Sumthin Sunday Wk 25- 6 months

Although I did miss last weeks post(busy working and Laura came to visit), it has been 6 months since I started Sumthin Sundays. It a fun little side project that always keeps me thinking. The only problem is I haven't had any days to shoot what I really want to. Work takes up 6 days a week and on my day off, all my portrait subjects are busy and everyone wants to do something fun. Nobody wants to sit around and listen to me direct their posture while they stare into a flashing strobe when it's 80 degrees. So I've decided to show some shots from my shoot at Squaw. I never got a response back from his team manager so I'm going to let everyone peep some of my new stuff.

Here's Nick Langkamp, HMK Factory Team Rider, Snowboard-cross






Thank you everyone for staying loyal to my blog. I'll try my best to keep my photos as new and fresh as possible.

Peace!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 24- Shit, It's Monday

Damn I forgot again. I suck! But I have been super busy, working 6 days a week now, and just finished the final for my class I needed to graduate. Now that schools pretty much over I can finally relax a little and actually get some sun.

Last week Matt and I hiked the peak at Donner Pass. It took a few hours. We first had to hike through the tunnels then hand to hike to the top. When we got to the top there was a 50 ft rock that we were able to climb and chill in the sun at the top for about an hour. The ride down was super fun. We were triggering heavy, slow moving slides. They weren't dangerous but definitely a hazard.

On the walk back through the tunnels I decided to shoot some of the Ice with gels on my flashes. Here's a couple photos.

Sumthin Sunday Wk 23- Never doing that again

Last Monday I went to squaw to do a shoot and I'm pretty sure I received a slight concussion in result of a rider/photographer collision. I was with professional snowboard-cross racer, Nick Langkamp, trying to shoot some close-up, super layed-out, carves. This was the first angle of the day as I planned on shooting some portraits and other action angles. I did get a handful of photos but I have to save those.
By no means is this a good photo, but here's the shot right before collision:


You can tell I was in a horrible spot in the first place. I kept getting some decent results with him whizzing right by me, so i just wanted to keep inching in. Apparently I wasn't thinking too clearly about my positioning and the inconsistency of the snow texture, so I got hit.

At first I had no clue what happened until I grabbed my head in pain then saw Nick down also. I saw when I took this photo that I had to move so I ducked to the ground and his helmet nailed my camera right into my head. The hot shoe scraped my fore head and I think a piece of helmet cut Nicks face a little. Nothing serious. I continued through the rest of the day and didn't get the serious headache until the drive home. I had a headache the next day and a little the day after. Pretty crazy incident. I get the chills every time I picture it. Shit hurt.

Also, If everyone could go to WWW.YOBEAT.COM and vote in this weeks photo battle, that would be greatly appreciated. They have my name by the photo and in the voting tab so it's easy to vote for me. If you hate me for some reason or really dislike my photo and like the other better than vote for the other one, just at least vote.

Molto Apprezzata!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 22- Broaden Your Horizons

And we're back on time.

In my quest to be a photographer I've found I must do more than just snowboarding action photos. Recently I've been working to develop a portfolio of portraits and action photos from different sport disciplines. I've also chosen to do these photos with athletes whom I never met until the day of the shoot. This will help me practice working with people at the spur of the moment. Last week I shot a couple of Amateur MMA Fighters over at the Recreation Center. Take a peak at the the ones I thought were better at showing more personality and determination.





I also got to experiment with some new equipment during this shoot. I bought an adapter to use an older Minolta f1.8 50mm prime lens. I also bought some Rogue stackable speedlight grids. The top photo is using the 45 degree. The bottom photo is using the 26 degree. I'm stoked I bought these things, very useful!

Tomorrow I will be shooting a Snowboard Cross racer at Squaw. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. Later in the week I am also looking at shooting a guy who does Adventure Racing, a combination of trail running, mountain biking, and kayaking. Unfortunately it is a team sport, so we decided to shoot some mountain biking. Hopefully in the future we may get the team together for a shoot.

