44. Cole Beach - Stills Photographer/Podcast Producer

Originally from Connecticut, Cole Beach is a professional stills photographer, filmmaker, and podcast producer based in Salt Lake City, UT. Working with clients such as Triumph Racing North America, American Honda Motor Co., Fox, 100%, Red Bull, and more, Cole has created some absolutely stunning imagery for clients and motorsports fans alike. 

In today's episode, Cole talks about his early years growing up in Connecticut, how he was first introduced to the camera, working with FELD Entertainment and traveling to his first-ever Supercross race to shoot, imposter syndrome, the passion not always worth the end result, shooting The Met Gala for Jett Lawrence, battling with his mental health, The AC/JB Show and much more. 

This was a great conversation with a lot of wonderful insights into Cole's journey, the ebbs and flows of the creative lifestyle, and more. I hope all enjoy and thank you Cole for such a wonderful conversation. 

Follow Cole Beach on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/colebeachphoto

View More of Cole's Work: https://www.colebeachphotography.com/

Follow The Failed Experiment on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_thefailedexperiment/

Support the the Failed Experiment: https://account.venmo.com/u/kylecowling

Follow The Failed Experiment on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@_TFE

Follow Kyle Cowling on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylecowling/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

So there's a couple great stories about today's intro. Um the first being that I'm once again recording this intro in the parking lot at work before I go in for the day. Uh this is the only time I've really had in the last few days to record it. So I figured I'd bring my stuff with me and sit in my car and record the intro before I start my day of work. So here we are. In the parking lot. Trader Joe's recording the intro in my car. And uh the second part being I actually recorded this intro Uh four or so nights ago. In total delirium, to be quite frank, because we were just getting back from uh our daughter's birthday week extravaganza and just totally exhausted. Had a great time, but we were just very wiped out, and so a little bit of downtime I had when everyone went to bed. I was like, oh I'll record the intro for uh Cole's episode. So I did. And um turns out that after I recorded it, exported it, and dropped it in its file, uh the microphone was turned off. So it didn't record with audio. Instead, the my computer itself recorded the audio. So it just sounded like I was in an echo chamber. So as soon as I realized that error, I decided to shut the computer down and just go to bed because that was the last sign to tell me that I was completely and utterly exhausted because I recorded an intro without the microphone turned on. So lovely. Uh so here we are a little bit more refreshed. Uh episode 44. I think that's right. Um that sounds right. With Cole Beach. Uh yeah, 44. Cool Beach. Still's photographer Producer of the ACJB ACJB podcast. And uh cyclist cyclist, wow, struggling. Cyclist, enthusiast, gravel racer, extraordinaire. Uh yeah. Cole and I have been trying to do this for probably three years now. He's been on my list of guests since day one, and just uh never worked out because he is in Utah, I am in California, and uh schedules and all that stuff just never always worked out. And I decided it was time to do some of these episodes remote. So this is another uh episode that is recorded remotely. Um like I've said I would prefer to do these all in person. That's always the goal is to do all these in-person in the dining room. And statistically that that has been the case, but there are a handful of people that are just not able to get in person. So we're doing some of these remotely. And Cole Beach is one of those remote episodes. Um stoked we were able to make it happen after three years. I appreciate Cole taking the time to come on and share his story. Because I know he is someone that doesn't necessarily care to talk about himself and his accomplishments. So thank you, Cole, for taking the time to do that. Um I will also say I feel like this is one of those episodes where this was more of like a conversation than it was questions. Um Cole was sharing a lot of stuff, I was sharing a lot of stuff about my experiences. Um so this definitely felt much more like a conversation. That's always the goal, I suppose, but um I suppose on my end I was probably a little bit more involved in sharing some of my experiences and experiences and stories with clients and projects and whatnot. Um so yeah, but super stoked we can make this happen. Cole's got a great story. We get into uh his whole journey of how he got into photography the first time that uh I met him, which would have been 2020 uh COVID cross, Salt Lake City residency, and being in a rental car with him, Wes Williams, Danny Stew, and Brandon Carter. And uh sitting there listening to Cole and Danny Stew argue with each other to the point where I was so uncomfortable I thought they were going to get into a physical fight, and I was really unsure how to read Cole because he was fired up. Uh which we talk about in this episode. But turns out that's just their relationship at the time. It was like a big brother, little brother type thing, and it made me uncomfortable. And I wanted to open the door of the rental car and just tuck and roll into oncoming traffic, is how it felt. But uh yeah, Cole is a rad dude. Like I said, getting a lot how he got into photography and dirt bikes, um, his first time going to a race to shoot it, which would have been Monster Cup shooting for Feld, um, dealing with imposter syndrome, kind of how he has made a transition from photo to video, but still, in my opinion, still is photographer, but his video work is absolutely gorgeous too. Um we get into just talking about passion and the grind culture, and sometimes the passion isn't necessarily worth the cost of what you're getting out of it. Um, how he got linked up with Adam Cicarello and Justin Brainan to become the producer of that podcast and the first episode they ever recorded. Uh no one ever heard because it was not good. Um he's been working a lot with Triumph doing photography work for them. He did some stuff for the H E H E P Suzuki team for Supercross. Um and then also shooting the Met Gala with Jet Lawrence. I thought was super cool. I some I totally forgot he did, and he did as well, so we touched on that towards the end. Um and what that experience was like, because I thought that was a really cool and unique opportunity for both Cole and Jet and the sport as a whole. Um to me kind of harkens back to the early 2000s when McGrath was on the Tonight Show. Um just that kind of level of uh exposure the sport is receiving in a non-M endemic audience. So it's cool that Cole got to shoot that. Uh yeah. I think that's everything. Thank you, Cole, again, for uh coming on, sharing your story. Wish lists of guests as always. Uh the usual suspects, Jenny Taft. Uh Cole, you might be able to help with this one, but um uh Justin Brayton, Adams and Cerello. They have been on the wish list for quite some time. Uh as is, I haven't I keep forgetting to bring it up, but also Max Anstey. Man, can someone help? I just feel like he'd be such a great time to have a conversation with. Uh so he's on the wish list uh alongside AC and JB, so wink wink, nudge nudge, cool. If you might be able to help out there, that would be pretty sweet. And uh forgotta tell AC that I did a project with Tom DeLong from Blink182, please use that because maybe that's the end. Um who else? Alex McKenna, Tom DeLong, obviously. Uh Brandon Blaine, David Ca Kennedy, Katie Maloney. Uh the Williams trio of Corey CJ and Justin would be awesome. Nick Romano is on the wish list as well, actually. Uh my dear friend Nick Evenue was trying to connect those dots, and there was a small uh conversation that was had and then life just got in the way and uh yeah. But if anyone out there might be able to connect those dots, maybe I need to bother Nick again. That'd be awesome. Um yeah. Also you can uh become a member and receive new episodes five days before they release to everybody else. Uh in the show notes, I think it's like sh support the show, or you can just visit the Instagram page and click the link in bio to support for three bucks or more, however you feel. You can get access to the episodes five days before they release to everybody else. If you want to support a small DIY sponsorless podcast, uh what else? Um Instagram at underscore the failed experiments, YouTube at TFE. Uh surely there's more things I am forgetting. Uh, if you listen to your podcast, if you wanna subscribe, follow, rate, review, that would be super helpful. Uh a kind review, a kind rating would be really helpful in helping this thing get recommended to other people. Because all I have is uh the listeners. No sponsors, no nothing. Just buried DIY. Obviously, recording this intro in the car for work and re-recording all the episodes in my dining room. Uh so if you want to support that way, that would be helpful. And uh yeah. Okay, let's do it. This was really long and I apologize. So, episode 44, Colbeach, still's photographer, filmmaker, producer of the wonderful ACJB podcast. And uh cycling guru. So, hope everyone enjoys, let's do it.

SPEAKER_04 9:59

Yeah, no, it's uh I tried a bunch of different things. Honestly, I only learned it through when we were doing the James stuff, and I tried doing like some people recommended, even um Google meetings and then like Zoom and everything, and nothing came through clean. But I found Riverside has the best uh actual recording quality and it's like moves pretty decent, and it's easy user-friendly for like because when we have like Kenny come on, it's just easier for him to use and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, yeah. I I was like pretty not into doing the remote thing, and I only I've only done a couple in the past. I did one with Nick Evenu because he was in he's up in Canada, and I'm like, dude, I'm never gonna see you. So we did one remote, I think, through Skype, and it was like because I didn't know what else to do. It's like you Skype, and it worked, but it was not great. And then I was like, I gotta figure this out because there's people that I want to get on, and I think the only way I can do it is like to do some remote ones. I was like, I there's gotta be something. So came across Riverside and I'm like, ooh, this is pretty nice.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

I'm surprised that like you've done so well on holding off so long. I mean, you've you've done a great job of getting people in person, and that you it's hard to like uh mimic that like in-person connection. Like there's nothing that's gonna be close to it if you're not doing that. But um, yeah, as far as easability or ease of use and availability and stuff like that, just sometimes you gotta deal with it. And yeah, it's like funny now that um now that I'm not traveling uh as much as I used to. Now uh yeah, we have we're we're even having to resort to this. But um yeah, it's uh it could be worse.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

It could, yeah, for sure. So it's been yeah, it's been a good way for me to just like get back into it because I kind of decided this year is like I need to like make an effort to just do more episodes. Not like I'm not trying to make this a job at all, but I enjoy doing it. And I know that there's people that enjoy listening to it. So I'm like, I need to just bite the bullet, do some remote ones so I can check off like get shit going again.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

So yeah, no, that's awesome. I mean, credit to you. It's uh I'm sure yeah, being a dad, having you know full-time job and everything, just having that uh I mean, without maybe it's just like me, but if I don't always have that um work or feeling of that it's work and that there's a financial incentive to it, I'm like I'm just gonna kind of you know uh do what I want to do. But yeah, that's different than obviously like you enjoy doing this. So um yeah, to each their own.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah, no, there's definitely some of that where I'm just like I'm especially the lot this past year, I was like, I full-time job, two-year-old wife, like a lot of other stuff too that's been going on, and I'm just like I I don't have the fucking time. And I guess that's a good thing. So I'm like, I'm not beholden to sponsors or anyone, I can just like do it whenever I get around to it. Um but I'm like, all right, like I said, I enjoy doing it, so I want to make an effort to just try to like keep building up episodes. Nick Evanue really like kind of inspired me again because he was down here for San Diego and we went to dinner one night and he was like, dude, there's people in the bits asking like about the podcast and like if you're gonna keep doing it because they enjoyed it, and I was like, fuck, okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

So now you're feeling some of that that pressure a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Like Yeah, I guess pressure, but it was honestly it was also nice to just know, like, oh, there's people that were asking about it and like enjoyed it. Like that was cool to hear, honestly, because I was like, I don't I don't know. I'm so disconnected from like the industry itself now. Um I don't even know if people even remember who I am, which is fine if they don't, but it was it was cool to hear that Nick was like, yeah, people were asking about it, dude. Like you should bring it back. I'm like, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

And especially to have that in such a saturated space, like you know, everyone has podcasts, and just to have people like it for me, it's like harder to like sit down and be like, all right, it's what I'm gonna select out of you know the available podcast because there's so many different options. I kind of get like that fatigue, the decision fatigue of this is what I should listen to. And um, if people are doing that still in such a crazy market and finding yours and you know going out of the way to listen to it, that's uh that's a nod to your work and and just how you handle things. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Yeah, I mean, and you know how I feel about the Moto Podcaster, the only one I listen to, and it happens to be the one that you're a part of.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. It's uh it's cool working with those guys. Like they it is just like a true level of professionalism, and I I enjoy like the two-person dynamic of um how they work together and they are very different in how they view life, how they view riding, racing, and all that. But it's also like um like yeah, 100% feels like a job, but um, it's not like um the one that's strictly steering the ship and only steering the ship. Like they collectively, like we want to like make the show better work in the past with other projects I worked on. It just always felt like this isn't gonna go anywhere unless I do absolutely everything because I was just a one-man show before. And um, yeah, Justin wants it to succeed, Adam does. And um, yeah, they like value me as a person, which I know we've talked about in the past on our other projects that feels like a lot of our industry doesn't we're just cogs in the machine. And um it's cool that Adam and Justin are down to earth like that.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

So yeah, yeah, it's I'm sure we'll get into it a little bit, but yeah, being valued goes a long way in kind of I guess retention in your job and wanting to be there and show up. Yeah. Um I think kiddo is watching Shrek at the moment, but she'll most likely interrupt a few times. So I'm just I'm gonna let you know. So it's all good. Part of the process. All good. Um so start at the beginning and kind of where you grew up. I know you're actually hold on. We're gonna kind of start. I'm gonna start COVID 2020, actually. Because I think it was my first memory of like meeting you, and I was like, well, this guy might be kind of a dick.

