SCHÖNEBEN
You might not know this of me. I used to built snow parks throughout Europe. I worked my way up to be a parkdesigner, which pretty much means you're planning and build a freestyle park from scratch. I loved every moment of it, the creativity of finding lines, placing obstacles, teamwork, working in the snowcat and the traveling you get to do.
I am helping the boys shape the park, perhaps a bit tipsy from the Aperol Spritz we drank an hour before. It is starting to get dark as we finish our work. We take a breather and look around. It's dead quiet, the mountain is empty, we're surrounded by pine trees and white mountains. I strap into my snowboard and while I look up I see the moon and the stars… wow! I thought as I take one last snap with my analog camera. The shutter isn't opening as it's freezing cold. ‘’Bugger'' I thought ‘’I lost that moment''.
As we leave the park, I hear the sound of hoofs. Not just from one animal, this is bigger than that. Around the corner I witness something straight out of a fairytale.
50 deer are crossing the snowy slopes from one forest patch to the other. Running as fast as they can and creating a beautiful mist from their hoofs catching the snow. They run into the forest, it is nearly dark but the white snow lits up enough to see the snow dust settling on the slopes again.
I am stunned, surrounded by these beautiful mountains, this gorgeous light and accompanied by great friends and the moon.
Months later I developed my film and it turns out the photo isn't lost at all, instead it added character and an epic memory.
