Gallerie

Jonathan Selkowitz’s Wild Enthusiasm

Jonathan Selkowitz’s Wild Enthusiasm
In April of 2000, after a busy week of photographing the Whistler Ski and Snowboard Festival, I had a couple hours to explore slopes away from the competition venues. I skied up to a posse of guys sessioning a wind lip kicker. They were some of the top athletes from the Big Air and Slopestyle events of the week, along with a young Sarah Burke. She continued launching and hiking after everyone else had finished, as she was focused on a new off-axis flip that was not coming easily. She ended the session floating this big backflip and then graciously stood for a couple portraits. Her hard work, determination, style, skill and humility made it evident that she was one to watch.
Words: Brigid Mander. Photos and Captions: Jonathan Selkowitz

In the early morning light, Andean peaks towered above steep couloirs on the shore of the still-frozen Laguna del Inca in Portillo, Chile. It was late September in 2009, and I’d found myself crossing the lake behind Jonathan Selkowitz and U.S. Ski Team coach Rewk Patten, reeling from my good fortune.

I’d finagled a week at Portillo on a $50 magazine assignment and hopped on a day’s bus journey from where I’d been ski bumming in Argentina. A mutual friend from our shared homebase in Jackson, WY, had given me Selkowitz’s contact as a ski connection at Portillo. Selkowitz was a famous, globetrotting ski photographer. I’d bashfully reached out. Selkowitz responded immediately: of course he had time to ski.

Soft-spoken but brimming with enthusiasm, we met the next morning and he showed me around and introduced me to other skiers. At the end of the day, he invited me on a tour to explore the terrain across the lake. “Meet us in front of the hotel tomorrow morning at 6:30 with your gear,” he’d said.

That, I soon came to discover, is Selkowitz’s modus operandi. For Selkowitz, nothing overshadows the intrinsic delight of skiing.

Back to Issue 19.2