In our 20th Anniversary Issue, we speak with editors, art directors, photo editors and contributing photographers past and present about their favorite covers from our first 100 issues. Here’s an excerpt from the conversations with former Photo Editor Chuck Waskuch.
“The cover that means the most to me is not from while I was Photo Editor but from when I was a freelance photographer. I was on my first assignment ever with Backcountry Senior Editor John Dostal. Matt Mancini ‘Johnny Bravo’ is the cover boy. We were doing a story for Skiing Magazine about the slides on Whiteface, and the snow looks better than it was in this photo—good thing there was no audio because it was loud. After the story ran, I submitted the rest of the photos to Backcountry and got the cover. It was my first ever. Getting a good shot meant more back then when it was film. It was $20 a roll for film and processing and it was only 36 frames. You had to always be checking how many frames are left. Living in a mountain town, you had to send your film out for processing, so you didn’t know if you got the shot or if your exposure was right until you got your slides back two weeks later.” —Chuck Waskuch, Photo Editor, 2002-2008
December 1998
Skier: Matt Mancini
Location: Whiteface, N.Y.
Photo: Chuck Waskuch
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