tiger's face and did some slight color correction by using the burn tool to bring out more shadows (which isn't the best method) and changing the levels of the image.