Can you introduce yourself? (Who you are today, beyond projects and images.)
Hi! My name is David Amm, I'm 25 years old and I'm from Alsace. I grew up in a small village at the foot of the Grand-Ballon in the heart of the Vosges Mountains and I practice freeride skiing. After training as an engineer, I chose to work in teaching, which allowed me to find a perfect balance between my two professional lives.
What does the mountain represent for you today, beyond sport? (Refuge, playground, space of freedom...)
Over time, I've learned to view the mountains as a sanctuary. For me, they have always been an escape, a place where I can express myself freely. First on skis, of course, then gradually through images and videos. Faced with the grandeur and power of this environment, we are all equal: skiers, mountaineers, hikers. And it is precisely this equality that makes such freedom of expression possible.
How has growing up in the Vosges Massif shaped your way of experiencing the outdoors and adventure?
Growing up and discovering mountain sports in the Vosges Massif has clearly shaped my practice. It's a mountain that can be austere, dangerous, and where the variety of landscapes is such that all outdoor sports enthusiasts can find something to enjoy. Unfortunately, due to its rather modest altitude, the massif is wrongly considered a "cow mountain," very accessible and without danger. Practicing skiing here gave me a taste for adventure, discovery, and allowed me to develop a certain ability to adapt. The Vosges under 1.50m of snow is excellent, but when the thaw hits and conditions deteriorate, here more than anywhere else, you have to be flexible and imaginative to find ski lines. And I am truly attached to my massif for this precise reason: it is challenging!
At what point did the desire to tell your adventures through images arise? (Need for sharing, memory, transmission?)
Precisely at the end of adolescence! That might seem like a precise answer, but I truly remember always having skied and gone to the mountains solo throughout my youth, then suddenly feeling this need to share my adventures and my practice. I remain convinced that this need to share was actually a way for me to assert myself as an individual, by transmitting my vision of the mountains, my skiing practice, and especially the emotions I feel during those days spent playing outside.
Do you see yourself more as a "character," a witness, a transmitter of emotions... or a bit of everything?
Personally, whether it's for photos or videos, the main idea is to step aside and let emotions express themselves. We really want to capture and reveal the feeling of the present moment, whatever it may be—fear, joy, anxiety—in its purest form. I find this approach truly different from one solely based on performance, even if the two remain complementary.
Regarding your relationship with COOKNRUN, can you tell us more?
The visual identity conveyed by COOKNRUN also strongly resonates with our own tastes and our vision of imagery, which is extremely important to us. The products also perfectly meet our needs and practices during our mountain filming days or during recovery phases. We always carry a few energy and protein bars in our bag, which helps us manage our nutrition during long days up there.
Even if you don't directly create the images, what is your perspective on what is captured?
Specifically for all the image work, whether photos or videos, I work exclusively with my friend Rémi Bottin. He's from the massif, like me, we're the same age, have roughly the same inspirations, and the same passion for the mountains. We've managed to build a real relationship of trust; we push each other, and beyond our projects, he's a really good friend with whom I love spending time, whether on skis, in trail running shoes, or on a bike. Even though he handles all the shooting, we talk a lot about scenarios and photo ideas we'd like to do. I tell him what's possible to do in terms of skiing, and he manages to achieve his goal and come back with shots. For all the post-production and color grading, we also discuss it together, share our ideas, and move forward... It's truly a team effort!
What do you expect from an image that tells an adventure? What is most important to you in an image: aesthetics, emotion, the truth of the moment? Why?
In my eyes, an image that tells an adventure must convey all the emotions of the captured moment. The main subject(s) then become merely actors in their environment, meant to fade into the background to allow the emotions captured by the lens to take center stage. Whether with our photos or our ongoing video project, the desire is really to reveal our feelings in their rawest and most complete form. Obviously, aesthetics are very important, but with Rémi, we consider above all that emotions and the capture of the present moment define the image and are its essential ingredients.
On this film project, what are you looking for most, humanly and personally?
The project is about combining several things that are important to us and adding a visual identity that reflects us and corresponds to our inspirations. As with the photos, we want to tell an authentic story and convey emotions. This project is something truly personal, as we're talking about our mountains and the journey of a "small massif" skier who dreams of evolving to one day ski the mythical peaks of the Alps. It's a real technical and human challenge, as we aim to produce something visually very accomplished, with the goal of sharing a sincere story.
How do these adventures unfold behind the scenes, far from the final images? (What we don't see, but is an integral part of the journey.)
Actually, that's the most interesting part of the project! Moments of struggle, doubt, and anxiety are an integral part of creation. It's thanks to all these moments that the story we tell is sincere and authentic. With Rémi, we also wanted to highlight the behind-the-scenes of our adventures and the stories hidden within our images. Our goal is to concretely explain all the steps that lead to our shots or our plans. From preparing the gear, to upstream discussions to share our ideas, to the struggles during the day (or night!) of shooting, we really wanted to document and share all of that in a video. You can find it on YouTube, the series is called Outdoor Vision!
Is there a moment in the mountains that deeply marked you, even without an image to capture it? (A moment that summarizes, for you, why you continue.)
I have two memories that instantly come to mind, and yet they are completely different. The first dates back to 2023 in Central Switzerland. We had gone into the mountains for two days to film and take photos with two skier friends and a photographer friend. Everything was going incredibly well: good conditions, great atmosphere, we were evolving in an environment we know well from spending a lot of time there every winter. Late in the afternoon, as we were descending towards the refuge, the sky completely clouded over and we had to navigate somewhat blindly. Not for long, but enough to get caught out by the terrain, triggering a large slab that carried and dragged one of us for 200m. Fortunately, it was more fear than harm, no injuries, but it certainly put things into perspective for us and served as a strong reminder. The second moment I keep in mind dates back to January 2025. We went to take night photos deep in the mountains with my photographer friend Rémi Bottin. Conditions were hellish with rain, wind, and difficult snow to negotiate, but we managed to come back with the shots we had come for. It was one of the most beautiful skiing moments of my life, where adventure, friendship, and creativity intertwined. These are two very intense, though completely different, moments that perfectly summarize the emotions I seek when I spend time in the mountains!
As for the film project, it’s clearly what occupies most of our time, and we really try to free up time between mountain days for shooting to start working on the editing. We started with a precise idea for this project, and over time, we realize that some things aren't possible, while others we didn't initially consider end up appearing as obvious solutions and new ideas to explore. So, it's a really intense but super interesting work that lies ahead for the coming months before we can reveal it all!
The goal of our work with Rémi, whether through our photos or our video projects, is always to transmit to the people who discover them the emotions we felt at the moment of capture. Our video project, which will be released in autumn 2026, aims to be very "intimate": we primarily seek to convey a clear and personal message to explain our vision of skiing and the mountains. We hope that when people discover these images, everyone will fully grasp our approach while also feeling the emotions they evoke in us.
Photos ©remi_bottin