James, first off, how’s this season
going for you and what have you been up to
so far?
Well a it’s bit
different to normal this year, with a quick
trip to Austria in January and a few trips
in the pipeline for the end of the season
this is actually my first winter in the UK
for 4 years now. I’ve just started working
in pre press production at Factory media who
are now running Onboard and Whitelines amongst
others, so I’m acclimatising to life
in the big bad city.
You were at the Air & Style in Munich
in December. Snowboard events don’t
come much bigger than that. How did you rate
the event compared to other events you’ve
been to?
Well it was mind blowing, I’ve never
seen anything on that scale with snowboarding
before and it was really really impressive.
The riding was outstanding and the whole sense
of occasion massive. Sometimes events can
be a bit dry but on a scale as big as this
the atmosphere was electric, I can’t
even imagine how the riders must feel before
they drop in...?
Would you say you have a particular
style at all?
Not intentionally, but I try to learn and
take inspiration from the kinds of images
I like to see. It’s not always possible
to get what you’re after from a shoot
or session but every now and then a little
gem comes out of nowhere.
So
which photo, out of those that you’ve
had printed, is your favourite shot?
Tell us a bit about it…
Well, my favourite shot in print, so
how it actually looked in the mag would
have to be Chris Chatt’s 5.0 at
Hochfilzen in January 2006 (SUK April
2006). It was pretty classic, bright
and colourful – only bad thing
was that I had about 2 grand’s
worth of flash equipment stolen whilst
I was taking that photo!!
An expensive shoot then!? A lot of snowboard
photographers just get into it with
no real experience. Having come from
a proper photography education, do you
think that gives you a different approach
to someone who has just picked up a
camera and started taking photos?
I think it’s more about what the
individual is into, but yeah, if you
immerse yourself in anything for 3 years
that gives you a perspective in itself,
so add to that a college environment
with loads of different people each
with different agendas and you get a
really broad and open view of what photography
can be.
photo: mark ruparelli
| click to go big
Which photographers, (aside from
yourself!) do you like the work of right now?
That’s a big question and I tend to
find particular images that grab me more than
a photographer’s portfolio in general,
but Peter Lundstrom is consistently making
cool stuff and Cole Barash at Forum is amazing
to have produced so many good shots so young.
Nick Hamilton probably mad e the best handplant
photo I ever saw it’s got a kind of
fashion look. At Kingpin magazine there’s
a guy called Sem Rubio who makes some rad
black and white images and the photo editor
there Dheeli is really good. Much like the
riders there are new names popping up every
season with banging photos.
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