Behind the Photo: Tyler Barnes

In reaction to Line MC Tyler Barnes‘ first published shot, a 2 page spread in Powder Magazine by Erik Seo to boot, Jordan Harper from Saga Outerwear (Tyler’s clothing sponsor) asked him a few questions.

Whether it is an athlete or photographer to open a magazine and see your hard work pay off must be a feeling like nothing else. It was worth the countless hours spent getting the shot and all the hard work you have put into making it to this point of being published. Both the photographer and athlete have created the shot that perfectly captures that fraction of a second that shows how the setup was. That is my favorite part about photography it leaves you with the ability to form the whole sequence in your mind of what it must have been like to be there. Whether it is urban or backcountry an amazing amount of hard work goes into to getting a print ready photo and I know from being friends with the people both in front and behind the cameras nothing justifies a passion more than seeing you hard work bound in a front to back magazine show casing the sport they love.

Erik Seo, who took this photo, is no stranger to getting published but this doesn’t change the same feeling of job well done when seeing the final product, every photo has different story and in this industry it is anything but cookie cutter, this isn’t an issue of home and garden. Each page is a different person putting it all on the line to get THAT shot. The shot that makes the reader want to go out and try to create their own moments and continue to progress in something they are passionate about.

Tyler Barnes, (the athlete) is a team rider but also a good friend of ours and has helped build our brand from literally the ground up.  The shot below is his first ever published spread compliments of Erik Seo and Powder Magazine. I can only begin to tell how stoked we are for Barnes to get this honor of having a moment forever frozen in time, a reminder of hard work pays off. This is true for everyone of our athletes, to watch their progression along with our own in the business is always a feeling of surrealism, we really have come this far.

To every single photo there is a story and I didn’t want this one to go untold. I contacted Barnes after I had seen his shot in Powder and asked if wanted to give some background to the photo, so everyone who reads this blog and see’s the picture is better educated on the who, what, when, where, how of the photo. Below is a little Q&A with the man himself Tyler Barnes.

1) where was this photo taken and what is the name of the rail?
The photo was taken at a woman’s health center in Ogden, Utah.

2) who was at the session with you?
Hitting the rail, it was Wallisch, Ryan Wyble, and myself. AJ Dakoulas and Kevin Steen were there shooting video for the new 4bi9 flick, and Erik Seo was taking photos.

3) what was the scene at the rail like? Time of day? Cold or snow issues? What made you go to that rail? How long were you there? Any issues. Was the winch used?

We hit this rail really early in the season, like early December if I remember right, it was the first handrail I hit this season. Ogden had just gotten a lot of snow, so made the hour drive north with this rail in mind. When we showed up at the rail there were a couple of janitors inside cleaning, so we left and came back later. I don’t think we got the rail all set up until after 1:00 am. It is a pretty difficult rail, and we had three people hitting it with one drop in ramp, so we were there for a long time, hours, it was cold too. Thanks to Aj, Kevin, and Seo for staying out in the freezing cold until the early hours of the morning so we could get the shot.

4) Is this going to be in your segment, what movie?
This rail will be in the new 4bi9 movie, Gunnie Season. It was also in Kevin Steen’s short movie “Sound and Light”, which won “Best Action Sports Film” at the Nation Film Festival for talented youth this last spring.

5) Is this your first published photo? What does this mean to you? It must be epic to open Powder and see your skiing featured!

I have never had a photo published before, so when Seo told me I was going to have a 2-page spread in the first issue of powder I was pretty much shocked. It’s definitely one of those bucket-list goals that I can finally cross off. I was also really stoked that they credited 4bi9 in the mag, that definitely means a lot.

6) how far is too far?

Haha the moon maybe. Not really sure what your asking here.