Brooks Curran

Name: Brooks Curran
Birth date: 31 May 1994
Athlete, photographer, and creative

Born and raised in the Green Mountains of Vermont, Brooks Curran was instilled with an early appreciation for the outdoors. Curran grew up changing activities with the seasons— excelling in mountain biking and skiing. He has since blended the two disciplines,  combining them with his passion for adventure and discovery. Curran began alpine racing when he was 5, honing his skiing through the Green Mountain Valley School weekend race program. He quickly progressed from first-time racer to seasoned competitor. “Free skiing, drill work, racing, and gate training gave me the technical background and mechanics to tame challenging terrain,” says Curran.

In college, Curran traded bashing gates for pursuing off-piste powder stashes. “Transitioning from alpine racer to freeskier reinvigorated my love for skiing that I had lost on the competitive racing circuit,” says Curran. “Freeriding is less restrictive than racing and is about creativity and improvisation.” He has since made a name for himself hucking kickers and head-charging steeps in the backcountry of the East Coast. Curran adapts to changes in terrain with equanimity, navigating bumps, deep snow, steeps, and tight glades with kinetic fluidity, speed control, and turn management. Competing in Ski The East Freeride Tour competitions,  Curran stood out for his style and flow down technical and playful descents. 

Curran’s craft is to merge skiing with his imaginative and creative mind. He has the athletic skill and knowledge of the mountains which allows him to access areas off-limits to novices and intermediates. This gives him the ability to capture dramatic action shots, in steeper, secluded and more elevated, difficult-to-navigate-terrain. With an editorial and photojournalist background, Curran’s photography often captures the action of skiing within the vastness of the natural landscape. “My photographic goal is to explore new visual possibilities by capturing the peak of action with greater attention to form, composition, texture, and light. I’m constantly refining and reconsidering composition and camera angle, bringing a keen eye and creative thinking to the graphic element present, letting the existing changing conditions dictate the picture’s terms.

Article by: Charudet Smith