Rest In Powder

It breaks my heart to hear that @powdermagazine (and their partners @surfer_magazine + @bikemag) will be closing their doors at the end of this season.

Above is an image of the very first photo I ever sold, which was to Powder for a half page in the very back of the mag. I got paid $50 (which was a lot in 1995 ski bum dollars). But I can honestly say that this one sale was a life-changing moment for me.

Shortly after cashing that $50 check, I loaded up my truck and drove from Ketchum to Powder HQ in San Juan Capistrano, where I was offered an internship by Photo Editor @davidreddick. I accepted immediately, and began work in the hallowed space they shared with Surfer.

I still have vivid memories of savoring stacks of sheets of beautiful, perfectly tack-sharp slides from the best ski shooters in the world: Markewitz, Shapiro, Youngstrom, McKoy, DeVre, and so many more whose work I had only seen in print.

I remember standing at the light table with Dave and then editor Steve Casimiro as they debated which image to put on the cover that month.

I remember powder days at Mammoth and Baldy, and also learning to surf at San-O. I remember the day Mark Foo died, and also getting yelled at by Jeff Divine for buying him the wrong kind of slide mounts. I remember Sam George just kind of yelling in general.

I remember when Dave sent me to shoot my first feature for Bike, on the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara, and how good that felt to finally be shooting assigments.

The Powder/Surfer offices were a magical place infused with the wild spirit of the mountains and the sea — full of people that wanted to document and celebrate the beauty of these special places, and mail it out to the world, one luscious print issue at a time.

This short window in my life opened so many doors for me — putting me on the path to an equally challenging and rewarding career as a full time visual artist. I know that without Powder Magazine, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Thank you Powder, and Surfer, and Bike and especially Dave Reddick for being the source of so much inspiration and joy. And for helping me to understand what it means to do what you love.