As a photographer living in Japan there are certain places or events that make my ears prick up, my imagination starts flowing and i instantly start thinking what lenses should i pack and whether i remember to charge my camera, one of these events is the Donto Yaki festival or ‘fire festival’.

Above: locals look on as the Donto Yaki fires burn bright.

Below: A local man warms his hands at the entry gate torches.

Just after new years a bunch of these festivals pop up around the country, the most prominent is a large one in Nozawa Onsen.  However this is a big draw card for westerners and when i want to shoot something typically Japanese the last thing i want is a bunch of goofy looking Aussies in every photo, so to avoid this my fellow workers and i ventured closer by to the smaller Donto Yaki festival in Suginohara, about 20 minutes from the Akakura Kanko resort where we live and play.

Arriving at the event in two vans we were met with the all too familiar chaos of people trying to park on the side of roads against snow banks, with one official looking dude with a light sabre style directing stick trying to keep order, yet there is always one muppet from Tokyo in a front wheel drive and no snow tyres who decides to get wedged half way across the road, but that’s all part of the fun and craziness of this place.

With vans parked and enough layers on to make the michelin man look skinny, we shuffled off towards the glow of the two large bonfires, where the smell of ash mixed in with all sorts of delicious japanese snacks got everyone pretty excited. Once at the fires we were happy to see that they had just been lit and hadn’t taken full flight yet, you could see all the good luck charms in the fire that the locals had placed there before they were lit, these charms are on display in businesses and homes over the new years holiday period to bring good luck for the coming year, however unlike the throw away western society the people of Japan choose to burn these items in the Donto Yaki fires insted of discarding them on the trash pile. The higher the smoke from these fires reach into the skies the more prosporous the new year will be, larger crops, healthier families and for us, more snow!

As the two large bonfires roared to life, several volunteers from the local fire brigade attempted to keep them in check with long sticks (not long enough in my opinion) as the crowd watched on. With a crack the smoke from the fires lit up purple, then green, the fireworks had started followed by a lot of camera clicks and ‘oohing and ahhing’.

To keep everyone warm saki was handed out, i don’t think this helped anyone’s cause as the ground was already turning icy, anyone who had not fallen now would follow suit as the saki kicked in, but no one cared, it’s all in the spirit of the event!.

After all the fire works had gone off and the large fires smouldered down to red hot coal pits, many locals surged forward with their ‘squid on a stick’, large ,apparently roasting these in the donto yaki firest makes for quite a yummy snack, i think i’ll take their word for it.

As the night drew to a close, all the squid had been eaten and the fires died down to a smoulder, i decided to finally check my raffle ticket number that was handed to me as i entered the festival.  When i get in camera mode i have blinkers on, not a raffle or anything else will distract me- although this time it should have as it looked like i’d won something!, i handed over my ticket and was passed an envelope with a lot of bowing and smiling, i had the contents translated to me and it turned out i’d won a nights accomodation for two in Suginohara, winner! winner!…….. squid dinner?

Festivals like the Donto Yaki make all the snow shovelling and lack of KFC worth it, it’s impossible to get a bad photo at these events, even though this is my third time shooting this festival i’ll be back again next season, jacket covered in ash once again and maybe next time i’ll bring my own squid on a stick.

Matty

Written to the sounds of: Karnivool – Sound Awake.

Live music, thats what.

Back when i was just a pimply faced teen in high school when digital photography was something that only the hubble telescope had, a large majority of my time was taken up by music. I’m not talking about the crap you listen to on the radio or the soul-less dribble you watch on video hits, i’m talking about bands, a drummer, a guitarist, a singer, a bassist,, well you get it. When I was 15 I remember going to my mate’s band rehearsals at his house, the rehearsal usually only went for an hour and then it turned into a drunken blur of people with no rhythm taking over the drum kit and people who could hardly open their eyes trying to play smoke on the water with the amp cranked up, but for that first hour of the guys smashing out unpolished raw music sparked something in me, and I wanted a part of it.

Fast forward to the new millennium and my love for this music has not dissipated, my good friends and have been loyal followers of many local and international bands, taking any opportunity we can to get to a gig and be a part of something that can’t be described to someone who thinks a black eyed peas concert is……. amazing. (insert gag reflex here)

With a short time line of two months, a gaggle of mates and a camera bag that is nearly impossible to negotiate a crowd with, I work on helping out some incredibly talented bands on their quest for world domination, the first of these is ‘Get to the chopper’.

