The Snowboarder's Journal - The Snowboarder's Journal 22.1
THE COOL THINGS: Aaron Schwartz’s Conscious Ascent
Words Nick Bridge. Photos Aaron Schwartz. 2024-09-30 10:21:37
Nicholas Wolken, Laax, Switzerland. This morning is the closest we ever came to “going viral” on the internet—whatever that means. We joined Joos Caviezel and the Snowpark Laax crew on the extra early coworker’s gondola and found a snowed-in halfpipe just as the sun was rising, a perfect setting for Nico’s classic pipe turns on the right wall. Joos got the phone clip that later became our most viewed Instagram Reel to date. For some reason I still decided to shoot black and white during a beautiful and colorful sunrise. Some things never change.
To spend time appreciating Aaron Schwartz’s photography is to really know the stoke of the turn, the intense beauty of mountains and the vitality of friendships. His photography is a glimpse into a world of purity, creativity and love. He captures what it means to be a snowboarder.
Aaron’s universe of high-contrast, often black-and-white imagery transports viewers instantly to the hill, the top of the pipe or deep within the woods. His photos are diversified as they are palpable: the crispy perfection of freshly cut corduroy, the soft silence of snow accumulation on overloaded branches, tracks in deep powder representing two friends’ best day ever, the harsh beauty of daunting yet familiar mountains, or just plain old hanging out on the hill. That’s why Aaron’s photos make people want to go riding.
His career (I can see him cringe at that term) has been a conscious ascent from one strength to another, from humble teenage beginnings photographing punk shows and drawing band typography in Vancouver, BC, to his current role as Creative Director at Korua Shapes with an extensive list of accomplishments and projects. Although Aaron’s deep humility and countless black t-shirts remain in spades, humor me as I paint a picture of but a few of Aaron’s accolades: He oversees every visual aspect of the ever aesthetically appealing Korua Shapes and is co-founder of the Tidal Art Show in Laax, Switzerland, which brings together some of the snowboarding community’s most esteemed artists including Jamie Lynn, Bryan Iguchi, Hannah Eddy, Sarah King and Schoph. Aaron has exhibited both art and photography across Switzerland, along with having his work regularly published in the likes of Whiteout, Pleasure, TransWorld Snowboarding and The Snowboarder’s Journal.
Backtracking to Aaron’s figurative magic carpet days, he was born in Vancouver to a Swiss mum and Canadian dad and spent nearly 30 years ping-ponging between Canada and Chur, a city near Laax—long enough to call both places home. Earning a Bachelor of Communication Design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver opened the door to a range of technical skills like printmaking, typography and graphic design. Aaron was spending a bunch of time riding at Whistler during his university years and started bringing his camera along. Between that and the aforementioned punk shows, Aaron explains, “I was never able to do the cool things, so I was documenting the cool things to the best of my abilities.”
Following graduation from college, Aaron worked at a snowboard shop in Vancouver. With a few rolls of film in his adolescent archive, the lure of an almost identical yet higher-paid job in a Swiss snowboard shop had Aaron migrating once again. After that he held a spat of agency jobs paying slightly more than unpaid internships where, among other painful tasks, he had the tedious opportunity to rework the local municipality logo of a Capricorn three dozen times. He then worked for legendary Swiss brand Zimstern before moving to Laax full time, going freelance and never looking back. Nowadays, it’s safe to say Aaron is doing the cool things.
His style was shaped early on, in part dictated by conditions and who was available around Whistler. Aaron is known for shooting from the hip while ripping around with a bunch of mates. Going snowboarding without a specific photo in mind remains a significant part of Aaron’s process and style. Sure, he’s got great technical skills and a couple of decades of experience in mucking around with light and testing more traditional angles, but the absolute purity of capturing real and fleeting moments is the essence of photography, and the underlying allure of Aaron’s work.
His action shots are enthralling and his portraits are honest. In the latter you see people at ease. You see them relaxed with a sense of warmth. You see friendship. And that’s because Aaron is someone you want to be friends with, someone you want to be honest with, and someone you want to be like: humble, talented and kind.
There are a lot of great photographers out there, but only a few whose work really sticks out with original vision. Photographers whose work one can instantly tell is theirs without even seeing the credit. Aaron is one of those photographers. His framing feels effortless yet graphic. His composition reeks of context. Whether it’s a close-up, slightly long exposure where you feel the energy pushing down through the edge of the board before the rider explodes into another turn, or a wide shot showing an entire mountain range in the background, with a lone snowboarder slashing a lip on the face below, you can tell instantly that you’re looking at life through Aaron’s lens. And, again, it makes you want to ride.
©Funny Feelings LLC. View All Articles.