Blake Jorgenson’s psychological approach to MTB films.
words :: Feet Banks // photography :: Blake Jorgenson
“That’s the thing with art,” Blake Jorgenson says. “Deadlines are a double-edged sword—they suck, but they get it done.”
Best known as one of the most prolific and talented ski and mountain bike still photographers on the planet, this summer sees Blake facing a deadline and putting the finishing touches on Made By Mountains, his first full-length film as writer/director/executive producer and a movie he describes as “more of an art project with the crew.” Mountain Life caught Blake eating ice cream with his daughter in a café in Squamish and got the inside scoop.
Mountain Life: How about you start at the beginning?
Blake Jorgenson: I did a trip to Bralorne a long time ago with the Sherpas Cinema crew and Graham Agassiz, back when he was 18 years old, a fresh pro. And then, 15 years later, he called me up to go back there and do another shoot and told me, “That experience in one trip gave me the vision of what my identity was gonna become.” And I loved the idea of how one adventure in the mountains, one weekend, can map out your whole future. I’d been thinking about this for years, but when Aggy called, that kickstarted it into motion.
ML: You are now three years into the making of it. What’s the process been like?
Blake: I’m learning how to create my own process and direct my vision. For me, filmmaking is a creative problem-solving endeavour, so it’s been collaborative with the rest of the crew. And it keeps evolving creatively. Letting it marinate in our minds for so long has made it interesting. So much of the time, as creatives, we don’t get to do that. We need to make a living.
ML: Tell me about the crew.
Blake: Graham Agassiz, Matt Hunter and Matty Miles—all from Kamloops, all grew up together, all veterans. And we have Lucy Van Eesteren, the young one looking to find out where her career is gonna go. It’s a bit of a changing of the guard film, but I said let’s blow that idea out into something larger. Usually with action sports you go on trips, accumulate footage and figure out what to do with it. I wanted something more intentional and scripted, but with the flexibility and freedom needed to work in those environments.
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ML: What have you learned along the way about making movies?
Blake: At the start I was like, “I have an idea, everyone follow me!” But I’ve learned that to really direct a movie and manage a crew, everyone needs to clearly understand what the project is and what’s going on in my head. So I’ve learned to do more pre-production, put more on paper, more Zoom calls, so when we get to the shoot everyone is on the same page.
And I’m learning from our director of photography—Brody Jones—and from our camera operators. They are 20 years younger than me so I take my old-guy experience and their up-to-date knowledge. The gear and technology is developing so quickly; we just shot stuff that wouldn’t have been possible even three years ago when we started. I have learned so much from those guys. Filmmaking is collaboration—everyone wants to trust the vision and the management of the project so it can run smoothly and be the best it can be.
The gear and technology is developing so quickly; we just shot stuff that wouldn’t have been possible even three years ago when we started.
ML: So what is it gonna be?
Blake: Very visual. But also, no one hired us to do this. There is no advertising department dictating how things get made—we are in charge of everything, so it has a different vibe than a commercial delivery. I’m trying to take more of a mountain-culture approach, use my age and pseudo-wisdom to bring a bit more depth. But also, right now I have a trailer for a movie that doesn’t exist. We all know what we want, though—and there’s a deadline.
Made By Mountains is set to be finished later this summer.
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