The Snowboarder's Journal - The Snowboarder's Journal 21.3
WHAT MATTERS MOST FOR: Tyler Ravelle
Words: Colin Wiseman. Photos and Captions: Tyler Ravelle. 2023-12-06 12:52:20
Our first stable day in Haines, AK—my first time there. We went up to shoot this windlip and had a fun run on the way down. Sebbe De Buck and Sage Kotsenburg, soaking it up for the soul.
Tyler Ravelle has a formula, but that’s not to say his imagery is formulaic.
“For every paying shoot, I do two personal projects,” the photographer says. It’s late September and he’s practically dripping wet, just off the plane from Teahupo’o, Tahiti, where he learned to swim with a wide-angle lens at what is widely considered the world’s heaviest wave. It was a self-funded trip halfway around the world.
“I don’t ever want to be geographically based, like ‘Tyler is a Whistler photographer,’ even though that’s where I live,” Tyler says. “I love the fact that I can travel with my camera and that I can create relationships all over the world. I had a last-minute flight to Teahupo’o with no real plan. I just knew there was a big swell coming. I got there and met a Red Bull surfer from the Canary Islands, then I met this dude from California, and everyone was just ripping. As a creative, there’s this gift where you can make friends anywhere you go because everyone wants photos of themselves. Tahiti was purely for the sake of pushing my limits. When you shoot for passion, when you shoot for the fun of it, you always end up getting more of the work you want anyways. People see you investing in yourself and what you want to shoot, and that feeds into getting more of the work that you want to get.”
Snow, surf, skate and moto, he shoots it all in the action sports realm, and he loves it. Staying true to his vision and constantly expanding his subject matter are the products of this passion-first approach which leads him around the world. He begins each project with an open mind and an open heart, and often finds immediate connection with his subjects as a result. Make space to thrive creatively and make new connections—that’s Tyler’s secret to success. And how does he define success?
“I love learning about shooting in new places and new light and new techniques and new equipment, even though it’s something that seems so simple,” Tyler says. “You have your ISO, your f-stop and your shutter speed, but you can get so technical within those three aspects. Then you introduce flashes and water housings and different lighting techniques and scenarios and it’s something you can continue to push for the rest of your life. That’s what I’m really excited about. There’s no limit. And that’s what continues to bring me back to how grateful I am for this job because it really feels like there’s no end goal. You can just keep learning and keep pushing and that’s what really motivates me.”
Tyler got his start with snowboarding, and it remains his North Star. He was born in British Columbia, moved across Canada to Ontario for high school, then flew back west as soon as he graduated. Trying to make it as an athlete helped him learn the intricacies of content creation. “I was always a little bit ahead of that curve where I realized I wasn’t doing the craziest tricks, but I could create value for myself as an athlete by having my own photography equipment and filming equipment and learn how to shoot and edit,” he says. “I was able to deliver from the age of 18.”
“You quickly learn that work doesn’t really matter. The thing that matters is the relationships in your life, the people you love.”
That was five years ago. With relentless creative energy and a willingness to dive into the deep end of any project, the dude’s been on a roll since. Now 30 years old, his portfolio and client list are as diverse as it comes in the action sports world, having shot everything from Alaskan steeps with Robin Van Gyn, Spencer O’Brien and Elena Hight for Arc’teryx to what one might call backcountry skateboarding with Ryan Decenzo for Red Bull. Other clients run the gamut from Burton, Coal, Union, The North Face, Sandbox, Oakley and beyond in the snow world, to moto/mountain bike giant Troy Lee Designs, and regional businesses like Tofino’s Northwest Ocean Adventures. But Tyler still only shoots what he knows and loves, which in his case means constant movement through all seasons. As for where he got it? Tyler credits his dad, Mark.
Mark was an engineer. Tyler’s mom, Heather, ran a spa. Mark introduced Tyler to snowboarding at age 6. They took trips together to Whistler. They learned to ride motorcycles together when Tyler was 20 and continued to ride bikes and boards together regularly. Tragically, Mark died in September 2022, in a motorcycle accident. It was heavy for Tyler—still is. The past year, Tyler’s been sorting through the logistical and emotional intricacies of his dad’s passing. That’s partly what sent him to Teahupo’o.
“The world expects things to return to normal a month or two after [such a loss], but the amount of love I have for my dad… a year later I can basically say he was my hero and I still miss him every day,” Tyler says. “The process of losing him and finding myself again has been hard, I didn’t know if I’d be happy again. I didn’t know what my future would look like, what my relationships would be like, how I miss my daily phone calls and dinners with my dad. I was so uncertain. Moving forward, I decided that I was going to do the living for both of us. I’m trying to live my life to the fullest that I can and have the best relationships that I can, and lean into the people I love the most, because losing my dad—you quickly learn that work doesn’t really matter. The thing that matters is the relationships in your life, the people you love. I’m really proud of this person that I’m becoming. Grief is a never-ending process, just like creativity and photography. Grief is something that you’re always going to deal with, learning to find some positive in it and accepting what happened and finding a way to live a life that my dad would be really proud of. I think he’d be really proud of where I’m at now and how I carry myself and how I am nicer to myself.”
For Tyler, that means calling his brother Ryan more often. Staying true to himself and his friends and his family. Making space to pursue new ideas. One to pay the bills, two for the soul. That’s Tyler Ravelle’s formula. And it’s working.
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