Interview with Justin Hostynek of Absinthe Films....
I spend a lot of time standing alongside snowboarding filmers, and there’s a lot of guys doing amazing work, but no one captures the soul of snowboarding better than this guy. No one has been in the game longer either. His passion hasn’t dwindled one bit in all those years. And he still shoots film.
Every year Transworld Snowboarding Business keeps track of the exposure each rider, brand and photographer gets throughout the year’s publication cycle in North American print magazines. I quite pleased to learn that I came out on top for the 2nd year in a row. This is my 5th title in the 8 years the Exposure Meter has been around.
iphone photos won 3rd place for the prestigious International Picutres of the Year competition. As you can imagine this story has created quite a stir in the photo community, mostly outrage. I tend to side side with the author, who makes great arguments for the validity of these images. At the end of the day, every camera is a means of producing a physical manifestation of what your mind sees. I’m as concerned with the process of getting there as I am with the chef’s actions behind closed doors preparing my favorite meal. I just want something that’s good to chew on, albeit mentally in this case.
I first met Ian back in the summer of 1992 at Mt. Hood His crew from Tahoe was camping near my crew from Salt Lake. There wasn’t very many snowboarders back then so you pretty much became friends with anyone who you met that rode. We are all trying to be pro snowboarders back then. He took a lot farther than I ever did, but somehow we both ended up behind the camera after a few years in front of it. We both became senior photographers at Transworld around the the same time before he stepped down to work for exclusively for Forum. Ian never seemed satisfied with just getting the shot, he was always experimenting the different films, processing, cameras, props, etc… His photo of Cameron Pierce from the first Transworld Team Shootout jumping over a forest fire is possibly the greatest snowboarding photo ever taken that didn’t make the cover. His shoots always look like huge productions to the sense that I don’t think he’s satisfied with a photo unless it either almost killed him physically or mentally or both. Even on a good day I’m sure he’s only marginally happy with his work, always thinking of ways to improve. This guy has passion for photography and the process like no one I’ve ever met. His camera truck (aka Time Machine) is history in the making. Photography students will be reading about Ian and his work in classrooms someday. He is a living legend of photography and I’m glad to call him a friend.
My first skate ad just came out this month. Stoked!
Austin Smith and Bryan Fox started a movement —if you could call it that— to remind people to stay hydrated (and perhaps second guess drinking that energy beverage).
Day turned to night while we were enjoying our final Aprés Ski in Arlberg. Danny Kass decided it would be a great place to test the waterproofness of the new nike outerwear.
This was also from the recent trip to Austria. We were hanging out in the parking lot at Lech when the weather started to roll in. Half the crew wanted to hit the panic button and change their tickets to fly home early and the others were weighing the options of staying. Eric Jackson made his mind up quick and provided some entertainment to the deliberating process.
I just returned from a few weeks in Austria with Danny Kass. One morning at breakfast at our hotel some of the guests had caught wind of there being an Olympian in our group. Olympic medals will give you a lot of street cred in this part of the world! Without skipping a beath, Danny cued his run from Tornino in 2006 from YouTube and gave these guys a show.
Group shot from another Matix catalog shoot, this one was for the holiday 2012 line and took place at the beginning of February. It was 80 degrees as sunny shooting this pool. We camped near the beach that night, it felt like summer. 2 days later I was in Quebec City in freezing temperatures again.
Right before winter I shot the Fall 2012 catalog for Matix with their skate and surf team. I took some inspiration from ‘Portlandia’ and put a bird on it, (actually two )when this set-up shot was looking rather boring.
Occupy movements popped up all over the country, and even some international cities this past fall. This was right around the same time I went to Anchorage, Alaska for my first snowboarding trip of the season. I was pleased to see that Alaska’s harsh climate hadn’t deterred some of it’s residents in joining the movement. I never saw any signs of life at the camp when I snapped photos. I hope the 99 percenters weren’t frozen solid in their tents.
good information about your rights to shoot photos in public places….
Arkade Jan. 2012
Good to see Paul Bundy back at the helm of the magazine he started back in 2007. Arkade is Utah-based publication, focussing on the riders and personalities who make it one of the centers of the snowboarding universe. I’m proud to have my photo on the cover, this is Bode Merrill at the downtown Salt Lake library, taken on New Year’s Day 2011.
I’ve been hanging in Austria the past few weeks with Gigi Rüf. It’s been amazing to be over here during such a great winter in the Alps. Last February I spent a few weeks with Gigi as well, only in Nelson, BC. He was struggling to recover from a pretty nasty ankle injury he sustained a month prior in Japan. This was his first trip back on snow after a month of rest and he was still quite tender. We were staying at Justin Hostynek’s house in Nelson and his girlfriend Kate, a Chinese medicine specialist, was trying different treatments on Gigi’s ankle during our stay. Here he is hooked up to an sort of acupuncture-meets-electrolysis type machine. Good to be riding with a healthy Gigi a year later!
SLUG Magazine Dec. 2011
I grew up in Salt Lake City and for as long as I can remember SLUG magazine (Salt Lake Underground) has been around supporting a counter culture scene that most people would never have thought existed in Utah. A few years ago I started a monthly column with for some of the overflow photos I have taken that have no other home. It’s only for the shots of riders either from Utah, or shots I’ve taken there. In addition I usually include a paragraph or two about the image, the riders or sometimes, just whatever comes to mind. I’m happy to support the publication and it’s a great place to use up some photos that might not ever see the light of day. It’s also fun getting to go on a little rant. Here’s the first of 4 columns from this season’s contributions, as well as the captions in case you’re curious what I have to say.
SLUG Magazine Jan. 2012
SLUG Magazine Feb. 2012
Transworld Snowboarding, March 2012
I spent Thanksgiving in Anchorage, Alaska with Dan Brisse and Seth Huot. It was my first trip of the season, and I’m not going to lie, it was a bit of climate shock going from a fall in Portland to mid-winter conditions. Not only that, but I wasn’t overly excited with the idea of missing one of my favorite holidays with friends and family to maybe score a turkey dinner at Denny’s in Anchorage. This was actually the first thing we shot that entire trip, and was my first photo of the year. I guess you could say it was all worth it! Now if I could just keep that average up for the rest of the season.
Shot a friend’s wedding last weekend in Sonoma, CA. I try to avoid these like the plague but i gotta say i had a blast taking shots in such a beautiful setting of two great people. Congrats Jonathan and Michelle!
Behind the scenes from one of my favorite shots from this past season.
Here’s a ‘behind the cover’ from Transworld Snowboarding for the November 2011 cover of Curtis Cizek.
Whiteout Cover
Just got word that my photo of Mat Schaer is the cover of the October issue of Swiss snowboarding magazine WHITEOUT. This is my first cover for this publication, and first of Mat Schaer, whom I met this year while shooting with Gigi for Absinthe’s new flick (Twe12ve).
Transworld Nov. 2011 Cover
This one came as a pretty big surprise, not in that I didn’t see the cover potential of this shot as it was happening, but I NEVER get backcountry covers. Very happy to say the least and happy for Curtis as well! Keep a look for Annie Boulanger’s Nike ad from this same session, as well as photos from Eric Jackson and Shawn McKay, — all of whom had a great shots on this feature.
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