Like many others out there Rob Mathis is a guy who loves photography, and snowboarding. Also like many others out there Rob combined his love of photography and snowboarding and started shooting the riders at his local mountain. This is where Robs story and all the others out there cease to sound similar. You see thats because Robs local mountain was Brighton Utah in the early 90’s and the local riders and groms would eventually become a snowboarding who’s who list of all time greats including Blue Montgomery, Tonino Copene, Andy Wright, Mikey Leblanc, JP Walker, and Jeremy Jones. Soon Rob found himself traveling the world with the Forum Team and documenting first hand what many call the emergence of modern snowboarding. After ten years or so of traveling the world Rob sat down, went through thousands of photos, and compiled a career retrospective entitled Slide.

Published in 2008 the book opens with a chapter of whats commonly referred to as “lifestyle” photos. Images of tour stops, rail session set ups, behind the scenes shots from films, and hotel tour life encompass this chapter. The second chapter is titled 1993-1997 and features tons of photos of Robs earliest work shooting Brighton locals. Some of these shots are people you know and some are not but they are a great time capsule of the Utah scene (and of snowboarding in general) as it was emerging in the mid nineties. From there the book goes one Chapter per year up to 2007 and the final Chapter covers the three Nixon Jib-Fests that took place for 2000-2002.

I picked up my own copy of Slide earlier in the summer and flipped through it for hours. Its a double dose of snow porn for me since Im not only a Brighton local since 1997 but I was also a history major in college. I loved looking through and seeing everything from old tree jibs that have come and gone to Blue Montgomery on a Division 23 board dropping cliffs. I would also see shots I remembered from magazines and old videos. Sometimes the shots are mind blowing like Jermey Jones doing McTwist 900’s and JP doing switch frontboards a decade ago. Sometimes they are bittersweet like shots of Jef Anderson, Mike Page, and Nate Bozung. Sometimes they just give you that sense of wonder and fun that our sport captures in our hearts.

Those of you that follow my Twitter/Facebook know that from time to time Ill send out pics of classic SLC rails (thats the history major in me) and this is how Rob and I started communicating. We exchanged a few talks about rails that were still up and gone and ones that just barely predated my dvd purchases. As we talked I thought it would make a good post for the Blahg and thus here we are. I asked Rob if he was up to sending a few shots for an article as well as answering a few questions. Below are some of Robs picks with captions written by him and alternating between them are a few questions Rob was nice enough to answer. Finally at the bottom are the details of my first give away on the Blahg. Enjoy a piece of snowboarding history from Rob Mathis who documented it first hand….

1. So reading the book, you began your photography career in skateboarding and later moved into snowboarding. What prompted that move and was it your lack of experience in snow that gave you a different eye which set you apart from the other photographers of the time?

I never shot skateboarding for money, I just took photos of my friends while I wasn’t skating. Skateboarding was my life, all day every day. I started snowboarding in 1985, so it’s been a while. When I first started shooting snow, I always drew my influence from the skate photographers at the time Spike Jones, Sin, Dan Sturt, etc. It helped because I started shooting photos of my friends, they didn’t mind if I screwed up a shot because they knew I was trying something different. My career wouldn’t have been anywhere without Brad Scheuffele, Danny Geary, Andy Wright, Tonino Copene, Chris Saydah, etc. This is where things began to gel. I shot at Brighton and all the locals. It just so happened that some of the local groms were JP Walker and Jeremy Jones. I did some retainer work for companies to start, but my big break hit when I signed on with Forum in 1998.

2. At what point did you realize that the photography thing was going to be something more than the local scene, that it was a viable way for you to not only support yourself but also see the world and hang out with friends at the same time?

Photography has always been my passion. My Mom showed me some school work from 1st grade, it had a paper with the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer was photographer or race car driver. I guess one out of 2 isn’t bad, haha. As most things it ws lean when I first started. My first contract with Forum was $1000 a month for 9 months AND they could sell my photos to other companies and make money off the shots. Clearly my deal was horrible, but I knew it would eventually pay off. I stayed with Forum through 2003 and the Video Gangs year, and let’s just say the contract got a lot better!

3. The beginning of your career bridged the time span where snowboarding progressed into the modern era with the jumping of Peter Line for example and the rejuvenation of the jib scene from people like Jeremy and JP. What was that time span like in the late 90s? Was there a consciousness among the guys that something special was happening or was it more one of those things where you got done looked back and just thought .. wow!

