Moving Merino Sheep up the hill at The Point. The farm looks back down towards the Southern Alps and Lake Wanaka. Dry…

Moving deer up the drive

I was lucky to be invited to fly with a friend in his Cessna 172. He flew us over his farm which runs up the incredibly beautiful Hunter Valley, at the top of Lake Hawea. We had a good look at the Hunter River as the plan was to jet boat it the following weekend.

Lake Hawea looking up the Hunter River

Highburn Valley

We flew up Highburn which took us over into the Cameron Saddle and finally into Makaroura at the top of Lake Wanaka. Digby showed us the path that he has to muster his cows over the saddle. Pretty narrow! brave cows…

Amidst farming time, I did a bunch of shooting with kiwi mountain biker Kelly McGarry. He had build a few ‘big hucks’ over in the Queenstown area, so I went over to investigate, shoot some snaps and go exploring with Kelly and his bike. Good results all round, including shooting an advert for the Teva Slopestyle which is part of the awesome Queenstown Bike Festival. It was used as huge 2mx2m bill boards in Queenstown Airport and around the town.

Teva advert

Kelly putting the final touches to one of his big hucks. This one was really huge….

Adventuring in the beautiful Skippers Canyon

If you haven’t been for a explore up to the old gold mining town, you really should….. I hadn’t and was blown away with whats back there. NB. Take a 4wd, the road is.. narrow!

Lastly I thought I would share a couple of happy snaps from our jet-boating adventure up the Hunter River over Easter Weekend. The weather has been so stunning (not much precip!) the river was very low. Lots of getting stuck and pushing as we jet-boated up in sometimes less than 4 inches of water! We stayed in The Boundary Hut on The Hunter Station farm which is a wicked musters hut in an epic location, overlooking the Hunter River. It was a beautiful night under the full moon! Good times with good friends.

3 jet-boats under the full moon

The Boundary Hut

Red wine and cards…

I have 3 more commissioned  photo shoots to do before leaving for Canada and the Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler on Tuesday. I am a finalist in the Pro Photographer Showdown, as was fortunate to be picked as one of 5 photographers to present a 9 minute slide show  of my ‘life’s work’ to 1800 people. I am super excited, but pretty darn nervous at the same time! Showing my work like this is like showing people into your soul… Ill tell you all about it when I get back!

Downtown Myoko Akakura

We stayed in the small town of Akaura Onsen, which is at the base of one of the many ski areas on Mt Myoko. This place is just magical. With a real small ski town feel, we were so exited to explore the main street, with its shops, small hotels and Izakayas (bar/restaurant) along with the Skate Bar (amazing locals bar with an actual skate ramp inside!), which we drank more than a few sake’s on our last night. After exploring Akakura Kanko ski area the first day in the dumping snow we were told by the locals that it was forecast to snow a meter over night. Early to bed and a broken nights sleep with constant checks on the snow progression, we woke to hear the news that it had snowed 1.5m at Seke Onsen, the smallest of Myoko’s ski areas.

The drive to Seki Onsen

Excited to get there we gobbled down our breakfast and we drove the 1/2 hr journey to Seki Onsen in my friend Amy Shimizu’s (of the Myoko tourism board) tiny 660cc Japanese car. It was an intense journey for us Westerners as the snow was so thick and deep, we could hardly see a thing. Amy didn’t bat an eyelid as the teacup car we were in revved like a lawnmower and ploughed its way up to Seke Onsen. We passed locals going to work, children going to school, all like normal. If this much snow fell at home the whole place would grind to a stand still!

Life goes on in Myoko, even when 1.5m of snow falls in 6 hrs

We got to Seki Onsen to find the chair lift being dug out by local snowboarders, keen as us to get the lift running. There are two chair lifts at this small club field like ski area. The vibe is truly Japanese and local. We were the only ones there for a start until a few other local shredders turned up to enjoy the 1.5m of fresh.

Digging out the lift

Butterflies grew in my stomach as we were the first on the chair lift. How was I going to ski this much snow? Would I sink!? We dropped in and sure enough, came to a complete stop. Words came out of my mouth that I thought I would never say ‘there is just too much snow!’ Those first few runs where very challenging. If you couldnt follow someones tracks to get some speed you would soon find yourself bogged up to your waist. It was totally exhausting getting going again and the last thing you wanted to do was fall over, as it was such a huge physical challenge to stand up again. We skied in pairs making sure that your buddy could dig you out if you got into trouble. This, combined with dumping snow and flat light, made it completely impossible to take photographs.

