Photographer Profile: Bruno Long's in the right place at the right time

Photographer Profile: Bruno Long’s in the right place at the right time

Long finds the right place. [Photo] Mike Douglas

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, photographer Bruno Long, from Revelstoke, B.C., talks about how patience and timing is helpful, but sometimes the perfect shot depends on a healthy dose of luck.

Stan Rey | Shimamaki, Japan | Photo: Bruno Long

We were in Japan with Mike Douglas and Stan Rey for Salomon TV, and we had spent most of the day building a jump in the backcountry, which was a new thing for me. I was a little out of my comfort zone as far as shooting is concerned—and it was getting to the end of the day, so I was getting a little disappointed that we were missing out on all of this good light for shooting pow or touring.

So we finished with the jump, and we completed the filming we needed for the episode. Then, at the very end of the day, everyone asked if we had gotten enough shots because we had been sessioning this jump for hours, and we agreed that we should do a very short skinner to try and fit in some pow and touring shots. We went for one quick lap and as soon as we started to skin, the light came back and, all of a sudden, it started snowing.

I was freaking out, telling everybody to get moving. Everyone was walking in a line, and I was running around in this beautiful Japanese forest trying to find a good spot to shoot from. As they started walking up, the athletes spread out, and I just happened to catch Stan in the perfect spot.