Sumthin Sunday Wk 21- "But it's Tuesday"

Ya I know, I missed the post by a couple of days. It was because I was with my family and pretty busy. The internet at the place we were staying was also really, really slow.

We had a lot of fun while they were here. My mom, sister and I went mountain biking. My dad, Marco, and I also went fishing on another day. I got to play with little Lyla, and spend time with my older sister as well.



I'm going to miss them a bunch! Only 6 more months until I get to see them again. It should fly by pretty fast

Sumthin Sunday Wk 20- Last Photo Contest

Rider: Alex Fitzgerald

I entered this photo into Transworld's last photo contest about 2 weeks ago, and I did not win. Unfortunately, this will be the last Transworld photo contest I participate in. For the past two years I have consistently made the top 10 in more than a handful of these contests, so I now feel my work has been noticed. It's time for me to focus on marketing myself and my work, especially since I graduate in June and have to enter the real world.

I will still be entering for YOBEAT's photo battle. It's a contest where a photo goes one-on-one for one week to see who can get the most votes. The photographer that lasts 4 weeks in a row gets entered into the hall of fame. It's a fun contest and allows for good critiquing opportunities also.

Although my first goal in photography was to win a Transworld contest, I have at least received awards. Let's hope I can get some more next Sunday at the 2011 Student Art Exhibition.

Thanks for viewing!

Geno Fonderoli

Sumthin Sunday Wk 19- Water fall

Here's another photo from our emerald bay exploration. We built a small quarter pipe on the other side of this tree root that was next to a waterfall. Nothing special.


Rider: Alex Fitzgerald

Sumthin Sunday Wk 18- Spring is here!

Spring finally made it to Tahoe after a very snowy season. Since the resorts are closing, there's nothing better to do then to go out to familiar spots and hike and build with some good friends. We're drinking the beers and soaking up the sun all while grabbing some photos and learning some tricks. Spring in Tahoe is the absolute best time of the season.

Just last week a few of us pondered around the emerald bay area looking for a something to session. We ended up finding this small patch of snow chilling on a cliff. Directly across from it was a snow dump off from another cliff. We decided to gap over the hiking trail and more rocks from said patch to said pile of snow.



Here is Alex Fitzgerald bustin a gangster air on the first hit. I also bagged a shot of Claire SENDING it with a huge Indy grab with a slightly different angle. Cross your fingers, maybe we'll see it in print!

A bunch of us are planning on going to Donner pass tomorrow so hopefully next Sunday I'll have another shot to show everyone what Spring Backcountry is all about.

Sumthin Sunday Wk 17- Is he moving?

Heres another photo going towards an assignment for commercial photo. We are suppose to use gels and a longer exposure to get a photo. I've been thinking of this for a few days now and finally shot it. I used a bulb exposure with a remote. Triggered my flashes with my pocketwizards then ran behind the frame with christmas lights to make a streak. I used an orange gel on a flash behind the rider to simulate a street light glow on the inside of his helmet and I used a green gel pointed right at him at an angle just enought to catch it on the helmet and bike. This gel is to simulate a green traffic light. Then I used another flash shooting through white sheets to soften it and light the front of the bike. It was a fun and chaotic shoot to say the least. Im going to take a few more photos for this assignment just to broaden my portfolio.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 16- Commercial Photo

I just started a new class at school called Commercial Photography. I'm really stoked about this class. It's more of the type of photography I want to get in to so I can make that money. We get to play with dyna-lite strobes in class every week. These strobes are super dynamic with all kinds of different power variable and lighting tools, i.e. soft boxes, grids, dishes. I've had experience with this kind of equipment before through assisting other photographers but it is always a new experience every time they are used. After I buy a few more lenses this summer my next investment will be on a pack of nice strobes for sure. Here are a few rough samples of my first week shooting with strobes.

Sumthin Sunday Wk 15- Road Gap gone wrong!

