Meet Hannah Sourbeer | Professional Adventure Sports Photographer

I’m slowly learning to become comfortable with risk taking. It was always this scary, daunting thing – it still is in some ways. After graduating college, I was really stressed out about money so I was always taking the safe route employment wise. I couldn’t take the risk of not having a steady job, or ask for time off to go shoot an event. I was very self conscious and wouldn’t want to introduce myself to someone at the risk of humiliating myself either. But a lot of those moments where I have taken more of those risks have paid off way, way more than the moments where I didn’t take those risks.

I think one of my greater risks, or rather where someone took a risk in hiring me, was the first summer I worked hand crew for Powder Horn Trail Company, a mountain bike trail building company out of New Hampshire. Will Conroy (the founder and owner) had heard of me wanting a job through my boyfriend at the time, and blindly hired me to come work for him. I quit my job mid summer and I remember wondering if I was crazy to pack up my van and go work for someone I had never met, but it ended up being one of the best decisions I had ever made. I got to shoot the first official Redbull RAW Slalom at Killington, VT in 2021, which coincidentally was the first project I ever worked for Powder Horn. It poured rain the entire build into the event itself, which was really stressful for actually getting the course shaped into something people could ride. I remember being really worried that I wasn’t going to do well, because I was so new to trail building and it was such an important project for Will, but we somehow pulled it off. I risked destroying my first ‘big girl’ lens shooting the event itself due to the rain, but I got some of my favorite photos to date out of it.

Later that summer, I went on a nearly two-month road trip by myself, which was risky. My uncle called it a walk-about, and it absolutely served that purpose for me. I learned a lot about placing trust in people I don’t know, which, again, is risky. But it made me less afraid of and anxious about the world.

Risk has become kind of necessary for my career and my goals. With that necessity, also comes the necessity of being okay if the risk doesn’t work out in the way I want it to. But I like taking those risks now because it feels good to try at something, rather than sit there and wait for opportunities to be handed to me on a silver platter. So I guess becoming okay with rejection has also made me braver in terms of chasing the life I want.

I got my first camera when I was 14 but didn’t really realize I wanted to take it a little more seriously until I was in my early 20’s. Even then, I don’t think I took myself seriously enough beyond shooting my friends skiing/ riding and thinking “Wow this would be such an incredible career to be able to take photos of people snowboarding down the mountains for a living. The people who get to do that are so lucky”. Some of my friends at the time didn’t seem to support me at all.

But I kept shooting and after I’d moved to Jay, Vermont one of my incredibly talented, creative friends, Andrew Lanoue, really supported and encouraged me. I started submitting my photos to Jay Peak Resort and I gained some confidence in my work doing that. Over time I realized I wanted to really give it a go and see what I could do with it. I remember thinking “okay my photos don’t totally suck. How can I pursue this?” There still seemed like there was this impossible gap between myself and someone like Andrew who was actually getting paid to shoot photos (and more) and initially, I wasn’t sure how to go about bridging that gap but I started seeing it as a possibility to be one of those lucky people.

When Covid hit, I moved back in with my folks and saved up enough money to buy a computer that could actually handle the editing software I use as well as some new lenses and equipment, which was a huge upgrade for me at the time. That 20/21 winter, I started patrolling at Jay, and my Patrol Director let me bring my camera out on the hill with me. So I was getting to shoot and snowboard nearly every day, which was just heaven. I think what changed a lot of it though was just being confident enough in my work to both recognize and introduce myself as a Professional Photographer.

That summer, I started shooting the Eastern States Cup races on the east coast. I met so many rad people at those events who were incredibly welcoming and supportive. Plus I was shooting thousands of photos in a race weekend so I got really familiar with finding the right angles quickly; editing a lot of photos quickly. It was really essential for my development as a photographer. I also got to shoot the Redbull Raw Slalom that summer. In later July, one of my friends Sarah tagged me in a Facebook comment, and I ended up getting to shoot the first ever Flow State Mountain Bike festival in Ascutney, Vermont, which was incredible. It was my first paid gig as a photographer. It was a very fortunate set of circumstances I found myself in that year.

In January 2022, I reached out to Park Affair, which is a womens snowboard group that puts on these awesome events to get more women out in the hill. They were having an event at Killington and I had reached out asking if they needed a photographer and originally they said no, but a couple weeks before the event, I heard from Hailey Ronconi, one half of Park Affair, asking if I was still available. I said yes immediately, and I got to shoot the event with Ashley Rosemeyer, who is just a legend in the Vermont photography/snowboard world. A couple weeks later, Mercedes Ortega, the other half of Park Affair, who is also Burton’s East Coast Area Manager, asked if I could head down to Boston to shoot Gary Lands book launch at their Burton Boston store. I was incredibly lucky to be able to say yes.

Summer 2022, I think I shot 13 or 14 mountain bike events, including the Enduro World Series events in Burke, Vermont and Sugarloaf, Maine, and NEMBAFest but the most notable being Kajay Rooke’s Thunderstruck at Thunder Mountain Bike Park in Massachusetts. You should check out her piece for more information on it, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. We’re seeing more and more women in the industry than ever, and events like Kajays are really highlighting the skill and talent a lot of women have on a bike. It was incredibly humbling and inspiring to take part and you could just tell it was something really special for everyone.

I’ve recently moved from Vermont to Idaho, so I’m still getting to know the area surrounding Grand Targhee Resort. I’d definitely take a friend to the Trap Bar at Targhee for a sloshie and some nachos after a full day of riding. I’d also recommend the Driggs airport restaurant – Warbirds – for their happy hour. I think mostly I’d want to spend the time on the hill getting some turns in or doing some backcountry riding off the pass. One of my favorite restaurants is the Royal Wolf. It’s a bit of a dive bar, but I’m pretty keen on the food and there’s a pool table. I’m a huge fan of the Rise coffee shop as well. Their breakfast slider sandwiches are to die for and they have lots of vegan/ gluten free options. Jackson, WY is a little under an hour from my house and has plenty of galleries and restaurants to check out as well.