SPEAKER_04 16:06

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 16:07

But in like a funny way, I it was the 2020 residency. Maybe it wasn't the first time I met you. No, I feel like I met you before then. But like I maybe like spending time with you because there with Wes for a ball.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

And I think it was you and Danny Stew were doing Feld stuff at the time. Yeah. And I remember being in the rental car, like me, you, Wes, and Danny Stew, and you and Danny Stew were just fucking arguing. Just like, and I couldn't tell if like it was serious or not serious. And I was like, man, probably don't pick off the cold, bite your head off.

SPEAKER_04 16:41

Yeah, I have been told that before, like that when people don't know me, I come off that way. But honestly, I think it was because me and Danny had like a big brother-little brother relationship, and it was like our our just way of uh bickering was going at each other a little bit. But yeah, I do remember that trip now at that. Well, didn't you didn't you come across a bear or something too? Yes, in the park city.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Oh my god, yeah, that fucking mountain bike ride that Wes took us on. Yeah, he got us all electric e-bikes and we did this ride, and everyone just dropped me. Like I was just fucking left left for dead. And I remember we got lost or something. We didn't know where we were going, and then eventually it was like, all right, we're gonna turn around and go back down the hill, and all of you guys just fucking were gone, and I got left.

SPEAKER_04 17:30

I think actually that day, because I was like Steven, Danny. Um, I actually didn't go on that one. I went on a different one with Wes, and this was before I was into mountain biking, but it I find it Wes has a tendency to be like, if you have a mountain bike before, we are going on trails that like an experienced mountain biker should go on, and he doesn't really care if you're you know, like he'll wait up at certain trailheads, but he's just like, you know, fight for yourself. Yeah. Uh good luck.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Pretty much how it went, we got lost and then decided at some point several hours into the ride to turn around and go back down the hill, and everyone left and I just was left for dead and got lost. No cell phone service in these fucking mountains in Park City, Utah. And I'm on this like single track trail, just massive trees on both sides of me. And like on the right side of me, there I just I like hear something in the bushes, and I was like, that can't be good. I like two cone forward, sure enough, this fucking bear comes out of the trees staring at me, and I'm just like, oh fuck. And I just got on like I think at that point I was like walking my bike because I was so tired. I don't know what hour this was in the ride, but I was just like depleted, even though it's an e-bike, still got a big thing.

SPEAKER_04 18:43

Absolutely, it's still hard.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Yeah, and I've never been on a mountain bike before, and we're at how many thousands of feet elevation, like yeah, like 7,000, 8,000. Yeah, and Bear comes out on the trail, looks at me, I'm like, oh fuck. I hop back on the bike and I just start going. And luckily, I was whatever this trail I was on, it I don't know, maybe 300 feet down, it like opened up into like a park with people. And I'm just like, I almost hit this couple because I was just going so fast. And I I don't know what happened to the bear, where it went, but I was so pissed off when I got back to the truck, and they were like, Where'd you go? And I'm not happy. Not happy.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, that that was quite the trip. But yeah, I went through the same thing to me, and I just remember it's actually me and Doug Gabriel from Phelps, and uh, I was like, dude, I like just can't do this. And but um now I've recently gone back onto those trails, and it's been cool to like remember those memories as now I've been a little bit more experienced, but I'm like I'm like, uh, this was like the world the my my death before. But uh yeah, I I forgot, like I guess yeah, I was always thinking that imagination was like our first real time working together. Um I think like yeah, because I was still with Belb before, yeah, before the up until COVID, pretty much. And then um, yeah, that is when I met you. I had obviously known who you were beforehand, but like being like an up-and-coming, trying to be an up-and-coming, like stills guy, like cinematographers, and I guess like video in general was like an outlier, and like I was kind of more intimidated by it. So like I didn't like reach out as much. Like I remember even the first time Wes reached out to me, like I was geeking out, just like, oh my god, like we this is a whole different level. But um, yeah, you're right. That that was the first time that was uh that was a funny trip.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Yeah, that was an interesting time that whole whole experience. Um so yeah, you're you're East Coast guy, right? Originally?

SPEAKER_04 20:47

Originally, Connecticut, yeah, about uh 15 minutes south of Lake Southwick. So right in the Connecticut Massachusetts line.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Oh wow, okay. What was it like growing up out that way?

SPEAKER_04 20:56

Honestly, um I just grew up in kind of a very blue-collar family. They own a construction, their own construction company, very small, but um just uh that was pretty much my whole life of just trying to build their uh my father's shoes growing up and um yeah, I mean, didn't really get into riding dirt bikes or anything like that until I was like 13, 14, just had a kid I went to high school with and um kind of was like you know, privateer chasing the dream. I was like, oh, this looks cool. And um and then it was like through them that when I had like memories preserved of me and like even just a cliche photo of my dad and my starting line one of my first races, like that was like the feeling that sparked like, okay, this is something I want to recreate for other people because like that preservation, just like that emotion that everyone has a tie to um their own photo of themselves or whatever, um, just really resonated with me. And I was like, okay, let me look into, and then everyone goes through the stage of let me make a GoPro edit of like we I was doing these things at like my little ski mountain and put it on like this little steel uh like. C handle that I made and um just try to follow and make these dumb little YouTube edits and stuff like that. So yeah, it was it was a lot of skiing, snowboarding, some dirt bikes, um, but more or less like I was like a team sport kid growing up and um yeah, just kind of felt like I had like a pretty normal childhood of um I was always taught also like you just gotta work hard, that's the only way you'll get anywhere. And I kind of carried that up until you know the last few years where I realized I want to also enjoy my life a little bit because yeah, work working, um at least in the industry that we both share, like working your life away doesn't always pay off, like it's kind of like promise to you. So um, yeah, I just uh was definitely that was instilled in me from the start.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah, no, I I can relate. We had I had uh Haley Shanley on the podcast uh last week, and we kind of talked a little bit about the grind culture of the industry a bit, and just like for me, I got to a point the last few years of my career where I was like actively in therapy and like talking about boundaries or my lack thereof and like putting a c my career before everything else all the time, and like it's not healthy, and so like I got to a point where I started just taking Fridays off. So I'd take Friday, Saturday, Sunday off. As long as all my work was done and there was like no deadlines or anything, I was like, three days off. And there there was some comments made by certain people and clients that were like, oh the fucking California pussy is just you know, three-day vacations, you know, you just don't want to grind, you don't want to work, and I'm like, Man, I've been at this for like almost two decades. Like, I think I'm allowed to like have some time for myself, you know.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

I think that gets lost very easily, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Yeah, absolutely. Just I mean, especially just like in our industry of media, like it's just like you always need to have something new coming out. Like it's just like it it's almost like especially now social media, you're not really even worried about giving people that time to create something worthwhile because it's just like social, it's forgotten about within 10 minutes. So, like, let's just pump something out just to get it out. And um, yeah, you just have to be uh in the machine, which for some people like it's you know it's what they want. And like I still I still love it, um, but it's like definitely, yeah, like you said, like a lot of it's forced me to have boundaries, but like a lot of what you you've been very open about with your mental health journey has like inspired me because even last year, like I was going through my own mental health struggles and like I um I went to therapy and everything, and just like it really like you being so open about it was like okay, like someone else also has shared these, like you know, I I know it's more than just the work stuff, but like share the same feelings about how you're maybe looked at in the industry, or just like um yeah, not really value it as much. And um, and that's not true for everything, like you know, there are plenty of uh clients and people in the industry that are great and care about you, but um it's it's human nature to let the negative outweigh the positive. So um yeah, definitely was uh good to see that someone else was open about it too.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Um yeah, it's funny. This is I still remember this, and it's it made me laugh then because it was funny and it's funny now, but 2012, like my first go-around with Verb, I was doing this project with Chris Aldridge when he was still uh amateur kid on Yamaha's and uh I think he was A, maybe B. And uh yeah, he was still a B kid. Dude, it and the project took like three months to make or something like that. And this is 2012, like social media was not what it is now at all. But I remember Jason Crane giving me so much shit for it. He's like, dude, when's the Chris Aldridge lifetime special biopic gonna drop? Like, what is this, month three now? I'm like, Yeah, actually you're right. It's really taking a long time. And that was all like even my last go-around with for like this project I did with this guy Gunnar Wright and some other stuff, like they would take me like the Gunnar Wright project took me a year and a half from start to finish. Just because there's other stuff also that pops up in the middle, and like, okay, this uh Red Bull thing or this other client thing, and then you kind of circle back to it. But yeah, yeah, it's I like taking my time with that stuff, and I was never good at like Wes would be like, hey, you go to the t go to the track, go get we need some social clips, or when you're at Freestone doing all in, we also need some raw stuff for motorsport or whatever, and I'm like, fuck this shit. Like, yeah, just let me do my thing. Um, because I'm not I know I'm not good at that stuff. I'm not like the raw social media guy, like that's not my expertise at all, and I'm very open about that. Like, not my cup of tea.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

Yeah, no, it's uh I mean like I'm I'm the same way, but like I because I'm maybe on the later end of like I just kind of got into the scene when social was really like becoming more important that I never was able to do like cool, like longer form projects like maybe you have in the past. But sometimes I'm I'm also like a procrastinator, so like deadlines help me because like I'm like okay, I just know it needs to get done by this point because if I have unlimited amount of time, I may just keep pushing it off. But yeah, other things come up, so it's a double-edged sword, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

Um so did you grow up going to Southwick, like to the national at all, or yeah, not yeah, like I said, uh not probably until I was 12 or 13. Um just was like a my dad rode dirt bikes, but just like uh trail riding around the area and um just went for for fun and um really like yeah, I had my first ever race there, 250C with we had to we had to do qualifiers and there was six still like 60 kids on the start line. I was double gated. Um but yeah, it's like Southwick definitely has a kind of a special place in my heart. I spent a lot of time there.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Yeah. That's right. I remember the first time I ever went there was in 2008, and I was like it was so cool. I was still it's still like one of my Southwick and Unadilla really stand out to me as like I don't know, just visually like really pretty places to to point your camera. But Southwick, every time I've gone there, I'm always forget until I see the track that it's in a fucking pit. And you go down and you shoot, and then you gotta walk all the way up that damn hill to get to the pits, and you're already wrecked. It's like, oh cool, I gotta go up this hill and nobody's gonna be giving me a ride.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

Yeah, and it's just next to a school in the middle of the town, basically. Yeah, it's it doesn't make sense that there's a track there at all, and like decent sand too, but uh yeah, I guess that's like kind of the thing that makes it unique. See, like, I guess it to me it like does have a nice aesthetic, but like when I think of like tracks I love to shoot at like Millville, High Point, um, stuff like Washoogle, but um maybe just because I have been to South Hook so much.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Yeah, no, I I get that. It's kind of like not that Glenn Helen has any appeal whatsoever because it doesn't, it's a place is pretty terrible, but like nuclear wasteland. Literally, yeah. But like I I know like people from overseas or whatnot that are fans that have come over here and like I gotta go to Glenn Helen, I gotta see Glenn Helen, and I'm like, really? Like I'm you you sure? Like, yeah, there's other places to go to, but they go and like, oh my god, this is so cool, and I'm like, I don't know, maybe I'm missing it because I grew up here my whole life, but like it's okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:48

Yeah, no, I mean I was the same way about Glen Helen, actually. The first time I went there was cool, and then after that, I was like, Alright, I've got my fix.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Yeah, yeah. Um, how was um for you school and education? Was that something you enjoyed at all or not so much?

