Photo Hold'em ::: Round 2 ::: Time To Narrow The Field

First, apologies from tRL for the delayed Hold'em post. We wanted to get this up last week, but life has been hectic around the tRL central command headquarters, so thanks for being patient & waiting for us to get all caught up.

Also, mucho thanks to the supporters of the tRL Photo Hold'em contest! These generous folks make it possible for us to provide some prizes for the participants:




^^^ Special shout-out to Joe Carberry & the crew @ the new paddlesports publication PADDLING LIFE MAGAZINE, who have signed on to support the game too.

Ok, for this round, we must start by narrowing down the field to the Sweet 16, who'll be bracketed into a photog v. photog format. So, the following photographers will not be advancing. It's not that we don't love you .. but you gotsta git.
Seriously though, thanks for playing!

Name: Steve Ward / Did not submit Round 2 photo.
(Judges: "Must've been something we said.")

Name: Michael Travares / Did not submit Round 2 photo.
(Judges: "Must've been something we did.")

Name: Nathan Silsbee
From: Southeast
"This is a shot of Saunders Southecorvo, trying to get a unique camera angle. Unfortunately the camera was bouncing all over the place because we were on a gravel road, and it was a terrible shot. This was on a Huge Experiences trip in Australia a couple years ago. It made for a great still shot though."

(Judges: "This is a fun shot -- & Saunders has one of the best names I've ever heard -- but this isn't the kind of shot we'd pick for printing in a magazine. Besides, we're jealous of your trip to Australia. For the readers, you can check out more from Mr. Silsbee at his new blog HERE.")

Name: Andrew Oberhardt
From: Bellevue WA
"Matt Thomas: Poser. Franklin Falls: Background."

(Judges: "First of all, I feel bad that I botched Effigy's entry photo. He should be your opponent right now. That, however, does not mean that we wanna see the guy posin' in front of a waterfall that, clearly, he didn't swim run. Also, what's with the UFO-orb in the pic? Or is that water on your lens?")

Name: Edgar Peck
From: NC
"Well, I thought about a lot of different pictures, I almost submitted a picture of Chan, but didn't want to beat him with a picture of him, that's just cruel. There is no way I can be in a photo contest in Nov without submitting a picture from the GREEN RACE, so here it is. Head to Head."

(Judges: "This shot's pretty close to being a winner. But low light conditions can be the devil when shooting kayaking .. & compositionally, if you were to crop the image to train the viewer's eye to the frenzy in the foreground, it would make the shot a bit more compelling: CHECK IT OUT (<-click). And anyway, only one kayak race shot will advance through this round - see below")

Name: Tim Loubier
From: Can-tucky
Greg boofing on the Stein.

(Judges: "Canada is Land of the Northern Lights, but it looks like someone forgot to turn them on in this shot.")

Name: Mikkel St. Jean-Duncan
From: Canuckia
Caption: Spencer Cox, Raft River B.C.

(Judges: "We really do like Canadians, eh? But we also like bright crisp photos.")

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The following shots made it into the Sweet 16. So as you scroll down this list, take notice of the BRACKET FORMAT. For the next round, photographers will be submitting photos with the hopes of advancing beyond their individual competitor and into the next round. Here's the Sweet 16.

Name: John Fullbright
From: Taos
Boater camp alongside the Slave River

(Judges: "Wow, this is beautiful...Love how the contour of the aurora complements the contour of the hills in the background. John tapped into the essence. If this doesn't make you wanna pack up the truck & take a roadtrip, you're not a kayaker.")

versus

Name: Chan Jones
From: NC
Oceana on the Tallulah.

(Judges: "Not the standard angle of Oceana. From this perspective, you really get a sense for the imposing nature of The Thing. Good enough to advance young Chan into the sweet 16. He'll have to play a sweet card to trump The Pro, though.")

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Name: John Boone
From: NC > Hood River, but currently corresponding from Hawaii
Eden Sinclair of New Zealand hucking on Rogers Creek BC.

(Judges: "Nice billygoat's-eye view ... This reaaaaallllly makes me want to go kayaking.")

versus

Name: Erik Boomer
From: McCall, ID, but currently corresponding from Nepal
Johnny Utah Minerich on the Gordon River, Vancouver Island, BC.

(Judges: "Utah is on my shitlist for bailing out on boating this weekend, but this is a nice shot. Guess we can't criticize you for your subject's (numerous) flaws.")

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Name: Lane Jacobs
From: Eugenius, OR
My entry from the lovely state of california. Rush on Five Lakes Creek, a tributary to the Upper Rubicon we 1st descented this June. It probably wont be done too many more times cause to get to it we had to hike up and over Alpine Meadows ski area. A hellish hike in followed by a hellish flatwater paddle out (~6 miles) ... it did have some huge drops on it though, some still unrun.

(Judges: "Oh my heck! That's big! & well composed / well exposed. Sweet. I spent many days patrolling at Squaw Valley wondering what might be in that drainage. Only made it back there in the winter, however. Nice work.")

versus

Name: Atom Crawford
From: Sante Fe
"Sunshine in the PNW"

(Judges: "The overall shot isn't doing alot for us, but during this dreary-ass November, that bright sunshine is really resonatin'.")

