Originally from Terrace, BC (about a 22-hour drive north of Vancouver) Joel Dufresne chose to do something creative with the long periods of idle time he faced up north. He studied photography on his own before heading over to Victoria, BC's Western Academy of Photography in 2005.

"I'd do a lot of reading and mess around with lighting when I couldn't shoot skate photos in the winter," the 26 year-old explains. "There wasn't a lot of spots or people to shoot with up north so it was definitely a challenge. It's kind of a trip looking back on it. I'm hyped to be where I'm at now."

Joel first picked up a "shitty camera" in 2001 before his uncle sold him a 35mm Canon Rebel SLR kit. "I started working at it and figured I might as well take a run at skate photography," he says.

Aside from shooting photos, Joel also dabbles in web and graphic design work. Recently, he shot the photos and did the logo design for his first board graphic assemblage: the Montie/Dickson Underworld bro-models.

It's safe to say things have been working out for Joel. After attending school in Victoria, he moved over to Vancouver and has since been doing prepress work at Color magazine and shooting a gang of photos - one of his most recognized images being the epic Chad Dickson switch heel cover on the November '09 issue of Color.

Joel Dufresne.

How did your relationship with Color start?
Part of my course at the Western Academy was to do a practicum with a magazine of my choice, so I did a one-week thing with Color. I finished up school and talked to Sandro Grison and Dylan Doubt at the magazine, then I ended up just moving over to Van in 2007 and started working with them. I figured I should be where the action is.

Who were you shooting with at first in Vancouver?
I was at the plaza one day, and Sandro introduced me to Hill Sulpher. He's super motivated, and I shot with him a lot for my first year in Vancouver. Both Dylan and Sandro helped me out a lot by hooking me up with people to shoot with or events to cover. Big thanks to them for helping get me on my feet.

Unpublished // 2007
"This photo is a bit of an oldy from when I lived in Victoria. There were a lot of times I'd see spots but didn't have people to call up on the regular to shoot with. Brett and his brother Casey were 2 of the first dudes I shot with there."

What's your current role at Color?
I'm a freelance photographer, but I'm working there 1 day-a-week prepping photos for print: doing all the CMYK conversions, touching up photos, and scanning here and there when we have film come in. I do a lot of web work for them, like blog posts, and I've done a bit of Flash animation.

Did you go to school for web design as well?
They taught a bit of web design during the second year at the Western Academy. When I was living up north before that, there wasn't much to do so I spent a lot of time digging around on the Internet and learning some of it on my own. I built my current site, joeldufresne.com, and my girlfriend's a makeup artist so I built a site for her.

First published photo: Color #5.1 // 2007
"This was shot in Victoria at a spot I'd walk by a lot on my way to school. I got Casey to do a pop-shuv into the down ramp and it turned out real dope. I was hyped. I had it on my website, and when I approached Color about doing an internship for school, Dylan Doubt asked what my plans were for this photo. So I pulled it off my site and sent it in."

What cameras are you running in the bag?
I'm still reppin' gear from when I was in school. It's older stuff, but it does the trick. I mostly rock a Canon 20D, and I usually shoot with a 50mm lens. Most of my published stuff was shot with that camera. I've also got a Canon 1D, the first one, for sequences and fisheye here and there. I don't drive, so I've gotta carry everything on my back. I keep it light. It's fun just to be able to skate around the city with the dudes you're shooting with. If I get something, cool.

Published: Color #6.6 // 2008
"Once again, we went from spot-to-spot and got nothing accomplished. On our way home, we spotted this perfect downtown Vancouver roll-in to booter. A cop finally came and told us to move along, but I was definitely hyped to get this photo first."

What's your specific approach and vision when it comes to your skate photography?
A lot of the time I'll just see a spot and visualize it as a photo without the skater. I mostly shoot long lens because I like to include a lot of the surrounding elements, not just focusing on the skater, trick and the set of stairs. I shoot pretty loosely rather than tight-in. I don't think you need a fisheye to make a trick look good.

Published: Color #7.2 // 2009
"This was on one of those days where you drive to spots and nothing happens, or you get kicked out. We were about to call it a day when Dan brought to this place in North Vancouver. We lucked out and it started snowing minutes after this was shot."

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