Full Frame Collective

TCB ϟ Tees

Dylan B — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:30:04 +0000

Our dudes at TCB Courier are selling these rad camo tees to raise money for a new cargo bike. DJ and I went out the other day to shoot a couple flicks to get you in the mood. Support your local courier (worldwide support is welcome too!). Swoop one HERE

Sandy Carson

Kyle EP — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:00:19 +0000

fakie

This was taken back in November when Sandy was here in SF last. Not your every day fakie down at the flower shop.

Ocean Beach

Kyle EP — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Alaska Road Trip pt. 3

Aaron D — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:54:56 +0000

We arrived in Seward, AK 8 days after leaving San Francisco. In 7 days’ driving we clocked in 3,389 miles, an average of 484 per day. Morgan and I settled into the company housing provided him by Major Marine Tours and rushed over to the best restaurant in town to have a nice meal and a cold beer. We enjoyed our meal with a view of the harbor and the surrounding mountains.

For the next week Morgan spent much of his days working. A kind soul, he left me virtually uninterrupted use of his car so I could adventure around and take photographs. The collection below is how I spent the next 7 days in Alaska.

The morning after a solid slumber, Morgan and I were invited to be passengers on a 4-hr Major Marine tour of Resurrection Bay. We were fortunate to be allowed to sit in the wheelhouse with Captain Rodney as it was a little chilly outside. Sadly, we saw no whales. We did manage to catch loads of birds, some endangered sea lions, a couple sea otters, and a pair of mountain goats.

We’d end up spending some more time with Captain Rodney over the course of the next week. He’s Morgan’s boss, friend, and he makes his very own special batches of wine by fermenting grape juice. His most recent vintage was made with Crystal Light. To say Rodney is a card would be an understatement. I’m forever grateful for the hospitality he, along with Major Marine Tours, extended to me. It made the entire experience stress free and it allowed me to drop a few dimes on some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Thanks Rod Job!

For the next couple days I was on my own. I took the car for small jaunts, pulling over to take some snaps whenever and wherever. Hesitant to stray too far from the car in this remote and often cell-service lacking landscape, I was acutely aware that bears were just starting to wake up, hungry, from winter hibernation.

Seward as seen from across Resurrection Bay on Nash Rd.

Home on Nash Rd. with a fire on and a sign welcome strangers to stop in. I didn’t.

Still dunno what it is about train tracks I love so much.

Other various train related adventures over the course of those next couple days. There’s even a decent breakfast spot nestled inside an old train car in Seward. It’s like Alaska knew I was on my way up.

This is the boat Morgan will spend most of his time captaining in Whittier, AK from now until the end of September. It was sitting in dry dock being repainted and otherwise readied for the season.

I’d been told to check out the Exit Glacier, just outside of Seward. Sadly the road there was still under snow but I managed to meet a couple at the entrance who let me tag along as they walked their dogs a couple miles down the road.

This is Dex.

One of the first things you see when you roll into Seward is an air strip, right next to the Alaska Railroad outpost. The second I was aware there was a small air strip and appropriately small airplanes in Seward I became intent on finding a bush pilot to take me up. It was during the hike I took with the couple and their dogs that I’d found my chance. After only one phone call from the gentleman I was hiking with I was given a phone number, a price of $150 for an hour in the air, and was told to call “Denny.”

Denny and I agreed on the following day. I was nervous, anxious, and had never ridden in a plane any smaller than a commercial puddle jumper. This is Denny, and the plane he was to fly me in.

Seeing Denny turn the corner when I arrived made me mouth to myself silently,’What the fuck have I gotten myself into?’ when he’d disappeared from sight. My comfort came in knowing Denny had made it this far in life and that it was unlikely he’d want to end it all on this day.

In the end, Denny was perfectly safe and the ride wasn’t the slightest bit scary. I’d packed along my Hasselblad and a Yashica T4 for the ride.