I'm sure everyone saw the photo of Brad jumping over the road in an earlier post. Well, Brad went to do it again and it just didn't work out right. The jump washed his legs out cuz of the lip. Here's the sequence:


After he hit I immediately put my camera down and rushed to him. I took off his board while alex lifted his arms up to help him breath. Brad started choking on some spit, we all though it was blood until it actually came up. there was a serious worry about internal injuries because he hit this snowbank right on his left side right in the gut. I rushed him to the ER. Luckily after some tests we found out nothing was broken or damgaed. Just some muscle tears and bruised ribs. He is seriously super lucky. If he would've landed straight on his back, he would've been paralyzed.

Moral of the story, don't come up short on road gaps.

Brad is recovering well and will be back on the board next week.

Birds, rails, and water

Entered this photo in the Spring Contest for Transworld.

Rider:Alex Fitzgerald



Here's another photo contest I got chose for.
GO TO yobeat.com and vote in the photo battle!!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 14- A little Urban for ya

This last week was really fun. My pelvis is feeling good and I have been able to get out and shoot a little more. I recently just met a few people down to get down on the urban shit. I was able to shoot a road gap and another deck gap.

Here are the photos:

Rider Levi Chaffin throwin down the shifty before moving on to the flips and spins.


Brad Sorensen sends his carcass over this big road gap in South Lake. We're definately re-shooting this feature real, real soon.

I was super stoked on the riders I met this week, it's just too bad we have to hurry before all the snow melts. There's always next season, but of course I can't forget about our May and June Donnor pass jumps.

Can't Wait!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 13- Skate Park

Despite my broken pelvis, I can still manage to get out and shoot some urban style photos. Today Nick Brownsberger called me and arranged a session at the local skate park in South Tahoe. The skate Park was super filled in but there was still a little vert wall left. Nick had a snowmobile for a tow in so it made speed super easy.

I tried use the sun as a back light and use few other flashes to balance the light. I knew of a few things I could have fixed but one of the flashes was sort of inaccessible for me.


Not sure what trick Stoney did here but it was the steezier of the bunch with the sunburst.

Then the clouds started rolling thick.


Claire working on her Vert game


Nick Brownsberger Rockin' and Rollin'

All in all no keepers but it was super fun to get out of the house and take some photos. We're going to wait for the snow to melt out a little bit and rock some handplant shots, maybe get creative at night.
Can't wait to shoot again

Sumthin Sunday Wk 12- Broken Pelvis

So yesterday, during an epic pow day, on my third run right before I had to go to work, I broke my pelvis. We had just gotten about 18 inches and I wanted to do some runs before I had to go to work at 10:30. So Joe, Dave, and I went up to Heavenly at 8:30 and started raging the trees skiers right of "the face". We traversed further this time with the intention of riding down to Keller road then traverse to the tram. The only problem was this part of the mountain was a little more of a west face so it got more sun throughout the day. The coverage was not as trustworthy and I noticed this. I took gentle turns through the whole run and watched for imperfections in the snow. We got about 100 yds from the bottom in some tighter trees and I was going a decent speed. As soon as I took a toe edge turn in an open spot I hit a small log on top of the snow. This caused my edge to slip out from under me. I tried to save it as I saw myself getting closer to the tree. At the last second I realized I was going to hit this tree with a giant force so I braced myself with my shoulder and forearm to protect my ribs. I hit the tree with the nose of my snowboard and then flew directly into it on my left side from my shoulder down to my knee. I'm very lucky I didn't hit my head, I'd have to say that my ability to see it coming saved me from head trauma.

Right when I hit I screamed bloody murder because I didn't see Joe or Dave. Luckily Joe was a little behind me and came up on my injured carcass right after impact. Dave rode down and got ski patrol while Joe carted my ass down out of the trees about 60 feet so ski patrol could get to me easier.

I want to thank Dave and Joe for all the help. If I would've been out there by myself it would have been a worse situation. Luckily my break is not that bad. I just need to rest for a couple weeks and keep a little movement going so that I don't tighten up too much. 6 weeks til I'm completely secure and ready to strap back in. Hopefully the Heav extends the season past April 24 so I can ride some groomers. Otherwise, I'll still be shooting some urban shots so don't worry, Sumthin Sunday is not going anywhere.

