Doskophoto: Backstage at Outside Fest

Last year The Public Works hired me to shoot Outside Fest here in Denver. Two days, a credential around my neck, and an assignment I thought I understood before I walked in.

Here's the thing about being a photographer who's built his name on getting outside — hiking to the lake, chasing the light on a ridge, being the guy who's actually out there — is that when someone hands you a backstage pass instead of the run of the festival grounds, your first reaction isn't gratitude. Mine wasn't. I was bummed. Roaming the grounds, working the crowd, catching the real texture of the thing — that's what I'm good at, and for two days, that wasn't the job.

Then I found out who else was back there with me.

Shaun White was quiet. Not unfriendly — just quiet, the way people who've spent their whole lives being watched learn to be. But there was a confidence underneath it you could feel before he said a word.

Jimmy Chin — one of my favorite photographers, full stop — wasn't much more outgoing. I don't think I expected him to be. Some people save all their energy for the work.

Cory Richards was the opposite. He walked straight over and started talking photography with me like we'd known each other for years. No ego, no festival small talk, just two people who make pictures for a living, talking shop.

And then Diana Nyad pulled out a trumpet and played it. For me. Backstage, in the middle of a two-day blur, because apparently that's just a thing she does.

It wasn't all handshakes and small talk, either. Robin Thurston — the founder and CEO of Outside Interactive, Inc., meaning the guy whose company put the whole festival on — sat down for a quick photoshoot with me. So did Quannah Chasinghorse. For a few minutes, backstage stopped being about who I was meeting and turned back into the job I actually know how to do.

I didn't get my usual shot — the wide crowd frame, the golden hour on the mainstage, the guy in the crowd having the time of his life. I got something I wouldn't have picked for myself and wouldn't trade now: two days learning that the quiet ones and the loud ones are both just people, and that getting handed the wrong assignment is sometimes the best thing that can happen to you.

Thanks and have a great day.

—Dustin Doskocil