Yuzuru Hanyu: 2016 Skate Canada Photo Diary

What a crazy Grand Prix season this is shaping up to be.  With 3 GP events completed, the remaining 3 GP events promise to be nail biters!  I have finally had some time to review some of the photos that I took at Skate Canada.  There are so many beautiful Yuzu photos out there already shared by many talented photographers, so I tried to select some unique moments that I captured.

*Please do not repost the photos without permission, and please do NOT crop out the watermark. Thanks very much!  Please enjoy adorable Yuzu!

“Call me, maybe”?  Yuzu, you can call me anytime!

 

I recently saw a close up version of this photo in a new Yuzu magazine.  This made me super excited that I was able to snap the same unique moment.

 

Ok, this by far is the best fun hair photo of all that I have ever caught on my camera.  I love Yuzu’s free flowing practice hair look and his normal natural look.  It always looks awesome.  The slicked back hair for Let’s Go Crazy is a very different look for Yuzu, and it is so interesting that it actually makes Yuzu look like he is 16 again.  I prefer natural Yuzu.

 

Layback Ina Bauer: the best in the business.

 

I call this picture the “calm before the quad“!!  Yuzu changed his strategy for his event practices and his 6 minute warm-ups based on where he was slated to skate.  Even with the change, Yuzu’s ability to produce a quad out of nothing is wicked cool.  Yuzu is struggling with consistency right now, but I have every faith that as the season rolls on, he will get better and stronger at each event! Yuzu’s practice time has been and is still limited (compared to what he normally trains and how much he really wants to train), so his progress might come a bit slower, but he will be better off in the long run.  Such an amazing talent, I cannot say it enough.

 

Cool, rock Yuzu!!  One of my new favourite things to do is review all the pictures that I have taken of Yuzu after an event.  There are many and some are completely useless which make me laugh.  Yuzu will have moved past me so quickly that I shot a picture of white ice only. But, then there are moments like this where you don’t even recall taking the photo, and it appears on the screen when you are reviewing your work.  It is very rewarding.  This is one of my favourites.

 

 

Mugging for the cameraman.  So cute!!  So adorable!!

 

Dancing Yuzu.  Yuzu was practising the closing number steps but was adding his own special flair to it.  Yuzu brought his own flair to the group number and even if you could not see his face, you would be able to pick him out of the crowd.

 

During gala practice, Yuzu skated by me in this pose and was stretching out a bit.  This moment just jumped out at me.  I wish I had a crispier photo but it was so dark at the gala practice that I was happy to have captured this moment at all.

 

Good luck to Yuzu at NHK!!!  

 

Go Yuzu Go!!!  Doki Doki!!