Jamie Kennard

Residence: Woodstock
Hometown: Fairport
Age: 51

Family: Brother, Doug Kennard, Parents Marilyn and Jim Kennard
Occupation: Photographer and Filmmaker
Primary Sports: Backcountry Skiing, Trail Running, Cycling

By Erin Quinn

In January of 2022, Jamie Kennard, bought his first camera and began a daily practice of taking pictures of birds each morning in the backyard of his home in the Catskill Mountains. It was an effort to both learn how to utilize a camera but also an exercise in attempting to help focus on something other than his grief. Only two months prior, his wife Tracy, whom he’d been with since they were juniors in high school, died from stage 4 cancer. They had owned and operated a wine bar in the historic district of Kingston and Jamie had been her caregiver from the time she had been diagnosed, underwent chemotherapy until her passing. 

Jamie continued to practice with his camera, taking pictures of the bountiful wildlife that popped in and out of his rustic parcel. Intuitively he knew that movement, particularly in the outdoors, was also an essential component to help him heal from his loss. The day after his wife’s memorial service in June of 2022, he began a month-long challenge to do a “5K or more” of some sort of outdoor activity every day. This included hiking, running, cycling, canoeing and eventually a self-supported marathon. “I hated running my entire life but through this challenge, I started to actually enjoy it and look forward to my daily runs,” said Jamie, now a professional photographer and filmmaker as well as an avid trail runner. His 5K-a-day challenge took on a life of its own and became such a part of his routine that he continued it for 500 days, capping it off with a self-supported marathon. 

While trail running was new to Jamie, he and his younger brother, Doug Kennard, had taken on the wild challenge of backcountry skiing all 33 of the Catskill High Peaks (ascending and descending them on their skis) a project they began in 2012 and finished in 2014. Having both grown up in Western New York as downhill skiers, with Jamie racing for his college team at Skidmore, the brothers enjoyed tackling the backcountry mountain grid, which was both harrowing and rewarding. After becoming the first people to have ever skied all of the Catskill Peaks, they began slipping on their skins in the Adirondacks and by 2024 became the second people ever to have skied up and down each of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks. This became the subject of Jamie’s award-winning documentary, “Variable.”

Exploring the Catskills daily, both on foot as well as through his camera lens, Jamie became more and more intrigued with the unique athleticism that seemed to be born of the mountains he was surrounded by including the Shawangunks, Catskills and Adirondacks. While skiing was his world, trail running and mountain biking and open water swimming – all of which were endemic to the region, were new to him. 

He learned about the Escarpment Run, one of the oldest and most challenging trail runs in the country. “During my 500 days of the 5Ks I became more fascinated with what other people were doing and achieving in the mountains,” he said. “I wanted to take a peek behind the curtain.”

He hiked up to various spots along the 18-mile Escarpment Trail Run in the Catskills and began shooting pictures of the runners as they descended some dicey rock scrambles near Blackhead Mountain or ascended, often hand-over-foot on rock ledges and cliffs, grasping for handholds or tree roots to leverage themselves up and over precarious sections. This was the antithesis of a flat road race. It was a full-body event. 

Having done his self-supported marathon as well as a relay leg in the Rock the Ridge 50-Mile Challenge trail run at Mohonk Preserve in the Shawangunk Mountains, Jamie felt that he might be able to train for and compete in the Escarpment Run. First he had to convince longtime race director, and race creator, Dick Vincent, that he was fit enough to enter despite not having a qualifying race. “I had to plead with him and promise that I wouldn’t die out there,” he said with a laugh. To that end, he began training on Overlook Mountain once a week with a bunch of other rugged trail runners and hitting the Ashokan Rail Trail for some faster miles.

Not only did he complete the Escarpment Run, but he was fast enough to qualify for next year’s race. “I think with any endurance event, when you get towards the end, you think, ‘I’ll never do that again. Everything hurts so bad.’ After you sit down and get some food, you soon forget the really painful parts and think ‘of course I’m going to do that again. Where do I sign up?’”

