Fotofolio - Prime Snowboarding

This interview was originally published in Prime Snowboarding Magazine Issue #24. The interview was done in English and translated to German for the publication. The English version is below.

Client: Prime Snowboarding
Project: Fotofolio
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Athletes: Eric Jackson, Beau Bishop, Chris Rasman

About Ben
Age: 30
Place of residence: Pemberton, British Columbia, Canada
Education: I have a degree in Advertising Photography from The Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.
Snowboard photography since: I’ve shot snowboarding professionally since 2012
Favourite camera and lens: I shoot with a Canon 5dMkiv. My most used lens is a 70-200 f4. I like being able to shoot from a distance and compress the scene.

Questions:
Hey Ben, you are a blank sheet of paper for our readers. Can you introduce yourself to our readers in a few sentences?

I grew up snowboarding from a young age. Like many, it consumed my life and I quickly became addicted. Not much has changed in that regards, and I love getting to ride at any chance I get. I was introduced to photography in my teenage years and shortly after blended the two together. I was fortunate to be introduced to the backcountry from a young age and have had some great mentors around to help teach me how to access it safely. After living in Salt Lake City, Utah for four years I made the move to Canada and now live with my wife and young son in Pemberton, British Columbia.

Photographers have been an important pillar in snowboarding over the past decades to document the sport and its development. Today, the riders themselves seem to take on this task with their action cams. How can you still exist as a photographer in snowboarding?

There is a lot of self-driven media generated these days, from riders using their own go pros, to bringing out cameras and shooting imagery of each other once they ride. The big difference here is the act of taking photographs plays second place to the snowboarding. They might be able to capture the action shot, and can usually make it look good, but they aren’t there capturing the entire day. Some of the best photos I’ve gotten have come from fun runs, where I decided to pull out the camera. Most riders I’ve been out with would much prefer to ride versus taking photos.

There are people who claim that snowboarding photography is not witchcraft and that in the end everybody could do it. How much banal documentation and how much professional know-how is in your photos?

I’ve heard snowboarding photography described as romanticized photojournalism. I’m there to capture the story of what is going on but trying to make it look beautiful at the same time, which is relatively easy when your working with the amazing scenes that Mother Nature provides. I think shooting snowboarding is something anybody can learn but I think you need to be involved in the sport to understand what you are shooting to make sure it looks good.

For a lot of the shooting that I do in the backcountry, the photography is only one aspect of what you need to know how to do. Before you even get to shooting you need to make it to a location safely. Whether snowmobiling, splitboarding, or even just snowboarding to a zone, you need to be proficient and all these skills take time to learn and get good at. A lot of factors are involved as well such as avalanche safety to make sure you’re not making a situation more dangerous to get a shot.

Overall I think these are all skills that can be learned you just need to be willing to put in the time. I find experience plays a big part of it. It’s going to be a lot easier to make a shot look good if you know which direction a rider is going to be facing with a certain trick, and how the light is going to react when the snow flies in the air.

Action or image composition. Which aspect comes first for you when you take your camera in your hand during a shooting?

Either can come first depending on the situation. If I’m out with a crew who is filming for a video then the action comes first and I will search around to find the best angle of the feature to create a composition I like. Other times I will see something that I like and then ask a rider if they would be interested in hitting it for the photo.

I normally try to look for an angle that is looking towards the sun. While this doesn’t always work I find the light is much more dramatic.

Snowboard shootings are usually time-consuming and cost-intensive. Do you get booked for the shootings or do you just go shooting and hope to sell your pictures afterwards?

Shooting snowboarding is expensive. I try to get booked for as many shoots as possible before going out as this is a guaranteed way to know the photos will get used and you will get paid. I do still spend quite a few days out shooting with various riders and try to sell the images afterwards. I’m usually always able to cover my costs with this strategy but it doesn’t always make me money on top of that. That being said I really enjoy being out in the mountains shooting, and I would probably do it even if I wasn’t making money from it.

Unfortunately, more and more magazines are discontinuing their work. What other sources of income are there for you to earn money with your photos?

With far fewer magazines and far fewer issues of each publication, the places you can sell images is definitely limited. One way to help with this is to try and maximize the usability of your work. I try to get out with a variety of riders to have a larger audience of who I can sell to. A brand or magazine might license one or two images of a rider, but if I can get out with many different riders this expands the number of people I can sell images to. In addition, I have a few select skiers I always try and get out with as well. While I don’t enjoy shooting skiing quite as much, it still allows me to be out in the mountains and doubles the number of available magazines to license images to.

I try to look beyond snowboard brands as the only thing I shoot and I’ve been working to diversify to make ends meet. This past year I was fortunate to be able to do some work within the tourism industry. I’ve also had some regular clients over the years who always hire me back, so I make sure to maintain these relationships and always strive to be hardworking and impress them with my work so they hire me each year.

You have studied photography and have the expertise that many other photographers lack. Does your study bring advantage in snowboard photography or do backcountry experience and understanding of riders and action play a more important role on the mountain?

It’s hard for me to say whether studying has had an impact on my photography as I don’t know where I would be without it. I did learn a lot from my education and it definitely helped me progress the technical aspect of my photography. Specifically for snowboarding, I would say backcountry experience is much more important. In addition to this is taking the time to meet the right people, and then maintaining these relationships as this is ultimately who you are going to get the work from.

There was a time when photographers used to create special shoots with huge, abstract or sophisticated lighting moods that caused a stir. Do you have an unusual idea for a photo that you would like to realize as a photographer?

I remember when Transworld published the images of Cole Barash where he brought the giant white backdrop onto the mountain and backlit the riders. One of the images was the cover of the photo annual of Stevie Bell front boarding the down flat down. I remember being blown away by the production value, and how clean the images looked. I would love to do something like this, but don’t have any ideas as of now.

Ben, we hope that we were able to draw our readers' attention to your work with this fotofolio. How can we follow your work and do you also offer that your photos can be ordered and hung on the wall at home?

The best place to follow my work would be on my Instagram @bengirardi or through my website: www.bengirardi.com. I update it regularly and write pieces about trips and behind the scenes of different images.

In addition, I sell prints of my work, my website isn’t set up to ship directly to Europe, but if you’re interested please email me at info@bengirardi.com and I can get you sorted.