P H OTO G R A PH E R PRO F I LE L AUREN PAND OLFI Words by Daniel Cochrane
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Fr e q u e n t l y m o v i n g a b o u t a s t h e r e s u l t o f b e i n g r a i s e d i n a m i l i t a r y f a m i l y t w e n t y - s e v e n - y e a r- o l d L a u r e n Pa n d o l f i d o e s n't c l a i m t o b e " f r o m" a n y w h e r e b u t a s k h e r w h e r e h e r l o v e o f snowboa rding originated, a nd t he a ns wer is immediate; Boone Nor t h Ca rolina. W hile probably not on t he rada r of ma ny riders o u t w e s t B o o n e , a n d i t's s u r r o u n d i n g a r e a , h a s s u r p r i s i n g l y d e e p r o o t s i n s n o w b o a r d i n g . T h e l o c a l s h o p , E d g e o f t h e Wo r l d i s o n e o f t h e o l d e s t o n t h e E a s t C o a s t , a n d i t w a s L a u r e n's h o m e b a s e a s s h e b e g a n s n o w b o a r d i n g . It w a s d u r i n g t h i s t i m e t h a t L a u r e n f i r s t p i c k e d u p a c a m e r a , b u t s h e d i d n't i n i t i a l l y s h o o t t o o m u c h s n o w i n s t e a d c h o o s i n g t o r i d e a s h e r p r i o r i t y. A s s h e entered c ol lege li fe, she suc cu mbed to t he pre ssu re to steer a w a y f r o m "c r e a t i v e" t y p e c a r e e r e n d e a v o r s , a n d a s a r e s u l t , h e r photography pu rsu it s were cu r t a i led. A l t h o u g h B e n d , O r e g o n w a s o n h e r p o s t- c o l l e g i a t e r a d a r, o t h e r ra ndom circu m st a nc e s la nded her in Ut a h for t he c om mon ly p r e s c r i b e d "s h o r t- t e r m" l i v i n g s i t u a t i o n . F a s t f o r w a r d f i v e y e a r s l a t e r a n d s h o r t- t e r m i s g r a d u a l l y e a s i n g i t s w a y c l o s e r t o p u t t i n g d o w n r o o t s . It w a s n't u n t i l s e t t l i n g i n U t a h t h a t s h e c a m e t o t h e re a li z at ion t hat her col lege deg ree, wh i le potent ia l ly lucrat ive m o n e t a r i l y, w o u l d n't n e c e s s a r i l y b e f u l f i l l i n g o n a p e r s o n a l l e v e l . It w a s t h e n t h a t s h e r e t u r n e d t o p h o t o g r a p h y, t h i s t i m e w i t h a n e y e o n s h o o t i n g s n o w. W i t h a t e n t a t i v e t o e i n t h e o n c e - s h u n n e d “c r e a t i v e � c a r e e r p o o l , L au ren a lso decided to ret u rn to school for web de sign w it h t he intent ion of keeping her snow photog raphy most ly in t he hobby c a t e g o r y. H o w e v e r, f o r t h o s e w i t h t h e d r i v e , a k e e n e y e a n d t h e sk i l l, Ut a h c a n qu ick ly of fer some rich subjec t mat ter a nd t he ac compa ny ing notoriet y t hat come s w it h it. L au ren prompt ly found her photography reaching a la rge-sca le audience. She ha s spent t he pa st c ouple of se a sons shoot ing at Brig hton Re sor t, wh ich helped her g a in t he at tent ion of indu st r y personnel. A s a re su lt, t h is pa st sea son Sku l lc a ndy inv ited her to t ravel to M t . B a k e r, a n d s h o o t p h o t o s f o r T h e L e g e n d a r y B a n k e d S l a l o m , wh ich she def initely pinpoint s a s a h ig h water ma rk in her brief f o r a y o f s h o o t i n g s n o w. S t i l l , d e s p i t e h e r q u i c k s u c c e s s , L a u r e n rema ins intent on keeping snowboa rd ing photog raphy f irm ly in t h e " f o r f u n" c a t e g o r y. On the following pages, L auren ha s h e r w o r k t o s h a r e w i t h A r k a d e .T h i s her shoot ing at Snowbird Mou nt a in fol low her advent u re s on Inst a g ra m
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FujiFilm X100S
Issue 1
selected a few exa mples of s e a s o n y o u' l l b e a b l e t o f i n d Resort, a nd you ca n a lso @t hepa ndolphin.
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