PHOTO: Sean Sullivan
RIDER: Marc Morisset
LOCATION: Revelstoke, British Columbia
CAMERA: Nikon F4
Social media is bubbling over with folks sharing their thoughts on “the greatest snowboarding photo of all time.” Comment sections frequently devolve into takedowns, arguments, and virtual fistbumps over which riders and photos deserve to be crowned The GOAT. As a spectator, this can be entertaining and informative. Sometimes, it all gets a bit nasty. Often, however, the banter motivates riders to prep their gear and go riding, rather than waiting for the perfect storm.
If nothing else, all the social media chatter proves that passions are still sky high for the art and culture of snowboarding. Riders love to reminisce about their favorite video parts, magazine covers, signature models, and mountain resorts. Why? Because much more than a sport, snowboarding is a lifestyle and a frame of mind. People are passionate about it because they want to see it thrive and continue to evolve.
Like all cultures, however, for this to happen we must preserve its history, celebrate its participants, share its artifacts, retell its stories, and make new memories. Most importantly, we must welcome in and raise up new riders to become not only shredders, but lifelong learners and lovers of the great outdoors.
Snowboarding is an antidote to too much time spent in one’s head. Strapping in, linking a few turns, and boosting off of a booter (whether it be six-feet of airtime or a 60-foot sender) has the power to firmly place one in the here and now. No thoughts of yesterday. No worries of tomorrow. Just you, your body, the board under your feet. The snow. The trees. The clouds and the breeze.
Here, at Absinthe Films, it is our belief that certain photos stand the test of time, specifically because they teleport the viewer into the moment, the setting, the feeling of what it is to be a snowboarder. We’ve created PHOTO OF THE DAY as a way to share, in our estimation, some of the most iconic images from the art and culture of snowboarding. We choose each image not just for the rider and the trick, but also as a celebration of the photographer, the terrain, the conditions, the equipment, and the emotion the moment aims to convey.
This image of professional snowboarder Marc Morisset blasting through the trees was captured by photographer Sean Sullivan in the year 1994. When used as the cover of SNOWBOARDER MAGAZINE, it became one of the best selling print editions in the publication’s long running history. As the decades have rolled on, many viewers have come to consider it one of the greatest snowboarding moments ever committed to analog film.
“Tim Manning, Peter Line, Marc Morisset and I; we were in Revelstoke, B.C., and went snowmobiling on one of the down days,” says Sullivan. “This cliff-to-tree smash was a bold display of power by one of snowboarding’s most respected riders of the era.”
It’s true. During his career, Morisset was regarded by many to be one of the best riders of his generation. He was 100% snowboarder. Morisset kept a low-key profile, stayed focused, and let his explosive riding do the talking. To this day, this photo is still talking to every passionate snowboarder who lays eyes on it. Take in the trees. Study the style. Consider the camera angle and conditions. Imagine yourself in that moment, pouncing like a puma through the pines. Go snowboarding.