SnowboardCross, a lost world?

Three weeks ago, I went in the Hautes Alpes (south French Alps) to see a friend of mine competing the French and European SnowboardCross Cup in Puy St Vincent during 3 days. I had no idea about how the competition will be, and I was surprised by the good level of the riders and the professionalism of the teams. I've seen some riders from all the European countries, and also from Australia and South Africa to compete the cups in order to gain some points for the global ranking.

But I was shocked by something, I was the only photographer (except a girl who came for the local newspaper) and I was also the only spectator during 3 days! Come on, it's an European Cup guys! I couldn't believe it, and if you go on Google and search "SnowboardCross", there is almost nothing, only amateur things. Sounds like you can only find something on this sport during the World Cups... It's sad. Is this sport lost? No money? No sponsor? No media? Even the French Federation of Snowboard didn't seem to be interested to promote this sport with professional images : "Yeah, send me some pics, we have a cool Facebook page". Are you kidding? My pics for free on your poor facebook page? Nope, I prefer to show them on my blog!

But I took some pictures for my friend Vincent and, maybe, a french magazine... Anyway, here are my favorite ones, at least, you guys can tell "snowboardcross still exist, I have seen some pics on this blog!"...

Thanks for visiting.
I'll be on the road tomorrow to be on time for the "Rallye Neige et Glace" 2013 edition. Cheers!

8 am, the riders are already on their way for the first training while the ski resort is still sleeping... 

After the first trainings, it's time for the qualifications. One by one.

My friend Vincent is here for the fun, and prefer to have fun in the powder before the qualifications (with his snowboardX board and his bib)!

Here is a local french coach training some Australian riders. All is good!

Pierrot is a legend, but you probably don't know him. This is the guy behind the Karine Ruby's Olympic Games gold medal (1998). We miss you Karine

This sport if full of girl riders, and it's good. 

Go big or go home. Girls power! 

Yes, she is also a girl, and she can ride with style.

Your turn boys!

The big final fight! SnowboardX is cool. 

No good result for Vince, but mother nature is everywhere and is good.

Cheers!

Happy New Year!

Excuse me guys, I missed the bus and I'm a bit late! We are already the 18th and it seems the clock goes way faster than in 2012! I'm back from the french Alps where I had some good times skiing with good friends in La Clusaz, Les Carroz and Swiss Alps. I also spent 3 days in a little resort called Puy St Vincent to take some pictures of the French and European SnowboardCross Cups (photos to come), and I'm now shooting the Paris Fashion Week. Time goes fast and January is already full of images.

Here is a photo I took in November in Toulon, south of France, with my "fishing lover" friend Vincent. Thought it was nice to illustrate these words for you :

"Let's catch the best of 2012 into 2013 with more experience, more fun, more love, more passion... Happy New Year to my followers and thanks for still visiting this blog!"

More to come...
Cheers!

A strange video clip...

Few months ago, my friend Anto asked me to take some photos during a video clip filming. The kind of work I like to do. But I had no idea about who was the artist... My first surprise was to meet a guy that I knew for many years through my Hip Hop culture. Solo (Assassin/Toxic) was the creator of the mythic rap group Assassin, then he created the Toxic parties with Uncle O 10 years ago and they also made an album together mixing different style of music. Solo founded a music label called Black Frog Entertainment and they started to promote a group, the Monomaniax. I don't know exactly what kind of music they do, it's a strange mix between punk music and electronic music... So here I was. Working in the middle of people coming from different universe during a shooting of a video clip. I personally prefer my photographs than the music, but if you're curious, here is the link to watch the video clip made by Anto Hinh-Tai & Jeremy Halkin a.k.a Les Darons.

(Click on the first image to open the slideshow)

Anne-So & Nico's wedding

I'm not into the wedding business anymore (and I don't think I used to be!), but I love to cover a wedding when the guys are some friends of mine, or some friends of friends... Well, in a word, when the guys are cool, I know the wedding will be cool.

A wedding day is not a 50% time job, you have to be at 100% as everything is fast, from the church, or even from the make up in the morning, to the champagne and the final cake (yummy!) after midnight. But the longest work comes after the wedding day, when it's time to edit more than 1000 pics... And I'm a lazy boy...

I promised that I'd put some pics of this nice day here, so here is a bunch of life moments I've shot during the Anne-Sophie & Nicola's wedding. I'm not good to choose the right images, so it's just a personal selection of what I like.

Cheers!
(Please, click on any image to launch the gallery)

Fred Wesley & the New J.B.'s live!

Last Friday night, I said "no" to the parties I was invited by my friends and said "yes" to take my car  alone and drive 40 minutes to see a true legend onstage. I couldn't miss this opportunity to see such a legend of Funk close to my house as I already missed him earlier this year in Paris. But I have to tell you that I also have a special story with Fred Wesley. This kind of story you will always remember... I can only tell you that few months ago I was shooting him in a music studio in Paris for the new album of an artist and I don't have the right to say who is he neither to show you these images for the moment...

Anyway, I paid only 5€ to see one of the most important man related to the James Brown's career. Crazy, right?! No accreditation this time, I was shooting with fans around me, just for fun. Of course I brought my Canon 5D MkIII and my brand new macro lens 100mm f/2.8 L IS to test for the first time this combo in a concert situation. Nothing else to say that it's the best combo I have ever had to shoot portraits, macro, products and concerts. The lens is sharp as hell and the camera is awesome when you go in high ISO. Here is a bunch of photos I did, and here is the link to watch a quick video I shot with the 5D and the 100mm during this concert.

Cheers!

Canon 5D MkIII - 1/200s - f/2.8 - ISO 2000 - Canon 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS

Canon 5D MkIII - 1/250s - f/2.8 - ISO 2500 - Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS

Paris Heineken Cup Launch

In September, I had the chance to photograph the Heineken Cup Launch in Paris for Getty Images and the ERC (European Rugby Cup). The mission was to make some portraits of the athletes and their coach in the France Television photo studio, to shoot some cool outside group pictures and to take some photos during the press conference. All was really fast, and it was not easy as I had to run everywhere, but it was a great job and opportunity to meet these great champions.

Here is a bunch of what I've shot. You can see all my work for Getty Images whenever you want on their website typing "Richard Bord" in the search area ;-)

Thanks for visiting. Cheers!

Captain Aurélien Rougerie of ASM Clermont Auvergne

Captain Sébastien Tillous Bordes & coach Bernard Laporte of RC Toulon

Captain Jacques Cronje & coach Gonzalo Quesada of Racing Metro 92

Captain Imanol Harinordoquy of Biarritz Olympique PB

Coach Guy Noves of Stade Toulousain & Coach Laurent Rodriguez of Biarritz Olympique PB

Captain Thierry Dusautoir of Stade Toulousain

All the images are © Richard Bord / Getty Images