We gave a hand to the locals to dig out the top one man chair lift so we could experience the top half, and slightly steeper part of the ski field. It took us a good hour and a half to dig it out! When they cranked it up people one by one jumped on with their skis in their hands. This was because there was so much snow your feet were dragging along through it! Seki Onsen is just a magical place, a true slice of Japanese skiing, unspoilt by western influences and totally laid back…

Neil Kerr of NZ Skier Magazine rides the one man chair at Seki Onsen

It snowed all day. And all night, again. The next day we skied Akakura Onsen again with a further 1m of fresh snow. How is that possible, 1m on top of the 1.5m from yesterday?? In Myoko, its possible, man it snows in this place. After a few of the deepest runs of my life, down the piste I may add, yes ON THE PISTE! we started to venture into the trees. Again using tracks to get enough speed before ducking off to get insane face shots. You know that snow you see in ski movies, and dream about one day skiing? This was it. I was in it.

Again shooting photos posed a huge difficulties. The skiers had to start way above you to get enough speed to make a decent turn. Shouting up through the silent trees, DUMPING with snow. ‘Turn by that tree…!!’      ‘What tree?!’      ‘the one in front of me! to the left!’      ‘But I cant see you!’      ‘Just ski towards my voice!’… All the while my camera gear was taking a pounding in the snow, under my self made weather pouch, made out of an F-Stop Gear waterproof bag (time to make some weather shields F-stop? although my Satori bag kept my gear dry as a bone!). The skier would come towards me and I would struggle to see them in the cloud of smoke that engulfed them as soon as they moved. I found it extremely hard to focus on the moving subject as there was just so much snow in the air and on the ground. All was white… In the white room doesn’t even get close. None the less I managed to get a few deep photos and skied the pow of my dreams. All in all an epic day!

Julia Atkinson: Can you say WHITEROOM???

On our last afternoon, Amy took me and Jase around a part of town where the locals live. This was a real eye opener to see how locals cope with this amount of snow. I asked Amy if this was normal. We had had close to 4 meters of snow in 3 days. She said yes, Myoko does get this much snow, but not usually all at once. She said she couldnt remember a time where it snowed this much all at once, not for about 14 years. We truly were experiencing something phenomenal. She explained how the locals constantly battle against the ever falling snow, shoveling, using the Onsen water to melt it to keep on top of the ever mounting piles. Even the elderly are out there shoveling snow. It was incredible to see them at it.

Amy chatted to this lady. She is 70 years old, and out in her snow shoes clearing a path from her home.

Carry on like normal

Clearing snow from a roof. Amy tells me how dangerous this can be and men are killed some years doing this job.

This was taken from our hotel window. This poor man had been clearing snow from this roof since we arrived. Fighting a loosing battle?

Myoko

Amy explains how localized the snow is. Mt Myoko stands at 2,454m and is the biggest volcanic mountain around, thus being a magnet for snow. On average they get 13m a winter. It was totally mind blowing. All night there were snow graders working, they cleared snow round the clock. The bus picked us up at 8am the following morning to take us to Tokyo airport, back to NZ and summer time. It was still dumping with snow and I wondered how we were ever going to leave. The roads were caked white, thick with snow. None the less our mini bus was there on time, and whisked us away from Myoko as quickly as the snow fell. On reaching Nagano, only an hr away, we truly saw how localized our storm was. There was very little snow on the ground… It was hard to picture being back in Central Otago, dry warm summer time when standing waiting for our bus, but in less than 24 hrs we were back in NZ.

Myoko, I love you and I will be back. MASSIVE thanks to Amy and Shiro Shimizu, my good friends of Myoko. I will be back!!

SO…. Last time we spoke was when we were in the winter wonderland of Hakuba. From here we journeyed towards Shiga Kogen, Japan’s largest ski area, with a quick stop at the infamous Snow Monkeys en route. I have been here a few times before, but I am never board of seeing these incredible animals, in their natural habitat, bathe in the hot spring Onsens. They always trike me as being so very human.

Can you say aaaaaawwwwww?

After visiting the snow monkeys in their Onsen, it was time for us to have one at an amazingly luxurious hotel (unfortunately not where we were staying!) after seeing a very special Geisha performance.

Geisha performance

Ladies Onsen

With an incredible day of culture, we were feeling ready to get into the mountain resort of Shiga Kogen and spend a few days there exploring the expansive terrain. This place has just so many lifts we only scratched the surface! Unfortunately the weather had turned, which prevented us from seeing the fabulous views that this ski resort boasts. On the last day we made a quick stop at the bustling town of Yamanouchi, at the base of  Shiga Kogen. We found ourselves in the smaller district of Shibu Spa, in Yamanouchi . This place was truly magical. Small streets intertwined with each other each offering an array of different Onsen’s and Ryokans (traditional Japanese Hotels) It is tradition here to take an Onsen at each of the Onsen Houses and stamp them off on your towel you get given. The streets were bustling with old and young, wandering in their robes, Onsen hopping. Just magical!