Soon Jamie found himself biking up to Lake Awosting at the Minnewaska State Park to take photographs of the participants in the infamous Survival of the Shawangunks (SOS) in New Paltz. This unconventional triathlon has competitors cycling up the mountain, running to Lake Awosting, shoving their sneakers in their shorts or shirts and then swimming across the “sky lake,” only to run to Lake Minnewaska where they take off their shoes and swim across that body of water, before they run all the way to Lake Mohonk, and take one final plunge before running past the 19th century Mohonk Mountain House resort hotel to cross the triathlon finish “Survivor Line” at Skytop Tower. “It was wild to see these athletes get out of that first swim and pull their shoes from every possible place in the midst of a race!” said Jamie. 

His race photographs capture those raw moments, when competitors are cramping after getting out of the lake and trying to get their shoes on, or beginning the ascent up towards Castle Point, dripping wet, fatigued, but with fierce determination. “You get to see the pain and exhaustion and joy that they’re experiencing,” he said. 

His photos seem to home in on those moments when the athletes are almost part of the landscape they’re moving through, both brutally exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. He also spent some time filming the Hudson Valley Triathlon series that takes place every summer at the Kenneth Wilson State Park in Mount Tremper, close to his home. These races are sprint triathlons and have much shorter distances to ride, swim or run than the SOS, but are still grueling and populated by many local endurance athletes. 

From the majestic white cliffs and glistening lakes of the Shawangunks, and the thick and burly Catskills Jamie moved further north toward the Adirondack Olympic Region where the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup was being hosted this past October at Lake Placid and Wilmington. “They had 10,000 people visit for the events. Mountain biking is more of my brother’s world but it was really fun to watch and photograph.” There was the cross-country competition Mt Van Hoevenberg, as well as downhill racing at Whiteface, which Jamie photographed. In some of the shots they almost look like motocross athletes because they’re wearing helmets and pads and are moving at high speeds. “They go up in a ski-lift and come down Whiteface Mountain, going over jumps and through obstacles as fast as they can,” he said. “There’s a good reason that they’re wearing helmets because if they crash, it’s going to be bad.”

While Jamie continues to photograph and document a variety of endurance events in the Cats and Daks and Gunks, he also continues his daily athletic pilgrimages and photographing wildlife near and around his home in Woodstock including fox, black bear, river otters, and a variety of birds, owls, falcons and waterfowl. 

On top of his wildlife and endurance athlete photography, Jamie has recently launched his second full documentary, “Queen of the Catskills.” The film has him following Julie McGuire, a high school English teacher in the South Bronx on her quest to become the first woman to backcountry ski 33 of the high peaks in the Catskills – alone. After a series of traumatic events, Julie begins to retreat to the mountains looking to heal. As the wilderness starts to mend her spirit, she rediscovers her love not only of skiing but of life.

Jamie’s been on a film tour promoting his documentary which was just awarded, “Best Made Upstate” at the Lake Placid Film Festival. He was also awarded, “Best Director” at the Manhattan Short Documentary Film Festival, on Nov. 2, where “Queen of the Catskills” was screened. There will be some local screenings of the film including one at Lake Placid on Dec. 6, as part of The Mountaineer’s Backcountry Ski Kickoff Party, as well as a hometown screening in Woodstock on Dec. 13. Future screenings include Hunter on Jan. 15 and North Adams, Mass. on Jan. 24.

Jamie is not one to rest idle and is already working on a film that focuses on local birders who are obsessed with their winged-friends but all approach their passion in different and sometimes curious ways. 

In terms of his athleticism, Jamie will continue to train for the Escarpment Trail Run in July and try his hand at one of the HVTC’s Summer Tri Series races. ”I’m not a strong swimmer but I really want to try and do one of the races,” he said. Jamie does not shy away from things that are new or challenging or lay just outside of his comfort zone. He’s become a fixture in the Catskills and a person that both participates in local events and tries to highlight and showcase the wildlife, the landscapes and the people that make the region so special. 

To learn more about Jamie’s films, photography, Substack, and upcoming screenings go to his creative studio website at kratedesign.com. Or follow him on Instagram @catskilltracks.

Jamie’s Photos

Erin Quinn is a journalist, lifelong trail runner, outdoor enthusiast, mother of three, and lover of life. She’s a certified UESCA Ultrarunning coach, and head coach of Hawks Swimming, a USA age-group swim team. She enjoys writing about tales from the trail, endurance athletes, and connection and protection of the natural world. Reach her at erinmaryquinn@gmail.com or erinmaryquinn.com.