SPEAKER_04 30:05

Yeah, yeah, I definitely was uh decent in school and um didn't really know like what direction I wanted to go in um or anything. Like I just made sure to get good grades and um and then I actually had uh signed up to go to photography school. Um it was called Hallmark Institute Photography, just like a little like 10-month intensive program in Massachusetts, uh more like commercial photography based and graduated high school and then uh in 2016, and then just uh like two weeks before I was ready to move into the school, school closed down because the president of the school stole money from the place, and then I like looked at some other places to go, and I was like, I don't know, I'm not like I do enjoy school and I did well fairly, but I never loved learning by having people tell me I just wanted to do things and kind of trial and error. So that's ended up working internships kind of with wedding photographers, uh portrait photographers at some studios, um, even was like a school portrait photographer, um, doing like school yearbook photos for kids working minimum wage, just like bouncing around New England uh every day, uh at least during like the fall when that was a thing.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

But then sort of construction uh to pay the bills, and then um, yeah, and then kind of just the snowball started a roll of try to pick up freelance work and do a bunch of work for free, and then eventually kind of just made the connections and yeah, but was uh the goal from the beginning to try to get into Moto, or was that kind of like not something you were looking at?

SPEAKER_04 31:49

Once I yeah, started to ride a dirt bike, it was, and then like I started to look up people up look up to people like the Emerys of the World, the Cudbeys, um, just from a still side, that's what I was more comfortable with. So and then I always like back to Danny Stew, like be having that he owns a track up in Maine, and I'd ridden there before, I was like, oh like what if I could just like you know go up there and work with him. Um, but like I was always imposter syndrome would kick in. I'd always get intimidated by him, and uh, but then he was very friendly to me. What and I know he's not open to everyone, but must have just uh got a good impression. And and then I think what really probably helped was he had a he had a main state race up there, and I slept in my car, which is just a Jetta at the time, and um overnight and I was just supplying the photos, but then also like just doing like working privately for some riders that would just pay me like fifty bucks a pop, and I was just trying to just do something. And uh then he had me come up for Burn Blaster's first three, and um then we just kind of clicked, and um, that was kind of I think he helped me a lot as far as just recommend me to Feld and um yeah, get that connection kind of going to be more on the professional side of the industry.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

What year would uh this have been?

SPEAKER_04 33:12

I was that was 2017 when I was sleeping in my car at his track. Um and then 2018 is when I had like my trial run at Monster Cup for Fel doing video stuff for them.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Oh wow, damn.

SPEAKER_04 33:26

That's pretty that's a pretty quick uh should we from high school being 2016 definitely. Um I was actually ended up getting pretty busy like with freelance work just of like in my town um seeing your portraits during the fall and the winter and then um doing some business headshots and doing weddings and a lot of dirt bike stuff like for barely any money, but like um yeah, and then I think it was that that really just like kicked it all into gear and and then yeah, once I got like the trial run, like I remember I sent my application into Feld and my for my future at that time boss cat um responded and said, Alright, we're gonna fly you out next week. And I was actually at Designations um in Red Bud when this was all happening, and they're like, Alright, we're gonna fly out next week. It's monster or whatever, two weeks from then it's gonna be Monster Cup, it's gonna do a travel run. And I was just still shooting on a Canon 1DX. I barely shot any video in my life. Um, and they're like, Yep, we need to do this, this, and this. And uh, and I just hadn't really ever traveled like on my own, as this was always like family vacations before. And uh yeah, I kind of got like the speed ramp just like it picked up, and um yeah, that was kind of the start of it all for sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

Damn, what was uh what was that like having that experience and traveling on your own and going, I mean, pretty much across the country solo.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

Um yeah, I mean back to the imposter syndrome, like I remember uh I I remember kept trying to like pinch myself in the moment because I felt like I didn't want to forget about this experience and just get like too worried about how my work was gonna be because like I know that can come like as far as quality of work and everything, but if like I can just handle myself in a good manner, try to be a decent human being, but then also like just work my balls off, um, whether that's just like running around to get a half ass shot, um, and that could impress someone. That was all I was focusing on. But I remember like sitting in the monorail at Vegas Airport and being like, okay, I can just take a deep breath. Like this is something that not many people get to do. And and then I remember you being in like my bathroom at the hotel and being like, wow, it's like the first hotel that's like been paid for that's not by my family. Um, and like I could just enjoy this and like okay, but I'm here for super cross, like this is crazy. So yeah, it was uh it was very, very intimidating, and also like I I'm not sure if you felt this way, but like when you're outside the industry, the industry looks so much different. So, like that's how I was coming into it, and I was like thinking it was like it's still a great thing, but like I was like thinking it was way more elaborate and like maybe polished than it actually is. So I would that would also add to the intimidation.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Yes, a hundred percent. Um my uh very first like full-time job was as an associate editor at Transroll Motocross after like trying for several years of like trying to get in. Garth yeah, Garth and those guys had like left to start their agency and Don needed someone, and I had been like hounding them for a few years and took a chance and the first race I went to solo on assignment was the 2008 Houston Supercross. I'm 21 years old. Yeah, everything's paid for. I'm traveling with company-owned uh equipment and I remember getting like oh my man, I don't think I should be doing this by myself. Like, this is like I don't I've never done any of this before. Flew out of John Wayne and did Houston and everything went fine, but I remember like being in the pits and like I had like my assignments for Monday Kickstart and uh I think like Wednesday wallpapers and stuff, and Don's advice, uh I guess it was I don't know if it was good advice or not, but he's like, you just gotta make friends with one mechanic at every team. And then you make friends with one mechanic, then you're in. And I'm like, okay. But like shouldn't someone be with me to like I'm coming from like retail before this. So like Disneyland, Starbucks, Target, like there's training and like procedures in place and processes, and I'm pretty much just like, just go meet a mechanic and hope they like ya.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Dude, this is like I'm not not good at this. Um and it was tough. It was very eye-opening, like, same thing. I was like, oh, this is like no one knows who I am at all. And I'm only 21, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Like I yeah, it was it was eye-opening, like it's not what you thought from the outside looking in.

SPEAKER_04 38:20

But like I think that situation like pushes you so much quicker, as you know, in the media game, whether you're writer, uh photo, video, um, so it like it's extremely scary at first, but I think it helped me because I was in a very similar situation too.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

Yeah. Yeah. I I even would still happen like towards the end of my career, like doing Red Bull stuff or like Moto Spy stuff. Like sometimes we would show up and a team or writer would be like, Why are you here? Like, um for I just an ex I an example I guess would be like when Coop was still on KTM, like uh we're here for Coop for Motospy, but no one told us anything. And I'm like, how is Red Bull not fucking communicated to Coop or to anyone at KTM or who whatever team it might be that like, hey, we're gonna be here on this day, or like, hey, we're gonna be at this race. Like, that would happen sometimes. And I'm like, what in the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 39:29

Like I heard a lot of stories about Motosp from Danny about stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Yeah, yeah, it was and I don't know, yeah, it was just always very like confusing. And then there would always there was when we were doing the flight plan stuff, like there was issues with like we'd be in these pre-production meetings and Lucas, when he was still representing the Lawrence brothers, would be like, oh yeah, mate, yeah, mate, this sounds great, mate, let's do it, mate. And then we literally the day of we go to do it. Not today, mate. I can't do it today, mate. We can't distract the boys, mate. There was literally times I had to call Red Bull on the middle of a shoot and be like, hey, Lucas is saying no to this. And they're like, no, we have to do it. And I'm like, he's telling me no. And it would be like, okay, well, like we like we just get screwed. So there was a lot of opportunity too that was missed because one thing said, and then you go to do it, and now they're saying no, and there's nobody on site from Red Bull to be like we would need like a field producer at times, like from Red Bull to be like, hey, no, we're fucking doing this. They would never do that.

SPEAKER_04 40:39

Yeah. Hold on a second, let me the kid a little bit outside. Oh good.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Okay, carry on.

SPEAKER_04 40:55

Um, I was gonna say, like, I I remember like once I I don't know why necessarily uh they were impressed with me um after that trial run at Monster Cup, but they then told me like, alright, you gotta move down to Florida starting full time and then alright, you gotta make opening ceremonies videos. And at that point, I have no contact to had no former prior contact to riders, so like okay, it was also my boss's uh first year herself in the role. So like I'd always heard from the previous uh video guide that all right, sh uh your boss will set up these shoots, she'll handle it, you'll kind of just have to create a plan and and go execute. And it was just overwhelming for everyone, so like none of that really happened, and we were so like we had ideas, but it was never like we could never execute because okay, who should reach out, who should do that? And it was just uh yeah, I was definitely more intimidated, and then once I like saw videos playing on the screen at A1 that was just kind of like writing montages and um stuff like that, I was like, all right, we gotta like figure this out because at to me, you're always gonna be your own worst critic, but like they weren't anything special, and I was like, alright, the stigma around opening ceremonies is that they these cool skits and whatever. So um yeah, that it's just you'd think that there'd be that's be with it being a smaller industry that it would be easier for like the communication between parties, but it's like not at all.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

No. It's so it's yeah, so weird. There's like going back to like the the flight plan stuff, there was I remember we did a shoot with the Lawrences up at Castilla Ranch. They were testing and there was all this talk about like hey, we're gonna like rent a helicopter and bring it out there, like all this stuff. There was like me, Jason Monroe, fuck who there was another uh third camera operator. Oh, Brad Resnick, I think, was with us too. And it was supposed to be like just just epic riding montage to like close out an episode or something. I don't know. I've never actually watched an episode of Flight Plan, even though I shot one. I've never watched one. I watched the first 45 seconds of the intro of episode one and I cleaned up.

SPEAKER_04 43:11

No way. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

It was not my cup of tea at all. So I've never watched one.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

Uh so there's like all like I remember having these meetings, like like me and Wes and um Red Bull people, and me and Brad Resnick carpouled all the way up to Castillo. We get up there, everyone, Dolores', Honda, everyone's like, Why are you guys here? I'm like, um I explain it, and they're like, no one told us anything. And I'm like, Well, thank God we didn't rent a fucking helicopter because we were literally talking about bringing a not a drone, but like a helicopter.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

That I go like I've I heard. So many stories about that, but because like I did very few Red Bull projects, whether it was just imagination or um TKO and stuff like that, but like it feels like now that the industry is a little bit more lax. Like it seems like back then everyone was always all right, we can't let any other team see what we're doing. Do you I don't I mean from a little bit of the outside now, like do you get that impression like there's more content of and it's not so secretive?

