BJ Brewer has been a staple in the big mountain freeheel scene for years. Countless times I remember myself hanging out at the bookstore thumbing through the pages of ski magazines and coming across photos of BJ back-flipping off a cliff with tons of exposure or slashing a pow turn in pre-dawn light. Never at that time could I have imagined myself having the opportunity to sit down and chat with him about the transition he is in the process of making: stepping behind the camera. Three years ago BJ started working more behind the lens as opposed to in front of it as a freeheel skier with the upstart of his own photography company, Syloet (pronounced silhouette). BJ’s vision behind the camera has largely been influenced from his experiences as a freeheel skier being captured by the eyes of photographers. His journey through the lens is still in it’s infancy, and I cannot wait to see where BJ’s love for and interest in photography takes him in the coming years.

When did your initial attraction to freeheel skiing begin?
As a kid. I guess I was four or five years old. My earliest memories are from skiing with my old man. I grew up skiing here – Alta, Snowbird, and Brighton mostly. We did the weekend warrior thing until I was old enough to figure out I could take the bus up on my own.

What is your biggest accomplishment as a freeheel athlete?
My biggest personal accomplishment was making it happen to the point where I was getting free gear and being able to ski full-time and work part-time. I can’t say that any of the competition wins were necessarily a striving moment for me. It was all encompassing - being a part of the big mountain freeheel scene and knowing the people that were doing what I was doing.

Have you always been interested in photography, or is it something that has come up in the last little while?
I have always been interested in it. I studied photography for the two years that I went to college. I probably would have ended up with a degree in photography, but I’ve been able to work with and learn a lot from the photographers here in the Wasatch like Will Wissman and Lee Cohen. Those guys have been huge mentors.

What types of photography are you focusing on?
Right now, being in the starving artist situation that I’m in, I shoot anything. I’ve been doing a lot of wedding photography because it pays well. Most of the time I don’t love shooting weddings, and all of the time I don’t love the bride’s mother. I love shooting human-interest stuff and adding different journalistic flairs to my pictures. I want to cover a lot of climbing and ski mountaineering. So hopefully when I become more established I can focus more on this type of photography and move farther away from the weddings.

Talk about your transition or the differences from skiing in front of the camera to working behind the lens
I think more than anything it’s helped me gather and gain insight into the types of pictures I want to take. When I frame a picture up I’m calling on the depths in my mind with thoughts like, “oh this is a picture I’ve seen or a picture I’ve wanted to capture for a long time.” Looking at the picture through my own lens with the mind of a skier has really helped me. It’s a funny situation taking still pictures, because the skiers and photographers that come up with the best pictures are friends or have shot together a lot. If a skier hasn’t shot with a photographer before, sometimes the skier doesn’t understand what the photographer wants from him. So the way I frame shots and the way I work with the people that I take pictures of, having been in their place in the past, has really afforded me the insight to get what I want out of each shot.

Has being a freeheel skier influenced how you approach photography?
Yeah it has. The things I shoot and the events that I end up capturing are sometimes pictures that I wish maybe someone captured of me as a skier.

In your eyes, what are the right ingredients for the perfect shot?
For me I really like good, contrasting light. I think that for the perfect shot, so many things come together – the skier understood what the photographer was talking about, if they were talking at all; or the skier just nailed something like a pillow that he wanted to blow up, the light was good, and the photographer was on mark with the shot. It’s almost like everyday life, when something really good and unexpected happens, when so many chains of events come together and happen at the same time, and explode into one picture. Boom, now it’s there, that moment exists in time, forever.

What gives you the most satisfaction while working with your camera?
I think satisfaction comes in a lot of different ways for me. Often times it’s when I capture someone’s reaction or emotion in a picture. Sometimes I’ll be satisfied with a picture while taking it, thinking I captured something, but then that satisfaction can leave me when I see the final result of the photo when I realize it isn’t as great as I thought it was. A lot of times after shooting I’ll think “man, bummer, I didn’t really get anything today,” but then a freak thing happens, and a shot turns up proving that I actually did get something that day.

Do you feed off inspiration when you’re taking photos?
I’m inspired to get out there and photograph the things that I love, namely people skiing and climbing. Daydreaming about what I love to shoot is what inspires me to go out and shoot everyday, and when I do get one of those pictures that I’ve thought or dreamed about, it just verifies for me that that’s what I love and what keeps me wanting to take more photos.

What do you look for when you’re framing a shot?
It totally depends. If I feel the shot doesn’t need a backdrop, I frame the shot tight. If the backdrop is something I think should be seen in the picture, then I frame it loose. Framing a shot is a huge facet in the business. You could have an excellent skier and perfect conditions, but if you frame it wrong, you can really mess things up.

For someone who is looking into seriously taking up photography, what advice would you give them?
Besides picking up a camera and shooting everything, everyday, you cannot know your camera well enough. Get to know your camera so you don’t miss the shots you want to get because you’re fumbling around with it trying to figure things out. Other than that, have a vision – some insight into what and whom you want to shoot, and stick with your vision. Don’t get sidetracked or discouraged. See it though - don’t bounce back and forth.

Check out more from BJ Brewer at www.syloetphotography.com