Jussi Oksanen snowboarding Dean Blotto Gray Those Days

Is it the clunk of the Hasselblad V System camera, the hand wound shutter, the look down viewfinder, or the size of medium format film? It could be all of this and more that created one of the greatest camera systems ever. I waited years before acquiring my first Hasselblad, can’t say exactly why, but it was a short time before digital took over the snowboarding world.

Being late to the party, I made the most of it. The few hundred rolls I managed to shoot and process were nothing but pure joy as they arrived back from various labs; it’s like Christmas when you open the envelope to see what lies within.

This particular image was from a 48-hour trip to Mount Hood with Jussi Oksanen to get in as many runs, jumps, and jibs as possible in a short amount of time, including an evening up on the snowfield jumping over that famous snowcat. Recently, as I look back and reminisce on my film days, digging in the crates has motivated me to pick up another Hasselblad, the classic 501, and run a few rolls through here and there when time allows. I have no regrets in waiting so long to pick up that first 501, nor do I regret parting ways with this equipment after going completely digital. Photography has never been about what’s in your hands when taking a photo, but rather the simple act of taking pictures of something you love. Which, in my case, happens to be snowboarding.

Editor’s Note: This was the snowcat used in the film, The Shining

Jussi Oksanen, Mt. Hood, Oregon

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This month, Burton’s principal photographer, Dean Blotto Gray gives us a glimpse into archive of his illustrious career. Blotto’s eye has produced some of the most iconic images of this generation, with riders including Jussi Oksanen, Mikey Rencz, Mark McMorris, Zak Hale, Gigi Rüf, Jeremy Jones, Danny Davis, Roope Tonteri, and countless more. He is one of our favorite photographers, and we are proud to feature him in our inaugural story for the Those Days series.

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Those Days is a new, weekly series from Snowboard Mag that gives photographers a platform to share some of the most memorable moments from their careers. Each month, we give a different photographer the platform to share photos that spur feelings of nostalgia, triumph, pain; anything with a story they want to tell. Our culture’s history is vast and full of these special, fleeting moments in time. Those Days is here to bring them to you.