When I first moved to Kamloops, British Columbia from Whitehorse, Yukon as a 17-year-old kid, I had no particular marker for what success might feel like.

Beyond a wholehearted desire to support a bike-centric lifestyle, I simply wanted to be in the mix of all the magic and mayhem that had positioned Kamloops as the center of the world, in my imagination.

I sank deep into a land of dead pine trees, sweeping sagebrush singletrack and a community of incredible variety. I was absolutely in love with all of it, and I was motivated to communicate this weightless splendor with the world around me.

I made it work. I found myself a gig at the Bicycle Cafe, with some sponsors and an increasingly hectic schedule that kept my days spinning swiftly through progression and sharing stories of passion with a growing bike community as the hub. The deeper I committed, the more I discovered Kamloops to be a place to write a unique story, no matter who you are, or how you ride.

By 2016, I’d been deep in the thrall of shred for nearly a decade. With little worry about my income and primarily concerned with my impact, it was a beautiful naiveté. I’d gone bigger and further than I’d ever hoped, but it had all begun to feel very self-centered. No aspect of those pursuits ever compared to the quiet rides around home and the chance to collaborate with talented photographers.

I’d spent most of that year feeling a wave of change rolling in. I knew I’d outgrown the persistent push, that perpetual reach for progression at any cost. That aspect of my riding was feeling rusted and even abrasive. Achieving amplitude no longer served me. Depth is what I desired.

In response to a series of interesting coincidences one week that summer, I finally succumbed to a lifelong curiosity of how life might feel on the other side of a camera, and I began examining the world around me more carefully from that position.

Since then, I’ve been fortunate to enjoy a fast track toward the opportunity of working with some of my favorite riders and brands in a capacity of deep trust and creative freedom. This affords me a more mellow schedule and a chance to behave as a careful observer of the scene around me. What I’ve been happy to rediscover in the Kamloops scene in recent years is unconditional love for the long, sweet shred that brings characters together across the gaps between competitive disciplines, recreational riders and industry veterans.

When I shifted my focus to photography, my entire being was filled with a new creative energy and curiosity. The answer to much of my wonder is woven in the flowing singletrack that circumnavigates the rolling hills of Kamloops, and it is written in the faces of the characters who build on, ride in, and call those hills their home.

Kamloops riders simply love riding. And I feel a responsibility to represent our trails and unique feelings of weightless flow from that space of love. In a community that’s always growing, and among a culture that’s still unfolding, I trust that staying anchored in a scene that set my soul on fire will always lead me on a wonderful ride and allow me to capture incredible moments.

Soren Farenholtz | Kamloops Bike Ranch

From my point of view, Soren is the poster child for the results that are achievable when kids have access to activities that excite them. He “stumbled upon” the Kamloops Bike Ranch by chance a number of years ago, and immediately started riding the park as often as he could. Just a few years later, he’s grown to be one of the most precise and confident riders in Kamloops, while still keeping it fun and having a strong crack at making a career of his passion for it.

Matty Miles, Matt Hunter and Jordan Masse | The Backwoods, Kamloops

I could spend hours pondering how to best express the sensation of shredding Kamloops singletrack with these three legends, but no sequence of superlatives feels sufficient to describe the level of joy and excitement that percolates when Miles, Hunter and Masse are weaving through the woods together.

Brett Tippie | The Pit, Kamloops

Tippie has got to be the most local Kamloops rider who doesn’t actually live here anymore. I swear he visits at least twice a month, exclusively to shred “his” gravel pit. His energy is a perfect representation of the once-Wild West culture of freeride colliding with the mainstream. And the fact that Tip has been carving this sandhill since the very emergence of that fringe makes him all the more authentic and legendary in my mind.

Matty Miles | Kamloops Bike Ranch

I’ve learned more about style and imaging from Miles than anyone else I know. He’s such a talented filmmaker that some people forget he’s one of the sickest riders on the planet. No doubt, he’s your favorite rider’s favorite rider.

Jordan Proctor | In the Woods, Kamloops

Jordan Proctor moved to Kamloops in 2014. Sometime in 2019, he grew a mustache and started bossing me around, so I changed his name to George. During the five years in between, Jordan became a standout character in the Kamloops community through an unrivaled work ethic that has resulted in so many sick things to ride. In the era of machine-built trails appearing on every hillside in the blink of an eye, Jordan considers himself a custodian of shred—or a trail janitor, if you will—with his labor focused on the maintenance and rerouting of old lines. He only cuts new paths when true need is there. And I really admire his approach.

Matty Miles | Tea Time, Kamloops

When I ramble on about the pursuit of weightless splendor, it’s often with an image of Matty Miles in mind. Of all the talented athletes I’ve been fortunate to chase down a trail or have ride in front of my camera, Miles has the most interesting relationship with traction I’ve ever witnessed. He has an innate ability to weight and unweight his bike in a hard-to-describe fashion that produces moments of pure style and ease—typically akin to the floating of a 50-foot double, yet only inches from the ground. It’s a brain-melting lesson in the school of steeze and a redefining of the “classic Kamloops style.”