NEWS and UPDATES

2009 SUMMER.

I have just received the wonderful news that I won the People Choice Award for the Red Bull Illume.
To me the two greatest honors in any competition are the athletes choice and the peoples choice, after all that is essentially who you are taking the photos for. It isnt always easy to capture the essence of what athletes experience in a still photo but when you do and you get to share those moments with the public, it makes all the grueling work of getting it so worth while. But the most rewarding achievement is getting the nod of approval from the very people who have trained so hard, who put their lives on the line for that single shot. To have their approval is one of the highlights of my life.

2008 SUMMER - NORWAY.

We teamed up with Nate Nash and Dan Campbell to shoot an episode for FOCUSED. Joining us was Steves youngest brother, Dave as well as Shane Raw and Ben Brown. We started in the south of the country and photographed some of the classic kayak runs. Moving up through the Romsdal region with the picturesque Trollstigen and finally ending in the Sjoa region. Waterlevels were not ideal but the crew managed to scratch up enough of the good stuff to make it a highly successful trip. See Norway gallery.

2008 SPRING - ZAMBIA.

After a grueling two week trip through the far North of Zambia exploring rivers and waterfalls, we took on high water Zambezi. I was the photographer on the movie The Ultimate Ride: Steve Fisher which was a finalist in X-Dance (extreme sports version of SunDance).

Veiw Kayaking High Water Gallery

View Off Water Gallery

Photos courtesy of Courney Ludden and Steve Fisher. Thanks.

SPRING 2007:

Well the most exciting thing about Spring - I have finally decided to take the step and see how much you really like my work. I have only done one picture, one size for now, but please send me suggestions of your favourite shots - and they may soon be up for sale too.

Here I am, back in Canada and the weather has finally cleared up - just in time for an influx of paddlers to the Ottawa. We spent a few days paddling the good old faithfuls of this area: Chambly, Rouge, Gatenau and Bus Eater even came in for a few days.
I believe Canada had a fairly dry winter so the year may see a low river season. Lets wait and see what it has to offer.

JANUARY 2007

Taken from an extract of an email Steve sent to our friends and family:

"...For those who don't know, Des and I just finished our trip to Aspen for the opening exhibit of the Red Bull Illume photo competition at the winter x games in aspen. The display was awesome on the ski slope in the middle of Aspen town. It stayed there for 10 days after the award ceremony.
Des's photo won the lifestyle category and the athletes choice award - voted for by a few hundred professional athletes around the world. Although she narrowly missed being overall winner, there is still one more prize up for grabs - the people's choice award. This will be voted upon over the next few months at each international exhibit as well as online on the RED BULL ILLUME.
Go to the web site and vote for your favourite. If you like Des's vote. If you like a different one, leave the website immediately and don't return."...

Hey - he wrote that, not me! But please do go online and VOTE.
A special thanks to the people that made this possible: Steve Fisher, Sam Drevo and Dale Jardine.

FALL 2006.

I am taking a break from a very exciting and busy year. Steve and I have been working on finishing building our house on our island in Uganda. The island is situated above one of Steves favourite play waves - Nile Special. So between building, we find time to do a little paddling, including a night session or two. Watch the "island dwellers"movie.

Scott (SLP) and his brother Dustin came out to Africa to do a segment for the new film

SPRING / SUMMER 2006

The spring and summer of 2006 has me doing a project with Red Bull called the RED BULL RECON.
I had the pleasure of working with Steve Fisher, Tyler Curtis, Ben Brown, Dan Campbell, Nate Nash from Matchstick Productions as well as Scott Lindgren from SLP.

The aim of the Recon was to explore the unknown reaches of Quebec. Ticking off first descents, hucking new waterfalls and "unrunable" rapids, and new waves at places like Chute le Oures of the Ashuapmushan River, Shawnigan River, Mistassibi and Mistassini Rivers, La Mars River, and the Rimouski Slide, we travelled for 2 months through rough terrain and battled with bugs!

However the highlight of the trip had to be St Ursule - a 250ft zigzag drop. WATCH Full footage can be seen in the movie: Black Book.

Stay tuned for more photos from the Red Bull Recon.

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