This is all of Seward. You’ll notice Denny has a shotgun strapped to the wing of his plane, with a cork in the barrel.

The mountains are stunning. There are so many untouched and unnamed peaks here you can pay to name one, according to my esteemed pilot whose last name will forever remain a mystery to me.

Yeah that’s a selfie in the plane.

We flew over the Harding Ice Field, which supplies ice to glaciers in every direction and is reportedly larger than the state of Rhode Island. It lacked any definition whatsoever. Just solid white ice and snow forever.

The entire experience was surreal. I shot 4 rolls of film, took 100 photos on my phone and still found plenty of time to just sit and talk to Denny and take it all in. Touching back down felt great, like I’d accomplished something.

The next morning I headed over to Whittier on a solo mission to see an abandoned building I’d been hearing about. I knew at least one of my friends had been to The Buckner Building before, and I was determined to find them. The drive to Whittier is 75 miles and follows train tracks nearly the entire way.

Whittier is a town of 200 people. 90% of those people live in the same building. The Buckner Building was once the largest building in Alaska. Having been badly damaged in the 1969 earth quake it was rendered unfit for habitation and has been left to the elements ever since. Because Whittier is a port town and is only accessible by boat, or via a 2.5 mile long one-way tunnel for both trains and cars, the building is actually cost prohibitive to demolish and remove. So it sits. Here’s a few shots from the inside.

I drove back to Seward that evening. The following day would be my last full day in Alaska. After tying up various loose ends like shipping a box of my gear home to myself I spent the afternoon reading and grabbing things for friends. That evening we left to spend the night in Girdwood with some friends. Somehow we ended up at a jam band show at a ski resort and almost ran over a moose on the way home.

My last Alaskan evening, just outside of Girdwood.

The entire trip was incredible. I had the greatest company, the best conversations, met hilarious and interesting people, and ate like a complete glutton. I feel as fortunate as I hope to have made it sound over the course of these 3 posts. I’m happy to have this collection completed and on Full Frame to share with people.

Thanks for tagging along.

And thanks Morgan!

Alaska Road Trip pt. 2

Aaron D — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:41:45 +0000

Camping in Norther British Columbia was an experience neither Morgan or I will likely forget soon. We slept little, drank much, and soaked our road weary bones in the hot springs until it was time to leave. This, the next leg of our Journey would begin in Liard Hot Springs and end at our destination of Seward, Alaska three days and 1,269 miles later.

After Liard Hot Springs we headed toward Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. I recall us skirting the upper British Columbia/Yukon Territory boundary the entirety of that day, our 6th of the trip.

It’s around now I realize how fortunate I am to be traveling with a friend I’ve known so long, lived with for years, and share so much in common with. We talk, listen to music and podcasts when we feel so inclined, and one rarely sleeps while the other is driving. We’re on the same page.

This section of the drive was rather desolate. Roads were empty, sometimes with a film of snow on them, windy, and exhausting. And it was on this day we nearly stranded ourselves in the middle of nowhere, having coasted into a gas station on fumes. Just before lunch we were so certain we were running out of gas we’d started to turn off electrical things in the car we thought my help with our gas mileage. Morgan was going to stay with the car and I was going to hitch hike into town to get a gas can, because we hand’t brought one with us.

There’s a moose in this photograph. Do you see him?

Fortunately we made it to the gas station, and subsequently to the worst Super Nachos I’d ever eaten at a diner somewhere in Northern British Columbia or the Yukon Territory. Late that afternoon after a handful of photo stops and pee breaks we made our way into Whitehorse.

That evening we enjoyed forgivable Mexican food and were likely both sound asleep in a hotel by 9:30pm having spent the previous night cooped up in a cold tent.

The following day would find us back on American soil, hopefully. Reaching the Canada/American border we discovered the hard way that one of us had apparently reported his passport lost/stolen, the one he had in his hand with him at the border crossing. Morgan had traveled so much of the world, seen so many things, and even had a passport stolen at one point while traveling in Thailand. Or was it Budapest? Who remembers where he was? I don’t. And I hand’t remembered reporting my passport lost/stolen at any point either. But apparently I had.

After a relatively comical half an hour of detainment at the border, complete with two old-timers watching Fox News, we were granted access back into the motherland. I think I’m in need of a new passport. Our destination was Tok, AK 385 miles in the distance. The journey from Whitehorse to Tok looked a little like this:

We gorged that night at Fast Eddy’s on a giant pizza and the largest plates of one-serving salad bar you’ve ever seen. I bought a bottle of Cutty Sark which we enjoyed inside a motel room while the temperature outside reached -6f.

The following day would prove the final jaunt into Seward, AK. 442 miles away. Carefully watching the gas guage, we made quick work of the drive despite the number of stops we made. We were back in the mountains.

At one turnout we discovered a large group of people gathered with birding equipment, watching a migration. For most it was a beautiful day, sun shining and temperate. Birders apparently prefer overcast skies and apparently this specific migration was weeks behind. We met a gentleman named Ed (pictured below) who told us that on a normal day this time of the season they’d see upwards of 400 birds, today they’d seem maybe 25.

After a quick stop at the Portage Glacier (Morgan pictured above standing on the frozen lake) and Whitter, AK to drop off some gear we made our way into Seward, AK. This is the first thing we stumbled on once we reached Seward.

It was shaping up to be a great week already. cont’d…

Cubby Gets Older

Terry B — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:02:34 +0000

Cubby and his Birthday sando

We celebrated Cubby’s birthday with the traditional hill bomb. This year the whole pack was on 20″.

We actually made it to Bass Lake this year too.

At the top of the hill

The best hiking shoes

Jeff going in

Honesto

Kyle EP — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:26:42 +0000

whipped out

Gone Hill Bombin

Kyle EP — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:36:37 +0000

terry dialin his chase car rig

We’ve been taking advantage of the beautiful spring weather the past couple weeks. Terry’s been filming some hill bombs with the rig above. Stay tuned for a video soon…

Waddell

Dylan B — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:26:27 +0000

We’ve been really fortunate to have 70-80 degree weather for the past couple weeks. And last week the surf also delivered. My friend Josh and I drove down Hwy 1 after work to get a better angle on the south swell in the water.

We surfed Waddell, which is the beach in front of Big Basin. We got it really good, with waves in the chest to head high range and zero wind.

The swell was due to peak the next day, so we went back and did it all over again. This time it was even more fun. We both got more than our share of waves and drove back looking forward to more after work trips like this.

Alaska Road Trip

Aaron D — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:30:50 +0000

On April 13th I set out on a two-week long road trip with my best friend from college. We left the San Francisco Bay Area and headed to Seward, Alaska. Morgan Wodhams is the captain of a tour boat in the Kenai Peninsula for Major Marine Tours.

We’ve known each other 15 years, lived together 6 of those years, and share a myriad of stories. Virtually none of those stories involved any real travel together. Morgan has spent a number of years traveling the world. He’s covered more territory than most accomplish in a lifetime. A real globe trekker, he’s someone I’ve always wanted to accompany on a journey. When opportunity knocked, I took advantage.

It was time for Morgan to head to Alaska for the tourist season, to begin again his summer in the Great White North.

The large collection of images below are from the first 5 days of our journey. In 4 days of driving and one spent relaxing we covered 2,120 miles, an average of 530 miles a day.

This is the first photo I took, on a new-to-me Polaroid 340 land camera I’d purchased from Dave at Photoworks. If I remember correctly this was Morgan in the parking lot at the Northern most In N Out Burger in Redding, CA.

Because I want to share the whole trip as a cohesive collection that’s also somewhat digestible this will be the first of three posts. All of the images were taken with one of four film cameras I brought with me. The aforementioned Polaroid 340, a Hasselblad 500cm, a Yashica T4, and a Minolta X-370.

Our first leg was San Francisco to Portland, OR (653 miles) where we spent two nights seeing family and friends.

Made a quick stop at Cathedral Park under the St. John’s Bridge in North Portland.

Jamie, my Christmas present to my folks.

Our next leg was from Portland to Whistler, British Columbia (391 miles). We found ourselves lost in Vancouver for a couple hours simply trying to find the freeway, afraid to use our now internationally roaming smart phones to do the hard work for us.

Stopped in Seattle for a hot minute to buy some more Polaroid film and then made one brief stop just North of Vancouver before making our way to the mountains.

After a night near the ski resort we headed on the 99 from Whistler to Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Another long stint in the car (647 miles) we took our time for pit stops and photo ops.

Sadly, the only evidence of a bear I saw the entire trip. Small Black Bear print when we stopped to take a leak.

Wise old owl.

Reflective.

These guys.

The colors at this lake were incredible. Morgan explaining how big this place really is.

Trestle in the distance.

Shiny road, fresh from rain we’d just escaped.

After Dawson Creek we continued up the 99 en route to the Liard Hot Springs (429 miles). Largely off grid most of the day along the highway, we’d made our way through mountains and plains and back to mountains again. This may have been the best day of sightseeing we saw the entire trip.

We finished the day at the hot springs, taking a dip and spending our one night camping. It snowed 4 inches overnight. We cooked soup in a pot on a tiny camp stove, slept 5 cold hours and woke up to a blanket of white and some freshly ground Stumptown Coffee in a french press. And we were damned proud of ourselves.

We packed up early the next morning and headed North towards Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory. cont’d…

Out Here

Terry B — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:24:31 +0000

Jeff Twin

Kyle EP — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:00:26 +0000

boned out

Where’s Cubby?

Terry B — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:06:44 +0000

An(o)ther Pipe

Kyle EP — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:00:42 +0000

Jeff Twin and I found ourselves riding a full pipe in the central valley not long ago. I had been there before last year during the winter part of the year, and there was plenty of water flowing thru it. Water was not an issue on this occasion.

We brought the essentials to clean the pipe up, but didn’t need to use them due to it being recently swept out and lack of rain this year. The valley sure is hot compared to the city. It was easily the hottest weather I’ve been in all year.

Jeff twin gettin a high carve

Jeff and I took turns carving the 18 foot or so pipe. Almost half the size of Glory, this pipe was much quicker, keeping you on your toes. Stoked off the adventure it took us to get all the way out here to ride this amazing, rare spot we couldn’t help but smile.

i spy

On the way back home, I snapped a shot off of the pipe from the highway. If goes by in an instant but you can spot it.

freedom

Kyle EP — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of riding Freedom 40. These trails are so smooth and unique. Like the old man jumps, the spot is built on a hillside making jumps fast, and effortless.

henny watering the trick jump landing

For it being my 2nd time riding the jumps in as many years, I felt pretty comfortable cruising thru the main line. The locals and Henny had the place dialed. Huge boost and style for miles is the how these dudes roll.

text book nac from Guy

Henny was visiting for a couple weeks, and just so happens to love riding trails. It was a treat to see him shredding on the west coast.

henny turndown

With the weather being this nice, and the locals being so rad, were going to make another trip out soon. A huge thanks for all the dudes that put in work to keep Freedom so awesome!

Fuji Velvia 100

Terry B — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:18:54 +0000

Larry Redmon front tail 270

Happy Birthday L-train!

Filming in Progress

Terry B — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:39:07 +0000

name this spot

We took Jeff’s TMNT van to adventure and film in the North Bay. Edit coming soon.

jeff twin

Kyle EP — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:00:48 +0000

should have brought fenders

Chas –> Africa

Dylan B — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:00:03 +0000

Our breh Chas is leaving for Africa tomorrow.

Kodak Playsport

Terry B — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:37:25 +0000

I uploaded a few old videos I put together back in 2010-11 from a Kodak Playsport on Youtube. Check em out.

Two more here…