These men had ticked of a few, but still had many an Onsen left to visit!

After a very cultural few days in Shiga Kogen, it was time to move on to the small, quaint and just beautiful town and ski area of Nozawa Onsen.…

This quaint Japanese mountain town is hard not to fall in love with. Winding streets with traditional shops and littered with Onsens, Ryokans and Izakayas (tapas style Japanese restaurants) it is a ski holiday dream. Not to mention the skiing! On our 2nd day skiing here, it snowed 50cm of the lightest snow I have ever skied…. With a great pitch to the trees we lapped the pow, with fresh tracks every run.

Walking from our AMAZING hotel Ryokan Sakaya to the slopes. A short walk through the snow clad streets…

Julia floats amongst the twinkly birch trees

Roo Stanford up to her armpits in the white goods…

Nozawa is bursting with tradition and quirky bits and bobs that make wandering the streets apres skiing just a delight!

A local enjoys a foot Onsen while texting his mate…

Here the locals utilise the Onsen water again by using the hottest water (90+degrees) to cook in. These are the ‘Onsen Kitchens’. Two days at Nozawa didn’t feel like enough but our next stop was one to be excited about. Myoko.

Many thanks to our hosts for having us in both Shiga Kogen and Nozawa Onsen. We were looked after so well….

Private Ninja waiter

After some warm Sake and amazing dishes served by our very own Ninja (Samurai swords, fire, dry ice and an edible Bonsi tree were amongst just some of the nights entertainments) If you are ever in Tokyo, its a must….

We finaly rested our heads at  4am (NZ time) and took 40 winks before jumping on the Shinkansen (bullet train) towards the mountains and Nagano. That was of course after a visit to Shibuya (the worlds busiest pedestrian crossing)

Oh Tokyo, the sights you see….

After the very efficient and massively fast bullet train that whisked us to Nagano at a speed of 250km an hr we arrived in quite a different temperature. As Japan is so efficient, we had sent our ski bags directly to our hotel (the wonderful Tokyu Hotel) in Hakuba from the airport, so with just a back pack each it was spectacularly easy. An hr and a half bus ride later we were in the magical village of Hakuba nestled in the impressively massive Japanese Alps. As it had snowed 30 cm we made the decision to head to Cortina, one of the many resorts in Hakuba, notorious for its epic tree skiing, a mind blowing hotel, which resembles a large plastic Tudor house and an one of the best Onsens (natural hot spring bath) I have ever bathed in. Only in Japan.

Cortina Hotel

Julia Atikinson of Studio Home shredding the Japanese goods…

Vicci Miller

After a day at Cortina, the sun showed its face so we then headed up to Happo One, famous for its epic open spaces, huge alpine views and entry to the most incredible Japanese back country. We hiked up for an hr and a half above the top lifts with our guide Dave from Evergreen Outdoor Center to access this back country mecca.

Tim and Tom hiking along the ridge

Tom Dunbar

Back country Hakuba goodness, Tom, Vicci and Tim skied.

Tim Rutherford

To soothe our aching bodies, we have had an Onsen every day…

Here are the ladies bathing…

The mountain Onsen 40 mins from Hakuba. Dreamy….

The night of two dinners

Love Japanese food…

We are now in Shiga Kogen and had a sweet day shredding the pow, after a cultural day yesterday of an Onsen village, Geisha and snow monkeys. Will update a blog soon…

To welcome in the New Year I would like to share with you some images from the past few weeks of summer in Wanaka, Queenstown and my home of Tarras.

Stars over Lake Wanaka on New Years eve. 3am. Taken on Stevensons Island looking back towards Wanaka

This was shot outside the cottage where I live on my boyfriend Tim’s farm in Tarras. Tim’s father and sister admiring the fiery sky…

Tarras looking over towards Queenstown

Taken on New Years Eve day, from a R44 helicopter on a photography assignment job for Tourism NZ. This is where the Lower Shotover River meets the Kawarau River outside of Queenstown.

West Wanaka at sunrise

Looking over Glendhu Bay, Lake Wanaka

Glendhu Bay, Lake Wanaka

Paddock Bay, Lake Wanaka

Looking over to the Remarkables, Queenstown in the evening light whilst on a mountain bike shoot. Sweet view!

