Hidden Talent
“Janne has helped me become a better photographer.”
—MATTIAS FREDRIKSSON
Janne Tjärnström squints, combatting radiant, evening sunshine. It’s mid-June, and our picturesque backdrop couldn’t be more northern Sweden: A small farmhouse sits adjacent to its accompanying barn, both vibrantly painted in the traditional, deep red Falu paint emblematic of the Swedish countryside. Chickens meander across the yard as two horses contentedly munch lush grass behind the house. Lova, the family’s fuzzy-looking cat claws hectically across the table as Janne’s golden retriever, Nahla, wags, her entire body swaying with each swish, wide-eyed and ready. A rounded, fire-engine-red pickup stands patiently waiting, Dakine pad slung over its tailgate.
Barely beyond, Ristafallet waterfall roars as it crashes almost 50 feet below, snarling in an otherwise peaceful world. The surrounding fields often see deer and moose ambling about, seemingly unaffected. In the distance, some 12 miles away, Mount Åreskutan’s white peak towers 3,000 feet above the valley floor.
Nothing in this scene gives away the fact that this lanky, mild-mannered 54-year-old with wild, blonde locks peeping beneath a trucker cap, is, in fact, one of the world’s most published riders over the past 20 years. Together with friend and fellow Swede, photographer Mattias Fredriksson, he has garnered more than 40 covers and thousands