Thanks for all the get well wishes. My positive thinking and drive to get off this couch will help speed the healing process.

www.steeztech.com

SteezTech's hoodies are finally in!!!!!! Go to www.steeztech.com and get yourself one right now! There are purple zip ups and Black pullovers. They also have some of my portrait/ commercial photos on their site. GO NOW!!!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 11- First time at Sierra

I've been in South Lake Tahoe for two winters now and have finally rode at Sierra at Tahoe resort. Sierra is always rated one of the best resorts by transworld every year but it's so easy to just ride the mountain that's in my backyard, especially when I know all kinds of awesome spots.

I went to Sierra on Tuesday with Claire and Nick. Nick is a new rider I've started shooting. He's been a Never Summer rider for some time now. Most of his photos will be used for something else but you may see a few of him here and there. Nick took us to the part of Sierra they call "The Gates". This place is your standard slackcountry but also has some big hits if you have an eye for transition.

Here is Claire going big off a wind lip that everybody else went around, well...besides Nick whom was the leader off this hit.

There's also a lot of cliffs around the area. The snow this day turned shitty real fast so the big cliffs will have to wait until later.

Claire seems to be dominating my blog lately. Here she is dropping a smaller rock than usual but holding that grab all the way through.

Sierra seems super awesome, can't wait to get out there to shoot some of the big cliffs.

Next week hopefully I will be posting some photos of the Heavenly Terrain Park Crew. I hear they have an awesome custom setup in a backyard so I plan on shooting a few features this week.

Also check out Steeztech.com. They just posted a bunch of new photos I have taken for them over this season so far.

And go to shredbetties.com and check out claires blog post with photos I took. Shredbetties.com is going to publish one of these photos for its background image. I don't know which one yet but I am going to assume it's the wall ride photo.



Peace Out, Pray for Japan

Sumthin Sunday Wk 10- Slash

This photo is from a few weeks ago. Joe and I were messin around for a day trying to find some cliffs when I saw this ridge he could slash. The lighting was getting kind of orange so I made him hike it. Thanks Joe!


Rider: Joe Marotta

Transworld Photo Contest- Night Theme

Just entered a photo of Merrick I shot back in early January. We got a few tail press shots too but the rail was so short it looks like he's ollieing off. The photo is more meant for the lighting effect. I'm pretty stoked how it turned out.

Heres a look:

Rider: Merrick Williams

Sumthin Sunday Wk 9- Black and White

This past week we got dumped on again with another few feet of snow. Conditions are the best I have ever seen. The snow is so deep that while hiking without snow shoes the snow goes up to my chest, and that's when I am able to get a base under my foot. The snow seems to have no bottom though.

Since there's so much snow why not launch off some cliffs? Here are a couple black and white photos from the past week.


Here's Joe Marotta dropping a cliff. This photo doesn't show the size but it was about 20-30ish. He's just coming back from an ankle injury and he stomped the shit out of this trickery right on top of a hidden rock. He's still kickin.



It may not look like it but this is a girl. Claire Hewitt-Demeyer gaps this 25 ft triple pillow set drop to a fresh, deep landing. Claire is finally back in the game after more than three months. She broke her humerus, which is the bicep bone, early in the season and is eager to get as many back country shots as possible before the snow melts.

The snow just stopped Saturday morning and we are expecting a sunny sky for a few days. We plan on building a nice jump or go rage the back country before another storm rolls in Wednesday.
God I Love Tahoe!
Thanks for reading, spread the love

Sumthin Sunday Wk 8- POWDER!!!!!

Chris, Ryan, and Dave hiking through legendary amounts of snow.

Hot damn, did it snow!!!! We recently received about 5-7 feet of fresh here in Tahoe and more is on the way later this week. The snow is almost too deep to ride in but we managed in our stash spot. I can't wait for everything to stabilize so I can finally get out into the backcountry. Peep the deep flicks, Thanks everyone!


Chris throws the rooster by digging his tail


DEEPNESS!!!


