South America via Dakar

For this year's Dakar Rally I traveled to South America with the Monster Energy X-Raid team. Instead of just shooting still photography for them and their partners, I also directed a 2 minute film each day to be uploaded daily to the internet (A playlist of all the films here). All this while driving the same distance and pace as the rest of the rally participants. We would shoot ground footage and interviews combining them with helicopter footage purchased from the race organization to tell the days' story. This required many sleepless nights strung together with long days of driving and shooting. Most nights of editing would finish with us scrambling to find adequate internet access to send video before having to jump back in our car and do it all over again. Each evening we would promise ourselves that tonight would be different and we would get sleep, only to have some sort of hiccup (technical issues with European video formats, lost internet connections mid-upload, missing camping equipment etc.) keeping us awake yet another night. During the 15 days of the rally I could count on one hand, with fingers remaining, the number of nights I slept for more than a couple hours. In the end the project was successful and my clients were happy with the results. I owe more than can be expressed to the success of this project to cinematographer and editor Jimmy Lee Cook of Air Land+Sea Films. His relentless dedication, and ability to operate under the worst of conditions, made him an ideal victim... ah.. I mean travel partner.






















A review edit from the entire rally:

Nuclear Cowboyz

I had the pleasure of working with the fantastic people at Feld for their Nuclear Cowboyz tour. The assignment was to visit the performers (mostly freestyle motorcross athletes) in their homes to capture them in candid moments rarely seen. These guys have personas that precede them when they walk into a room. Tattoos, swagger and bravado to match. However, while in their own homes, most are soft-spoken, kind, family oriented and in the case of one Ronnie Faisst, deeply religious. It's strange but despite being surrounded by the trappings of their success, each of them without fail seemed to display a certain uneasiness. Whether it was the camera or something to do with the strangers in their house, I can't be sure. For certain though, the stunts these guys perform take a mountain of bravery with a healthy serving of madness. It was heartbreaking to find out that just five days after visiting Jim McNeil in Phoenix, he would lose his life while practicing a jump just prior to a performance.

Rick Huseman

Sadly this weekend professional off-road racer Rick Huseman passed away in a plane crash. I've had the pleasure of spending time with Rick both on and off the track during the years of his meteoric rise to champion status. Just a week ago Friday would be the last time I would see Rick when we did some pictures for Dirtsports Magazine. My thoughts are with his family who are also mourning the loss of his brother Jeff and their pilot who all perished in the crash.
See you on the other side Rick...
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Summer X games Video

Cool behind the scenes video by Don Sae Kang at BLUE C

Return to North Africa

Another trip to Morocco was requested to prepare for the Dakar rally in January. More images (and video) were produced for our client to be used for press and marketing efforts. A very short amount of time on the ground considering the 30+ hours required to travel to this outpost in the Sahara desert, but worth every minute as the scenery is epic. I can't reveal any images of the actual subject matter I was shooting so here is some other stuff...
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And a sequence of a Moroccan dude getting down with his moped...

Act of Valor

The Bandito Brothers have released a trailer of their highly anticipated feature film "Act of Valor". Looking forward to seeing this one after hearing about the extreme efforts Mouse McCoy and the boys went to get the action sequences that included spending days at sea in a nuclear sub and using active Navy SEALS during live-fire exercises.
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South America via Morocco

Stay tuned...