Photographer, commercial pilot, surfer, and all-around outdoor lover Elijah Burton isn’t worried about what’s difficult in life. In fact, he’s drawn to it. Living in the Pacific Northwest, most days outside require a little extra effort—or a lot. Five millimeter wetsuits, whiteout mountain conditions, wildfires. It’s beautiful, sure, but it ain’t easy. But as you’ll be reminded again later (and then again), finding success in the face of adversity is a rare and hard-to-match feeling. Now build a community around this life, and you’re approaching what Burton is after, too.
Growing up outside Philadelphia in New Jersey, Burton initially found community in skateboarding and riding BMX. He’d visit the Jersey Shore with family each summer but daily life and its surroundings were a far cry from what’s now right in his backyard. At the time, conventional outdoor activities like hiking and sleeping under the stars were more a source of amusement than aspiration. “We would make fun of my neighbors for going camping,” says Burton. “We were like, These people are just like the Flanders. It's so weird.” But once in Virginia for college, a friend introduced him to fishing, and another hiking. A couple years later a job opportunity as a commercial pilot based in Portland, Oregon completed the puzzle, opening up a whole new world of outdoor activities to explore and embrace.
Now nearly a decade out west, Burton has built a home among nature—and is building a community of fellow Black outdoorsits to connect to and adventure with. His passions of film photography, surfing, and aviation continue to take him to new places. To learn more about his interests and experiences (and of course, what his favorite film camera is) we recently caught up with Burton over the phone. __
Self portrait by Elijah Burton
Let’s get right into it. What was your first camera? What’s your current go-to camera? And what’s your dream camera?
The first camera was a Canon AE-1 Program, a little 35mm camera I got from a friend. It was my dad's camera and he gave it to her because she was really into photography and was kind of like an adopted sister in my family. But she already had [a camera] so she gave it to me and I just kind of dove off a cliff, just fully into photography.
Currently, my favorite camera is my Leica M6. I remember before I got it being like, What the heck, man, this whole Leica thing is stupid—it's such a pretentious thing. And then I started diving into it, and now that I've been shooting with it for three or four years, it’s worth every penny. It just has this way of having you interact with the world differently… I can't explain.
Second to that is my Mamiya C330. That's my medium format portrait camera. It's just special because a friend gave it to me. It just takes such good pictures and it also has a way of interacting—people get confused by the twin-lens reflex and the photos are just so crispy.
Then the dream camera, that's a hard one. If we're in the dream world, then I'll take an M11 any day. With a really nice, overpriced Leica lens on it too.
Surfing, skating, fly fishing, and film photography all take years of determination and physical and mental trial and error to become even minimally proficient. What about this brutal process are you drawn to?
I think I'm just drawn to difficult things, because they're the most rewarding. It's not satisfying unless it’s hard. And I think I learned that early through skateboarding. You have to really be determined—if you want to do a kickflip, you just have to go out in the driveway and hurt yourself over and over again. Twist your ankle. There's just so much failure involved that when you do have those little moments of success, there's no better feeling than overcoming something like that.
When I went to Virginia and I started fishing—the first thing to get me really into the outdoors—for catfish and it was just too easy. I wasn't satisfied. Then I ended up getting a fly rod and being like, Man, this is hard! But that first fish you land on a fly rod, you're hooked. Because you had to go through something to get it.
Surfing has been that way for me. Film photography has too. Even in aviation, there's always those harder airplanes to fly. I haven't gotten there yet, but eventually will.
