Scott Rinckenberger’s adventure filled travel photographs have inspired countless viewers to get out and explore. One instantly feels the lure of exploration and nature immersion upon seeing Rinckenberger’s striking images of the mountains, the seas, the biking trails and everything else in the great outdoors. Rickenberger used to be a stunt skier, performing incredible tricks while being captured by professional photographers. Rickenberger soon became interested in photography as well. “I don’t know if I even owned a camera when I was skiing,” he tells Imaging Resource. “But through working with photographers and picking up what they were doing, I began to really appreciate photography. I’m an inquisitive guy so I learned a lot.”
After numerous incursions in the mountains dotting the landscape of Washington state and traveling to other destinations, Scott has mastered a technique he calls “immersive and minimal” that is laden with adrenaline pumping action shots. He tells Travel Resource in a brief interview
I do not like to rely on a lot of equipment or technical tricks, but instead try to access remote and beautiful places and to create images that distill vast scenes to their most striking elements.
Based in Seattle, Scott now has more than 37,000 Instagram followers who enjoy his almost daily uploads of images that weave visual art and adventure together. He takes pride in the fact that he is inspiring a legion of young thrill-seekers into taking up an outdoor-based sport and embrace the art of travel photography as well.
My photography is really just intended to be a reflection of my experiences and a celebration of the natural world. The challenge often comes in the act of getting myself to the places I shoot, usually deep in the wilderness or high in the mountains. Once I’m there, I just get really excited to capture the beauty and to play with composition. I think the fact that I’m thrilled to be in these places somehow comes through in the images.
The most beautiful place I’ve ever photographed was the Ruth Gorge in Denali National Park. I spent two weeks camping on the glacier and shooting the landscape, and I’ve never been among such natural power and beauty. I also dearly love the south island of New Zealand, the Cordillera Blanca mountains of Peru and of course my home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Scott isn’t just a travel photographer and a talented skier. He has also shown to be a man with a big heart as well. During the aftermath of the destruction of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, Scott lended his skills to raise funds for the rehabilitation efforts by selling some of his photographs that he captured during an earlier visit to the country. The photographs mostly came from the beautiful island of Palawan (#photosforthephilippines) andRickenberger contributed all the profits to the relief operations. Beyond that, Scott shares his future plans.
I will keep focusing on fine art landscape and adventure photography. I really like to maintain a balance of commercial work and fine art printing. My next showing will exhibit a collection of my large format panoramas from around the world. After that, I’ll be pursuing a series of landscape images of avalanches in motion.
With an undying zest for adventure, Scott fills his backpack with his camera gear of choice.
For most of my professional work, I shoot with Nikon cameras including the D4s and the D750. I have a range of lenses for these cameras that I employ depending on the project and the distances involved. I also enjoy shooting with my Olympus EM1 micro 4/3 camera for long distance outings or technical climbs where large camera gear is not viable. Finally, when time allows, I really love shooting film on my Pentax 67 medium format camera.
“Live a long and adventurous life” is the mantra to which Scott abides by, and with his stunning imagery of the desolate but beautiful outdoors, more people seeking a closer relationship with nature and thirst for adventure will definitely find influence from his work. By looking at his Instagram images and reading the brief captions, I found asking, “what the hell I’m doing sitting in front of the computer?” when I very well know I should be out there living a long and adventurous life.
Check out more Scott’s impressive stuff by following him at @scottrinck on Instagram, at Facebook and at his official website.