Stars over Lake Wanaka. You can see the milky way! I have always wanted to capture the reflection of the stars, this is the only night where I have found the lake to be still enough! Beautiful New Years night sky…

This is a shot taken at the end of the drive where I live, on The Point Farm, Tarras. 14,000 acres of high country farm over looked by the stunning St Bathans range. I am a lucky girl!

The view from my kitchen window…

The Point cows…

I would like to thank you all for your continued support and interest in my work. It means a lot to me that people check out my blog, and read my wee stories about adventures I am fortunate enough to go on. I aim to make 2012 filled with adventures, exciting photography assignments and hard work. My next adventure is a two week trip to Japan on the 13th January, shooting photos for a number of publications, but primarily for Japan Tourism. I will be posting photos of my trip so watch this space! HAPPY NEW YEAR MY FRIENDS….

Flying into the mighty Franz Joseph Glacier

Her ferocious jaws ready to swallow you whole!

Looking out over the top of Franz Joseph Glacier from Centennial Hut

Playing amongst the ice
After a successful first day shooting we headed back to the hut with the idea of going out to shoot sunset. As we were putting our skins on to tour hut-wards the most ferocious wind ripped up and knocked us all from our feet, blowing gear and us everywhere! It was quite a struggle getting back to the hut with the gale force winds, but we all made it, and hunkered down in the hut while she blew, and blew, and… blew. There was no chance of heading back out for more shooting. Instead we had a stellar feed of spag bowl and preyed the hut wouldn’t be blown off the side of the mountain. We were blessed that night with an awesome sky as the storm blew in.

What a pearler of an evening (this photo is deceptive, what you cant see is the gale force winds!) Too bad we had to enjoy it sheltering ourselves away from the elements inside the hut.

The sun poked its cheeky face over the top to say goodbye to us for the next 32 hours

Not much sleep was had that evening as it felt like you were sleeping next to a 10 ton truck going past your head at 100km hr every 10-15 seconds. The wind rattled us around all night and all the next day, which was a total write off. We spent the entire day cooped up in the shelter of the hut, only leaving to check that, yes it was still raining and yes, it was still blowing its t**s off (or to visit the little girls long drop) So we made use of this time by playing endless card games of Arsehole which began quite civilized, but soon many silly rules were added, such as announcing very loudly to the hut that ‘Thomas is King’ every-time you played a 5. We also took the opportunity to learn a thing or two, and utilised our wonderful guides buy stringing ourselves to the ceiling, and practicing prussocking up the rope. A technique used to save oneself from an icy grave down a crevasse. Next we abseiled off the bunk beds; a perfect replica for a 100m cliff.

Going slightly mad inside the hut…

Night soon came and it was to early to bed in preparation for a 5am start. It was forecast to be clearing, so we were going to be up and ready to go adventuring (if it was starry that was) And it was.

Starry starry morning! 5am and the skies were clear….

The freshly rained, wind sculpted and then frozen solid snow was ready for us to climb a mountain. And that we did. The call was made to scale a close by peak, taking a route up an ice waterfall. This would really test our ski mountaineering skills. And as I wanted to shoot some snaps of the guys climbing up, I was first to go. Cripes, it was hard work but so fun! I climbed with my F-Stop camera bag securely on my back, ice axe in hand and crampons on feet. What a thrill. Once  I was up I was able to tie off and hang out over the edge to shoot the others coming up.

This is what we climbed…

Yes its me! And I’m smiling. It was way steeper than it looks, I promise! Thanks to Hugh Bernard for the photo

Tom and Janina near the top of the ice climb
After the guys reached the top of the ice fall, it was my time to abseil back down to get shots of their ski. After a good ski on spring corn it was a rush back to the hut to make our heli pick up time before the afternoon cloud rolled in of the Tasman Sea preventing us flying out. Luckily the cloud wasn’t too thick and the chopper pilots could find a way through to pick up our tired bodies.

Back out to the lush green planes of the West Coast

It was an awesome spring trip and many thanks to Neil Kerr, Adventure Consultants and of course The North Face for making it happen. More stories and photos in next years ski mags… Time to hang up the ski boots in time for summer, and the bike season. (until a sneaky trip to Japan to shred some pow in January of course!)

Flying up the Matukituki River towards Mt Aspiring. I love NZ…

We had such a wicked heli shoot for The North Face. The snow was super stable so we were able to ski anything we wanted, there were so many lines to be skied! With Fraser McDougall, Janina Kuzma, Mitchey Greig and Geoff Small and Whitney Thurlow as our guides, I was able to get some pretty awesome shots… I cant show you any right now I’m afraid! They all skied lines off the right side of this face above, as I hung over the cornice to shoot! Safely of course… ehheeem. Tim Pierce was there filming, so I will post his vid of the day soon!

