CULTURE · SEP 16
Snowboarding Gets A Draft Night
6 min read · XGL Draft + Snow League NZ · Photo: Jenny Lang / The Snow League
THIS MONTH'S FEATURE — Top 5 women shredders of all time, ranked. Tap a rider to follow her on Instagram.
THIS MONTH'S FEATURE — Best all-mountain resort boards for 26/27, ranked. Tap a board to shop it straight from the brand.
Dean "Blotto" Gray
BURTON SNOWBOARDS PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHER
Every month, Cream hands the mic to someone who's actually shaped the culture. First up: Blotto — the guy behind more Burton catalog spreads, ad campaigns, and rider portfolios than almost anyone alive.
He picked up a camera out of necessity, shooting product photos for a small snowboard shop because there was no budget for a real photographer. Burton hired him in 1999, and he's been on the road roughly 300 days a year ever since — halfpipe decks, Alaskan heli-drops, and street missions from Tokyo to San Francisco.
The nickname goes back further than snowboarding: he picked it up skateboarding in Phoenix, long before Burton, long before the Good Book catalogs, long before 25-plus years of being the eye behind the sport's biggest names.
SEE MORE OF HIS WORK →
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"Riding with your friends is the best."— DEAN "BLOTTO" GRAY, BURTON PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHER
