2009 was my first year of focusing only on taking and selling photos, instead of shooting video, photos and selling DVDs. I am liking shooting photos more and more. The better the photo results are, the more motivation I have to learn to do better. I miss some of the video production stuff, mostly the interaction with the bands featured on the DVDs.

These are some of my favorite photos I took during 2009. More of my favorite photos can be found here >>> Greg Tubbs / Grubworks Photo Gallery / Best of 2009

Sea Otter Classic, Monterey, CA
The mountain bike race season for me started off with a trip down to Monterey, CA for the 2009 Sea Otter Classic. Last time I went was 2007, the weather was terrible, this year the weather was great. Also this time, I ended up flying and renting a car instead of driving to California.

Parking lot hummingbird, 2009 Sea Otter Classic, Monterey, CA

Gee and Dan Atherton, Sea Otter Classic Dual-Slalom, Monterey CA

Jill Kitner, 2009 Sea Otter Classic Dual-Slalom, Monterey, CA

Downhill, 2009 Sea Otter Classic, Monterey, CA

Crankworx, Whistler, BC

Shooting photos at Crankworx is always a mixed bag. I have shot video or photos at every Crankworx since the annual festival began. Large crowds of photographers, pro and not-pro, all cramming to get shots. In the last couple years its the simulcasting television cameras that are the ones that seem to hog the courses.  2009 had some of the most mediocre weather that the festival has ever had.  General opinion…. when shooting photos I will never complain about the heat… Id rather sweat my ass off in the scorching sun than shoot photos on in dull, overcast, hum-drum weather…. It wasnt all bad. The Sun did peek out onve in a while. Thanks again to J and Clinton for the accommodations, much better than sleeping in the truck for 4 days…. 

Michael Prokop, 2009 Crankworx dual-slalom qualifying, Whistler, BC

Leanna Gerrard , 2009 Crankworx Dual-Slalom, Whistler, CA

Brandon Semenuk, 2009 Crankworx Slopestyle, Whistler, BC

Geoff Gullevich, 2009 Crankworx, Whistler, BC

Monster Khaos Cans

Jake, Backyard, WA

Frog close-up, Backyard, WA

Bottle Caps

The family gets tired of getting thier photo taken....

2009 Fluidride Cup

I love shooting photos at the Fluidride Cup Races. The events are well ran and the enviornment is fun and friendly. It doesnt hurt either that these races are held fairly close to home so it is pretty easy to get to and from in a weekend.

2009 Fluidride Cup, Ski Bowl Mt. Hood, OR

2009 Fluidride Cup, Port Angeles, WA

Lars Sternberg, Dry Hill, Port Angeles, WA

2009 Boating

2009 we bought a boat and dove head first into boating in the Puget Sound. I learned that most of the horror stories people tell you about boat ownership are more than likely true, judging from our experiences this last summer.  Its all a learning experience. Next year will be great.

Lake Union, Seattle, WA

Fuel Dock at sunset, Blakely Island, WA

This is a Crab..... Kim and Corinne, James Island, WA

Next year will be great, I cant wait………

More of my favorite photos of 2009 can be found here >>> Greg Tubbs / Grubworks Photo Gallery / Best of 2009

Last weekend I went down to the SkateBarn in Renton for Dirt Corps 2009 end of the year, holiday party.

Good It was to shoot some bikes in the off season out of the rain and cold, but I find the Skatebarn hard to shoot photos at, mostly because of the highbay lighting, and the fact that you dont know what line people are going to hit for setting up flashes. I am still waiting for Pocketwizard to release the new MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 for Nikon. Those should really make lighting places like the Skatebarn and dark woods easier. Also it will finally let me use my, much better, long lenses where now I gotta stay within infrared range. Hopefully soon and without bugs…..

As always more photos can be found HERE >>>  2009 Dirt Corps Holiday Party Photos

I’m looking forward to next year…..

—G

!! DVD BLOWOUT !!   ANY DVD $6

Northwest Dirt Culture —  $16.00 $6.00

Northwest Dirt Culture II — $20.00 $6.00

NWDCIII – Endub Empire — $20.00 $6.00

All DVDs from Grubworks Media Productions are just $6 each until they are gone. We gotta clear out the garage to make room for studio space, so our remaining stock of DVDs has to go.

Grubworks Media Outlet

By this time of the year I am expecting the typical rain and doom of October to come rolling in any day. The lawn is mowed, boat stowed so nothing to do but hibernate until spring. (actually the Doom has arrived as of Tuesday). So it was sweet to get an excuse to get away for the day and head down south of the border (Snohomish / King county border) to hang with the Transition Bikes crew for a “Demo Day” at Colonnade Park, Seattle.

This bike park is built under I-5 between Eastlake and Capital Hill, so even for a somewhat sunny day, lighting is not the best. It has only been around for a couple years and is just coming into its own for becoming for people looking for a place to ride during the gloom of Fall.

I got there late, but was able to get some shots and bum a dog off the Transition grill. Most of the action late in the day was the line that led to “Rainbow Bridge”.

More of my photos from the Transition Demo Day at Colonade Park >>>>   HERE

There were some other guys shooting photos, I’m curious what shots they were getting. Andy Tran from Syndrome Racing was there shooting video, which he already has edited and posted.

pretty sweet……

Saturday might have been the last day of “summer”. The soccer fields at 152nd are not the most photogenic venue, a bunch of other games going on so half the spectators are looking the other way, big parking lot, and a bunch of storage units, but whatcha gunna do. I am already missing the sun.

(As always) there are more photos to check out from Saturday’s game in the Photo Gallery >>>> HERE

What a great weekend to wrap up the 2009 mountain bike race season.

After a week of driving the family mini-van, I was pretty stoked to get my truck back (with a fresh transmission) in time to drive down to the final race of the 2009 Fluidride Cup Downhill series.  Perfect window of nice weather all weekend.

I rolled in to the parking lot of the Ski Bowl resort Saturday around 10:30, so plenty of time to hit the hill and get some practice session shots. Hike, hike hike shoot, shoot, shoot… back to the truck, hit the Iceaxe brew pub for a killer burger, up to the Ratskeller to watch a slideshow by Carl Warren and another premier showing of the Rockstar Energy movie “Barred for Life” ( saw the original movie premier at Sea Otter…. meh… its ok….. at the Sea Otter Premier, where they also premiered Theo Dillworth’s “Days of Dirt” which I thought blew it away).  Anyway missed both the slideshow and the movie, dehydration headache kicked-in, time to head to “bed” (not really thinking about sleeping accommodations before driving down, and being truly happy to have the truck back. I came to realize that the truck back seat was not going to cut it, so ended up crashing in the Project 529 Race van, which was actually quite comfy (as usual, thanks again).

Ok….. cut to an early morning, go bum a continental breakfast, and back up the mountain for the race.

Great weather, a bit dusty, but it actually worked into many of the shots.

All and all, a great end to the season.

Some photos from this weekend……….

All photos from this race can be found here 2009 Fluidride Cup #6 Downhill

Photos from the entire 2009 Fluidride Cup series can be found here Photos By Greg Tubbs / mountain biking photos

My truck is broken. Nothing money wont fix.

Congrats to Greg Watts for winning the 2009 Crankworx Slopestyle!!!  Not much to say other than that. I liked it better that last year as far as the layout of the course. New stunts, and seeing more new riders…..

Geoff Gulevich

Darren Berrecloth

Greg Watts

the crowd at the slopestyle finals

Brandon Semenuk

Brandon Semenuk

Good times. Thanks for Clinton and J of Project529 for the hookup.

As every year since its inception, I made the trek to Whistler, BC for the 2009 Crankworx Bike Festival. The whole festival is spread out 10 days, but this year I only hit the last 4 days, but was able to get some nice shots of the Giant Slalom and the world-famous Slopestyle competition. Last year,  most of my time on-course was hiding in whatever shade I could find, this year was similar, but hiding from rain instead of the sun. I will never complain about the heat and dust at a bike photo shoot, the alternative truly sucks. Luckily by race time the weather was actually, hmmmm… not bad.

Crankworx Giant Slalom

JS Therrien and Shawn Palmer

Kyle Strait and Dominik Gspan

Emmeline Ragot and Leana Gerrard

Michal Prokop railin'

Chase Schmidt

Jill Kintner

More photos of the 2009 Crankworx Giant Slalom HERE

Anyway, despite the weather, I got some good shots. Dealing with weather, crowds, un-ideal locations can suck, but what are you gunna do. I need to learn this and remember that everyone else out there is dealing with the same conditions and we are in pretty much the same boat.

Hell ya!! I won one of the categories in the PinkBike “2009 Sea Otter Photo Contest“.

My photo of the Atherton bros pinning a corner on the dual slalom won for the “Best Dual Slalom Photo” catagory. $100 suckaz!!

I also got a honorable mention for the “Best Crash Photo” with this one

Way Cool!! Big thanks to the guys at PinkBike.com and whoever else voted. There were so many photographers at Sea Otter and there were so many great photos posted. I learned more on that trip about shooting bikes than on any other. Still a long ways to go.