Capturing the Trails with Brian Galdamez

Renegade recently hosted the launch of the new MAAP x Hoka Tecton X2 at our shop in LA with a trail run and gravel ride. When we were planning the event, asking Brian Galdamez to photograph it was a non-negotiable. No one embodies the intersection of design and performance of this collaboration like he does.

To know Brian is to love him. He is curious, focused, open, and deeply dedicated to building and protecting community. On trails and behind the camera, he operates with an expansive presence: being around him, you never feel as if his attention is anywhere but in the moment. Brian is a fixture in the running and creative worlds who fuses movement and stillness: documenting the world through his lens while remaining firmly a part of it.

We caught up with Brian to talk about instinct, attention, the parallels between shooting and running trails, and the spirit behind UNSNCTND, the collective he co-founded that invites everyone to show up, be kind, and move together.

(Portrait of Brian by Anthony Tran)

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How did you start running trails?

I came across an IG page around 2018 and was completely blown away, seeing a tight knit group with a love for trail running, a sense of camaraderie amongst each other and sharing Modelos after runs. The world famous GUAPO BOYS TRAIL CLUB. There was this energy that felt relatable, something I didn’t experience in a lot spaces especially in running. I had no clue then, yet this group of special people would forever change my life. Yet there were no posted group runs, no real way of knowing how to get involved.

A few months passed and my now Coach (Omar Gonzalez) connected me with a training
group who was meeting 2-3 times a week. After a couple runs together it hit me. “These are the Guapos!” It was a matter of time before the topic hitting the trails came up.
Through their invite and welcoming I felt more at ease to try the mountains, especially with a group who had an understanding of the trails and who I passed countless hours and miles over the previous few weeks. That first run doing the Bulldog Loop in the Santa Monica Mountains left me beat yet hungry for more. It was a different way to experience nature, move the body, and pass a good time with good people. It opened a whole new world and expanded my love for this. My utmost appreciation for friends like Noel and Santiago who kicked this club off, who embody authenticity and express a passion for running.

What do you think is your unique perspective?

I think my unique perspective is calm and patient in searching for the eternal through my
viewfinder. I aim for people to feel the essence of what I’m looking through, to go deeper than the what meets the physical senses. I remind myself often we have way more in common with each other and nature than the differences we are conditioned to look for. Think it is part of perspective’s duty to reflect reminders of who we really are instead of who we think we are or told to be.

How would you describe your eye?

Curious, focused, and open.

Curious in how my Eye is looking signs of life. I see the variety in cultures, in ways people
express themselves and emotions, in the food around us, the building structures, and the vast landscapes amongst other things as windows into each other’s mentalities. The camera has been and is a tool to explore the world and a way freeze/reflect those mental states.

Focused in being present and trusting my attention is where that moment calls for. The
more I focus, the more I lose the idea of “me” and immerse myself in what is happening. I think that allows the subject or object to come through as they are and minimizing my projection. Your attention is priceless and where you focus shows where you are “paying” attention to. As a photographer, what is in your frame is saying “This is important. This is worth looking at.” Yet I think many don’t value our ability to focus and where to give our attention because it was given to us freely. And things that don’t cost anything, whether that be through currency or effort, are often undervalued.

Open in doing my best to allow things to unfold or be what they are rather than having a
fixed idea of what it “should” be. In my experience, if you are open and receptive, your
attention goes to where that moment calls for it. Less thinking and more being. Less thinking about the shot and more so trusting of yourself you’ll know when you see it.

How does shooting trail and running trail feel the same or different?

I feel they are similar in that shooting and running on dirt demands your full presence and
the more you do it with intent the more you expand in that specific area. In photographing trails, those moments never happen again so you HAVE to be dialed in. Say you’re photographing an ultra running event, runners are 20 miles in and they’re coming into the aid station. You can’t tell them to leave the station and come back in cause you missed the shot. Or you’re at the finish line and missed the breaking of the tape. They aren’t going to do that again. In running trails you have to be giving your full attention to here and now. Or else you eat shit. You’re not necessarily thinking, more so present and trusting your body.

What is your advice for someone who would like to start running trails or shooting trails?

Follow your instinct and ask questions. Two principles I always come back to. It can be easy to get caught up in what other people are doing or how they are doing it, yet your unique perspective and voice is what the world needs. Trusting your instinct, making decisions from that place is how you flow in running and in photographing. Bombing down a technical downhill? You have no time to think. Your mind is making those calculations of where to land, how fast to go, what is the angle of that upcoming switchback, etc. That is all instinctual, and you develop your instinct the more you use it. Just like the more use a muscle and use the feedback, it gets stronger. Same in documenting an ultra race. There is so much happening around, you don’t have the capacity to sort through it all yet your mind does. That jolt from within when the hear or see something that draws you, shoot that! Don’t think then, you can do
that later.

Asking questions comes back to curiosity. There is always more to experience, more to
learn, more to unlearn, and there are people who have come before us and on similar paths who have answers to your questions. You don’t know how to do something? Recognize that as an opportunity to learn a new skill and/or ask for help.

How did UNSNCTND start and can you speak a bit about it?

First rule about UNSNCTND is you don’t talk about UNSNCTND. You feel it, you engage
with it, you give to it, you receive from it. We jump started in late 2020 and since has taken its own life through each person who represents it. When I think of UNSNCTND and how it’s unfolding I have a deep appreciation for each person who has ever graced this space or worn the letters across their chest. To have this sense of we’re still warming up is exciting.

There is no box. There is an open invitation to anyone reading this to pull up and experience the collective for your self. All we ask of you is to show up ready to run and be kind. We’ll help figure the rest out with you.