A Conversation with Action Sports Photographer Reuben Krabbe

For action sports photographer Reuben Krabbe, Whistler, Canada is where he rests his head. But with his insatiable wanderlust, the road is where Krabbe might call his true "home," for it is on the road that he finds the culture, community, and natural beauty that inspires his far-reaching works. Growing up in the flat prairies of Calgary, he would look longingly to the Northern Rockies — and now he finds himself there.

He took a liking to photography back in middle school, when he and several friends picked it up as a hobby. Taking notes from his father, who was similarly interested and used a 35mm Pentax SLR throughout young Krabbe's childhood, he eventually snagged the aforementioned camera for his own use. Krabbe's mastery of photo mechanics is evidenced here in an intentional overlap of 10 separate shots captured on a chairlift. 

Even more fulfilling than camera tricks and techniques are the adventures that lead him to the photograph...

...as well as the people he shares them with: "The coolest thing about photography is how it can change your experience of a culture or location, in a way that money can't buy. I've been trying to work on my writing, often to compliment my photography — but also to increase how specifically you can convey a story or idea."

"I'm most inspired by arts that aren't photography," Krabbe shares. "I find it difficult to draw inspiration from the same medium because it can feel like plagiarizing an idea." His sources of inspiration can seem even more elemental, such as a steep descent in the evening...

...or capturing and interpreting an otherwise overshot image through his own lens.

The often lonely exploration is taxing, but it's an exploration that makes tracks in the most revelatory of places, such as a simple view of a fog-covered bridge in Vancouver...

...or the Yukon up north where an overexposed photograph from an 18-hour push...

...reminds him why he does it. The relatively recent trip to Tombstone Territorial Park opened up a seemingly never-ending expanse of (officially) unnamed mountains.

And in the presence of such awe-inducing wonders like Mt. Monolith, the solitude allows him to better appreciate the process: the finding and shooting of an image. He's less attached to his camera functions, and more connected to the tie between a photograph and its backstory.

So it goes: "-25°C, 3 a.m., total exhaustion, sleep deprivation... and one of the most incredible nights of my life."

Michael Woodsmall has a serious case of wanderlust himself, especially in the way of the train, and his favorite trip on the tracks might've been the one on the Pacific Coast Starlight from Jack London Station in Oakland, California down to Union Station in Los Angeles. See where the wind blows him next by following him on Twitter @mkwoodsmall.