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Um I don't know. I don't know. Uh partly because like I don't like I watch the races on Saturday and I literally listened to your guys' podcast, so that's like the only like consumption of motor media I take. So like I I really don't know if it's gotten any better. I mean my last experience was a TLD thing with that docuseries, and the last thing I was ever told was from Tyler Keefe that uh if we uh release this docuseries, we will look like a bunch of idiots and dickheads that and no one will ever want to ride for us because we look bad. And that's why that wasn't released, and that was November of 2023, so I don't know like in these two plus years if it's improved or not, but that was my last experience, and then I'm like, alright, well, that's why this shit will never get a drive to survive or like anything. Because he said that we needed to have every other team doing exactly what we did to justify it so that they didn't look so stupid. Oh wow I'm like I I see it, I get it, but also like at some point someone needs to, in my opinion, take a fucking chance and like put it out there. Because he's like, we all know, everyone knows that we had a bad year, we don't we don't need to keep harping on it. And I was like, but we are showing the the the fans of the sport why you had a bad year. Like we're giving them access into why there was a struggle. And then when we go into A1 the following year, you're gonna have a lot of fucking people cheering for you because you guys are the underdog and everyone wants to see an underdog win. But it that's yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:04

That's the thing that I think that's a little bit lost is that people believe there's only stories at the top, but there's like actually more interesting, more uh stories that'll resonate with the average person mid-pack and at the bottom of the field. Just depends on how they're told, obviously. But like that's why Driver Survive works, because it's showing everything and it makes you connect to the the Williams of the world or the Haas of the world because oh, you know, like they are the underdogs and they have this one glimpse of uh success and you want to root for them and stuff like that. But yeah, it would have if they released that, it would have maybe allowed people to be like not just uh be like, oh yeah, TLD had a shit year, um, whatever. But like if you're able to connect to that a little bit, like a bad performance-wise can still turn into good marketing and and good uh connections for the people, which um that that I think is slowly coming around from what I can see. Like, I'm definitely not in the industry as much as I once was, but um I think because there are so many more people doing that quick form content, like they may be even putting out like Instagram clips before like it the team are is even clear with it. But like, you know, just this morning, like I watched a McArath vlog, um, and he finished 15th at Glendale. And um, so like, but I I like him as a person and I think it's kind of a unique story. So I just think that there's there are more stories like that are popping up here and there, just um not maybe at the Red Bull production level, but uh people are definitely trying to get him out there.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

I hope so. I mean I I you know Jeff Simpson, right?

SPEAKER_04 47:46

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

So him and I I we probably literally talk on the phone almost every day. And sometimes I'd tell him jokingly, because I don't I'm not gonna do it, but I'm like, there's for sure, in my opinion, a very specific niche in the sport missing in terms of like creative content. Like if if someone was to start like an old school vermodo from like those early 2000s to 2012, 2013 when it was like peak vermodo, and you brought that back right now, like there's a niche for that, I feel like, and no one is doing it because it's just all this Instagram quick form stuff, and I'm like, people want something of substance, but no one's doing it, and I don't want to do it anymore.

SPEAKER_04 48:29

I like I wish that there was more people doing it, but at the same time, like I see it through the podcast, or just like because I'm like always looking at what works on media and what what gets the views, and honestly, right now, like uh it seems like shorter form, like people don't want to sit down. It's just because there's so much content between social media on your phone, YouTube, there's so many different options that I think it is tougher for people to want to justify to sit down for a 20-30 minute thing, let alone a two-hour podcast, like you know, the AC JB show. But um, yeah, I think it's just attention spans that have dwindled back compared to back in the day because people still put out like recently, like um, well, I guess it was more of a shorter form thing, but I was thinking of that dad Cam Moto that started to do stuff from the stands at like A1. He had like a uh Super 35 or no, it was just the Panasonic uh whatever it was, um, camcorder. And um, like people I think still like kind of that like say if you want to call it that verb edit style, um, but if it starts going over two minutes, I don't know. I just feel like people like there there's just so much content people want something different and they want more because of the TikToks of the world. You're just able to swipe past something and get dopamine released to something brand new. And I don't know, that's just my own personal like I see it in myself. Like I'm like, if I'm bored for 30 seconds on some sort of video, I'm uh easier to turn it off than I I it was before.

SPEAKER_00 50:05

Yeah, no, no, no, I to I totally agree. I mean it's the numbers don't lie. I I would it was like a constant battle, I felt like the last few years of my career, like trying to fight for doing more long-form stuff, and I mean that's like that gunner right thing that I did, I think it was like 30 minutes. I think it maybe has 8,000, 9,000 views, like not a whole lot, but more than I thought it was gonna get, to be honest. Um but I I don't know, that's just me being stubborn and just like convinced that there's a market, there's like a niche that people like want that stuff, and but I'm the same. Like I'm on Instagram and I'm like, okay, this video is 30 seconds, but I'm 10 seconds in and I'm already over it. I'm moving on. Like I'm also guilty of it, but I yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

No, I mean I still like I'm I'm the same way. Like there are select people that want that long form content, and like I'll purposely add stuff to my watch later playlist on YouTube because I'm like, okay, this is over 20 minutes. I want to sit down and properly digest it because I have a feeling it's gonna be something unique and cool, but um, I just don't think it's as common because there's so much short form now.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

There is, yeah. And I um I also Nathan Avila, who Studio 39 on Instagram, so great dude. He's another one I'm like him and I are pretty close and kind of your protege. What's that? Yeah, I'm I'm like still like kind of mentoring him, like because he's still reaching out. I mean, we still talk every day, but he'll send me videos like, hey, he's doing stuff for Le Big right now. So he's like sending me his stuff from Le Big. It's like, hey, what do you think? What can be different? What can be better? What do you like? What do you don't like? And like, so I'm still like spending that time with him. And um the stuff he's doing for Le Big is I guess long form, like these 20-minute pieces at the races, just shadowing a rider. And it's interesting, he's got an interesting challenge because uh he doesn't mic up anybody, he doesn't talk to the rider, he doesn't talk to anyone, it's just purely visuals.

SPEAKER_04 52:04

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 52:05

Um I actually think it's a a really good way to learn storytelling because if you have no dialogue whatsoever that you can capture, and that's like a specific guideline that Lebig has set, like don't just shadow. Like be in the shadows, don't talk to them, don't interrupt. So like you have to learn how to visually tell a story throughout the day without words. That's a really good skill set to have moving forward. And so far, like the stuff he sent me, I'm like, dude, it's I it's good. Like you got a good eye, you're you're able to tell a story through just visuals, and like I know what's going on. Like it's impressive, and I think that's a good skill set to have versus the Instagram 10 second banger to some rap music.

SPEAKER_04 52:50

Absolutely. I did see some of uh I saw a snippet of can you follow Rox in this last weekend or is it that we got Roxon at uh Glendale, yeah. Yeah, and I saw him at A1 and he always he's one of the few I like to talk to, and um yeah, he was telling me about that. But I was like my brand immediately was like, dude, you're working for a French publication. Do you know French? Yeah, no. But uh yeah, he he I I like his style and I see a lot of resemblance in how he shoots to how you shoot as well. So it is cool that you help him out.

SPEAKER_00 53:17

So yeah, he's a he's a good kid. He's got a lot of he's got a high ceiling, I feel like like he can be really, really good, and his development has already come a long way. So I'm hopeful to like as long as he like stays the path, he can he'll I think he can be really damn good. Um what was your first camera that you bought with your own money?

SPEAKER_04 53:40

First camera, but the first one not with my own money, was since I didn't go to college, was a Canon 5D Mark IV. Um that was like since I didn't go to college, so my parents had set a couple dollars aside for you know a college fund just to help me out. They weren't gonna pay for all of it, but they had actually bought me that once I didn't go, and that was really cool of them. And then after that, I bought uh one D Canon 1DX Mark II um because that was like you know the sports still photo camera to go to uh at the time, and then I bought a second one, and um now everything's moving over to mirrorless, so I've gotten rid of those and on R3s currently.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

Damn, all right. Um so how was yeah, your Monster Cup experience? You're doing video, right?

SPEAKER_04 54:29

On a 1DX, yes.

SPEAKER_00 54:32

Uh I feel that I have shot a few projects on a 1DX video. Uh what was that transition like? Because obviously you are starting as a stills photographer and then making that jump into video. It was the same for me, like when I switched from stills to video, I was like, what this is like a whole other language that I don't understand. So what was that like for you? And you're doing it on a bigger scale. When I switched, I was just like dicking around. So it didn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 54:59

I mean, I I definitely did have my dick around moments of doing local stuff, but it was never it wasn't very common at all. So yeah, I just remember like doing like track walk at Monster Cup and being overwhelmed because it felt like I wanted to shoot everything, but obviously you cannot, so then I'm not actually like with stills, like it's so much easier just to grab that one moment, move on to the next thing where like video you want to plan stuff out, you want to yeah, like properly compose it and and then let the shot happen. Um, but I wasn't really like planning anything out as I was just spinning my camera around, not letting any shot roll for more than a few seconds. And it was just more like my brain just going a million miles an hour than anything. So if yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:42

Um join the podcast?

SPEAKER_00 55:48

Do you want to sit on my lap? Okay, come in.

SPEAKER_04 55:51

How old is she now?

SPEAKER_00 55:53

Uh two and a half. She'll be uh three in May.

SPEAKER_04 55:56

Hey. So we're almost like. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 55:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:59

Oh, that's so cool. You guys went to Disney yesterday, right?

SPEAKER_00 56:04

Yeah, yeah. We do usually m Tuesdays at Disneyland. We have passes, so we do like one of my days off. Her and I just do like a full eight-hour daddy-daughter Disney day.

SPEAKER_04 56:16

No way.

SPEAKER_00 56:17

Yeah. I'm I'm wrecked after it, but it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_04 56:21

And she enjoys it.

SPEAKER_00 56:23

She loves it, yeah. It's cool, like every time we go is like a new experience for her because she's just developing so quickly, like every day. So I feel like every time we go, it's like brand new for her because it's just something new and it's pretty cool. She loves the princesses, so we always do that, and like we go, we go so much and we see them so much, they know her by name. So like Cinderella, the Ana, Elsa, Ariel, like they see her and they're like, Oh, Violet, it's so good to see you. Like, they get so stoked.

SPEAKER_04 56:58

No way. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

And then my my uh my wife works out there. She wore she runs the um uh you need another one? Do you want another one? She runs the there's an on-site physical therapy clinic um at Disneyland where they treat like work comp stuff for uh cast members. So she runs that office out there. So there's been a few of the girls that play the Elsa character or the Ana character that have gone into her clinic for treatment. And my wife Karen, she'll like show them a photo and they'll be like, oh my gosh, we talk about her when we're like go on our breaks, like how adorable she is. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so good.

SPEAKER_04 57:47

So when you're locals at Disney, that's saying something that's a crazy.

SPEAKER_00 57:51

I don't know if that's good or bad. Like we definitely have been like, man, if we didn't have her, we would not have passes. Like it's just fucking well that's what I was about to say.

SPEAKER_04 57:59

Yeah, if you if you were uh regulars on your own, just then it would be an issue. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 58:08

But yeah, having her, it's like, alright, I guess we'll we'll keep doing this pass thing. It's like the one thing we indulge on financially. Is that good?

SPEAKER_04 58:18

Yeah, but those are memories that I think will last forever, especially now that she's you know more able to remember things and do things with you. So well money well spent.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

It is, it's it's so much fun. Like we love it. So it's you need another one? You need Kyle, I guess. We have these like applesauce pouches at work, and she dude, it's insane.

SPEAKER_04 58:42

Going through them, you gotta bring the palette home.

SPEAKER_00 58:45

It's insane. Here, here you go. Um was it the Monster Cup? Was that twelve? That was 2018, yeah?

SPEAKER_04 58:52

Or 2017? That was when 18, when Eli won the million because Savaichi pulled over.

