Videography

After being in the photography field for half my life, video seemed like the next natural progression. I wanted to be able to capture the energy of the world to show just how animated it really is. Like many people, I started off just making silly videos when I was younger, but as I grew older I felt a need to make more professional ones. I've made videos for simple pleasure, for promotional purposes, or for online magazines. I do the filming, editing, and when necessary, directing, unless otherwise noted.

St. Croix - Beauty And Kiteboarding

This video was created for Chris Doyle, who created and runs the Leading Edge Kiteboarding School. After staying with him for a week on the lovely St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, I filmed as much as I could within my one-week timespan. Unfortunately I was left with footage mostly of Chris, and no students. He kindly sent me some footage he had of his students in St. Croix which are seen at the end.

This video served to showcase The Leading Edge and the island as a tourism destination. The video starts off with cuts throughout the island in places that are well known, particularly by locals, as being desirable destinations. These are the kind of places that tourists may not hear about from their concierge, but are nonetheless wonderful.

I would consider this the most technical of my videos; I used substantially more special effects in both the video and audio tracks than in any other video. At least 20 hours were spent meticulously editing this video, which I consider my best yet.

---

Major Stok'em 4 Downhill Longboard Race

This was my first time attending the Major Stok'em races. Due to a critical injury, I was unable to compete, however I took great satisfaction in documenting the event.

Using two Canon DSLRs, I was able to capture both video and stills simultaneously.

I shot from several different vantage points, focusing on the main bends of the downhill course and the finish line. Using a GoPro helmet camera, I was able to record a first person view of one of the racers as he sped down the course at roughly 35 mph.

This video was included with an article that racer Ruslan Hsia wrote for Sidewayzine.com. It was for this video that I created the longboarding intro animation for Sidewayzine with Adobe Flash.

This video was also featured by the Bustin Longboards blog, along with one of my stills as the lead photo for a separate article on the same event.

---

Concrete Wave magazine interview with Green Banana Skateboards

As a part of an article I wrote covering Green Banana Skateboards, a local Eco-friendly skateboard company based in New Jersey, I was asked by Concrete Wave magazine editor Michael Brooke to also produce a film.

This video takes a variety of approaches: an interview with Green Banana owner James Giberson, a time lapse of how he shapes his decks, and footage of himself and his sponsored riders.

This video received the most exposure out of any other, having been shown on the big screen at the 2011 Vancouver Evolutions Film Festival. While Concrete Wave hosted the films from this festival on its website, it had amassed over 30 thousand views.

The soundtrack in the video was completely original. James, being a DIY man, had a number of instruments he built himself; after the interview we recorded a track using these instruments. Further audio for the soundtrack was provided by recordings Mark Kaspin and myself.

---

2012 Broadway Bomb coverage for Skate[Slate]

The 2012 Broadway Bomb saw a massive turnout, but due to heightened awareness of the event throughout the city, there was also a very large police presence.

Over two thousand racers signed up for the race, which would have been the largest turnout for the event. The race is called an "outlaw" race, which means it is unsanctioned. Because it is unsanctioned, it is technically illegal.

Being unsanctioned, the Broadway Bomb is a very dangerous race as skaters weave in and out of traffic and run through red lights causing large traffic jams on one of Manhattan's busiest roadways. Police even came prepared with anti-riot equipment, which was rather unnecessary considering the peacefulness of the gathering. Some people were caught by the police and received tickets for participating.

After the race, I interviewed a number of high-profile individuals for Skate[Slate] magazine, including the creators of Boosted Boards, who are known for having collected over 100 thousand dollars on Kickstarter.com and for having done a speach on their product at the world-famous TED Talks.

Other notable interviews conducted were with Ian Nichols, the creator and organizer of the Broadway Bomb, and Keifer Dixon, who has made a huge name for himself for having won this, and numerous other LDP races many times, and other professional longboarders.

---

NYC Central Park Push Race

New York City is a central hub for a number of long distance push (LDP) races. This race, as the title implies, goes around Columbus Circle, the outer circuit of Central Park in Manhattan, NYC, which is 6.1 miles long. This course is particularly difficult because it requires being able to push uphill for a substantial distance, which is extraordinarily tiresome.

After the race there was a slide jam, in which skaters perform slide-based tricks on their boards. I met up with pro-racer and world renounced LDP racer Cami Best for a quick interview about the whole event. Cami placed first in the women's division of this race twice at the time of filming.