John Curtis Photography and Videography

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Belvedere Club Charlevoix MI, Hucker and Maddy - 2011

7:47 AM | Posted by John Curtis photo/video |

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These pictures are from early April of this year. My wife Bre and I took our son

Hucker and his cousin Maddy on a walk in the Belvedere Club in Charlevoix.

I snapped a couple pics!

This is maddy after discovering that the sign actually said one of her

favorite words, "stop"!

These house numbers caught my eye! They frame just looked so

rich and full of life.

Hucker found this old brush while on the walk and refused

to give it up! He has this habit of wanting to play with everything

he shouldn't!

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Monday, May 16, 2011

Char-Em Bike 4 Breast Cancer

1:32 PM | Posted by John Curtis photo/video |

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We have signed on to take photos and video for this years Pink Ribbon Ride!

This years event takes place June 18th 2011 at 7:00 a.m in Veterans Park!

Come out and make a difference!

Click here for more info!

And if you have time, head to the official FaceBook page!

www.facebook.com/b4bc.char.em

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Traverse City Fisherman

10:29 AM | Posted by John Curtis photo/video |

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This is an older photo from my archives. We were in Traverse City

a few months ago when we stopped at a park to let Hucker play at

a play set. We pulled up and I noticed these two guys wading out

in the bay and throwing spoons for lake trout.

After all the fishing that my brother and I do, I just thought this

was an epic shot! Nothing like two guys , enjoying the the great

out of doors in Northern Michigan!

Also captured this helicopter passing over, thought it was neat!

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Marquette Michigan epic snow storm. Great Lakes Surfing. Presque Isle Breakwall

12:56 PM | Posted by John Curtis photo/video |

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Last month Bre, Hucker and I took a weekend trip to Marquette Michigan. I had just finished up a long winter season at Nub's Nob and thought it would be nice to get a way and relax in the sunshine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan!

We got in the car, drove up across the Mackinac Bridge (the mighty mack), and headed for the college town of Marquette. We had beautiful weather the whole way up! Hucker rode really well in the car for his first trip over 4 hours and we enjoyed the trip.

We grabbed a hotel room when we got in to the city of Marquette (about 10:30 p.m) and unloaded the car, ordered some food, ate and went to sleep. When we woke up in the morning the ground was coated in snow!!!! AHHHHH I thought! I came up here to get away from the long winter I'd just had....

The snow pretty much wrecked our chances of doing anything active with Hucker in tow, so we got in the car and set out looking for photograph locations.

We headed to toward Presque Isle with the hopes that we would find something interesting to shoot.

When we got there the first thing I noticed were the waves exploding on the break wall that lead out to the light house.

I grabbed my Canon 60d Body and a few lenses and headed out in to the snow storm to get a closer look at the waves that were surging in to the break wall.

My first encounter on the Presque Isle break wall was this sign. Ominous, maybe just a disclaimer I thought, after all I am a water boy Michigan born and raised.

I made my way closer and closer to the break wall when BA-BOOM, a set of waves drove in to the wall sending water 30ft+ in to the air. It was at that moment that the sign made sense to me..... I would not be pushing in to get much further out on the wall then I already was.

This is one of my favorite shots from the day. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see the power in the wave as it rips up the side of the break wall, sending water jetting in to the air, almost protecting the light house from passerby's.

This is the old factory that the break wall protects. It had this awesome wall of snow falling between it and I , creating this haze like effect on the final picture.

Here are a couple different angles of the water as it ripped up the break wall. So much power in this nature!

We got back in the car and were heading out of the Presque Isle area when this old van cam zooming by us and headed down a road that we hadn't noticed. I did a double take at the van and noticed 5 or 6 people crammed in and surf boards hanging out the back! I thought to myself right then, "these guys are surfing in Marquette", during on of the nastiest high wind snow storms I'd ever seen!

I flipped a louie and followed the van back down some roads into a harbor.

I was completely surprised to see more than just the van of Great Lakes surfers already suiting up to get in the water.

A surfer catches a Great lakes wave to prove that you indeed, can surf in Michigan.

A group of surfers paddle out in to lake superior to catch the next set of waves. Great Lakes Surfing Anyone?

A couple Late arrivals head out in to the freezing cold water.

It was a pretty wild thing watching all these guys surf during this storm. In the 30 minutes that i sat on shore waiting for shots my nose began to run, my fingers froze and my whole body started to shake. These were for sure some dedicated dudes.

The final picture!

I couldn't pass up the chance to take this shot.

Seagulls are not usually the most attractive of birds, but there was something about this

one seagull sitting all alone amidst this gnarly midwestern storm that couldn't go undocumented!

All I can think every time I look at it is how this poor bird made the wrong choice on when to show back up in the Mitten State!

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Charlie Hoffman Rides Nub's Nob

11:32 AM | Posted by John Curtis photo/video |

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I have had the privilege of working side by side with Charlie Hoffman the past two winters at Nub's Nob Ski and Snowboard Area in Harbor springs.

