Bjarne Salén on Balancing Risk and Reward in Adventure Filmmaking

When you watch epic ski films, do you ever wonder about the person behind the camera?

Bjarne Salén is an adventure documentary filmmaker, photographer and entrepreneur originally from Sweden and currently living in Hood River, OR. Over the past 15 years, he’s traveled the globe to create documentaries, short films, and photographic works.

Bjarne has directed and produced films for brands like Salomon, Oakley, Patagonia, and the North Face. In 2021, Bjarne founded Bjarne Builds, a van conversion business that has since evolved into creating tiny homes and now a new signature line. He continues to share stories from around the world through his work, including The Fifty Project ski series.

We talk about:

• The evolution of Bjarne’s adventure filmmaking over the decades from stoke to story
• The realities of combining passions in skiing and film, when 90% of skiing is for work
• Being the talent vs. filming the talent, when both roles require elite athleticism
• The Fifty Project with Cody Townsend and why Bjarne doesn’t give a sh!t about 50 ski lines
• The trade-offs of working expeditions: bad weather after long travel, missing loved ones, and managing unpredictable money
• How Bjarne tries to turn his brain off from thinking about work and being present instead
• What you need to accept around time and effort if you want to be an adventure filmmaker
• Bjarne’s van conversion business pivots
• Not being able to get funding for an incredible story
• Bjarne’s views on using social media as a creative
• The climate crisis and its effects on The Fifty ski lines
• Risk management and facing death in the mountains

PSST! If you like this episode, you’ll love Why Kayaker and Filmmaker Rush Sturges is Rethinking Work-Life Balance.

Connect with Bjarne:

• https://instagram.com/bjarnesalen

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Shout-Outs:

-Music: The King of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins

-Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.

For full show notes and more: https://fortheloveofpod.com

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