Ryan through da treeeeeeeezzzzz with steeeeeeez


Methods never fail

Sumthin Sunday Wk 7- Bummerrrr

So I went to upload a night panorama and it was failing. I'm really bummed out. It took about an hour and half to merge, but oh well. I'm posting a photo SteezTech will be using on their website when their hoodies get in. They were already supposed to be here and on the website with a bunch of new photos but its going to be about another 2 weeks. So be on the lookout for the release at Steeztech.com.


Merrick Williams is Steeztech





On a lighter note....ITS GONNA DUMP SNOW THIS WEEK. Pow shots to come next Sunday! Thanks EVERYBODY!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 6- Ouch!

Not all shoots go as planned. A few weeks ago we wanted to do a little urban session at Kingsbury Middle School. We decided to hit the 25ft closeout to 8ft drop. Merrick did it a few times but his knee is all jacked up, so he decided to call the quits for the day. I got one shot with Merrick, but because I thought he was landing on me I moved and tilted the photo. So I asked for some more people to hit it. Chris and Dave stepped up. On Chris' first try he did exactly what u want to do on a bail and rolled off the stair side and landed there. It was now Dave's turn. He locked on, I popped the shot, he looked off to the closeout, then broke his ribs. I'm sure you tell where he broke his ribs by looking at this photo. He wanted to hit it again but we decided to call it off for another day. I have faith we will get a smanger on the next try.


Rider: Dave Hunt

Sumthin Sunday Wk 5- One Month

Well its been one month since I have started my weekly posts and it has been fun. The blog is really helping my progression in photography. It's allowing anybody that wants to view my work or read about it able to instead of facebook where there are blocks and restrictions. I'm confident that the blog will lead to new things in the future.

This weeks shot is a perfectly executed Handplant!


Rider: Ryan Harrity

This day I was only taking video because we're trying to put together an edit later but I decided to take one photo and this was it. If I would have waited a split second later I would have had his board straight up and down. But look at how clean it is. The grabs right under his foot, his hand is perfectly planted on the crest and he's almost supported by only his fingers. It's also tweaked and he held it like a boss. Good Job Ryan!

Lately I have been super busy with a bunch of shit. Work takes up most of my time, but for the last few weeks I have been shooting some portraits for Steeztech's website and for my need to broaden my portfolio. Be on the lookout for the photos on Steeztech.com sometime within the week.

I also got the opportunity to assist on an action shoot last Monday. The shoot was a freestyle moto shoot with Adam Jones. The Photographer was Cameron Baird. He's a super cool guy and very talented. You can check out some of his work at www.cameronbaird.com

See you next week!
-Geno Fonderoli

Sumthin Sunday Week 4- "Gold Dust"

Here's a little sumthin from early December.

I got this idea because I wanted to shoot a night powder shot. I came up with a bunch of different shot ideas which are being tested, but I wanted to try this one first.

It all started with a rock that, from behind, looked impossible to drop off. Then we look over the edge and there is a gap in between two tree branches. Joe agreed to do it cuz he's the man and all. So he started digging and filled in a 3 ft tall gap about 5 ft long for a path off the rock. The total size of the run in was maybe 10 ft long to 15 ft drop. The start was a log slide drop in to snow which was another feature of its own.

Then the problems with my flashes started. It was cold and a pocket wizard was hidden behind a rock. This made it difficult to get accurate lighting. Then when I placed everything in the right spot my batteries were starting to fail in the same flash, which was the back flash. Note that Joe is bombing this 15 footer in the dark with a small amount of ambience, AND I told him he was only suppose to do it once. After two times and the batteries pissing me off. I asked Joe for one more super tweak. Then I ran up rubbed the batteries in my hands until he was ready, ran down and took the shot. This lesson made me buy more batteries!


Rider: Joe Marotta

I wish I would have closed in just a little bit more and my blue gel should have been green because it would have highlighted the bottom tree branch more. We have re shot a bigger, better night cliff but I gotta save that shit for something else, you know?