I first met the boys from get to the chopper on a rainy night in in November 2010, my beautiful music loving partner Karen and I had gone along to a gig of theirs at the Evelyn hotel in Brunswick St, Melbourne. On this occasion Kaz and I had flipped a coin and it looked like I was the one holding the bar up tonight. After a few beers Get to the chopper hit the stage, thirty seconds in and I knew these guys had something, front man Luke belted out vocals that you could tell were not just words, these lyrics meant something, this lyrical honesty combined with his ‘four year old on wizzfizz’ style energy captured the attention of the room instantly.

Later that night

i met Luke and guitarist Ryan, now, this is the bit where the fact that i wasn’t driving that night really kicked in and verbal diarrhea ensued.

The next morning I woke up, shoes still on and nursing a hangover that not even bacon and eggs could fix, I needed to find out when the boys were playing next, we needed to work together.

Next weekend rolls along and Kaz and I are at the Gershwin room at the Espy Hotel in St Kilda, camera in hand (and not a beer) I tried my introductions again and was relieved to find that I hadn’t made a complete fool of myself at the Evelyn, in fact the boys were really keen to have me on board. That night the guys put on a show that proved once again they were going to be big and I had sixteen gig of RAW photos that needed to be edited, the world needed a face to go with the music.

With the release of their next EP imminent i’ve been working with the Get to the chopper boys on studio shoots and a promotional image, unfortunately i can’t show you that image yet as it’s under lock and key until the EP drops, but rest assured I will definitely post it up when that time comes, until then check out the boys facebook page, support excellent aussie music before it becomes extinct and we are forced to listen to drum machines and digitally altered Jason Derulo style voices for all eternity!
Get To The Chopper Facebook Page

When friends and music colide – Fenian

Eleven years ago my mate brought this girl to one of my parties, she got drunk and threw up in my garden, she’s now the lead singer/songwriter for the band Fenian and one of my best friends.

You know what, I was going to write more, but I think that sums it all up. Jess is one of the most talented people I have the pleasure of being friends with, her vocals still astound me every time I hear her sing, combine this gem with three very talented band mates who have incredible music writing talents and you get Melbourne band Fenian, every gig is getting bigger and bigger, these guys are going to hit the big time quicker than any of us can keep up. With their first EP on the way i’m working with these guys on live shots and everything else that goes along with releasing amazing music.

Instead of me babbling on about it, check it out for yourself: Fenian FB page

So what is on the horizon?  With these two bands taking off in a big way, i’m hoping to be along for the ride, these guys have talent oozing from their amp leads, i’m just going to make sure the rest of the world knows they exist so no one misses out, but these guys aren’t the only ones, there is so much talent in the Melbourne music scene that needs to be captured on camera, if only i had more than four months a year!.

Now is the part where I ask you guys a favour, quit going to night clubs and stadium extravaganzas and get back to the roots of Australian music, places like the Evelyn, the Espy, the HiFi and support these incredibly talented musicians. If it wasn’t for live music I never would have met my wonderful other half Karen, so ditch the pink shirt with the collar popped, put on a comfy band tshirt, crank it up to eleven and have some fun!!

Matty

Written to the sounds of Alexisonfire – Crisis

Seki Onsen is about 15 minutes from Akakura Kanko, the main resort in Myoko Kogen, but unlike Akakura Kanko and all the surrounding resorts; actually ALL resorts in Japan, Seki is a family owned area, it only has two lifts and it’s all family and friends that work there. However that is not the only difference between Seki and the other resorts, Seki is a resort for skiers/boarders by skiers/boarders, this term is over used, but when you rock up at seki you really understand what that term means, there is one building, through one of the windows mum is selling lift tickets, through the next window you peer in to see a full lounge room set up, lazy boys, coffee table, tv and a whole bunch of tea drinking and smoking going on, turn your head to the left and there is the lift, a little two seater with no safety bar.

We arrived at Seki on a Saturday afternoon, snowboarders, Damo, Daz and Myself and skier Tom, business card in hand and rehearsing under my breath my best Japanese business lingo i knocked on the door to be met by Araki san, the man i was supposed to meet, with a quick handshake and none of the normal business formalities he leads me to a door 2 metres away (the lounge room) opens it and points to a guy making tea wearing a reindeer sweater and a smoke hanging out of his mouth, “Owner”. Before i could even get out any pleasantries he grabbed me and says “ok we go shred now, i show you”.

not even 30 seconds later and without time to even turn on my avalanche beacon or clip my pack on i’m sitting next to Araki san on the little 2 seater lift heading up the mountain. Araki points to pretty much every section of the mountain and keeps saying the phrase, “all ok”. Japan has incredible skiing but they are quite strict on what areas you are allowed to ride in and which your not, this makes Seki very Unique.

