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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
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Features

Life in Focus: Daniel Ronnback on Biking Photography and Icy Adventures

Chris Gampat
No Comments
09/13/2013
5 Mins read

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All images by Daniel Ronnback and used with permission

The term, “Living the Dream” is something that not many of us get to really do. But Daniel Ronnback is a photographer who has surely earned his stripes for the statement. Dan has been shooting for a while and is well versed with world of extreme sports. He’s got all sorts of techniques and some crazy stories to tell as well.

We were able to talk to him about surviving an avalanche, and getting the right shot.

Life in Focus – E07 Daniel Rönnbäck from f-stop || Gear on Vimeo.

Phoblographer: When did you first get into photography and how did you know that it was what you wanted to pursue for the rest of your life?

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Dan: I was working as a ski instructor, and some friends asked me to follow them and shoot some powder pictures in Sälen, Sweden. It was one of the best days of the year, and the first photo I took that day ended up as a cover on Sälen Magasinet. So from that day I just realized that photography could take me and my skis around the world and ski powder and enjoy life with friends.

Phoblographer: Besides biking (featured in the video) it also seems like you shoot a lot of extreme winter sports and men’s lifestyle stuff. How did you make the transition from one to the other? How did that work in terms of networking?

Dan: Skiing, Biking and Action sports have always been a part of my life, so I just took my camera with me when I enjoyed my passion. I started skiing when I was 2 years old, and riding Dirtbike and downhill when I was 14. So action sports have always been in my life. And skiing showed me snowboarding, which I love to ride and shoot as well as mountaineering, surfing, and all outdoor sports. I like to try new things and I like to capture the things I love. So it was an easy transition.

Phoblographer: You’ve obviously seen lots of different locations. But if you had to narrow down three, which ones would you say inspire you the most and why?

LOW resphoto - copyright 2012 Daniel Rönnbäck

Dan: Chamonix, the big mountain, the people that live there and the fact that when you go out there you are alone. New Zealand, it reminds me of Scandinavia. The Fjords in the south. Big Mountains and beautiful nature, but still hot summers in the North and skiing, surfing and biking in one place.

Phoblographer: Tell us about what’s in your gear bag. Your Facebook cover image shows a film camera.

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Dan: I have a couple of bags, I use an F-stop Satore EXP for mountaineering, and a Tilopa for skiing and biking. When I shoot mountaineering i try to be as light as possible so I’ll take my Nikon D700 and tree lenses, 14-24mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm.
For skiing and biking in use my Nikon D3s and a 45mm Tilt/shift line.

I also love to shoot analog, more for personal usage. I also have a Leica M6 and a Hasselblad 500cm. I got a couple of old ones as well. But I realized that I more and more like to work with my Leica so I leave my other old cameras at home. I normally don’t like to use flash. I like natural light, but when I use it I have a Ranger RX and two Quadras to create fake light.

Phoblographer: Since you shoot extreme stuff, we’re sure that you have some good stories. Tell us about the mos dangerous moment you’ve encountered while shooting.

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Dan: I don’t like to put myself in dangerous situations. I try to respect myself and nature. But sometimes nature, weather and the situation overcome your fear to walk away. And suddenly you’re in a situation you need to survive. It was a gray day in Chamonix. The weather looked stable so we went out to try to capture some “bad skier pictures” on a normal day skiing. We went for Couloir west on Augile du Midi. We had some nice powder turns down on Glacier Rond, and hiked up to the entrance of west couloir. We started to repel down and after our first repel, the weather changed. Hard winds and snowfall created avalanches in the middle of the Colouir and some time the visibility was so hard that I could see my own hands. So our mission of taking great photos came second to skiing down safely. Sometimes you need to change your mission.

Phoblographer: When it comes to photographing biking and setting up a shot, do you prefer to autofocus or manually focus and use the zone focusing system?

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Dan: I use the autofocus on my camera to fix my focus, then I turn it to manual and take the picture. Its the best way to know that you always get the shot. In most of the times I know where and in which time the rider will be in the perfect position and when I don’t know I tell the rider where to try to be in the position. So this is the best way to get a shot in focus.

Phoblographer: If someone wants to get into this type of photography, what are some tips that you can give on how to break into the industry?

Dan: I think it’s really important in all industries, not just action sports, to get to know the scene. Learn about the riders, about the action. When the perfect moment actually happens, that is a unique moment. If you don’t know, read books, ask the riders or google the answers. Look at other photographers. Don’t copy them, just let them inspire you. The more you know the better result you will get.

Be sure to also check out Dan on Facebook and Instagram.

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Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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