Photographer Profile: Brian Mohr talks East Coast winters and family

In the 2018 Photo Annual, we’ve asked seven photographers to dish on the inspiration behind a favorite photo of their choosing. These featured photographers capture the landscapes, community and emotion that that evoke the untracked experience, from dawn’s light to skintracks cutting across a blank white canvas.

In the next installment, Mohr, of Moretown, Vermont, talks about the role home, family and community have in his artistic pursuits.

Mohr sits with his daughters Lenora Sky and Maiana Snow. [Photo] Emily Johnson

What I think makes skiing in the Northeast so special is the incredible variety that our terrain offers and the amazing variety in weather and snow conditions that we get to enjoy. That drives a lot of my photography. 

I try to go with the flow of the weather and the snow conditions. I don’t try to seek out the best snow or the greatest skiing action, and I don’t want to make it look better than it is; I just want to authentically document whatever nature is throwing at us. I also want to keep that dynamic in mind at all times. 

For conditions, you can have complete adversity on one end of the spectrum and, on the other, you can have some of the most world-class powder days you can imagine. My wife Emily often says that skiing in the Northeast is a continuum between really deep powder and pond hockey. It is easy to overlook the days when the weather is crummy and the snow conditions are dull, but what makes the visual story of the Northeast special is when those images are there. 

Andy Weis | Green Mountains, Vermont | Photo: Brian Mohr

 

Getting out and capturing the adversity—the funky snow, the 30-meter ice flows, the breakable crust after a freezing-rain event beneath a canopy of trees glazed in a half inch of frozen rain—takes some discipline. When it’s raining, you don’t stay inside; you get out and try to capture what might be a rare, beautiful event.

To see more of Mohr’s work, visit emberphoto.com.

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