A couple of minutes into the 5 minute lift ride i find out that Araki San is a retired pro rider, featured in many snowboard movies and magazines, he’s now given up the pro circuit to help run Seki, however he still holds his sponsorship with Burton, instantly i became nervous, i had to follow….. err, keep up with this guy.

Above pic: Damo StPierre learning about face shots at Seki – phot: Matt Hull – themattimage.com

Without knowing our ability level or if we could ski/board at all Araki gets off the double lift and before the other boys got off the lifts behind us he was strapped and said “ok, tree run, you follow”, frantically we strapped in and booted off after the manic Japanese boarder, after some quick darting through trees and a few branches tagging my hiking pack on the way through, we dropped down under the next chair, which by the way was so low to the snow i had to duck under which doesn’t make riding powder on a steep slope any easier!

The second chair at Seki (yup they only need two) is what we call a pizza box, it’s actually the size of a pizza box, you get on and hang on to the bar for dear life. On the way up i noticed to avalanche barriers which we had ridden past on the way to this lift, i yelled to Araki san who was on the chair in front of me, “Araki san, avi barrier, jump ok?” which he replied with, “yeah jump is awesome, AND there are two!” i looked back to see the boys laughing, never in the world have i been allowed to drop an avi barrier let alone been encouraged!

At the top of the pizza box lift, Araki unstraps and starts marching off up in the hill with a “ok we hike now”. After a short hike we were met with a traverse line, before the rest of the guys even caught up Araki was already strapped in and heading off down the line, i frantically strapped in and heading off after him. I caught up to Araki stopped on the traverse line smiling and looking down one of the nicest looking tree lines i’ve ever seen, he continues to smile and says “all this,, ok, now, you drop”, he didn’t have to ask me twice, i dropped in and got some incredible turns in all i could hear was the powder under my board and the other boys hooting the whole way down.

The ride out of the gully Araki stopped us a couple of times to point out some holes in the snow, and by hole i mean a 3 metre deep tunnel to,, god knows where.

My time in Japan over the past three years has been awesome, but this is the first time i’ve really felt that i’ve experienced a japanese ski resort the way i imagined it, Ma and Pa operated, a couple of crappy lifts and a heap of incredible terrain that is covered in nipple deep powder.

The following vid is my snow report for Myoko Snowports and myoko kogen.net which i shot the next morning, this was on one of the main areas and it had already been tracked a lot, you can imagine what the good stuff is like!

Now all i have to do is work out how i can get back there again…

thanks for reading, be good to each other

Matty

Written to the sounds of: Chevelle – hats off to the bull

So with all this work occupying me, what have i been doing? let me fill you in.

I’ve been very fortunate the past year to be working with some exceptional companies, young companies that are really pushing the norm of the industry with radical designs, creative promotion and a relaxed but professional business approach.

3CS outerwear http://3csouterwear.com/

I approached the guys at 3CS in the 2010 season with a couple of shots i got of their team riders (and good mates of mine) Maty Galine, Jason Currie and Dan Currie, from a night jib session we were doing with Olliepop owner and shooter Jez Richardson. The guys were stoked with the shots and they made it into the 2011 outerwear catalouge along with some promo posters around Falls Creek. Season 2011 came around and the boys approached me to do some work for them, not for their domestic outerwear range but for a new venture which they are sinking their teeth into; work wear.

I had 2 weeks to get the shots from a very specific brief (you’ve got to love clients who have a vission and then describe what they want to you in detail, takes the guess work out!) unfortunately for me the majority of the shots involved a lot of snow which we just didn’t have, a majority of the runs had already closed due to lack of cover, we hadn’t had a snow fall in over a month and skateboarding seemed to be taking over from snowboarding in the village… not ideal.