Thanks for reading again, I really appreciate the views! I would appreciate it even more if everyone would sign up an follow my blog! Big Thanks to everybody who is! Also tell your friends, sisters, friends sister, cousins, and pets to read up on my blog. It's fun and its the cool thing to do.



Thanks again and who knows whats coming next Sunday!

Transworld Backyard Photo Contest- Top Pick

So the first of five photo contests has ended and the results came in. I didn't win, which is perfectly fine with me, I've got a future shot I think has a chance. I did end up making the Top 10 picks. Here is the original



Next contest is a sequence contest. Lets see what we can do bout that!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 3 - Funny

SHAKE YO FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!!








Thought it'd be funny to post these weird ones. Everyone got bored during the long wait at the South Shore Throwdown competition and this is what started happening.

Next week will feature a snow shot so be ready!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 2- "Dust of the Demon"

This week I totally have to post this photo. DJ DiLeo came up from Reno to stay at our place for a few days and ride. Of course, he heckled me, like he has for the last 4 months, about when he is going to get to see one of the shots I took of him. I was intending to save it for next week or the week after, but since he asked, here it is.


Look Closely and you will understand the title of the photo and how lucky I was to capture this shot at this moment.

"Dust of the Demon" - 2010

A Little History Behind the Photo- One day, the greatest DJ in Reno made a special trip up to South Lake so that I could take a few portraits of him. I borrowed 3 hot lights from school and also had 2 speed lights. We took some indoor shots with white and black backdrops and such. But I had been sitting on this idea using flour, the hot lights, and some gels. It was a good idea but I need to do some adjustments with flour output and stronger, more reliable hot lights. Anyway, my assistant, Chris, was having a little too much fun with the flour. He constantly kept messing with Derek by fake throwing flour at his face. We conducted my experiment, then the fun began. Derek agreed to let Chris chuck a handful of flour at his face, but only ONCE! So I set up all the lights, and of course was a little late on the first one. Derek was stoked and allowed one more. Long Story short, Derek got hit like 4 times and this was the 3rd. Chyea! Props to Derek for the sacrifice! I like how the flour forms around his head. It kind of shows a laughing demon or scary entity type of thing. Gave me the chills. I originally wanted to shoot it like 1/100 of a second sooner right at the point of impact but this is probably cooler.

Thanks for reading and come back next Sunday for a classic!

My New Years Resolution - Sumthin Sundays

New Years is infamous for the adding of a "New" Resolution to a persons life. This resolution is suppose to help said person to succeed or do better at something, or in some cases quit something. After many (really not that many) years I've never made a resolution nor actually followed through with it. I'm finally going to do so.

My New Years Resolution is to practice better photo etiquette. I am going to carry my camera everywhere with me, allow myself enough time to get places so I can stop for a picture if I may need to, and try to promote myself and my art as much as possible.

First start to my promotion will be a new photo, one nobody has seen yet, added to this blog once a week, particularly on Sundays. The photo could be new, could be old, but you haven't seen it on facebook or on the internet.

I've decided to call the new posts "Sumthin Sundays." I couldn't think of anything that had to do with photography that rhymed with Sunday. So as I was thinking I found my self saying..."suuuuumthin suuunday, suuuuumthin suunday." So that's it...Sumthin Sunday it is.

My first photo of 2011 is going to be a self portrait. It's titled "Man's Best Friend, Dog's Worst Enemy." I got the idea because me and my dog, Rusty, love each other so much that when we play it can look kinda nasty. He actually got really mad while trying to take the photos because I did this like 15 times, so I had to give him a bunch of treats. I originally wanted to put a 3 photo series together of me beating him in tug of war then him sulking, but he beat my ass! My teeth are not as strong as a dogs.



I took this photo while I was in Houston, Texas visiting my family. NO! WE ARE NOT FROM TEXAS! (no offense) We are from Illinois. My family just moved there because that's where destiny has taken them. I actually kind of like it there, except for the humidity! I think I'll stay in the mountains.

Thanks for viewing and check back every Sunday!