Just Passing Thru » Michael Clarke

Some Photos

Michael Clarke — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:27:08 +0000

Right now I’m in a photo class at the University of Colorado at Boulder focusing on “Fine Art Photography.” My professor (Albert Chong) asked the class to create a series of photos focusing on the subject of beauty.

For my project I asked a series of three people what they considered to be beautiful. However moving away from the typical ideal of beauty, I was looking for something that would be considered only beautiful to these specific individuals.

In addition, I chose to work with photo collage, making each image by placing together over 300 layers in Photoshop. Here’s what I came up with:

Adventure 1.2 – A UK Ski Trip

Michael Clarke — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:55:13 +0000

The plans for the second installment of Just Passing Thru are coming together.

Clarke and Wallisch wait for a snowcat ride at the Mt. Hood Level 1 shoot during Adventure 1.1

Adventure 1.2 will encompass a five-day skiing road trip through the UK with the likes of Tom Wallisch, Matt Walker, and myself. Beginning in London, the crew will have a chance to explore the city while attending the London Freeze, which features both a Big Air and Rail Jam event this year.

Following a short stay in London, the crew will depart on a two day skiing adventure; led by Jiberish UK rep Neil MacGrain. We will be skiing at the dry-slope resort of Bearsden Ski Club in Glasgow, as well as the indoor snow facility of Chill Factore in Manchester.

In addition to some skiing, we also hope to partake in a series of tourist activities along the way. Neil, our tour guide for the trip, explains some of his plans,

“For the culture stuff I have a few ideas. There is plenty of classic tourist stuff in London; Trafalgar Square, Houses of Parliament, London Bridge, English pub meal, warm English beer? Don’t ask me I’m Scottish. In Manchester I’m sure we can find something Northern for you. In Glasgow, we can go to a castle, get rained on, and go for a curry. You’ll probably struggle to understand some of the locals, I do and I live here. You can try the local food and drink along the way too.”

Sounds like a pretty good UK ski trip to me! October 28th – November 4th are the official dates; stay up to date with our trip here at justpassingthru.tv

Also, the online thirty-minute broadcast version of Adventure 1.1 will be available exclusively here at justpassingthru.tv in the near future. Check out the trailer for a sample of what you can expect to see.

Adventure 1.1 Trailer

Michael Clarke — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:48:19 +0000

We have been editing our brains out over here, trying to get this first issue out the door. Enjoy our trailer, equipped with snippets of the imagery and action you can expect to see in Just Passing Thru 1.1. The broadcast episode will be available for free on our site in the near future. We will also be selling an affordable DVD version equipped with standard and extended versions. This DVD will be packed with bonus features from the trip as well as other skiing edits including all of the Jiberish Chapter edits from the past winter in high resolution. [Click Here] to shop for the DVD.

Featuring the riding of Tom Wallisch, Phil Casabon, Nick Martini, Mike Hornbeck, Matt Walker, Seamus Flanagan, Michael Clarke, Keri Herman, Adam Delorme, Corey Vanular, Liam Downey, Henrik Harlaut, TJ Schiller, Mike Henituk, Sammy Carlson, Justin Norman, Peter Olenick, Matt Margetts, and many others.

Shot on location in Denver, Breckenridge, Woodward at Copper, Moab, Park City, Ogden, Boise, Mt. Hood, Seattle, Whistler, and everywhere in between.

35mm Installment #2: Freestyle.ch

Michael Clarke — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:28:10 +0000

Last September, I made a trip to Zurich, Switzerland to partake in Freestyle.ch. While I was rather unsuccessful in my competition endeavors, I managed to snap a few photos along the way.

Here’s an unknown skier navigating their way through the snow-covered, scaffolding structure of Freestyle.ch

The event venue was situated right on the shores of Lake Zurich. Here, a couple takes a break from the event to take in the view from a distant dock.

Apart from the event, I had some time to walk around the city and take in the sites. Here are two unknown city-goers, walking in unison.

I sat under this arch for some time, waiting for a passerby.

Freestyle.ch was an excellent time and I hope to attend the event once again this coming fall. Check back at justpassingthru.tv for some other photos I took during my trip to Icer Air in San Francisco.

