Kyle Beckmann is a lensman that hails from the East Coast of the United States. He now regularly occupies couches, hotel rooms, his home in the hills, and standing behind a tripod capturing some of your favorite viewing material available in the snowboarding flavor. Kyle was present, and he nearly died as a result, of the stay in the illustrious #VZWildLifeLodge . We caught up with him about that, and other fun current events.
VZ - Hi there Kyle. I’m assuming you have a full name… What is it?
KB - Kyle William Beckmann
VZ - And where in this great land do you hail from Kyle William Beckmann?
KB - While I wasn’t born there, Home is a little town in the North Carolina mountains called Beech Mountain. I just recently moved back there from Tahoe.
VZ - Oh Really North Carolina? How does a kid from Beech Mountain, North Carolina get into the game of capturing frozen moments in time of snowboarders?
KB - Amazingly enough, my house is only 1 mile from the actual ski hill called Beech Mountain Resort. Place is about 860ft of elevation, and super fun. Just started taking photos of the dudes there. Wanted something more so I got an internship at Snowboarder Mag, moved to Cali, and the rest is the shit show you see before you.
VZ - What do you think is your main objective when shooting Snowboarders doing snowboarding things? Is it simply a matter capturing boarding stunts or is there more to take note of?
KB - There is the obvious part where you want to make sure the trick is given its due justice in the image, but I always try to find some sort of esthetic. Sometimes the snowboarding itself is the esthetic though. Tight shots of exiting the white room are my favorites. I also like showing the lifestyle behind the sport too. It's not always just about the riding you know!
VZ - You were at the VZ WildLife Lodge a lot in the first half of the good times. Give us your first hand account of what the vibe was.
KB - The vibe was pretty rad. I ended up spending more time at the house then I did at my own house. Duke always made sure there ample amounts of beer to be drank, and good food to munch on. There was never a shortage of good times and tattoos.
VZ - And then you disappeared and didn’t come to drink our beer and eat our food anymore? Where’d you go?
KB - I got SICK AS HELL! Spent a few nights in the hospital, was bed ridden for almost 2 months. Was not chill at all and the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. It was like an episode of House. I had Dylan Thompson staying on my couch, and he was worried he was gonna catch what i had and die because i looked like i was going to die. I really didn’t get back to myself for almost 4 months.
VZ - That’s harsh! Alright So we had a house and we had parties. And out of all good parties comes new bonds and friendships. We ended up forming a gang out of it practically. And I hadn’t thought of this, but I guess you might be feeling like you don’t know if now that we have a gang you’re either about to get beat up or whether your part of the club…. I’m happy to tell you that El Ninos got your back. But you don’t have an El Nino name. If it were up to you (its not), what would your name be. (Gerrys Bano / Halldors El Gringo / Hana’s Ojo Loco, etc..)
KB - Damn I feel like you can’t self bestow a name. But if i had to think of one, maybe “Maldito Becky”, cause I heard people say “Fucking Becky” a lot. Might work out.
VZ - Nice try but your name is Humo blanco. You mentioned, that you’re not gonna be living on the west coast this winter. If we bring a VZ WildLife Lodge out East, will you show up and drink all of our beer, eat all of our food and not tap out early due to illness?
KB – Haha Ok I can live with that. But yeah while i can’t say that i won’t almost die from some unknown disease, i’ll most definitely come drink your beer and eat your food. BRING IT!
VZ - That’s what we like to hear Boss!!! Alright so we’ll work on bringing the party to you and you just keep on clicking that shutter Button Deal?
KB - Deal!
Check out the latest episode from the #VZWildLifeLodge here!
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