Winter in Whitefish

Another Whitefish Powder Day

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth?

This video has a frame rate of 30 frames per second and the video is 54 seconds long. That means this video is worth approximately 1,620,000 words. Nuff said.

One Down

I finally got my first real estate photography contract in Whitefish. It’s been a long time coming so I wanted to share my results and lessons learned.

Challenges manifest themselves in unpredictable ways for each location, but I find that shooting in snowy environments can be extra challenging, especially with a narrow timeline. In this case, my biggest challenge was the weather. The past few weeks have been unpredictable to say the least.

After checking for angles earlier in the day I returned to the property in the evening before sunset. Just as I arrived some clouds moved in and began to unload a barrage of snow inconsistently. I moved inside to get the interior shots first and bide my time. During a short break in the precipitation I moved outside and got my exterior shot.

I would have liked to have more time and maybe I’ll get another chance in the future, but most importantly the client was happy. As usual, I am my own biggest critic which I think this is typical of any creative type.

Resistance

Occasionally things come to you just when you need them most. The theologian might call these God’s miracles, the spiritually inclined might cite this as evidence of the universe communicating with us. I think both fail to recognize the other side. It’s been said that only fifty percent of a conversation is defined by what the speaker says, the rest is determined by the perception of the listener. In our society, resources abound. It’s up to us to recognize them and, when necessary, pick them up.

You could say this was the case in my most recent neglect of my responsibilities as a student and as a blog writer. Regardless, here I am and here is something: Resistance. That is the name of the artist’s enemy as defined in “The War of Art,” a nonfiction by Steven Pressfield. On the cover, Esquire declares the book “a vital gem...a kick in the ass.” I couldn’t agree more.

Pressfield paints a vivid picture of the abstract. He unmasks the monsters that haunt the creative types, particularly those who struggle with sitting down to create. Sitting down to create, he reminds us, is the hardest part of creating. By stripping bare the mystery of ‘Resistance’ and presenting a more concrete interpretation of the phenomenon that plagues creators, myself included, he removes its power over us.

I’m about a quarter of the way through it and I already feel a surge of motivation and empowerment. I’m clearly not the first, based on many glowing reviews. For the tools to identify and overcome resistance, I highly recommend The War of Art.

Truly Raw #2 - Scott Wiley & Will Van Atta

Hold onto your britches, I’m writing something political. “Dear god no,” you gasp? “Dear god yes,” I reply, stone cold. But for now, lets keep the mood light.

Before you watch my new video, I want to provide some context. My whole goal to become a content creator means that I need to have a body of work. One of my latest endeavors is the production of a new video series I’m calling “Truly Raw.” The concept for the video series is to document and deliver content in a raw, rough edit format. This is a trendy solution that eliminates the problem of obtaining licenses for music. It authentically represents where I am and paints a picture of where I want to go.

Video description:
Just in case any of you suckers forgot, we're still out here working while you sleep, trying to make this dream a reality. It's Truly Raw at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Today, the snow is coming down hard - more on that to come. But it wasn't all that long ago that we were just barely scraping by, surviving on Tahoe's table scraps, stomping 150-ft booters on uphill ice, son. Say hi to ya boi Scott Wiley and his PBR pounding friend, Will Van Atta. Shout out to Truly Spiked & Sparkling, you fellas make one hell of a hard seltzer, give me a call and we can get something going.

F****** Epic

What can you say about a day like today? Inevitably you roll up to a familiar face and just a glance says it all. It’s f****** epic!

It was just another one of those days that, after waking up at 6am, there was absolutely no way I was sleeping in. Warm up with a nice stretch, quick breakfast and tea, getting ready between glances at the snow report and webcams, yelling at my roommate that it's time to go, "no, like right now." No friends on a pow day.

Waiting for the chairlift to start loading on a powder day, this may be one of the few places you’ll find people happy to wait in line. It sure beats the DMV. The morning light broke through the clouds to shine on the crowd as patrol dropped the rope and the first chair was loaded.  F****** epic doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Type 2 Fun: Part 3

Despite being out of the wind, the longer we sat on the summit of Werner Peak the more the cold crept into our bones. Very soon we were preparing for the decent. We clipped in and continued north along the ridge looking for a good place drop into the west face and out of the wind. It was still bitter cold and we still had to cross the giant snow drifts, but at least we were going downhill.

We found a nice shot of sparse trees and dropped in, leapfrogging around each other. In early December I was more concerned about hitting rocks than anything else. But if you go into the backcountry without your eyes open and inattentive to potential avalanche danger, you put yourself at serious risk. We analysed the danger as we continued, but all we found were perfect open snowfields. It was glorious.

Eventually we got into the old growth forest and the terrain started to level off, signs that we were nearing the end of our adventure. We had suffered on the climb and reaped only a fraction of the skiing we would have gotten within the boundary of a resort. But the margin of fun had been exponential. Putting in the hard work for accomplishment, that's what brings a meaningful happiness. That’s type two fun.