35mm Installment #1: Dirt Biking

Michael Clarke — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:53:13 +0000

Hours upon hours have passed by as we work on assembling the footage of Just Passing Thru. There is little to be said about what we’re up to in terms of the project, so I’ve been trying to think of some other ways to get some stuff on the site. I have a few ideas in the works, and you should expect to see some fun things popping up from time to time here at justpassingthru.tv

Last fall I shot some photos with my 35mm film camera. Nothing too exciting, but I thought I’d throw a few separate installments of my photos up on the site.

This first batch of photos was taken at a dirt bike track just outside of Loveland, Colorado.

Here, Freeskier.com columnist Brian Schroy, flags the start of a race between a thirteen-year-old kid and my two friends, Willis Brown and Tyler Lawson. I’m pretty sure Willis and Tyler lost…

These two dudes are just living.

The track isn’t just for dirt bikers as there was some serious peddle biking going on.

Freeskier.com columnist Brian Schroy tells “A Whole of BS.”

This was my first time printing photos in the dark room. Looks like I mixed up which way the negative goes into the enlarger. I could have fixed it in photoshop but I’m not that motivated, sorry…

Anyway, that’s my first installment of 35mm prints. More to come in the future…

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews.

Michael Clarke — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:53:26 +0000

We just finished up shooting some interviews for the project. Unfortunately, Keri is home in Minnesota for the summer, so it was just Kimmel and I…

Our studio for the shoot was my basement, with an elegant Blake Kimmel design canvas backdrop. Despite the mom ‘n pop wood panel walls, it certainly did the trick.

The project is coming along great. Our original plan of releasing the series by the end of July, looks like it was rather farfetched. However, we’re shooting for the end of August by the latest. Its been rather difficult to balance school, life, and Just Passing Thru.

Here’s a view of the Just Passing Thru office, which also serves as my room. As you can see, we’re equipped with a brand new Mac Pro and other electronic trinkets. Also, our trailer should be ready in the near future, so check back at justpassingthru.tv to stay up-to-date with what’s going on in our neck of the woods…

Woodward at Copper

Michael Clarke — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:29:53 +0000

Last Monday, July 20th, we made a trip to Woodward at Copper to shoot the closing segment of the project. Our original plans consisted of an earlier trip to this summer ski destination. However, due to some conflicts, we had been unable to stop by and check out what Woodward had to offer. As a result, we pushed our visit to Copper back to late July; nearly one month after the end of the trip. This also coincided with Woodward’s grom week, which was sponsored by Jiberish.

Interior view of “The Barn” at Woodward…

Our trip began on Sunday, July 29th, when Pete Drago (one of the owners of Jiberish), picked me up from my home in Boulder, Colorado. Venturing up to the camp, we met with the kids who were attending Woodward this session (ages eight through ten).

Woodward’s staff led a stretch amongst the kids prior to letting them loose in the barn. Safety first here at Woodward…

This could quite possibly be one of the best bowl cuts I’ve ever witnessed…

Following the orientation session on Sunday night, we found our home for the night at “The Edge,” Copper’s staff housing. Here, Drago seems a little tuckered out after a fun filled evening of playing in the Barn at Woodward…

The following morning, we awoke to a beautiful day and sunny skies, something we aren’t typically used to here at Just Passing Thru…

We jumped in a bus and made our way up to the hill. Sadly, being the end of July, much of Copper’s snow had already melted, leaving the park severely diminished…

Here is Copper’s jump line as of July 20th. Had we been here a month earlier (as originally planned), we could have found a much more significant jump…

A view of the lower half of Copper’s run, late July. Blake gives a friendly wave…

Kimmel slides one of the down rails with his boots. One word: progression…

Here’s an example of some of the skiers attending grom week here at Woodward. The little guy is working that pizza stop…

Following our morning on snow, we ventured over to the barn to continue our day of play. Kimmel signs his life away prior to heading up to the trampolines…

While we arrived a little late to hit some of the larger features of the summer, we still had a great time throwing on our gear and making a few turns. Stay tuned to www.justpassingthru.tv for some more updates on the project.