Charlie is a young guy with a great personality and an eagerness towards living life!

One of the most talented people I've ever seen on a snowboard, Charlie has been putting in over 100+ days a season, progressing as he goes.

It is a gift to be able to ride everyday with such a cool dude!

Here are some of the pics I was able to get of him this past 2010/2011 season.

This is my favorite shot of Charlie from 2010/2011.

It was a beautiful sunny March day at Nub's Nob and Charlie and I loaded up

the snowmobile with my photography gear and headed up to the terrain park.

The feature was a cross hill Quarter Pipe that gapped out to a down hill Quarter Pipe

landing. The sun was blazing down so I set up my Canon 430exii flash for wireless

and used it to illuminate the down hill side of Charlie's body and board.

Here is the same feature from another angle with a different grab.

We built some new jumps for the last 4 weeks of the season, both step overs, one at 50ft and the other at 45ft. Charlie got so geeked on having good jumps that pretty much destroyed them

within the first few days! This is a big Backside 180 with a tweaked out melon.

It was kind a crappy snow year in michigan as you can see in this next picture! the

woods are pretty much empty! But that didn't stop Chuck, the kid just kept jibbing away!

This is another of my favorite Charlie shots. The Nub's Nob double kink is

a legit rail for a resort and Charlie just slays it!

These next three photos have a great story behind them.

Charlie and I designed this single kink down flat bar a the beginning of the season.

I got out the protractor and measured a 22 degree angle that at the time, on a much smaller

scale, seemed mellow. Well a few weeks later it was finished and ready to be integrated

in to the terrain park. Charlie, myself and Ron Rose headed out on hill one night to

set this beast up and realized how steep 22 degrees really was!

It was insanely steep.... Charlie and I argued about it for a while and I finally ended up

telling him the only way I would believe it was safe for kids was if he starting riding it

right then! .....

And that's just what Chuckles did! he strapped in and just tore that rail apart, check out

the proof below.

So the rial stayed up, what with Charlie proving me wrong and all! Over the course

of the next two weeks few brave riders dared to take on the super steep single kink.

We pulled it out one night and decided to angle the kink to a 10 degree, which ended up

being perfect, and also being a total indication of Charlie Hoffman's talent!

Charlie tweaks with the best of them!

This is the water tower in Charlevoix Michigan. A few of us spent an afternoon

shoveling up to this feature. Our good buddy Justin Ducker ended up getting the

banger shot on it, but Chuckles pulled a few good ones out of his bag as well.

This is the Nub's Nob signature feature I designed for the 2010/11 season.

This thing has so many different approach angles and exit angels!

Charlie put it to good work this season, proving to the skeptics that it

was definitely worth checking out!

This 1000 gallon tank became a staple feature at Nub's Nob this season. And who

is the Tank Master you might ask? none other than Chachi.

Chuck getting transferred in to the wall ride.

Tweaking out a method tap while fellow Nub's local Justin Ducker watches from the top.

So like I said earlier, Charlie Hoffman rips, plane and simple.

This kid doesn't get half the credit he deserves for his riding, which is probably just the

way he wants it!!!

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Thursday, May 12, 2011

St. Francis Solanus Indian Mission Church, Petoskey Michigan (5/11/2011)

6:18 AM | Posted by John Curtis photo/video |

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There is something to be said about a city that holds on to its history!

The St. Francis Solanus Indian Mission Church holds history for much more than Petoskey Though.

Here is a little bit of info on the area. Taken from emmetcount.org .

The oldest building still standing in Northern Lower Michigan, Solanus Mission Church in Petoskey, has undergone period-specific restoration in recent years, and those who care for the little church at the waterfront are offering tours through the end of October.

This church, setting on the shores of Little Traverse Bay on West Lake Street, has seen many sunsets since 1859. It was established by Father Baraga (“the snowshoe priest”) who had arrived in the country from Slovenia, a province of Austria, in the early 1830s.

In 1858, a carpenter and his wife, Jean Baptiste and Sophie Trotochaud, donated 1 acre of land to now-Bishop Baraga for the new church. Its dimensions are 30X20, and 12 feet high. It was built by Trotochaud under the direction of Father Sifferath, a missionary from Harbor Springs, and blessed by Baraga in 1860. The church was used by both the Indians and white settlers, and it remains a sacred burial ground for Indian remains today.

A renovation took place in 1931 by an Ottawa Indian organization, and since that time, Mass has been offered once a year on the feast day of St. Francis Solanus and Blessed Kateri Teckakwitha.

A third renovation took place in 1959 in honor of the 100th anniversary. Early in Jan. 2005, a committee of locals formed to preserve the historic building; it included Father Dennis Stilwell, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church in Petoskey. Local architect Rick Neumann handled the planning for the restoration. Among the extensive restoration work, the foundation was restored, boards were repaired and painted and windows restored as well. Symbolic crosses now mark the area of the Native American ancestors buried on the property.