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Name: Darin McQuoid
From: Somewhere in Cali
Paddler: EJ on the Alseseca in Mex

(Judges: "My favorite angle for waterfalls. The over the shoulder gives the drop a certain mystery as to its true size.")

versus

Name: Brian Vogt
From: Sea-Town
Mark Yauney running B.U.D on McCoy Creek. Yauney has been a pioneering inflatable creekboater in the region for two decades, being among the first IK'ers to run creeks like the Little White, Clear Fork Cowlitz, and Ernie's Canyon.
Names of the boaters, L to R: Mike Novak, Mark Yauney, Eric Klein, David Chatham, Hugh Boyd

(Judges: "Classic NW beauty. Although I think the shot would benefit from not having all the safety/scout people in the field of view. Nice nonetheless .. makes me want to go kayaking.")

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Name: Evan Ross
From: Jackson Hole, WY
"Searching for the fluffy love, Warren G on The Fuzzy Little Bunny. Vallecito Creek, CO."

(Judges: "Not much to say on this crisp photo, except that if you have run the drop, you know the feeling.")

versus

Name: Shawn Robertson
From: Montana
An example of a rare cloud formation called the Kelvin-Helmholtz wave cloud. I almost shit my pants when I saw how perfect the waves formed up. It was taken in the Altiplano of Southern Argentina.

(Judges: "Very cool. This might seem to be a bluff card, but actually it's more like a Wild Card. Doesn't *have* to be kayaking to win ya know. One of my favorites for sure from this round. And extra points for droppin' the knowledge on the name of the cloud formation.")

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Name: Evan Joseph Stafford
From: Ft. Fun, CO
Pete "The Mortgage Maestro" Stromberg's entrance (to Cool World) was just so stylin that i had to attach it to his boof that followed. As we all know, that entrance can be tricky. Check out the merganser submarine style he's achieving there ... Sikl. HERE is a merganser link to use, since you guys love to do that kind of shit.

(Judges: "Nice sequence of Peter seconds before another swim, AND you included an html tag? Works for me.")

versus

Name: Hale Hanaway
From: B-Ham, WAaaaa
Living in Bellingham, we have lots of oppurtunity to check out whats directly across the border. Most people bypass the border rivers for the plethora of rivers farther north in Squamish and Whistler. Well Norrish Creek is just one of the gems we discovered a few years ago that has become one of our local favorites. Randall Reinders is running the first drop before heading into the gorge below.

(Judges: "One of the most beautiful creeks I've done in BC .. but the dreaded "paddlers' arm syndrome" obscures visibility of the face. We'll take your word that that's actually Randall. ")

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Name: Mark Basso
From: Up North
"I hope your not too surprised on this one, gonna try and please the judges good by posting their homeboys of course! I welcome all slanderous remarks to this one. You know the person, you know the place.....It was a photo throwdown between me and Bryan's pro-snappy friend on the same turf......this is one of my trigger pulls.

(Judges: "Dang, I doubt it would matter who it was or what they were paddling! This is a beautiful shot.")

versus

Name: Kyle McCutchen
From: Grand Disfunction, CO
Could it be a bluff? Or have they gone for the lifestyle flush because slides are so wack these days? Anyone can fall off a big waterfall, but not everyone can look like a badass at the takeout. At the end of the day, lifestyle is all that matters. Sunsets, happy hour celebrations, bonfires, and driving through the night with truck stop intermissions. Or is the element of difficult whitewater in dangerous and remote terrain a necessary class V ingredient to make it a Royal Flush?
Morning camp on the Middle Fork Salmon. The view from our tent site on one of the last nights. August 06 had been particularly hot and dry, and the forest fire flames were riverside at times, filling the canyon with a smokey haze for much of the trip.

(Judges: "Nice bluff gambler. Next card better be a face card if you want that Royal Flush.")

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Name: Kennet Belenky
From: The Emerald City
Subject: Ben Glahn and Kahuna on Canyon Creek of the Lewis

(Judges: "Benny, we hardly knew ye! Kennet captures the contemplative moment before the decision is made. If you run creeks, you know what's going on in Ben's wheelhouse in this pic.")

versus

Name: Barbora Hollan
From: Norway
The photo was taken this summer at the Sjoa River Festival, during the Sweet Boater-X competition. The rumble goes traditionally down the Amot Falls, which are known as one of the most dangerous parts of Sjoa. This year a new launching ramp was invented. Some people looked upon it with skepticism, and decided not to participate because fearing for their backs, while some almost broke their backs when boofing it. Two days before the competition (during the first festival evening), there was a fatal accident only a few hundred meters down from the kayak camp. I think it's unnecessary to say that we all were sorry for losing a new paddler. It made us stop and think about what kind of sport we actually are doing and the lifestyle we lead. Nevertheless, we have to go on. After several discussions, there was decided that the competition would go on as planned.

(Judges: "Oh, art school! Fresh perspective, nice work.")


To all the photogs, nice work & thanks for playing! Everyone else, scroll down for an Updater on high water fallout & stay tuned for Round 3 of Frodo Hold'em.

Love,
tRL crew