SPEAKER_00 58:58

Oh, yes. Yes. Um after that happened, um, what was the next step for you with Feld and kind of yeah, what came next?

SPEAKER_04 59:12

Uh yeah, I was like maybe two weeks after that. I got a call just saying like at that point everyone was working out of uh Feld headquarters in um Bradenton, Florida. So they said, all right, you gotta move down here. And I was I was 19. Yeah, 19.

SPEAKER_00 59:32

Did you say Bradenton, Florida?

SPEAKER_04 59:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

Oh boy, carry on, I got a story.

SPEAKER_04 59:38

Um I was 19 at the time and just uh yeah, uh found an apartment down outside of Tampa and um moved down there, and then it was just like all like didn't really have time to learn anything. It was also my first time when I went into the office learning how to edit on Premiere. Never used Premiere as a final cut guy, just in my like messing around with video stuff, and um yeah, and then it was just like everyone's just panicking because Supercross coming up, you don't really have any time. Like I was working also under uh Mike Mewe, and he was kind of who would uh tell me direction for opening ceremonies videos and stuff, so it was extremely fast paced, nerve-wracking, and that was a time that I also got very homesick in my life. Um and I hated everything because I felt like I was off at what I did, was not meant to be there, and struggled a lot with just uh yeah, being on my own and figuring out how to kind of be an adult. Uh so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:37

Um I spent 32 days in Bradenton, Florida.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:42

I am sorry.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:44

That is the probably the worst place in America I have ever visited by miles, dude.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:51

Why'd you why were you there?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:53

I was there, I got hired to help shoot a docu series with a professional women's soccer team, the Kansas City Current. Um they were doing their preseason training camp at a facility in Bradenton. There's this really nice um like I guess it's a university, um, but it's like a massive training facility for um soccer players. Very beautiful. They were doing their camp down there. So I got hired by this crew to live in an Airbnb in Bradenton, Florida, with that with me and three or four other people on the crew, and go to and from our Airbnb every day to the soccer field, and dude. Terrible. Insane money, the most money I've ever made in my life. No. But terrible.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:47

Terrible. Okay, so but would you do it again?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:50

Absolutely not. It was that money. No. No. It it um it was one of those things where like you're like, alright, I'm gonna do this because it's obviously great money, and it's just also not dirt bikes, so it's an opportunity to like network and meet new people and like try to like expand my portfolio. But yeah, never again. Never again. Then the crew I was with, dude, they they fucking partied hard every night.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:23

I mean, was that any different than like kind of what I've seen of the Red Bull verb crew?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:29

Same. Maybe uh I think what was gnarly is that we were there for 32 days and it was 32 nights or 31 nights constantly. It might have been worse because they're like, dude, people were shitting their pants and blacking out at the bar.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:45

Like no way.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:46

There was there was some stuff going on that I was like it really solidified. I'm a very vanilla person in general. Like, I like to go have dinner and like I'll have a drink or two and go back and go to bed.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:03

Like you surround yeah, you surround yourself with some interesting people.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:07

Oh yeah, yeah, and then after that, they were like so stoked on me, they were they had reached out um to like hire me for some other stuff, and I was like, no, I'm busy.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:16

Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:19

Yeah. But I like the first time I went to Florida was Daytona 08. And even in 2008, I remember leaving there and I was like, there's something fucking wrong with this state, like it was just weird.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:29

I mean, also if Daytona is your first impression, that's a crazy first impression.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:33

Well, I'm good. Um, but then when I went to Bradenton, I was like, that there's no way this place is real. Like it was dude.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:42

I uh yeah, I I didn't didn't hate the area, but definitely didn't love it. But it was just um I mean, like it was cool because like that fell building is so big, so it kind of felt like you're like part of something super big and um bigger than life. So I don't know, like it and I remember even like when we weren't going to races, I was dressing up in a button up every single day in khaki pants, and like you kind of have to play that role of a corporate uh desk jockey, but um yeah, it was definitely not it added a lot to my life, taught me so much, but I um I tell people I will not probably never live in Florida again. So um yeah, that was my fit that was my fix.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:24

Um so after that experience, what were kind of the next steps for you?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:30

Honestly, just um creating opening ceremonies, videos. I always lean towards wanting to create like social pieces throughout the week, but my job was video production manager, just strictly in-house stuff, so ad spots, stuff that just played on the um Diamond Vision, uh Jumbotron's whatever from stadium to stadium. And we even like we brought like Luke in, uh Parameter to like help out with a little bit because I was definitely struggling, and um that was at least cool of him. Like he he was very, very helpful and helped out a lot, and then I worked alongside Travis Hawks, another great guy. Him and I have um you know uh pushed each other a lot, and then um, yeah, just a few others, and then it was just that for you know the whole supercross season, and and then you know, going to off-season, you just kind of like in the mode of like logging footage and then restart the next year, and then that would have been yeah, 2020. So started the year out great, and like I felt like I was finally like understanding video a little bit, like putting together kind of like a little bit more skits, not all the riders' videos were skits, but creating more personality around the videos. And remember we did something with like bake Blake Baggett, um, Barcha, and uh I felt like I was like becoming more of my own person, and then I remember we were in Indy, we just landed um in March of 2020, and then all of a sudden you started getting rumble rumblings from Feld Internal that all right, uh they're gonna cancel this event, but we don't know how long. And then COVID hit, and then we were all laid off. And um I took a one-way plane ticket back to Connecticut on Sphere Airlines for like $37, and just left all my stuff in Florida. And I went back to work construction with my my dad at the time. And um then when Salt Lake COVID cross kind of started back up, they called me back and and then um I said, Hey, I don't want to do this full-time anymore. But if you guys need help with stuff here and there, like um I'll definitely be a helping hand. So um yeah, that's kind of like the expedited process of of everything. But just as I felt like I was coming into my own, just COVID hit, and then um yeah, and then I bounced back to more stove-based stuff with um Rick Shepard brought me into align media and uh doing photo with them, and uh he took me under his wing and worked alongside him in Emery, and that was like a ton of fun, and then I even started doing video a little bit for them, like we were just working for companies uh like Racer X, so you're doing the immediate photo upload stuff for PR and then um KTM, all the companies and Husky, Honda, whatever, and I really enjoyed that, and then um and then I started working for that other podcast, and uh then I kind of said, Alright, this other podcast wants me to go full-time with them. Gonna appreciate you guys, but gonna go this direction, and um yeah, and then did that. And then yeah, the money that never came. Um after three years of doing that, I felt like we had a great relationship, and that was like the biggest kick to the face of like I'm like a very trusting person, very much to a fault. Like, I take people about what they say to me, and um yeah, just he always told me money's coming, money's coming, and then all of a sudden one day I was like, Hey, I'm just waiting on this check from Feld for doing the announcing gig. And I was like, Why are you one of the most successful athletes in the sport waiting on a check from doing a TV announcing gig? And then yeah, I was also working for his gear company, and then they never paid. I also paid for all of expenses out of my own pocket, and then I was hoping to get reimbursed, that never came, and it was just like a slippery slope, and uh that that's kind of what led me to having a rough year mentally last year and trying to call my way out of it, but um yeah, so yeah, really like the Feld stuff was awesome, and I loved doing it. Um, I just didn't like I I loved the variety that like freelance and like working for multiple people can bring, so it was good to kind of just change that up.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:36

Yeah, yeah, I was gonna ask what the decision was to step away from Feld, but I I totally understand that like that for having variety is the nice thing about the freelance world.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:48

Yeah, that was mostly it, and then just the it wasn't too corporate, but it felt uh more corporate than maybe my style is. Like I'm also at times can be outspoken and that doesn't fit into the corporate environment. Like I've I've uh like uh the other video guy, Travis, and I had just gotten into some arguments in the past, and then I'm getting pulled into the office because I said stuff I shouldn't be saying in an office environment and and whatever. So it uh it changed me a lot as a person, but um it just wasn't wasn't my cup of tea.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:20

Yeah, yeah, I could I could see that. Um how long were you doing because that's right, I remember you doing the aligned stuff. How long were you uh doing that?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:29

That was like two and a half, three years. Um yeah, uh it kind of started while I was working with Supercross, like they would just be like, hey, we need it was like right when the I remember the first shoot, I think, was when the Moto 10 came out from Bell and Emory was like actually out here in Salt Lake before I was living out here. Um he said, hey, we gotta go out to this desolate motocross track and shoot Cooper um wearing it for the first time. So um, yeah, I did video then and then they just kind of we got all got along and they needed another shooter so that it wasn't uh they they weren't getting um, you know, like tired of the repetitive week in and week out thing they kind of wanted to rotate through, and then I just ended up doing all the races, doing starting doing photo with them, and uh yeah, we all got along really, really well. And and then Rich kind of left after yeah, he got hit by the bike. Uh were you at that round?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:27

Um right, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:29

Yeah, he got hit by the bike, yeah, and and then some health stuff started to come up, and I'm like, hey dude, if I can like help you out in any way and take the load off, and then he kind of backed off doing all the races at least, and yeah, he that was that was horrible. Um glad it wasn't worse, but yeah, a few years of doing that, and then I was still like technically freelance on the side, like I was even editing that Yamaha Beyond the Gate project. Um that might have been 21, and I was like at a point in my life where I was going to the races, traveling to Florida overnight, doing the Florida podcast, and immediately going back home just to edit pretty much the whole week until I'd fly back out. And I just probably like what you experienced, put my personal life on the back burner. I hurt my relationship with my girlfriend. Um, I had no like I was eating like crap, I had no social life, and wasn't I I loved what I did, but it definitely like had its own struggles, and um I wasn't able to be who I wanted to be, and but I was just like, all right, maybe I'll it'll all eventually pay off, and people are gonna like because I think of like the Wes's of the world or the Cudbees of the world, and those people are remembered for being there day in, day out, and putting in the work and having the high quality of work. And I was like, part of me was like, okay, I kind of want to be like that, but at the same time, once I saw that you put the work in, it can still burn you and you don't maybe get treated the way I kind of it left a bad taste in my mouth, but um, so I just had to take a step back, and now I'm in a much happier spot where I work remotely, like for the podcast and handle that stuff socially, but then I also work freelance for some other companies doing photo work and go to some races, some of the bigger races, and some monster jams to change it up because the comp the HC I work for Converge, they um obviously operate all monster jam stuff too. So it uh just yeah, back to that variety thing, it just allows my brain to kind of uh not get sucked so much into the industry and the ins and outs of the politics of it all, and I could be a fan again.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:38

Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna say I feel like just from what I've seen from the outside looking in with you, I feel like your setup's pretty sweet. Like it doesn't look like you're like having to go kill yourself every single day to to survive and like because Jeff Simpson and I have talked about that. It's like whenever Cole's figured out, like good on him, because it's like you're on your bike a lot, like you're like it's fucking cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:03

Uh yeah, I appreciate that. I mean, definitely like we all do it. Social media is the highlight of your life, you know. So there's it's you're just showing what uh is the are the good times. But yeah, I'm definitely not making like the money that I used to when I was grinding it out, but that's the the trade-off that I'm happy to take of be a little bit more of my own person, be my own, have my own schedule. Um, still work really hard certain days of the week, but um, yeah, if I like I really enjoy cycling and gravel racing and all that, so like if I'm able to chase that dream a little bit of just you know, it gives me something to work towards and stay in shape and whatever. Um, I want to be able to put that forward. And um, even one of the video guys at Converge, he had kind of because there were talks of me maybe doing more races, and he said his name's Kyle Beck Pork Chop, and he gave me some great advice of just like, dude, if you like enjoy what you do and like enjoy life, like work will always be there, but just try to you know live it while you're because I'm 27 now, like just enjoy it now. And um, yeah, it's like a little bit also my brain of telling me that how society works is a little bit backwards of work your whole young adult life till you're 50, 60, 70, and then you can enjoy life a little bit. And I'm trying to, it might not be the right way, but I'm just trying to have a mix of it both right now and enjoy it, but also work and do what I need to do. And um, yeah, it's not like I'm living in a mansion or anything, but um and to drive in a Bugatti, but we're uh we're happy, we're content.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:37

