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Interviews

Life behind the lens: Daniel Bernstål

We ask leading photographers from the world of winter sports to shed some light on their art.

Daniel Bernstål, a 37-year-old, based in Stockholm, has become the go-to photographer for many of the world’s biggest and best-known snowboard brands in recent years. His work has appeared on multiple magazine covers (no mean feat in an era of print closures) and been nominated for major action sports awards. His style is characterised in part by his mastery of studio lighting techniques, and his willingness to lug heavy flash setups up the hill. But like all great photographers, it’s his unique eye that really sets his work apart—his ability to spot an unusual angle, or envisage how lighting might transform a scene. As he explains here, you don’t need to travel halfway around the world to create a stunning snowboard shot—you just need to be able to see what’s in front of you a little differently.

STEP INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
This photo was taken just a few minutes away from my home, at what must be one of the smallest ski hills in the world, Hemlingbybacken. It reminds me that a lot of the time, you don’t have to travel to the other side of the globe to shoot fascinating photos. Just use your imagination and you can get those shots around the corner where you live. The fog rolled in this November night and I used a flash to backlight Anton Bilare when he was doing a frontside 180 over a picnic table.
Shutter: 1/200
Aperture: f7.1
ISO: 200
Camera: Nikon D850 on a 50mm

Whitelines: What first got you into photography?

Daniel Bernstål: I always wanted to be a snowboard photographer, right from the first day I opened a snowboard magazine. Travelling the world and snowboarding with a camera in my hand seemed like a dream. So when I lost my day job back in 2009 I decided to pursue that dream, and today I can finally call it my job. It has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs, and it sure hasn’t been easy. But I guess nothing in life that’s really worth having comes easy.

 

WL: You’re one of those lucky people who’s turned something you love into your job. Does shooting snowboarding ever still feel like your hobby? Or does it always feel like work these days? 

 

DB: It’s a bit of both. If I’m on a paid assignment it definitely feels like work because the client expects me to come home with something good. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get the most unique photos, and that is something that gives me a lot of anxiety. Then it can be hard to enjoy the moment. But sometimes I do passion projects just for fun, and that’s when I really get to enjoy what I do.

Heavenly Light
Every season, Nils Arvidsson and I try to link up at our tiny home ski resort Järvsöbacken. On this day, it was cold as hell, so I wasn’t too hyped on going, ‘cos I knew I was gonna freeze my fingers off holding my camera. I almost stayed in bed, but once I got to the mountain I noticed this crazy, rare phenomena, with pillars of light in the sky. It only happens when it’s super cold and there are tiny ice particles in the air that the sunlight hits. I unpacked my drone and yelled at Nils the classic four words: “light’s good, do anything!”. He made a nice backside carve, I snapped the photo and this was the result. I was very stoked that I didn’t stay in bed on that day!
Shutter: 1/2000
Aperture: f4.0
ISO: 100
Camera: DJI Phantom 4 Pro
Rock Star
This is from Riksgränsen, in northern Sweden. We had been waiting for good conditions for a couple of days, and constantly checking the weather report. The only window we had was at 3AM, but the good thing is in Riksgränsen at that time of the year it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is—you’re so far north that it’s always bright outside. Sven Thorgren delivered this massive Japan Air and stomped the landing on the back of that rock. Great memories.
Shutter: 1/2500
Aperture: f4.0
ISO: 400
Camera: Nikon D850 on a 70-200mm

WL: What is it that keeps you coming back to mountains, as a subject?  

 

DB: Hmm, that’s a good question. I guess I like the thrill of being out there. The mountains both scare me and fascinate me. And sitting on top of a mountain and watching the sun set is almost a religious experience. It sounds cliché, but it really is!

 

WL: Who or what are your biggest photographic influences?

 

DB: In snowboarding it was always Vincent Skoglund who inspired me the most. His style was unique, and he was one the first to really use flashes out in the backcountry in the 90s. I’ve always loved to shoot with external light and he’s definitely why I pursued that path. Today, I love to watch Lorenz Holder for his approach to shooting snowboarding, but also all action sports. He seems to see everything from a different perspective, which I really admire.

