Beyond & Above
He was born into Cranbrook’s 1980s era snowboard and skate scene — both deemed unsavoury to the status quo, and all but illegal. Thirty years after travelling the globe as a crusader for ‘boarding’s cause, photographer Jeff Patterson has returned to the East Kootenay as one of the sport’s pioneer chroniclers and collectors. Today, with a new career flying high for Hollywood, the family man shares images and insights from his transworld transformation.
Step It Up — A shot from 2007. Following random animal tracks, riders Garry Pendygrasse and Kirt Nielsen hiking a ridge line to Revelstoke’s Mt. McCrae. Jeff Patterson Photo
After a three-decade orbit away from his hometown of Cranbrook, professional photographer, snowboarder, terrain park sculptor, and drone pilot Jeff Patterson has touched down in the East Kootenay once again — and he’s still riding high on his creativity.
Like many strapping Canadian lads, Patterson came from a hockey family: his Kimberley-born father has coached many of the NHL players who’ve come out of the Kootenays. Laughing, Jeff refers to himself as the ‘black sheep’ of the family for choosing professional snowboarding as a path to athletic stardom. Cranbrook’s local skateboarding and BMX scene offered a natural entrance into snowboarding. “A neighbour of mine lent me a 1984 Burton Performer which, in fact, I still have. It was a really small community and very few riders were on the mountains anywhere,” Patterson recalls. “I remember having a little sit-down with one of the ski patrollers about the jumps that we were building,” he adds, chuckling. At a time when snowboarders were banned at many resorts in Western Canada, Patterson and his posse worked with Kimberley Alpine Resort to properly create safe yet exciting jump lines.
Patterson’s big break came when he was tapped to drive a snowcat up at Mount Norquay after one of the employees was fired for sleeping on the job. Now he could ride during the day and learn the basics of slope grooming at night. He took to his new tasks enthusiastically. And as snowboarding competitions progressed from racing to freestyle — first with half-pipe and then with slopestyle and big air — Patterson’s talents were increasingly in demand. “I was involved with the very first Cutters Camp at Mount Hood in the United States, an annual competition sponsored by Ski Area Management magazine,” he says. The Norquay gig led Patterson on an Antipodean Adventure to New Zealand and a job at the celebrated, and lamentably now closed, Snow Park freestyle training facility.
Ridin’ High — An epic late-day shot of rider Wollie Nyvelt at Baldface Lodge. Jeff Patterson Photo
For ten years, Patterson went back and forth between Canada and New Zealand, doing whatever it took to carve a career out of the snowpack, and ultimately landing in the action sports industry. He moved his Canadian base from Banff to Whistler — “where all the pros were,” he explains — to pursue photography and writing full time. He documented his buddies’ adventures around the globe, hustling to get his photos into the top magazines. By this time, his skills as a photographer were well-honed and in great demand. He travelled the world with Canadian crews, selling words and images to SBC Snowboard Canada, where he was on the editorial board, Transworld, and myriad adventure outlets.
Unfortunately, a serious back injury threw his riding career for a loop in 2012. “I realized maybe I should start looking for something beyond action sports,” he says.
But by now, his body of work, both behind the lens and snowcat dashboard lights, had earned him decent paycheques, an industry-leading portfolio, and high praise.
“He was one of the top snowboard photographers in the day,” says Jeff Pensiero, owner and founder of Nelson’s Baldface Lodge. “Up there with guys like Gallup and Pendygrasse. Jeff shot some of the most iconic ‘boarding photos ever,” says Pensiero, noting the shooter’s work with the world’s most prolific snowboard movie makers, Absinthe Films.
Patterson worked at Baldface — with its distinct snowboarder bent, one of the world’s premier mechanized backcountry lodges — as both a photographer and cat operator over the destination’s 25 years. Road building, and more specifically, park building, were talents that rivalled Patterson’s photographic prowess.
“He built some of the best super parks at Louise and in New Zealand,” Pensiero notes. “Not only as a photographer, but as an operator, he’s a legend.” With an innately curious mind always seeking to find out how things work, Patterson ordered parts that would end up making some of the very first drones that were ever used in snowboarding movies. By this time, Patterson had moved to Squamish and started making inquiries about working in Vancouver’s booming film industry, which is now a vital part of his career.
Most people who come up in the action sports world have no idea just how many people it takes to create a green-lit feature film for a major studio or streaming service. Patterson’s current job description (one of those ‘credits’ that roll at the end of a movie) is heavylift drone operator. He’s employed by Revered Cinema, a 22-person collective of videographers and visual storytellers. Their impressive portfolio includes Togo (Disney Channel), SEE (Apple TV+), and Lost in Space (Netflix).
“In making a snowboarding film, everyone has to be highly flexible,” Patterson explains. “You might be driving a snowmobile, or working a microphone, or getting behind the lens. Hollywood productions are much more structured and everyone has to stay in their lane.”
Rolling Credits — The Raptor Hex on duty in Machu Picchu, Peru during the filming of Transformers Rise of the Beasts. The $150,000 drone, which can carry over 60 pounds on its airframe, was designed to fly at 12,000 feet or more. The drone’s normal payload for film making includes a Freefly Movi gimbal that holds cameras such as the Arri Alexa Mini LF or RED V-Raptor and almost any lens available within its weight capabilities. The cameras have remote motors for zoom, focus, and iris control, and an HD video transmission system. The drone and camera require two operators. Jeff Patterson Photo
Patterson used his creative flair in Peru while filming the new Transformers movie on the Inca Trail. “There was one spot where we were able to get a unique point of view — an ‘unscripted shot’ in movie-making parlance — by using a tiny drone to access a particularly tight space,” he explains. On these types of projects, the team does a tonne of filming, most of which never sees the light of day, so it’s always a surprise when you get to see the final cut. “In this case, the clip ended up in the opening segment, which is pretty cool,” he says.
Patterson’s family has re-settled to Kimberley, which he sees as the perfect basecamp. “My wife and I both love to travel and we want to expose our sons to more adventures,” he says of his new chapter. And as for his work, he explains, “The movie company that I’m a partner in has an operation in both Calgary and Vancouver, and I can get onto a set pretty much anywhere in Western Canada within a day.”
Patterson feels incredibly fortunate to be able to do the type of not-real jobs, as he calls them, that have defined most of his adult life. “I keep thinking about those Career Days. None of the jobs I’ve done even existed when I was in school.”
~ Steve Threndyle
Find this full-length story and more in The Trench’s Spring + Summer 2024 edition: