Snowboarding
Dean "Blotto" Gray talks shooting "Rail Report," getting his start as a boarder and more.
With over 25 years behind the lens (and 30 on his board) Dean “Blotto” Gray is a snowboarder-turned-photographer that has never stopped turning. Documenting the sport strapped-in since the mid-90s, Blotto’s visual storytelling has been one of the defining voices in the culture since, quite literally, his first roll of film.
After starting off as a sponsored rider, Blotto quickly transitioned to photographer for Technine. He ultimately landed as the principal photographer at Burton Snowboards for over 17 years. His images have graced countless covers, billboards and even jackets around the globe. Blotto is the type of guy that you never know where in the world he will be when you call him, but you know he will always answer. He still considers the first place he ever rode (Arizona Snowbowl) his home mountain, and always gets back to it at least once a season.
Now, a collaboration machine that snowboarding continually taps for guidance and inspiration, Gray dips into whatever medium that is needed to get his art across. Picking up the phone while helping his parents with their truck in Phoenix, Arizona, Blotto took some time to chat about his career and the past season.
Just going through your history of collaborations real quick—what have all your photos ended up on? I know you have billboards, watches, boards, outerwear…
If I was to break everything down, it’s nearing a lot... I always like to see photography go beyond websites, social media and print pieces. I’ve done probably 100 different soft goods pieces with Burton—and we’ve done like 30 boards together. Bringing photography’s past traditional avenues and putting [a photo] on whatever we can put it on to make something look good—or have a little bit more meaning, a little bit more soul—I’m down.
A question I have always wanted to ask: Dean Gray is already a pretty good name for an artist, where did Blotto come from?
My legal name is Dean Thomas Gray the second.
Even stronger.
Haha, yeah. I picked up the nickname Blotto from my buddy Curtis Goodman, skateboarding in Phoenix. He started calling me that in the early ’90s. Mark Gonzales was doing a lot of artwork on his grip tape with paint pens so we were just copying that on our boards because we were kids, you know what I mean? I just wrote “Blotto” on there and we were skating a full pipe later that night… Curtis starting saying it. Then Blotto just stuck.
What started first: love of snowboarding or love of taking photos?
Snowboarding. I was still living in Phoenix, going to college, and went up to Flagstaff, Arizona, to try snowboarding at Snowbowl after my buddy recommended it, then basically moved to Flag that next year. So that would’ve been ’92.
What were you studying in college?
You know, those first couple years… it was just the requirements.
How did you get into photography?
I moved to Colorado in like ’94 while on some rep programs. After that first, Ethan “E-Stone” Fortier asked me to be on the Technine team, which I accepted. That lead into team manager and part-company owner. About halfway through that time the CEO was like, “You guys need to start producing all your own content and making catalogs and websites.” So, Ethan grabbed the computer and I grabbed the camera. We just taught ourselves everything.
The first roll of film I ever put in, I got a photo in a mag. I was pretty hyped. We had dug out the Vail Pass quarterpipe, and my first photo was a Travis Parker air-to-fakie tail grab with a broken wrist. That ran in Stick Magazine. I started in the heyday when there was like 30 magazines, so there was a place to put your photography.
You have to treat people with what their strengths are, work towards those. Everybody is an individual, everybody is unique, everybody has their special skillsets.
Published on your first roll of film! And 25 years later, still rolling strong.
I’m just super lucky to go out there and document this and grow the sport. Because when you’re documenting snowboarding, there’s travel, you’re meeting people. Who doesn’t like an adventure? The amount of creative and motivated people that you can surround yourself with. Seeing all these new places, people and experiences. You gain perspective about the world, about yourself, all that stuff. Perspective is so important.
Would you say that’s where you see the importance of your work? Helping grow the sport?
Oh yeah, 100%... and helping grow riders’ careers just by doing my little part. I’m trying to make people look good and really expose their talents. I get a kick out of that. I put pressure on myself to take a good image every time I click the shutter.
Or just coming in contact with the people who you turn on to snowboarding or the work you’re putting out there is bringing new people into the sport… that’s so satisfactory because we have to keep growing this thing and showing how fun it is. Like, when families shred together. After you’ve been in it long enough, you see guys you maybe mentored or at least worked with on a few occasions… to see them having kids and turning their kids onto snowboarding and watching them grow and watching them progress.
You have any favorite riders you have photographed with?
Everyone is number one. That’s part of my philosophy. You have to treat people with what their strengths are, work towards those. Everybody is an individual, everybody is unique, everybody has their special skillsets. The beauty of photography is getting to know people, even if it is just for one day. You can learn from everybody, so there really is no favorites.
So, when it comes to this past winter, dealing with the pandemic, were you worried about how it was going to go?
I wasn’t worried, but I knew there would be a different program for me. Usually, I do between three and five international trips away from the US, but this winter, I just drove all around the west coast for all of my jobs, and then flew up to Alaska. That’s how my winter varied, I got to see a lot of nice sights as I drove around though so it was no problem.
How many miles did you put on your car this year?
19,000.
Good thing it is a new car. You flew up to Alaska. You were one of the few photographers to go to shoot at the Natural Selection Finals. How was that experience? And how was it different from you past trips to Alaska?
I’ve spent hundreds of hours flying around Haines with Absinthe and Burton. It’s the same operation when you’re heading to the mountains: we have to have safety, and we have to have plan A, B, and C. All that is the same. But this time, it was a competition so there has to be other things in place—where media is going to be, what time people are dropping, the rotation in between heats. It was cool to see how Liam [Griffin] ran that stuff with his crew. To pull off an event of that magnitude with like eight people and the riders is incredible. That’s the mindset of snowboarders and snowboarding. We are going to get it done. It’s DIY, but it’s going to be super pro. Everybody is going to love it and come back for more. That was basically the attitude in Alaska.
Do you have a favorite shot from that event?
Oh yeah, Mikkel’s backside 540 off the giant cliff. We talked about it after and he was like, “I was thinking about doing a 720,” and I was like, “Well I’m glad you didn’t because the 5 won you the contest.” To go off a big cliff and go 540 [one and a half rotations and in which you land switch], that’s next to impossible. Mikkel just nailed it. A back 7 is a pretty standard trick nowadays and that’s pretty land-able off anything. He made a decision there that basically brought him the title.
And before that you linked up with Luke Winkelmann for a project on the east coast?
Let me check the journal here.
You keep a journal of all your winters?
Yeah.
Since when?
Since ’99. I have every single date marked down and all the highlights... Oh, here we go. I went to Jackson Hole, drove to Salt Lake, drove to Phoenix, then went to North Carolina.
Out of all the places you go, how does it feel when you get a call to shoot snowboarding in a place like North Carolina?
I love those calls… I want to go and do a street or mountain trip in every state in the US… totally would. Getting Luke in his home state with Red Bull and this Rail Report project, just blowing up the fact that he’s a really good snowboarder coming out of Carolina. You can tell he takes so much pride in his home. I’ve shot with Luke for a long time. He’s 400% focused on making a good career in snowboarding. He’s the first dude up, first dude out the door. He found terrain at a number of places [for the shoot], and they settled on Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Caroline. We stayed busy there for three days.
How many rails/spots did you hit per day?
Four spots a day.
Compare that to a regular street trip.
Two spots a day.
Sounds like a productive time.
Luke killed it. He’s so good at snowboarding and he really had that on display with Judd [Henkes] and Alex [Caccamo]. Having the support of the Lees-McRae College, they had the whole snowboard club out there so they were helping set up and tear down. The lacrosse team was all housed right where we were doing this long flat rail. They were cranking the music out the window all night asking Luke what he wanted to hear and singing along. It was such good energy. They brought the snow in from Beech Mountain and just made big piles around the campus. Then with Luke’s forward thinking, he hired a park shaper from his home mountain to help set stuff up.
Quite the trip. What’s on the horizon coming up?
Spending some time biking. I’m doing a show in Denver in August. It will be a couple installations, maybe a book… and my new board with Burton. I try to have six things going on at all times. Usually three of those will always work out. It’s all meditative. Like we were talking about, when you put this stuff out, it just turns people on primarily to this world of snowboarding and making a good life.
To keep up with Blotto, follow him on Instagram @deanblottogray.
