Every once in a while an athlete comes along who makes the impossible seem as natural as breathing. Brandon Semenuk is just such an athlete, a rider who has defined a generation of mountain bikers with his effortless style and big air. Though he’s often thought of as a slopestyle genius, the laid-back Canadian can do it all, from downhill to dirt jumps, making it seem that he was born on a bike, and was sending it before he even learned to walk.

Back in the dog days of summer, while on hiatus from competition due to an injury he sustained during the slopestyle contest at Kokanee Crankworx, Semenuk headed to Green River, Utah, to do a little riding and a little filming.

Photographer Sterling Lorence captured the shot. Trek and Bike magazine turned it into a poster.

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Semenuk and the Coastal Crew were working on a webisode in Green River, Utah, at the same time that I happened to be in town too. The boys were stoked with some of the lines they had found and asked if I could photograph some of the moves. I was super fortunate, for Brandon had already spent five days dialing in these lines, and I simply had to show up and do my job for him.

Brandon is one of those riders that simply loves to ride his bike, and it shows in the lines he builds. Few are one hit wonders, the majority are flowy and creative, and incorporate five to six tricks as he weaves his way through the progressive Utah terrain. The end of one of these lines was this 30-foot hip step-up where he airs over a rise. The light and shadows at the end of the day were easily spelling out the best angle to shoot this from, and it was especially rad as Brandon blasted up into the light with these huge whips.

Like any good stunt built by a progressive freerider, it takes time to dial it all in, and he had to session it nine or ten times before truly having the right speed and trajectory tuned. The final chapter in any good photo is the style, and there is no shortage of that whenever I get a chance to work with Brandon. - Sterling Lorence