Tick Tacks? Flying over sheep getting ready to be sheered.

The Matukituki River as it braids its way towards Lake Wanaka

Shadows and cows

Driving down from Snow Park, looking over towards the Cardrona access road. Dusty?!

Amongst all the time on snow, I have been hanging out at my boyfriends farm in Tarras. Sheering is in full swing so I took along my camera to get some snaps of the Merino sheep getting shawn. I love watching these highly skilled shearers at work.

The Merino sheep wait to go into the woolshed to get shawn at The Point Farm…

Here you see the wool classers and rousies (wool handlers) working together like a well oiled machine

It is The North Face Freeski Open Big Mountain competition this week, and I will be shooting the qualifications and finals at Remarkables. We are also waiting on a weather window to shoot an over night adventure for The North Face, a bit of a product shoot… The skies are gray at the moment, but its cooling down with snow forecast this week. Winter aint over yet!

I was up against some extremely talented and esteemed bike photographers:

Mattias Fredriksson, Sweden – www.mattiasfredriksson.com

Markus Greber, Germany – www.markusgreber.com

Kristoffer Kippernes, Norway – www.kippernesfoto.no

Grant Robinson, Canada/UK – www.grantrobinson.com

After some very long few days with early starts and late nights shooting (with the midnight sun in Sweden, we could shoot all night!), I finally had my slide show together. I have to say I was extremely nervous on the big gala night, with NO idea what so ever of what the other teams had produced. It was so exciting to see the other shows, and see how they portrayed their week. We all had the same challenging weather, from freezing fog, pouring rain and scorching sunshine. I was delighted to come out on top and win the title. It was a real honor just to be invited, but to win, just amazing.

Yay we won!!

SO in case you missed it on all the facebook spamming, I thought I would share it with you, along with some behind the scene shots thanks to photographer Simon Joren. To view the other slide shows head to http://dirt.mpora.com

(may I suggest full screen with the volume turned right up?)

Get the shot…

This shot of me is when I took this shot below (see the puddle in the distance? this is it below!)

Steve Murphy

Me and my team…Couldn’t have done it without a crew of such dedicated and ripping riders! Thanks guys!

So, Tim organised a chopper to shoot Jossi and his brothers, Beau-James and Jackson for the day at snow park, with a gimbal camera rig (a swanky camera mounted to the bottom of the heli, all controlled inside by the man that is Tim Pierce, and flown by incredibly talented pilot Alfie Speight, who has flown many a chopper for film shoots, including work on Lord of the Rings) It started with an early morning pipe session, with a perfectly cut empty pipe, glorious light and a sled for fast laps.

Jossi soaring while his brother Jackson and father Bruce watch…

Bruce zips Jossi back to the top of the pipe

Yes. That’s right. There is a chopper flying up the pipe!

Man + Helicopter + Sled = good times

After the morning session the chopper was put down to rest until the light softened in the evening. At about 4, there was another filming session on the triple kicker line with the boys as the sun set over Snow Park. I climbed up the tower of the chairlift to get a different view and hung on with one arm and shot photos with the other. Now my left bicep is dead…! In the last 10 mins of heli time I jumped in to get some stills of Jossi from the air. Hanging out of heli’s with the door open shooting photos is always fun…

Jossi Wells

I have another sunset shoot at Snow Park tonight on the jumps with the Faction Team that are over. Hopefully we get a good sunset! For the next two weeks I will be shooting the NZ Winter Games. So there wont be much to report blog wise. BUT check back soon for my winning slide show from the Scandinavian Photo Challenge, along with some behind the scenes shots.

Martin Place, Sydney

I wanted to share with you a few photos from a recent ad campaign that many of my winter images from New Zealand were used in. Air New Zealand ran an ‘exhibition’ in Martin Place Station in the center of Sydney’s CBD. My photos were amongst the work of Tony Harrington and Dan Himbrechts. To check out all the images that ran, go to http://www.airnewzealand.com.au/3hrsaway

Each shot has a ‘plaque’ next to it with the information about the shot. If you have a smart phone you can scan in the QRR code and listen to an audio guide about each shot. Clever eh!?

There is to be another exhibition in Southern Cross Station in Melbourne this month. If you are in Melbourne and Sydney go check it out!

It is really cool to see my shots up on bill boards, I have 10 in total involved in the ad campaign.

Many thanks to Sarah Rutherford for taking the shots for me!