The reason I did the book is because people would always ask me questions about the Forum 8 days, and what it was like shooting back then. The book just seemed the best way for people to see the world as I did for some pivotal years in snowboarding. When we first started shooting rails again for Decade in 1998, I never had more fun. Let’s be honest, look through my book you can see what I love to shoot. Maybe it’s just the skateboarder inside, but I could shoot urban all year and never be bored. As we progressed into True Life in 2001 and started traveling to new spots for rails, it was just unreal. We were going to Chicago to shoot snowboarding, then off to New York, Vermont then up to Canada. This was all one trip, and hands down one of the most productive and jaw dropping trips of my life. Snowboarding was changing, and I was witnessing it first hand. JP Walker, Jeremy Jones, Nate Bozung these 3 guys had so many bangers in just one trip it was unreal. I’m only as good as the riders I’m with, and these guys made my job much easier. I remember that trip like it was yesterday, and it was 10 years ago.

4. You took a couple breaks in your career. What is it about the sport that made you take time away and what is it that kept bringing you back?

Yeah, that’s a tough one. I took my first break in 2004 and 2005. Forum went to hell, and I was owed a lot of money. I shot maybe 10 total days in these 2 years and played online poker basically for a living during this time. I missed the shooting, but I was burnt on the politics. It happens, but I always missed creating images. I came back in 2006 with a small retainer with Forum again just as Cole Barash was taking off as the man(kid) in photography. It was a great year, had amazing trips and look back as that year producing some of my favorite images. I shot part time in 2007 and 2008, but trying to shoot w/out a retainer with a company is no way to make a living. I’ve got a wife and 2 kids, I couldn’t be out on the road like I was in the past. I still shoot occasionally, but I’ve been out of the game for a few years. I have some plans coming up, so hopefully they’ll work out. My days of following a video crew around shooting photos is definitely over.

5 The book ends with 2007. Can you catch everyone up with whats been going on with you since then?

I’ve spent more time with the family, played a lot of poker and rode my bike (Harley). I miss snow when I see the new mags. The new group of guys are killing it and even some that never stepped away from the grind. Blotto, Curtes, Andy, Cole, Rut, Oli, Tim Peare, Vincent, Blom, Estone…these guys are killing it, very inspirational to see the new crop of images every year.

6 Finally any thanks-yous and shout outs youd like to give?

First off my wife and kids, they are my life. Travis Wood for getting me my gig with Forum, even though my contract sucked…it was my big break and I’ll never forget it. Every rider from the Forum 8, these guys all changed snowboarding and I got to see it first hand. Obviously Jeremy Jones and JP Walker, these 2 helped me define my whole career. All the guys I mentioned earlier that let me make my mistakes on them including Blue Montgomery, Greg Pearson, Jason Bump, Bobby Meeks..I know I’m leaving out some people. All (well most) of the filmers I got to work with especially Pierre Minhundo, Brad Kremer, Mack Dawg and Ross Steffey. Seth Huot, Jon Kooley, Darrell Mathes, Nima, ….and the list goes on.

You can see more of Robs photography as well as purchase a copy of Slide at his website robmathis.com. However I also have a special edition as my first give away. This edition is signed not only Rob Mathis but also by some of the other riders appearing in the book including…..

Jordan Mendenhall

Jon Kooley

Seth Huot

Jeremy Jones

I hope to get a few more in there before I give this away to a lucky reader but I cant make any specific promises. So heres what you do to win, simply send a mail to burritosandsnow@gmail.com with “Slide Giveaway” in the subject heading. Please be sure to include that subject heading so the mail doesnt get lost, ignored, deleted etc. Ill accept mails through next Sunday the 19th. Any e-mail received after Sunday the 19th will not be eligible. Only one submission per E-mail address please. On Monday the 20th Ill announce the winner and contact them via E-mail to get a delivery set up. Good luck and thank you for reading!

UPDATE CONTEST WINNNER; Congratulations to Tyler Hitchcock whos name was selected in a random draw from Random.org. Ill be contacting you via Email Tyler. Thanks to all that sent in Emails for my first give away. Rob has only 100 or so copies of his book left to sell on his site and has them down to 19.95 to move the last lot. It truly is an amazing time capsule of one of the most progressive teams and eras of our sport.