TOP TO BOTTOM Snow came early to Alaska, blanketing the Kenai Peninsula. Depleted food sources pull the bears closer this time of year as they prepare for hibernation. I sat alone and watched as these two grizzlies shared a gentle moment. Mountains have exposed me to wildlife’s harsh realities. Photography helps tell the animals’ stories, inspire thoughtful co-existence and highlight the threats they face in a shifting world. When you dive under a wave there is a second when you are totally present. This exists in skiing as well, that suspended meditation of movement. On a sunny day in the Uri Alps of Switzerland, Owen Leeper pulls out of an overhead Swiss barrel. ON A COLD HOKKAIDO skintrack, things seemed to fall into place. Rogers and professional snowboarder Rafael Pease started chatting about endangered species in his home country of Chile and when he invited her to join his next project with Chilean production, Connections Movement, she jumped at the chance. The film project, Tupungato , fol-lows Pease’s human-powered winter expedition on Volcán Tupungato, a 21,555-foot volcano along the border of Chile and Argentina. It aims to bring awareness to the efforts to create Chile’s Tupungato National Park, a significant source of freshwater with over 140,000 hectares of mountains and glaciers outside of Santiago. “If you’re gaining attention or popularity from photography in wild places or of wildlife, then I think that’s an invitation to step forward into conser-vation,” she says. “Especially since you’re literally building a career off of something that might not always exist unless we’re really vocal.” These days, Rogers has traded the lively Wasatch hustle for a quieter life in northern Montana. She’s working to spread awareness about bills that threaten the local wolf population and pitching campaigns that promote Leave No Trace prac-tices, highlight endangered species and provide examples of strong environmental stewardship from the perspective of a skier. The power of shared joy through ski photography continues to inspire her, but now she’s linking that with the narratives that have shaped her character, shooting photos of receding glaciers and the effects of increased traffic in well-loved backcountry zones. “I think the big question for me as a photographer moving forward is: What does creative responsibility look like and how can I use my photography and love for the mountains to elevate the environmental conversation?” she says. “For me, recreation without active stewardship lacks accountability.”
The Ski Journal Volume 15, Issue 3: Page 88