Yeah, I um um somewhat like similar with my situation now with Trader Joe's. It's like I punch in, I do my thing for seven and a half hours, and then I punch out, and then no one talks to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:57

Yeah, you're able to forget about it when you go home.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:59

I leave it all all uh like yeah, I don't have to worry about anything and hang out with my wife, with my kid, like just yeah, there's a lot of the same, like I'm not making as much money at all. I'm making good money and there's opportunity in the future to like make what I was making, if not more, which is really cool to know that that's there. Um but right now it's definitely not what I was making, but and it adds certain stresses. But overall, it's like I don't have the stress of like I don't know when my next paycheck's coming. I don't when where's my next job? Is this client gonna pay? And or like the late night emails with just pathetic last-minute changes, and you're like, ugh, like for real? Like, there's a lot of stuff off my plate now, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:53

So like looking back, like I've always I've gotten the impression that you don't have a regret, but like, are there any regrets for your now being few years removed from the industry? Like, do you miss it? Are there aspects that you miss? Would you go back? Or just maybe not maybe not moto, but like video.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:11

So I definitely right now, the two plus years I've been out, I still have no desire to touch a camera um at all. Like it doesn't interest me. I just it sounds very exhausting and taxing because I know it comes with that. Even if it was to go on like a single day shoot locally, to me that's a whole whole day gone where I could be doing something else. Um and it's just for me, I just it doesn't appeal to me. I think I don't think there's any regrets. I mean, my only I guess if you want to call it a regret would be that I didn't try to get out of dirt bikes sooner in my career and like try to put more of an emphasis on like the more I guess LA scripted type stuff sooner. I mean I got there, but I I didn't start pursuing that until like 10 years into my career because I was so just like locked in with Moto and I was a little bit ignorant and thinking like what my goals were within Dirt Bikes and what I wanted to create could help like change things for the better. Um and what that change was I don't necessarily know. I guess just like trying to create pieces of work works that were like uh of substance and value and like help inspire others or like just sharing these unique stories. And that spectrum series that I did was a pretty good like uh barometer of what I was trying to do, and like we wanted it to inspire other people to do more of that so we could see more of that in that space. Um and I don't necessarily know that that worked, and that was just me being ignorant, like I just thought I could create something that would like help have an impactful change on the sport in I don't want to say wasted uh time because that feels too harsh, but I I just know when I started getting into like the more scripted LA stuff, that was a lot more fulfilling for me because I was working with uh a crew, it wasn't so one-man band um whereas Moto, as you know, like you're one kind of one man band, and at times it was a really lonely space for me. But then I get into these like films, like actual film sets, and I have a whole like camera department, and I have a whole grip and electric department, and there's your hair and makeup and sound, and there's like all these people that are there to like help you and help serve the script and tell the story, and like everyone was on the same page of like trying to create something like beautiful, and I really loved that, and it was just I wish I would have started chasing that earlier in my career because I think it would have led me to a different spot. Um but I mean uh fuck it is what it is, I guess. Like I didn't you know, you don't know what you don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:05

Right, but I mean almost from the outside, it looks like that the LA that film side is more cutthroat than even where we are because it's bigger, no?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:17

Yeah, so I would agree. I I um was essentially starting over because I don't know I don't know anyone in LA. I don't have any connections, I don't know a single soul, so I was doing a lot of stuff for free or like a couple hundred bucks. I think my highest paid like scripted thing I did was like a five-day project for $650 a day, which was good, but like when you know what like the quality is that you're putting out, and I can go do a Red Bull job and get fifteen hundred dollars a day for four days, like fuck. Uh-huh. Yeah. So there was that and yeah, it is more cutthroat, and it was a lot of like who you know, and I don't know anyone, so I was having to let my work like speak for itself, and I was in I got into the union, the like international cinematographers guild, and I thought that was gonna help, but they were still in 2023, like doing these weird fucking proto COVID protocol things. So, like a lot of these like meetups were just through um like Zoom. And I'm like, this dude we're three years removed from this shit. Like, come on, like what are we doing? Um so it was it was tough, and then there was the whole writer's strike that affected a lot of stuff, and then the TLD thing for me happened, and I was like, fuck, alright, here we go. I'm I mean, we were seeing each other a lot that summer at the races, and I was like, alright, I guess I'm back in it. And I was having fun, loved it. The race team staff itself was great, the riders were great, everyone on that side bought in. It was just kind of the internal headquarters uh people, the TKs and whatnot, that just you know, I was like, I thought, I was like, okay, we're on to something here. Like we can like use Troy's connections to like try to talk to a streaming platform, and like I like I had all these things in place of like here's what here's what we're gonna do to get to here, and what we can do next year to make this better, and it just obviously falling in the wrong direction in a while. Yeah, and then I I was just like I know I've said it before on here quite a bit, but like I was on an airplane five days after Violet was born to go to Hangtown, and I was pretty much gone that whole summer, so I was like, the way that that shit ended, I was just icing on the cake of like, like, no, you guys just took away four months of time away from me that I could have been at home with my kid. My wife's basically a single single parent. She was supportive of the decision, but like of like doing the the project, but like that's four months I won't ever get back, you know, and just the way it ended, it was just really, really sat wrong with me. I still have a November invoice of over five thousand dollars that was not paid and it will never be paid. Um that's you know, yeah, that's that's horrible.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:16

But I mean, yeah, it's it's not even a good way to look at it, but we kind of yeah, have a very similar mindset or experience that pushed us through a similar mindset where I think we share right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:27

Yeah, and I guess like even I and again, I don't know if it's a regret, but like being at Trader Joe's, like when I'm when that all that happened, I was like, I knew I was done, I don't want to do this anymore, and I just started applying, and it's like, man, I should have done this several years sooner because I really enjoy what I do. Like I know some people don't understand it, they can't grasp it because they're still like in the thick of their film or photography careers, and I get it too. Like, you gotta you gotta be at your rock bottom to like see it for what it is and like make a change. And I was ready to make a change, and like I really love what I do. I work with cool people, I have great leadership.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:10

But also just like your life was just changing, like yeah, being come becoming a dad, having a wife, like I think that industry works for people that maybe don't have those outliers that you know the home life or you know other hobbies that are pulling them because you kind of have to be all in, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:27

Yeah, yeah. Um give me one second. She has letting me know she has pooped herself.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:32

Okay, take your time.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:36

Okay, we're back. Um yeah, like you were saying, there is just a lot of I mean, yeah, my last two years have just been like gnarly, gnarly life, changing events. Um I've had a couple of coworkers ask me, like, oh, why don't you go like go shoot like a day project or something just for fun? Don't let your like anger and bitterness get in the way of your passion. And I'm like, I'm not bitter. I'm angry, but I'm not bitter because I don't want to go back, you know?

SPEAKER_04 1:24:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:06

But I'm I'm just angry. There's anger for how I feel I was treated towards the end and just f it felt very callous and like sorry, not sorry type thing. Um just not valuable going back to what we were talking about.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:27

No, it's not I and it's not just the mo or moto slash media world, I believe. I think it's just kind of society, in my opinion, has lost a little bit that personal touch that people value one another um quite a bit. It just it's seems like society has drifted to more self selfishness and looking out for your um yourself more than others. So um, yeah, definitely I saw in our industry and everything, or the industry we shared, but it's uh yeah, I think things happen for a reason, another cliche, but like you know, that allowed you to find what makes you truly happy, and in the end, like that's beautiful, really cool, and and hard to you know look at that as a complete negative.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:14

Yeah, it it's yeah, it's it's the positive, I I suppose is that it led me to find a whole new career path that I'm very stoked on. And we had all my wife and I had always joked over the years, like if shit ever just goes upside down, just go get a job at Trader Joe's, and shit went upside down, and I got a job at Trader Joe's. Turns out it's actually like for a billion dollar company, like it's doesn't feel that way at all. Like it's very interesting how the culture is like how they go about it there. Like it's it's interesting in a very good way. Like it's super cool because it doesn't feel like it's this huge machine, even though like it kinda is. Um they do a really good job about these each individual store like feeling very um almost like family-owned, if you will. Like it doesn't feel like you're working in a chain of grocery stores. It's interesting, it's super a really cool vibe.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:12

No, I mean, whenever I've been into a Trader Joe's and my girlfriend's an average shopper there, like you definitely get that impression just as a shopper. So um, yeah, that's you you've you've definitely inspired me at times where I felt like maybe there is time for a career change or just an industry change. Like I've always thought, like, all right, Kyle did it and he's happy. Like, yeah, but I know with anything there's pros and cons to wherever you go. So um, but I definitely still enjoy it right now, just at the level I'm at.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:40

Yeah, that's good. And it was definitely like I will say, like, it was scary, like going onto the website and like hitting the careers tab and applying for a a a job, like a real job. I was like it was kind of scary. Scary. I'm like, this is like this is what's happened to my life. Um like how like what? But also you didn't even I didn't really have a whole lot of time to like sit in that because it's like I have a family. I am financially rude right now. Like I don't even really have time to like fully process all that. I just gotta like jump into the deep end and see what happens.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:23

So well, I'm glad it worked out. That's uh that is really cool to hear.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:28

Yeah, no, it's been really good so far. Two two years in, yeah, it's been great. Um how did uh opportunity with Adam and Justin come about to be a part of the podcast?

SPEAKER_04 1:27:41

Um so Adam had his own unplugged podcast where he'd have guests on um somewhat regularly, and that was under that Converge umbrella, the agency. And I just done work with them in the past, and with my history of formerly producing. you know, a very p successful podcast in the industry. They knew kind of where I was at and I stayed in touch with Shane Doyle of Converge, who's kind of always had my back and um, you know, treated me like a friend and a a a great employee. And um he uh just said, hey, like we're thinking about this would be something you're interested in. And at that point, like I had some consistent work, but like it was back to that thing of like, hey, don't know when that next paycheck possibly could be coming. So um and I like had worked with Adam. We actually had for Supercross one year we filmed a Blink 182 uh music video remake of him. Um why am I blinking on the song? It's the one where uh they're running shirtless down outside.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:44

Uh what's my age again?

SPEAKER_04 1:28:45

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:47

And we had a shot that with him but like I was working for Feld so I kind of was like looked at because like Feld definitely was like looked at as the enemy by some writers and at that point like I don't think Adam was the biggest fan of me. And I'd actually done another video with Justin. It was just like one of those ones where the day before the race you just go into the team truck and you shoot something super quick and dumb. But um and I got along with him and and so I was like okay yeah like it could be great and like I thought they were both very well spoken and professional which I knew was going to make my life easier and then also having just the umbrella of Converge has a graphic this guy Shane is going to be able to like manage things a little bit more where before like I was truly doing everything from social to producing to reaching out to companies to get sponsorship. And it was just like a nightmare so I was like okay this is going to be less overworkload more enjoyable with more professional human beings count me in and um we did like a test run I remember I think it was in March. Yeah we're actually just coming up on a year now and I was in Arkansas and uh doing some work but then also riding my bike of course and I remember we did a test run and it just like they had no chemistry because we were thinking we were putting too much pressure on ourselves of like I was trying to direct them a little bit but also I'm trying to like understand my role and how I can be the best producer possible and like not overstep and like they have their flow but um and we just like pretty much canned the first episode and said like we're not doing it. Let's try again next week and we tried again the following week and um yeah I thought it like came out great like honestly now like I truly enjoy it. It's uh still just we're just figuring out where our niche is like some people like that long form like we were talking about before and like you know they're driving to work and they want to listen to an hour and a half long podcast but um it's definitely like playing that YouTube algorithm and trying to figure out what works and what resonates with people, what people want to hear. So it's uh it's just cool that everyone's all in and we've got a team of people that are willing to be down for the cause and and that Adam and Justin equally want the shows to succeed so and that we've had you know financial backing of sponsors on board believing in the product. So um I think everything just feels like a lot more stable and connected and um yeah like it's a better representation of the sport in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:11

Yeah yeah absolutely I obviously I'm all for the long form so because I I will literally listen to it like on our walks in the morning or um my drive to and from work. So it'll usually take me I don't know a couple days. So like if I'm just doing it to and from work it'll take me a couple days to get through it but like I love it because I'm like cool I know what I'm gonna listen to in the car for a few days. I'm like always on Spotify just trying to refresh like is it available is it available and I'm I'm like legit not like that with any podcast at all. I like which is cool like you said Justin and Adam are so well spoken and knowledgeable and it's there's not any egos coming from them. So I I just feel like they have a really honest and sincere take on the sport and seeing or like hearing because I don't I don't watch I just listen to it. But like hearing Adam's ability to like break down some of these writers into things he's seeing and I'm like man I've been watching the races since 1994 or something like that. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I'm looking at and what I'm seeing but like Adam I'm just like Jesus Christ dude like I don't even see that.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:30

Hmm well that's cool to hear so like I guess from your perspective like as a listener what what do you enjoy what don't you enjoy like is it strictly like that technical breakdown that you like like all right a rider goes into a set of whoops and he's you know like they talked about Prado this week like you know he really had he was had his knees pointed in toes pointed in unlike anyone else um but is it that stuff or is it more the because like I feel like pulp has its own place because it's more that industry insider knowledge and like kind of the gossip of the pits or whatever and like they still have that breakdown but um as a listener what do you enjoy?

SPEAKER_00 1:33:07

I like the way Adam is able to pick apart these guys like the stuff about Prada going through the whoops and like how just him breaking down like how his toes are pointed I'm just like damn dude like that's really interesting to hear. But and they do have like the the industry insider stuff too that I feel like is sprinkled about but it's not like um it doesn't feel so like a gossip girl you know yeah I agree with that I I can tell like they're not gonna blow someone out just to blow them out to like the shock value. You know there's a there's like respect there. But I also love like I think it was this most recent one where Adam talked about an style and it just being a total dumpster fire. Like dude there's stuff like that too I'm like I was dying so I'm like I'm using not wrong.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:58

Yeah no and it's it's like it's like an awkward spot for both of them because yeah like okay for Adam still ties to Cowie got gotta talk about sex and and Marchbanks but then Anstee is like Brayton works with him very closely um kind of doing like uh agent type stuff. So it is like you know like I think they do handle themselves and carry themselves very like genuine and like they don't come off as they're like putting on a front or a you know they're lying to whatever but um it is interesting to see how they work through that okay like I can't really piss off the people that are but like I kind of have to just say it how it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:38

Yeah I feel like yeah I feel like they both toe the line very well of being able to like I get like call out what they're seeing but in a respectful way. I don't think I've ever heard either one of them like say something. Like even the stuff about Ansi, like Adam saying it's a dumpster fire like I maybe it's a little harsh, but it I mean it has not been good. Yeah exactly so I I just think yeah like just their knowledge as a whole and like I said there's no ego from either one of them. I feel like they're very humble in their accomplishments and they don't really make it about themselves um I think is really cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:16

I just think it's a yeah there's just a lot of knowledge and insight there and it's done in a really like respectful way but they're still able to get the point across like scrolling like I try to stay in touch with what people have to say on YouTube comments or even Spotify comments whatever it's like crazy to me like this last week like they didn't say enough about Deegan on the show so then people are like can't believe you're biased towards Deegan Justin you need to uh get off your high horse uh and re and like open up and be honest with us why do you hate him so much and I'm like okay guys like if you're talking crap about Justin Brayton we gotta like back it up a little bit because this man is like like one of the best human beings you can meet. And so it's just like it is interesting like and they feel that pressure too because like both of them are checking what fans are saying and because they want to cater the show a little bit to what people want to hear but then um yeah so seeing that those two are getting hate comments just like that's another part about social media that like blows my mind it just like the negativity spews and the Deegan stuff like definitely brings out a little bit more negativity if you don't handle it the exact way that people want it to so definitely um what do they want him to do like talk more highly about Deegan or like dig at him more they literally just said yeah this week was like yeah like he's the best of the class that's all that there is to say let's talk about the other storylines like there's nothing to break down so I don't know like what do you yeah what like I'm not a Deegan fan at all like I'm not at all but like yeah what do you say about the kid?

SPEAKER_00 1:36:50

He's insane on a motorcycle like incredible he is clearly above like head and shoulders above these guys right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:00

So so when I saw like I was going through usually as we're recording that's when I'll like look through the comments of like because I put it on YouTube as a post I put it on Twitter and then I put on Instagram and I see your name pop up of when is when are we gonna get over this D and shit and it's like okay I gotta like I'm gonna not change the words too much but I'm gonna say the exact message and uh you can tell that that one was like that put them on the spot a little bit of like how do we respond to this but uh yeah it's I I totally agree and like I want the show to be as authentic because I believe people want to hear the that stuff that doesn't feel like it's as much of an industry tie. So like I try to like push like before we start recording like I'll usually do like a run of show like okay this will be these are talking points these are what I'm seeing on forums of what people are talking about. Let's break this down um and like we're still figuring out our flow with that but it's uh yeah like I want people to be like we come to the show because it feels no bias it's you know two dudes who can like speak on this stuff because they have been there done that kind of deal and uh just like a good time at the end of the day. So yeah that's why like they they like to sprinkle in the golf talk or this week was about the Super Bowl a little bit and like that stuff's not my cup of tea either but like there is a market for it. So and I try to put the chapters in there so if people want to skip through it like it's easy to but it's uh you're never gonna make anyone happy just interesting to see the the feedback on certain things that people like and don't like yeah no I mean like I said overall I'm I'm a big fan I I love everything about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:34

I th I think it's yeah yeah I don't know you know like Digon I what is there to say it's just it's just good. Yeah I mean you know what one thing I do think is so so damn cool that you guys do um and it almost feels like a little bit punk rock because I don't feel like anyone else would do this but I love the fact that JB is a fly guy Adam's backending stars but you guys have like a fox as a sponsor I think that's so fucking cool because you know how the sport is that shit don't fly typically like there's just that's just not acceptable and I think that's so damn cool you're doing that I don't know how Flyer A stars feels but I love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:17

I I agree and honestly JB's worked out a ton of pretty much most of these deals on his own and he's uh he does his own stuff and the show stuff and it's impressed me because when he brought it up I was like Fox is gonna sponsor like I understand you're sponsoring a Ken Roxan segment but like yeah maybe that's a little bit of the evolution of the industry too like people are understanding the value in in that and that people can look at a a fox logo is more than just the gear compared to a fly like fly could be someone's helmet versus a fox set of boots. I don't know like that's not my cup uh my wheelhouse either but um I am very happy to see that they do that and uh yeah we're there's there's some cool things on the horizon but I think right now like to be just about a year in like we're happy we're just still trying to grow it figure it out where people like because there's so many like I was saying that we're trying to figure out we don't want to be like anyone else and how can we just separate ourselves a little bit so yeah it's uh it's an enjoyable thing and honestly a lot of the work is just like for me doing the video side because like we have to work between NBC feld guidelines of this amount of footage we're allowed to use and let's try to make it as interesting as possible and I try to uh also make it like sports center esque with you know some picture in picture stuff and and whatever so um nothing crazy but it's just like a tighter turnaround for a two hour long show that I'm still cutting stuff out of uh takes you know you're sitting in front of a computer six seven hours just to get everything done social cuts thumbnails graphics all that so uh I enjoy it and then just kind of doing social content throughout the week and trying to that's probably what I'll do once we finish this up like put up some shorter stuff on YouTube and just kind of see what resonates and uh yeah just keep the ball rolling.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:06

No I I dig it it's I'm a fan. I love it. Um how how um for you switching gears a little bit cycling for you how did that kind of I guess first of all how'd you end up in Utah I don't even know that story.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:23

COVID okay I yeah when when you and I met like I was out here for month and a half and obviously like the rounds were what like Tuesday Saturday or something do you remember? Wednesday I think it was Saturday Wednesday Saturdays yeah that that would make sense and in between them like I have some edits to do but like not a whole lot going on and then like all of us at Feld were like all right what do we want to do tomorrow and then one day we'd go ski and this was in what that was May yeah May and and then the next day like oh let's go downhill mountain biking. I was like I've done this once in my life like let's try it and then I just kind of fell in love with just the area and and then once I was like back home in Connecticut I was like okay I don't need to necessarily like I want to move back out from my parents I moved out of Florida completely and it's like where if I don't need a home base in Connecticut and I'm traveling a fair amount for work like where do I want to be and a big thing for us like if you can have a good airport that you like enjoy flying out of it's like truly half the battle for a weekly flight and Salt Lakes airport now is currently my definitely my favorite as I am biased but it's uh that played a huge role and then just like we we actually I while I was out here for COVID um my girlfriend flew out for the last round and I was just like I was MGK fan and I wanted to like buy tickets for when uh we were going to be back home in New England. So I just like started looking up tickets but it tracked my location being Salt Lake accidentally bought Salt Lake tickets and I was like shit didn't realize that we got to go back out to Salt Lake at some point. So why when we came back out I said all right let's at least like tour some areas and I knew West was up in Nampa at the time um and then a bunch of people spoke highly of Denver so I said let's just road trip a little bit we're gonna start in Salt Lake go up to Idaho even got like a tour of the fly warehouse um for Murky Records and uh went to Wes's neighborhood I don't think he was in town then but um and then Denver and just ended up like loving Utah the most and moved here and then once I kind of like was here just was like I still had a dirt bike at the time but the dirt out here for Moto is pretty horrible and the single track riding is good but as far as moto stuff it was not good at all and um I just got out of that and then I was like okay well last time I was out here for Supercross liked mountain biking let me try it again and I just did it as like enduro style just kind of very little climbing and then um I was like let me just try a race like I used to race dirt bikes a little bit at a very low level and then did it on a trail bike and I was like wow this is incredibly fun during the during the race I hate myself like why am I doing this but the reward of like I finished that is is what I enjoyed so um I bought a cross country bike got into it and then it was like an easy uh transition because like I had I had some bike handling skills from moto but then also like uh I always wanted to lose weight I could struggle with that my whole life just because like I didn't find motivation going to the gym. I hated just like being a dude just going to lift weights and I thought that this was like the best case scenario of like okay I get to be outside see cool things experience nature while also like being in getting in shape and also having some thrill of going downhill ripping some berms here and there. And yeah I just got into it and then worked on or I I still work under John Wesling of Troll Training and that was an easy connection as well because obviously troll training being so heavily involved in moto he has a very high level mountain bike background and uh yeah like that was what three years ago now and that I got into it and I've just kind of figured out that I have a big like diesel engine as far as for aerobic activities and like now I'm getting more into like gravel racing because it's less punch more like sustained power and it's like kind of like a chess game kind of like road racing like you're trying to figure out when to attack when to work in a group and all that and I kind of like that like strategy while you're suffering and um just gives me something like I know I'm not not gonna make money from this if I can get a couple deals on discounts and stuff and I've just been able to meet some really cool people see some cool places travel and uh keep me in shape so like truly it's uh I love it. I just think too many people like even in my own circle like from New England have taken like dirt bikes too seriously like the people that are chasing the privateer dream and then like you almost miss out on the now of like what you're doing is so cool of traveling getting to experience these things and I'm trying to just really fully embrace that.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:18

