Humans of The House: Stephan Jende

“In our industry, there are few photographers that stand out, that have produced authentic style and originality, showcased within their work behind the lenses. The playing field of photography only seems to be more uneven with the use of these things in our pockets, that can take pictures at the blink of an eye at any given moment, and at an unbelievable quality. Snap the pic, post, keep scrolling. Sifting through all the saturated content that gets produced today, Stephan sticks out with that elite group of action sports photographers who are carving their own path through our industry to bring back the life in the photo. Stephan’s curiosity and interest for snowboarding and photography started at a young age and blossomed into a passion-driven force through years of education and experience in the field. Stephan has conquered his own trials and tribulations to follow his dreams and aspires to keep the photo alive. He has been a great work colleague, a solid human to all, a mentor to some and an exceptional friend to everyone. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but most of the photos tend to render my mind to one.. ‘Sick’.” –Tanner B.

Photo: Peter Limberg

Title:
Senior Photographer
DOB:
Product of the 80’s
Hometown:
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
Instagram:
@jendephoto

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Give us the run down Stephan? What makes you, you?
What makes me, me? Growing up, school was extremely hard for me. I have severe dyslexia. Because of that, the things I looked forward to most was being active. I grew up playing soccer, skateboarding, rollerblading and snowboarding. I always gravitated toward art while in high school. I took as many art-related classes I could. I took a graphics class freshman year of high school. We learned about letterpress, screen printing, photography, and others. I was hooked after dropping a blank sheet of photo paper in developer and watching an image appear and the rest is history.

When did you start working at The House? What steps were made to get to that point?
I started working at The House in October of 2010. I graduated from the Art Institute International of Minnesota the prior March with a BFA in photography and at that point wasn’t entirely sure what my next step was. I spent most of that summer doing what a lot of photographers do, photographing weddings and senior photos. I absolutely hated doing it and it reflected in the work, but I was doing it because I needed money. I got pretty lucky honestly. I photographed a lot of action sports while in college, and after I graduated my advisor contacted me letting me know that there was a job opening here and thought I’d be a perfect fit.

–Joe Sexton Front 180/Stephan on the trigger-

What is your official title here?
Senior Staff Photographer. I think, ha!

What is your day to day schedule consist of?
It varies a lot. I along with our other in-house photographer, manage all the product imagery along with shooting on location. We spend a good portion of our days gathering product images from all of our vendors and prepping them for the web team, so when the time comes they can go live, they have everything they need in advance.

What influenced you to pick up a camera?
A lot of things. I grew up looking at snow and skate mags, due to being dyslexic I primarily looked at the photos. I also loved filming as a kid too. My friends and I would film each other skating and make different edits and at one point tried to make a rollerblading movie that never happened haha! It always felt natural. I always loved drawing and painting but I had a hard time creating something completely from scratch. With photography, I can envision something in my head and use lights and different camera techniques to create that for the most part and am able to look back and really learn from old photos I have shot. Whether it’s lighting placement or camera angle.

What is your current set up?
I shoot with few different Canon Bodies and lenses. I’ve experimented with a range of different strobes, from Elinchrom to Paul C. Buff. Little Sony Rx-100 and Yashica T4 for those moments between hits.

-When you can get lost in a photo you know it’s good. Krister Ralles blasting-

You’ve been caught running with the Impaler boys and the 1817 crew. How did that come about?
Cole Linzmeyer is the connection for a lot of people I have met over the years. I have pretty bad social anxiety and if you know Cole at all you know he is a mad man haha. He’s been one of my best friends since high school and he has introduced me to a lot of people within the snowboard community. As far as the 1817 crew goes I reached out to Riley Erickson during pre season right before they started filming for VG’s Visitors and Half-Off and and ask him if they ever wanted a photographer to come out when one wasn’t in town to let me know and that I didn’t want to step on any other photographers toes. All the photographers they work with I grew up looking up to. From that we built a relationship which turned into me photographing a large portion of The 1817 Movie. I can’t say thank you enough to Riley, Jake OE, Joe Sexton and Jake Durham for involving me a lot that year while filming for Visitors and Half-Off.

What is your favorite photo you have ever shot? 

Man, that is a tough one. So many favorites, for so many different reasons. There are some spots that just lend to being able to create something special. Two photos really come to mind, one of Snakes (Jake Moore) doing a laid back under a frozen drainage tunnel at a school in Duluth a few years back. That one was one I wasn’t sure was going to turn out. We had to hide while the janitors left. Typically, you shoot the photo and video at the same time but for this shot, we did it at separate times because the strobes would be flashing right into Riley’s fisheye, from literally a foot away blowing the clip. Snakes had already landed it, and he did it a couple more times for the photo. I had this idea to backlight the shot. My strobes were set up by the entrance of the tunnel, and I was shooting on the far end. He did it three or four times, and the strobes weren’t firing. I don’t know if shooting through the tunnel with all the concrete was causing some interference with the transmitters or what but he was willing to do it a few more times so we could get the shot, and luckily we were able to get a good one!

–Jake Moore (a.k.a Snakes) goes backseat and undercover for this. A Jende personal favorite-

With Jordan’s, not only did the photo turn out sick but just that day was amazing. He did a back 180 over this stairway, and I shot it with a fisheye from below while we were filming for The 1817 Movie. It just happened that he was riding Riley’s Stay Spooky board and worked out perfect for the cover of the photo book I made for the movie. On top of getting that shot that day we got three more clips at that school. Those are two shots of easily one hundred photos that are my favorite photos ranging from what they look like to just the day or even the trip that we were on.

–Jordan Daniels backside popper looking proper. Another Jende personal fav-

What is something you would like to see more of in snowboarding photography and something you could do without?
Print media more so now than ever. There is something about turning the pages of a magazine and seeing a full page spread of a rad photo. Photo annuals would be sick. They were the issue I looked forward to growing up the most. I could do without the people calling themselves professional photographers just because they bought a DSLR and I am not talking about action sports photographers. That’s just photographers in general.

Any advice for aspiring photographers out there?
Ask questions and have people critique your work, and don’t be mad if they say it sucks and give you advice on how to make it better. I think the basics of photography are lost. So much of what I have learned as a photographer I didn’t learn shooting action sports. I learned lighting techniques in a studio and then brought it outside. How to compose a shot, I learned from shooting architecture. The more you do anything, the better you’ll be at it. Knowing your gear inside and out.

-Stephan snatches the soul of Colin Wilson going backtail at a classic MN spot-

Shout outs?
My parents and brother for always helping me through hard times while growing up. Cole and Chase Linzmeyer for being two of the gnarliest humans and best friends. The Impaler, 1817, Bald E-Gal, Think Thank and Arbor crews for inviting me out. Krush at Snowboy Productions for including in all the rad events you throw. All the mags and photographers for inspiring me over the years to pursue photography. I am going to stop there because I could go on and on. So many people to thank over the years.

https://vimeo.com/242523543

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-Tanner B.