However, with a lot of hard work and a lot of help and support from some great people (mainly my beautiful other half Karen who had to deal with my constant grumbling at home about the lack of snow) we got the job done, late night shoots, early morning de icing sessions, maintenance workshop hijacks and some groomer comondeering, the brochure turned out better than i ever imagined, check out some scans here from the brochure, thanks to my boys, Scotty White, Rob Malone, Dan Wise, Ben Hensley, Steve Holmes and Zac Matchos

To check out the full brochure go here: Terrain Life Brochure

Radical! gloves: http://www.radicalgloves.com/

My boy Jez Burns decided that the industry wasn’t steezy enough.. so he changed it. Jez and i have done a bunch of photos together in the past and it’s awesome to be a part of Radical as it grows, the range now has a bunch of gloves, tall tee’s beenies and even boot dryers! This year i got some shots of Radical team riders, Maty Galina, Tom Clairs and our friend Brian from Canada as they blitzed the big air comp and represented the Creek at the stylewars rail jam, here are a couple of posters from the snow trade show in Canberra, also check out the latest radical gear on the website featuring some of my photos.

White Ninja: http://www.whiteninja.com.au/

Having done a bit of work with white ninja over the past couple of years i would be hard pressed to find nicer people to work with, their ‘bandeanies’ are unique, super comfy, warm and don’t look like a dorky neck warmer. I am currently in the process of creating images for their new brochure while i’m here in Japan, the crew i work with here have been riding with the bandeanies and are super stoked on them. keep an eye on this space as i’ll be getting some scans up of the new brochure as it drops, White ninja, get it on ya face!

Published

So what happened with all this stuff about shots for mags etc that i was blabbing on about in the last couple of posts?! Well it all came to fruition and i was lucky enough (persistence definitely played a big part) to have images feature in 5 ski and snowboard magazines in the last Australian season, check out the following scans:

This one was an article i did about Myoko Kogen, all images are by myself (including my mate and boss Tom in his pyjam top hiking HAHA), add on the right was done by myself also

This shot is of Nine22 owner Matt Myhill for the ski buyers guide.

Another shot of Matty killing it off eagle rock at Falls Creek

This shot was taken from the chopper over Falls Creek terrain park, rider is the ever so steazy Mato Smith

Here is a mixture of pics from myself and Sean Radich, most are of my boy Maty Galina

Self explanitory, Dan Currie is the man.

If your still reading this then thankyou! much appreciated, not much more to go now

So what is on the horizon? I’m currently working on some things for the future, i’ve got a project that i’m working on, it will be a long term en devour but should be great when it’s finished. I’m currently having talks with a local artist here in Japan on collaborating on this project, he’s and incredibly talented artist specialising in Japanese scripture and ink artwork, keep an eye on the facebook page as this will not only be a cool end result but will hopefully help our friends in Japan who have been affected by the devastating earthquake in 2011.

For the next 3 months here in Myoko Kogen i’m going to work on getting some killer shots of my guys and girls here, we’ve got a few set ups that if we pull it off will be highly unique and should get the attention of a few editors, on top of that my boy Sam Perry who is now riding for faction skis will be in the neighbour hood, we’ve got some shoots planned that will be featured in some Aussie mags, once again watch this space and all will be revealed in June!

Thanks again for reading guys, i’d love to hear what adventures you are all on whoever you may be, shoot me a message!

Stay tuned for next weeks blog as i fill in the blanks about my 2 months in Melbourne and why i have trouble hearing out of my left ear and have adapted to shooting while being pushed around in a sweaty crowd

look after each other,

Matty

Written to the sounds of: Alexisonfire and Chevelle

However i can tell you about it!, this season in Myoko Kogen has been epic, we’ve had a bunch of 80 to 100cm powder days, had one dump that was a 120cm, thats good times right there! I’ve had a couple of projects on, doing a couple of articles for local mags and still (yes still!) wrapping up from last season at Falls Creek distributing images, getting shots to brands and riders.

Basically it boils down to next season being even bigger, i’m getting a bunch of stuff published in Mags, newspapers and getting a lot more riders on board, riders with big ideas and big talent to back it up.

One of the projects i’ve got on at the moment is working with rider Damien St Pierre here in Myoko, i won’t go into detail, but here is a small clip from my go pro of Damo doing a roof drop off an abandoned building complete with a pic of Damo trying to pick his next drop line.

Click the link to view vid

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150147415496291

I’ll try to do another post soon with shots from the snow monkeys in Nagano along with anything else of interest.

