I started making videos in my backyard when I was 12, my specialties were playing clips in reverse and editing fake muzzle flashes on bb guns. I must have been about 14 years old when my parents got me a knockoff helmet camera to ski with for Christmas one year. After 2 years of making little videos of the Saturdays I’d spend at Loveland, I decided that I liked the process of creating videos a whole lot more than watching shaky clips of myself trying to learn how to 360. This was in 2012, so I ended up jumping on that time’s current trends and picked up a T3i. I was lucky to have and to make friends with some great skiers, and I’ve been at it since.
My story in filming is pretty much just 6 years of park edits with a tiny peppering of urban and backcountry. I filmed at Windells for 3 summers and that had a huge impact on the way I shoot videos and the many friends I’ve met. It also means I have an incurable case of Hood fever that I’ll probably be stuck with for the rest of my days. Hopefully I will continue to make filming a priority and can keep getting people excited to get outside and challenge themselves.
I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a couple of really great projects bigger than myself and learned something from all of them. My personal favorite experience was going to the final West Coast Session. I grew up fantasizing about skiing’s park shoots - JOSS, Poor Boyz/L1 segments, and later watching WCS recaps. I remember hitting up eheath months before May in hopes of a chance to make it to Hood. He had a good laugh at my enthusiasm and I later realized the informality of the event, which felt much more like a longtime family reunion than any conception I had of a park shoot. It was so humbling to be a little part of an event that celebrated skiing that happily between borderless international friends. Although WCS is over, it seems that tradition lives on today at Kimbo Sessions - hope I might find myself in Sweden for that one someday.
To be honest, I’m super down with insta edits. I have a longer list of complaints about social media and instagram than I have praise, but I do think it is awesome that there is a platform where people from countless skill levels and locations can share what they love about what we do as skiers. I think it’s driving innovation in skiing since there are so many wildly different styles coming into recognition, not to mention huge NBDs. Besides, I think that at this point most people have an understanding of what belongs on which platform, and higher production quality content remains in edits and longer projects. Also, some types of content outright fit better on instagram - I’m thinking stuff like @gimbalgod or @bobculture single semi-raw GoPro lines; I’d way rather watch a short, insane line or two every now and then instead of a full length GoPro edit. It goes beyond little clips like that, but plenty of content is better suited for insta than a full project.
How do you consistently implement creativity into ski films that can easily otherwise lack it?
Just like any art, one key to creativity is taking risks by trying new things. Whenever I make a video I try to scheme up a new idea, structure, transition, effect, etc. that I’ve never tried before or sometimes that I’ve never seen anywhere else. I find that making something original in ski filming (or any art) feeds off of other types of creativity, so lately I have been doing a lot of drawing to teach myself how to look at things in different ways. Another big contribution to creativity comes from the opposite side of the lens - some specific riders I’ve filmed with have had major creative influence. Most skiers have great and original ideas of how they want their skiing to be presented, so collaboration between skier and filmer during the planning, shooting, and/or editing of a part can make a more powerful video/picture/etc. Being receptive to criticism and any type of inspiration is helpful too.
I wish I could keep track of all of the inspirations I have had. Early-on, I was inspired by some elementary and middle school teachers who got me excited about visual art and being outside. I got fired up about skiing and for a while I tried to emulate Abe Kislevitz’s GoPro videos.
Once I started filming with a DSLR I was influenced by a lot of web & long format content producers: eheath, Jake Strassman, Nimbus/Pollard, Etienne Merel, Voleurz. More recently I’ve felt super inspired by gpsyfeelin, Gustav & Jens and all of The Bunch, Tom Christie, Brady Perron, Sami Ortlieb, not to mention simply the skiing of my friends.
For me, inspiration goes way beyond the boundaries of skiing and filmmaking. I am probably even more influenced from outside of skiing by visual artists (Tomoyuki Tanaka (pen/ink), Ed Maryon, M.C. Escher) and musicians (The Avalanches, Jonathan Wilson) and a little bit by authors (Ed Abbey, Cormac McCarthy). There are so many different types of storytelling through so many outlets to be inspired by. All of these names are what come to mind off the top, I’m sure I’m not doing everybody justice.
I’m so compelled by natural landscapes and wilderness in my arts and as a person, but that sort of feels different and more powerful to me than inspiration, it’s a bit different.
photography techniques translate into video skills and inform the opposite.
I think photography teaches a lot of important lessons about using the space within a frame, how to compose the subject and elements, what to include/exclude, what specific settings might look like etc. Video has so much to do with active motion while photo relies on suggested motion. Playing around with mixing up ideas for the two can make photos or videos more unique or more deliberate.
Advice to those getting into filming?
Have fun with it, try and learn something new every day. Take risks and be creative. You don’t need a remotely good camera to produce a great video: Even though buying nice equipment will give you more and a broader range of tools that can be used to make better videos, all of the most important stuff in filming happens in your head. Find inspiration everywhere inside and outside of skiing. Make a lot of mistakes.
