We spent a lot of yesterdays in the studio and in the natural world creating images with our friends to unveil the SPRING 2012 season. It all started at the Oregon Coast—rugged, dynamic, textural. The conditions were perfect: sunny, foggy, and magical with great surf, perfect light, friends, and, of course, the lens.

Mornings started early (at the crack of first light). Six a.m. on day one followed by 7:30 a.m. on day two and three (once we got a hold of what the light would bring). The days were packed with back-to-back locations from beachside to coast range and staged to set the perfect backdrop for our new styles. The evenings were spent reviewing the day’s shots and sharing great homemade food, conversation, local wine and local whiskey (for those who chose to indulge).

In the studio shoot we wanted to bring to life the simple, dynamic presence of each style.

We used part of the same crew from the beach shoot plus Nathan and Mackenzie, our other Nau extended family members. A beautiful contrast to the beach shoot, we captured the simple forms of each style and their graceful presence.

Hope you enjoy the fruits of our efforts.

You can see the behind-the-scenes takes from these shoots here.

Photo by Ben Moon

Photo by Ben Moon

Photo by Ben Moon

Photo by Ben Moon

Photo by Ben Moon

Photo by Ben Moon

17 inches and counting. La Nina is back, my friends. In fact, word on street says Mount Hood Meadows might even open some lifts this weekend. With that kind of a forecast, it’s a good thing we’re giving away two ten passes to Meadows, as well as a weekend getaway to Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont (includes lodging, lift tickets, rentals and dinner) and full Nau winter kits for all in our Winter Stoke Giveaway. It’s your last chance to enter, so sign up today.

It’s happening. Ski area web-cams in California, Oregon, Utah are showing white. Friends in Tahoe are posting early-season touring pics on Facebook. Long-term weather forecasts are predicting the return of La Niña. Winter is ramping up!

Here at Nau, all this early season excitement is just adding fuel to the fire of our winter stoke. So to give it a positive outlet, we’re giving away everything you need to take advantage of what’s sure to be an epic winter.

For our first-ever Winter Stoke giveaway, we’ve got two great prize packages: East Coasters can win a weekend for two at Stratton Mountain Resort, complete with lodging, lift tickets and rentals; West Coasters can pick up one of two 10-passes to Mt. Hood Meadows. Best of all? We’ll outfit all the winners in complete mountain kit—including jacket, down, pants and insulation—from Nau.

To win, submit your entry at nau.com/ski and stay tuned to our Off The Grid newsletter—we’ll announce the winner November 16th.

We’re excited to announce that Nau has been awarded the 2010 BrandNew Award for Style from ISPO (International Sports Business Network), the World’s largest outdoor trade fair. This February, we’re heading over to Germany to show our designs to Europe.

In addition to winning this award, Sport Scheck–a premium German outdoor retailer–is hosting a public choice award for all of the ISPO winners. This is where you, our friends and fans come in. Head over today (January 21st) or tomorrow (January 22nd) to Sport Scheck’s Facebook page to vote for Nau. Just a heads up, the page is in German.

Thanks for your help, it’s because of you that we love what we do!

Congratulations Jeremy Southgate!  We’re sending you a pair of lift tickets for Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe and a Nau jacket of your choice.  We all know the rule- no friends on a powder day-  so if you want to ditch your friend and ski twice, you can do that too.

We’re giving away another set of lift tickets with a Nau jacket on January 28th.  Click here to enter.

Collective Snapshot

The results are in, and this month’s winner of Collective Snapshot is Cecilia Gambers, who endured wind, rain and blowing sand on the Oregon Coast to bring us back some photos of her gear in action. It wasn’t all wet, though: visit http://www.nau.com/collective/photos/collective-snapshots-1588.html to see the sunset shot she earned for sticking it out.

For sharing our favorite pic this month, Cecilia also wins a new M3 Hoody, plus a mounted print of her image from our friends at Plywerk. Didn’t win but still want to mount your image on a beautiful eco-conscious bamboo or maple panel? Check out Plywerk’s website at www.plywerk.com to upload and order, or buy blank panels and D.I.Y. Of course, you can always enter another image for a shot to win by emailing a pic of you or a friend to share@nau.com.

One Of Us

As for our Monthly Trivia, in November we asked you: Who shot the Fall Portraits?

This month’s winner? Toni Greaves, whom we selected at random from all the people who knew that Eden Batki took the photographs for our fall portrait series. To see Eden’s work, visit our Men’s Portraits and Women’s Portraits on nau.com. For her photographic knowledge—Toni, too, is a photographer—she wins a M3 Hoody, perfect for layering up for a winter shoot.

Want a chance at our monthly trivia contest? You can’t win if you don’t know the question: subscribe to Off The Grid to have it delivered to you mailbox monthly.

It’s a party, y’all. Come on by.

We’re excited to announce that this Friday, October 15th, Nau will once again open the doors to a pop-up shop in New York City. Following on the success of last year’s pop-up—designed by Jean-Pierre Veillet and with appearances by 2009 G4C winners Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele, Har Mar Superstar, Zee Avi and Will Dailey, among others—we’re coming back for another holiday season.

This year, you’ll find us at 25 Howard St in Soho, sharing space with our friends at Dunderdon. Based in Gothenburg, Sweden—and with an an office in hometown of Portland, Oregon—Dunderdon shares with Nau a focus on understated design, performance outerwear and modern fashion. We’re look forward to being in New York with them.

In the meantime, we’re planning a full calendar of events, parties and performances, so if you’ll be in New York this holiday season be sure to stop in—for the latest developments, check back here in the coming weeks for event listings. In the meantime, we hope to see you at 25 Howard Street—at the intersection of Howard and Crosby, between Broadway and Lafayette—starting this Friday.

Sweet!

To thank all you readers of The Thought Kitchen for your loyal following of the blog this summer, the nice folks in sales have agreed to a special one day offer:

TODAY ONLY, if you make a purchase of $100 or more at nau.com and use the code “thoughtkitchen” at checkout, we’ll send you a $20 gift card. Spend it on yourself or share with a friend; it’s the next best thing to free money. Not bad for reading a blog, right?

Take advantage of the offer over at nau.com, and let us know in the comments if you’d like to see more special savings for Thought Kitchen readers. We’ll pass them on and see what we can do!

(via, well, nau.com)

This month for First Thursday, the Lizard Lounge (NW 14th and Irving, PDX) hosts an art reception by Jason Brown and Chris Haberman. It’s a collaboration show between two friends and two very popular artists in Portland’s powerful art scene. Live music performance by The Hugs, an up and coming garage pop rock band. This event is also a benefit for Mercy Corps efforts in the ‘Hands on for Haiti‘ campaign. 15% of all events earnings will go to ‘Hands on for Haiti’. In addition, enjoy refreshing beer from one of Portland’s favorite breweries, Widmer Brother’s Brewing and some delicious Korean tacos, from Koi Fusion food cart. Come join the fun on April 1^st from 7 to 10pm and receive 20% off all full-priced merchandise.