Thanks for reading guys, and thanks for following me on facebook, the support and comments are really appreciated

Matt

This season wouldn’t have been half as successful this year without the help of everyone on the hill,

my boss Dave Boyd and the crew at FCS,

my other boss and partner in crime Chris Hocking and the man in the ivory tower Nick Noble

my crew of riders who come out shredding every day regardless of hangovers or crappy snow conditions – Robbie Malone, Sam Perry, Matty Myhill, Alec Summers, Maty Galina, Jez Burns, Andrew Kelly, Lachy Keevers, Patrick Murray, Shano Clough, Jimi Cordell, Dan and Jase currie (heal up well Jase!) and countless others!

Also can’t forget my room mate Steve Holmes who puts up with me having camera gear laying around everywhere, taking up the drying cupboard for wet lenses, the only table in our room for my laptop and half the wardrobe space for hard drives and printers!

and lastly my beautiful supportive girlfriend Karen

My shutter count for this season was 10,785 photos for winter season 2010, and i enjoyed every single one of them!

The following is an end of season present to myself, comfort and advertising if anyone is interested in getting a custom strap, bag or shirt made contact Jodie, www.jodiescamerastraps.com, her customer service is incredible and her products need to be seen to be appreciated!

I’ll be doing some shoots around melbourne, bands, mountain biking and whatever else i can fit in, keep an eye on this space!
Coming into the new year i’ll once again be packing my life into two bags and heading over to Japan to shoot at Myoko Kogen for Myoko Snowsports, www.myokosnowsports.com i’m hoping to be doing a lot of different shots this year with some big names hopefully coming to visit me in the powder capital!

Here are a bunch of pics to wrap up this season, thanks once again for everybodys help and for everyone who reads this blog and keeps up with my shoots and antics on my facebook group.

peace!

Matty Hull

I managed to get back up in the chopper with Chris to do a shoot for AGL the power company of their hydro dams, was great to get back up there again and we had a really switched on pilot this time, really helped having a pilot who knew how to work with photographers, he hovered in the right spots and got us some great angles, it all worked out great!

I’ve been doing some shots with the local boys for their sponsors and brands, making the most of the last two weeks of the season here at falls, i’ll try to get some images up soon but most of them i can’t release yet so sorry for the lack of visuals!

In other news back in the real world of Melbourne i’ve got the privilege of shooting the band ‘trigger mouse’ at their recently announced gig at the Pier hotel Frankston, should be a great gig, they are playing with a bunch of other great local acts, will be well worth going down for a look, check out their site at http://triggermousemusic.com, get down there and supports some quality Australian music and have a beer with me after the gig while your at it

keep checking back more updates to come!

Matty

Wednesday rolls around, it’s a perfect bluebird day and i spend my morning chilling out and getting my edit on. After a few hours of getting square eyes and sorting through a few hundred photos i suited up, grabbed my cameras and my board and met up with Chris Hocking my media partner in crime to head off up the mountain to the heli pad.

After a chat to the pilot and a rock paper scissors between Chris and i to see who would be sitting in the open door of the chopper and who would be in the seat next to him. With a solid ‘scissors’ Chris slaps on the harness and i strapped the lap sash seat belt (yeah,,,, lap sash,, no harness) and we took off with the door open, at this time i remember heights and i aren’t the best of friends so i put camera to eye and started shooting, it’s amazing how much you can detach yourself from life when your looking through a whole bunch of glass!

After take off we did a run up the falls creek road to get some footage of the entrance and the new st falls complex, we then banked over the top of ski school to show how good the snow cover is for spring and also show off our new ski school magic carpets

We booted over to ruined castle where the guys and girls of falls were waiting up the top of the park (it’s small but check em all out waving and junk and Jerome lounging back)

Here’s my boy Jez Burns hitting the first booter in the park

After a couple of laps of the park we headed over to Mt Makay where Steve Lee and his team were waiting up the top with their back country sled setup, after a lap the crew headed down the mountain face, for spring time the snow is amazing, untouched snow and really nice to ride on

After a fly over the pilot banked around to get us more shots of the end of Steve’s run, at a 90 degree angle and with an open door on the chopper G forces are the only thing holding you in! Chris’ harness was there in case he fell and wasn’t holding him in,, pretty full on, but super fun!

These are just a few of the photos, the rest are being used by Falls Creek to promote my home mountain, keep an eye on the media

thanks for reading guys and keep an eye on this blog, i’ll have a small one soon of a small shoot Jez Burns that i did on the same day

Matty

Here’s a sequence i did this morning of local boy Jez Burns (also owner of radical gloves) www.radicalgloves.com

unfortunately no image looks good this small but you get the idea

Matty