FOUR CAMPAIGNS. CHANGING CREATIVE TEAMS. ONE SPECIALIST ROLE.
Across four consecutive Moncler Grenoble Fall/Winter campaigns, the creative teams, locations and visual approaches have changed. My specialist role in ski cinematography has remained a constant. From skiing alongside Richard Permin in Patagonia to operating 16mm cameras in Zermatt, coordinating ski action at 4,000 metres and filming after dark, each production has required a different approach.
The specialist role stayed consistent. The method changed with every production.
FOUR MONCLER GRENOBLE CAMPAIGNS · FW22–FW25
PATAGONIA
ZERMATT
4,000 METRES
NIGHT SKIING
Across four consecutive Moncler Grenoble campaigns, the directors, cinematographers, production companies and visual approaches have changed. My specialist role in ski cinematography has remained a constant.
Each campaign starts with a different creative brief. My role is to discover how that brief can live on snow—selecting the terrain, designing the athlete’s line and building the camera line that brings the idea to life at speed. Together, those decisions create a piece of choreography between athlete, camera and mountain.
Patagonia: sixteen days to build one mountain world
The Patagonia production placed Richard Permin in a remote landscape over sixteen demanding days. For the ski sequences, I selected locations and lines that would work both for Richard’s skiing and for the camera movement, before skiing alongside him with the camera. Using the terrain and the changing distance between us, the aim was to bring the audience into the line rather than observe it from far away.
The film was directed by Jonas Lindstroem with Matias Boucard as director of photography, produced by Iconoclast with La Casa Films providing production service. My ski-camera work had to belong inside their wider visual system. The result depended on continuity between the campaign’s broader visual language and the close physical perspective created on skis.
Zermatt: bringing 16mm film into the action
For How To Draw a Mountain, the camera format changed the discipline of the work. I operated a vintage Bolex and an ARRI 416 while skiing close to Richard Permin, Perrine Laffont, Shaun White and Xuetong Cai. Film stock was finite, so the athlete line, camera line, focus, exposure and end position needed a clear reason before the take began. I worked as second-unit ski cinematographer and action director. Benn Northover directed the film, Eponine Momenceau was director of photography and Farago Projects produced it. Our specialist work extended the main production into moving mountain positions while remaining part of the film’s wider analog language.
At 4,000 metres, access becomes part of cinematography
A later Moncler production moved the ski action onto glacier terrain at approximately 4,000 metres. The creative question could not be separated from access, altitude and team planning. Routes, helicopter logistics and working areas were coordinated with the mountain and production teams before the camera move could happen. I handled skiing cinematography and coordinated ski action in areas inaccessible to the main crew. The athletes included Shaun White, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and Perrine Laffont.
FW26: creating speed and shape after dark
Night skiing creates a different relationship between movement and visibility. The athlete can disappear outside the lit area, snow changes contrast and the camera line has to preserve both speed and the lighting design. Precision matters because the frame is shaped by what the light reveals as much as by where the camera travels. For Moncler FW26, Mario Sorrenti directed and Greg Wheeler was director of photography. I worked as Ski Cam within a multi-camera team that also included sticks camera, drone and assistants. The project featured Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, Richard Permin, Emma Hall and Nic von Rupp.