Any exciting things in the works?
I have spent a lot of time this autumn working on a super short experimental/concept video that I’m excited about - Hopefully I will be able to share that soon. I am also teaming up with Android Moldyburger this season and we will be working on a full-length project to carry on the momentum from Strictly Business.
My story in filming is pretty much just 6 years of park edits with a tiny peppering of urban and backcountry. I filmed at Windells for 3 summers and that had a huge impact on the way I shoot videos and the many friends I’ve met. It also means I have an incurable case of Hood fever that I’ll probably be stuck with for the rest of my days. Hopefully I will continue to make filming a priority and can keep getting people excited to get outside and challenge themselves.
I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a couple of really great projects bigger than myself and learned something from all of them. My personal favorite experience was going to the final West Coast Session. I grew up fantasizing about skiing’s park shoots - JOSS, Poor Boyz/L1 segments, and later watching WCS recaps. I remember hitting up eheath months before May in hopes of a chance to make it to Hood. He had a good laugh at my enthusiasm and I later realized the informality of the event, which felt much more like a longtime family reunion than any conception I had of a park shoot. It was so humbling to be a little part of an event that celebrated skiing that happily between borderless international friends. Although WCS is over, it seems that tradition lives on today at Kimbo Sessions - hope I might find myself in Sweden for that one someday.
To be honest, I’m super down with insta edits. I have a longer list of complaints about social media and instagram than I have praise, but I do think it is awesome that there is a platform where people from countless skill levels and locations can share what they love about what we do as skiers. I think it’s driving innovation in skiing since there are so many wildly different styles coming into recognition, not to mention huge NBDs. Besides, I think that at this point most people have an understanding of what belongs on which platform, and higher production quality content remains in edits and longer projects. Also, some types of content outright fit better on instagram - I’m thinking stuff like @gimbalgod or @bobculture single semi-raw GoPro lines; I’d way rather watch a short, insane line or two every now and then instead of a full length GoPro edit. It goes beyond little clips like that, but plenty of content is better suited for insta than a full project.
How do you consistently implement creativity into ski films that can easily otherwise lack it?
Just like any art, one key to creativity is taking risks by trying new things. Whenever I make a video I try to scheme up a new idea, structure, transition, effect, etc. that I’ve never tried before or sometimes that I’ve never seen anywhere else. I find that making something original in ski filming (or any art) feeds off of other types of creativity, so lately I have been doing a lot of drawing to teach myself how to look at things in different ways. Another big contribution to creativity comes from the opposite side of the lens - some specific riders I’ve filmed with have had major creative influence. Most skiers have great and original ideas of how they want their skiing to be presented, so collaboration between skier and filmer during the planning, shooting, and/or editing of a part can make a more powerful video/picture/etc. Being receptive to criticism and any type of inspiration is helpful too.
I wish I could keep track of all of the inspirations I have had. Early-on, I was inspired by some elementary and middle school teachers who got me excited about visual art and being outside. I got fired up about skiing and for a while I tried to emulate Abe Kislevitz’s GoPro videos.
Once I started filming with a DSLR I was influenced by a lot of web & long format content producers: eheath, Jake Strassman, Nimbus/Pollard, Etienne Merel, Voleurz. More recently I’ve felt super inspired by gpsyfeelin, Gustav & Jens and all of The Bunch, Tom Christie, Brady Perron, Sami Ortlieb, not to mention simply the skiing of my friends.
For me, inspiration goes way beyond the boundaries of skiing and filmmaking. I am probably even more influenced from outside of skiing by visual artists (Tomoyuki Tanaka (pen/ink), Ed Maryon, M.C. Escher) and musicians (The Avalanches, Jonathan Wilson) and a little bit by authors (Ed Abbey, Cormac McCarthy). There are so many different types of storytelling through so many outlets to be inspired by. All of these names are what come to mind off the top, I’m sure I’m not doing everybody justice.
I’m so compelled by natural landscapes and wilderness in my arts and as a person, but that sort of feels different and more powerful to me than inspiration, it’s a bit different.
photography techniques translate into video skills and inform the opposite.
I think photography teaches a lot of important lessons about using the space within a frame, how to compose the subject and elements, what to include/exclude, what specific settings might look like etc. Video has so much to do with active motion while photo relies on suggested motion. Playing around with mixing up ideas for the two can make photos or videos more unique or more deliberate.
Advice to those getting into filming?
Have fun with it, try and learn something new every day. Take risks and be creative. You don’t need a remotely good camera to produce a great video: Even though buying nice equipment will give you more and a broader range of tools that can be used to make better videos, all of the most important stuff in filming happens in your head. Find inspiration everywhere inside and outside of skiing. Make a lot of mistakes.
Any exciting things in the works?
I have spent a lot of time this autumn working on a super short experimental/concept video that I’m excited about - Hopefully I will be able to share that soon. I am also teaming up with Android Moldyburger this season and we will be working on a full-length project to carry on the momentum from Strictly Business.