Heading Home

Michael Clarke — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:58:49 +0000

After five horrendous weather days in Whistler, we awoke to an absolutely perfect day. No clouds to be seen, and only beautiful rays of sunshine. Unfortunately, despite the beautiful weather, we were scheduled to start our trek back home to Colorado. Packing up the Subaru, Ryann, Kerri and I jumped in, and started our lengthy drive home. Since we had stayed longer in Whistler in hopes of some better weather, we decided to forgo our original plans of stopping in Yellowstone, and head right home. Keri started the first leg of the trip in a rather crowded back seat. She claimed that she was comfortable, doubt it… After dropping Ryann off at the Vancouver airport, we made our way towards the border, where we sat in a line of slowly moving cars for close to an hour and a half. If you’re looking for a scooter, give these guys a call… We made a short pit stop in Seattle to grab some delicious grub at the Seattle Center. Mostly we just wanted to check out the Space Needle one last time… After a quick lunch at the Grecian Corner, we jumped back in the car and kept rolling towards Colorado. The drive thru Eastern Washington was tedious at times. We took several unplanned detours and saw a whole lot of flat landscape. Construction seems to be a prominent theme throughout the entire Northwest during this time of year. We arrived in the Park City region just as the sun was coming up. Originally planning on sleeping a few hours there, we simply kept driving towards Colorado. After 31 hours straight in the Subaru, I had dropped Keri off in Breckenridge and finally made it home to Boulder. The first installment of Just Passing Thru ended after 4,000 miles of driving through five different states and one Canadian province. It was a great trip and we captured some excellent footage. I picked up a brand new Mac Pro from the Apple store today and am working on getting our 32 hours of footage compiled and organized. Stay tuned to justpassingthru.tv for B-Roll edits and info on when the final series will drop. We’re shooting to get ‘er done by the end of the month… Thanks for following our adventures at justpassingthru.tv, keep dropping by the site to stay up to date with what’s going on with Just Passing Thru…

Just Passing Thru Whistler

Michael Clarke — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:40:32 +0000

After two days of rainy Whistler weather, the clouds finally broke, and some rays of sunshine began to peek through the mass of gloom overhead. We immediately made our way to the base of Blackcomb mountain, anticipating the lengthy journey to Horstman Glacier and the site of Momentum Ski Camps.

As we began to gather our gear, we quickly realized that Keri’s ski boots were no longer in the car. Apparently I had unloaded them back during our stay at Da Hood House, forgetting to put them back in the Subaru. We quickly resolved the problem with a trip to the Salomon store at the base of Whistler mountain.

Rental boots and all, we shlepped our gear up three ski lifts and one bus ride to reach the top of Blackcomb mountain.

Keri and Charlie, one of our videographers during our stay in Whistler, check out the menu for our next few days of skiing. During this time, we had the pleasure of skiing with the likes of Corey Vanular, Mike Riddle, Justin Dorey, TJ Schiller, Peter Olenick, Matt Margets, Joe Schuster, Mike Henituk, and many others. One highlight being Vanular stomping his first double flatspin ever.

Pro skier: TJ Schiller…

Heading down the lift after a fun day of skiing with Henituk. Just hanging loose in Whis…

Whistler village looms below.

On our walk back to the day lots, we stopped by the dirt track to watch some biking. Unfortunately we didn’t see any tail whips…

Ryann, my girlfriend, jumped on a plane and met us while we were passing through Whistler.

One of the challenges for a Momentum Ski Camp scavenger hunt was to get a kiss from Meg Olenick. Meg loves kissing little boys…

Check back at justpassingthru.tv for further updates on our adventure back to Colorado and other info associated with Just Passing Thru.

Wet Whistler Weather

Michael Clarke — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:22:08 +0000

We’ve currently been shacked up at the Sundial for the last two nights. Located right in the heart of Whistler village, we’re only a short walk from all that Whistler has to offer. (** To anyone who may be interested in staying at the Sundial during their stay in Whistler, please read the following: Do not stay at the Sundial! They tried to throw on a variety of extra bills upon our check out. None of which should have been there.**)

Here’s the lovely view from our balcony. Unfortunately, as can be seen in the above image, Whistler has been perpetually covered with a menacing rain cloud since our arrival in the area. As a result, we’ve been able to do very little skiing. I’ve turned to jumping in puddles and consuming far too much food and delicious beverages as my daily activities.

Here Josh Bibby exemplifies the proper puddle jumping form and technique.

Walking around the village I ran into many friends. Most notable was my encounter with Justin Dorey. We had matching outfits.

As I sit here writing this post, I can hear the rain falling outside. Keri is still fast asleep on the couch, and it appears that we have absolutely nothing to do today as we wont be skiing. However, looking at the weather forecast, it appears that tomorrow we’re being served up an order of mostly sunny skies and a balmy temperature of 70 degrees.