 

Mind the Gap
Halldor Helgason was a rider I always dreamt of working with. He’s an incredible talent, a legendary hellraiser, and the poster child for a whole generation of freestyle snowboarders. In 2017, that dream came true and I was fortunate to travel with him and take the photos for his upcoming video part. This specific spot was really hard to shoot and get a good angle at. I finally ended up putting my fisheye lens on the camera and going for an angle that really didn’t showcase the trick itself but looked artsy. I’m glad I did, because the photo ended up on the cover of Transworld Snowboarding magazine, which was another dream come true.
Shutter: 1/2000
Aperture: f6.3
ISO: 200
Camera: Nikon D850 on a 16mm fisheye

 

Nightrider
From a technical point of view, this is probably one of the most challenging photos I’ve taken. It’s shot with a GoPro on a five second exposure and with two Elinchrom flashes. You can’t trigger flashes with the GoPro, so I had to do that manually, and my timing had to be perfect. When Sven Thorgren dropped in, I activated the GoPro with my phone, and then the flashes with a remote controller. It took several tries: either the GoPro didn’t go off, or the flashes didn’t fire. And everytime that happened, we had to move further down the slope to find fresh snow. Puh! After a lot of trial and error, we finally nailed it.
Shutter: 5sec
Aperture: f2.8
ISO: 100
Camera: GoPro

 

Into the Mist
The glacier of Folgefonna in Norway is known for its changeable weather. It can be blue skies one minute, and then all of a sudden, the fog rolls in. That’s what happened when this photo was taken. Fortunately I had my biggest flash with me. I turned the exposure down a few steps and lit the rider, Ludvig Billtoft, from behind. I’ve always loved to work with flashes this way and create silhouette shots. They are so simple and stunning.
Shutter: 1/800
Aperture: f10
ISO: 320
Camera: Nikon D850 on a 35mm

WL: If there’s one photo you wish you had taken – by anyone, of anything, from any era – which one would it be? 

DB: It would be the one of Ingemar Backman doing the record-breaking backside air at King Of The Hill in Riksgränsen back in 1996. That has to be one of the most iconic moments in snowboarding history. Just to witness it would have been epic!

 

WL: They say the camera never lies. Do you think that’s true?

DB: In my case I’d say it’s the other way around—I always try to make things look better or cooler than they are, so you could say the camera is always lying! Whether It’s using a fisheye to make a jump look bigger or using flashes to create something mysterious-looking, or just to light a scene and make it look way nicer. I consider my style more artistic than documentary. I love to create a scene at the place I’m shooting, instead of just documenting what’s happening.

Pipe Dream
The last few years I have been experimenting a lot with long shutters and freezing the action with flashes. My idea here was a snowboarder riding down the pipe with a headlamp, then doing a trick at the end. To be honest, it didn’t look like this in my head at all, but it actually turned out better than what I had envisioned. The rider is Niklas Mattsson again. He was supposed to be riding in a straight line, but he misunderstood and rode up the walls. Then the flash missed him and hit the pipe-wall a few metres back. But that was actually way better—it created a silhouette and made Niklas pop even more. For me, shots like this are the pinnacle of the creative process—and what I thrive on as a photographer.
Shutter: 48sec
Aperture: f6.3
ISO: 200
Camera: Nikon D850 on a 50mm
Riding off into the Sunset
If you read snowboard magazines, you’ll have seen this kind of photo from Folgefonna, a resort in Norway, many times. But it never gets old. This shot of American rider Sage Kotsenburg captured in the middle of a Cab 12 Japan is from my first time going there. I remember how thrilled I was to be shooting with legends like Sage. It’s one of my best memories from that place
Shutter: 1/4000
Aperture: f4.5
ISO: 500
Camera: Nikon D800E on a 70-300mm

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