Yeah no I I I can understand that what a what there's a treat a donkey oh yeah Shrek.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:30

Shrek's donkey yeah yeah um what do you what's your like average a week in terms of mileage that you're doing so mileage is like a weird thing because sometimes if you're on a mountain bike you're still like riding for say two hours but you're not going as far. So like usually most of the time like I try to base everything off hours. Okay. Um hours tr trained so like right now this is actually my recovery week like this afternoon I'm gonna go on a like two and a half hour ride but usually I'm like right around 17 to 20 hours a week. Most of the races I'm doing are five plus hours so like I just kind of have to like build that up to it's also like a lot of mental like you get like four hours into a race you start like quitting on yourself telling yourself you're tired you can't do this whatever so it's a lot of like just familiarity of okay I've been here before I've been on a bike for four hours I can do this kind of deal um but like right now if I like check on my home screen on my phone I just have my mileage like this week because it is recovery week I've done some runs and stuff like I'm at 36 miles um which is very low but like the last two or three weeks I'm at averaging about 300 miles a week um and just it's also like I'm getting so lucky because it's horrible for uh the environment but like Utah's had like one of the worst winters ever so like we have no snow so it's like 50 degrees almost every single day here and I'm riding outside so that also helps like me get a few more miles in but um yeah it's it's a it's a just I enjoy following the plan that wesland gives me and um being able to be outdoors so yeah nice that's rad I need to I have a gravel bike and I was into it for a little bit and then yeah we you know life kid and everything I haven't touched it in like fuck dude over a well over a year and I'm like man I need to yeah but you were on a good grind for a while but then yeah the running kind of took took over for a little bit and that's understandable because like it's hard to run you can kind of get so much more achieved in a shorter amount of time. So it's like biking if you have to do at least an hour it's like do you have that time?

SPEAKER_02 1:48:49

Yeah yeah because yeah literally like I'm at the stage of my life where it's like I can throw on my running three violet controller and we just go literally out the dog and I can do four miles in the neighborhood and um or like load up and go three miles down the street and go to the beach and I don't know what kind of hopping on the bike is a little bit more process.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:13

Absolutely strap Violet to my back like hold on girl here we go but I do want to try to figure out at some point like I want to get back and because I do miss being on a bike.

SPEAKER_04 1:49:24

Yeah I mean it's a little bit easier I just hate running so much because like it feels like time moves slower but also like it's yeah it is easier on your bone being non-weight bearing kind of like swimming or whatever. But um I understand like people and girlfriend is a runner and I just I don't love it but at Deep Stone a lot of people don't like cycling so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:46

Um what are is there any shoots that you've been on throughout your career that like really stand out as like fuck that was that was really cool. Or like one that you're like most proud of

SPEAKER_04 1:50:00

Oof. Um the first couple that like I don't actually I don't love. I mean I like there's like too many different ways of me like gauging what is a good shoot. Like obviously the product I want to be cool and I want to like uh put out you know whether it's still or video I want to do something um proper but also like I just think back to for some reason just because I'm talking to you I think of imagination a bunch because I like truly enjoyed the crew and like not that I was part of the edit or anything but just strictly just shooting that week like you know you had um Luke uh why am I blanking on um GoPro guys uh name um the other editors that were just like around the clock editing it was like cool to just be a part of something like that was big there's really not a whole lot else going on during that time and uh I think I really value like the camaraderie that we all had of like kind of pushing each other working together as a team because yeah like you said like so much of our work is one off and just being a one-man show and it can kind of get uh yeah overwhelming but I did like some projects that I'd done with uh Stuart in the past um for a little while uh under seven we were for Malcolm we were doing kind of like a more of like a polished vlog called um motion before well this was before yeah the money stopped coming um from them but like able to like go fishing with him and just like show his life a little bit more than um just him at the racetrack and and also shoot like an opening ceremonies video even though I wasn't working for Supercross at the time I enjoyed that quite a bit and yeah like this recent year like oh uh I did the team shoot for Triumph and HEP yeah um that was like my first time doing a team shoot and was nervous as hell definitely things I like could have done better but like first time working with like proper strobes I've only like worked with like portrait lights and like uh slower shutter based stuff before um so it was like overwhelming because like one trap is like a huge team also like a big OEM that kind of like I feel like just worldwide has like a professional manner about them that I kind of wanted to meet and then you get in the shot list and everything and um that one was a little hectic too because like I was kind of like my own grip like running around um positioning lights in between shoot uh shots and checking off the shot list while Kyle Beck was doing video and stuff like that. So that one like most recently I'm most proud of because I I at least got through it. I think they're happy with it. And it was uh yeah definitely a big undertaking of something that I'd never done before but um yeah stuff like that I do enjoy it just uh a stress ball going into it like we were renting lights lights don't show up on time and we had to push a shoot back a day so um but yeah that's all it when you're able to look back on the jobs done it's like at least makes for a good story at least yeah absolutely how did um how did Triumph get in contact with you or like how'd that opportunity come about all back to the converge umbrella um so that converged they handle their social and like we were doing race photography for them last year um and they just like my style of work uh because I wasn't going to all of them and as soon as I stopped going we had another photographer that was more willing to go to every single race and grind it out where I went to like the first four to help them kind of like see the ropes this way how we should handle things for a bigger OEM just using my experience from a line and and then once I left and was doing more freelance work like they were like hey where's coal where's coal and then they wanted us to do a team shoot and uh yeah I guess I was first on the list and um just helped out with that. So uh I don't know those guys super super well like the scuba's of the world and um but like I think that they're starting to get a little bit more familiar with me and it was once they like I mean you know like once you get to know a mechanic or anything like your job definitely gets easier because they're easier to work with and more friendly and actually don't like hate your guts. But um so I think I think I'm slowly start hopefully starting to get there.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:30

Yeah yeah I always would struggle with like um viewing myself as like one of the media guys in the sport and you know how some of the riders in the teams can be with media they're just like they don't like one of you so you like a the blank is thrown over all of you so you're all the same. And I always I always tried to be daddy's car what about it? It's out yeah it's outside we're gonna go in it later yeah so I always tried to be like pretty conscious about like even though I know I'm not like affiliated with a like a media outlet per se like there's boundaries there and like try to be respectful and like not piss off anyone like add any fuel to the fire. I feel like for the most part I did a good job with that but I always felt that like a responsibility of like don't be that guy you know because they can tell you to go fuck off very quickly.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:34

Yeah no actually this thought of it I wanted to like get my shoe in a little bit more with the Triumph team so like this was kind of an intentional way I did it like I so Leadville is like one of the most like uh famous mountain bike races because it's at Leadville Colorado the highest city in America 100 miles and if you do if you finish it you're kind of like like oh wow like someone did Leadville um but like now like it's all about how quickly you can finish it kind of thing so I had a finisher sweatshirt that Leadville finish sends you when you complete it with like your finishing time and your name on it and I wore it to that team shoe and I remember Mike Brown on the morning was like dude you did Leadville and he had never talked to me before because like Brownie like probably doesn't care about media at all. And he's like dude no way like that's incredible and so then he wanted to chat my ear off about that and I was like okay maybe I'm in a little bit now because uh Brownie respects me as like uh more than just a camera dude I'm I'm an athlete a little bit so that I I intentionally kind of tried to do that and hopefully it worked out.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:41

Yeah that's yeah smart what Bubba I can't take it off it's it's a Lego. It's together that piece is like one piece. No that part doesn't Bubba that's all one one piece.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:56

That stays together devastated that the Lego is all one piece Okay's walk outside Yeah it's funny like how you sometimes you just need like that one thing to like get the attention of that one person and then it's like okay cool we're like we're in we're making progress absolutely yeah yep um but like sometimes when you force our relationship like I remember I even tried to do it with Adam when I shot the opening ceremonies video with him I'm like oh yeah I like Blink 182 too and then you like just like come off too awkward. It's like alright don't do that ever again please like so you can't try too hard with it.

SPEAKER_00 1:57:45

Yeah it's so it's that fuck that's funny you say that because I like I have a wish list of guests for the podcast and Adam's been on that wish list for a long time and I'm always like I like blink 182 I I did a project with Tom I have Tom's phone number like you know like hey like look at me dude we like stuff come on my podcast. Hey well maybe I'll have to uh put you uh put in a good word to make that happen yeah dude I would literally he's been on the wish list for like uh pretty much the whole time because we never I've never worked with a dude like oh wow yeah we've never well fucked I take that back we did and there's no way he remembers this because I don't think I this is like one of my like blessings and curses about like my personality is that I'm like sometimes too quiet and too like mellow. He was in an episode of Motospy because yeah uh because at the time Red Bull was like hey let's let's include Adam and I think one other non-Red Bull athlete as like just some of the key players but if he starts winning he's cut from the show that was literally like the directive so I was like oh this makes no fucking okay so we spent like half a day with him it was I think me and Danny Stewart I think and Danny's got a much larger personality than I do so like he you know you know kind of ran it whatever but like we did the Kawi track and then I think we like did some stuff at his house and shot some basketball stuff and I I don't think I said a fucking word to Adam the whole thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:59:26

Like again a blessing and a curse because like I can like do my thing and get what I need and like not be in the dude's face but like I just I highly doubt he remembers that I I think you probably think the same way like you we see other people that force the relationships too much or like they try to bro down too much with riders and you're I like never want to be like that. Like I'm like I'd rather just be a fly on the wall you don't need to know who I am I'm not doing this for me. No one needs to know who my name is uh but like too many people are the other way like they're like yeah like me like me because I'm I'm supposed to be cool too it's like no we're just media people in the industry like we're not important like we are important individually but like not on the grand scheme yeah it's whatever so yeah yeah yeah absolutely so yeah that was that was my one time around Adam but I like I said I there's I'd be shocked if he remembers that day let alone me even being there but yeah he's on the he's on the witch list and my my blinkway experience with Tom that's like my my in but like I have yeah I think I think that'd be a good conversation starter so I'll uh when we record the whatever round where are we going this weekend?

SPEAKER_00 2:00:38

Um Seattle Seattle when I record the Seattle show maybe we'll put in a word we'll we'll make it happen I'd appreciate that or maybe you'll have to be a guest on the ACJV show just uh we'll sponsor by uh Trader Joe's sold tell me what give me your guys' list I'll get I'll get you guys whatever you need done I'm yeah so done um that'd be pretty cool that'd be pretty funny um sponsored by Trader Joe's yeah um um what uh only a few more things and we'll get this wrapped up um for you like for the future are there any like goals or aspirations or like anything you're like you haven't checked off yet that you want to try to accomplish honestly I take it day by day because my goals have changed so much since I've started this career and I feel like I had the goal of trying to work for the top agencies in the sport and that would uh make me happy and for a small period when I got up to the aligned and the convergence of the world like I am still happy but I realize that it's like you know like I I don't know like I like to I want there to be more that I enjoy in the moment instead of always looking to what's next.

SPEAKER_04 2:02:02

So like right now I'm truly just enjoying on trying to grow that show trying to uh shoot better product photography for this one company I work for um just help a little bit on the marketing side of some other companies and I don't yeah just because I feel like if whenever I reach those like long term goals it's like I feel a little bit lost after because it may not be all that it's a I've painted in my head it's going to be um so yeah that's not really a good answer but I would say I'm just like taking it in the now of just trying to uh make what I do day to day the best I can.

SPEAKER_00 2:02:39

Yeah. Okay, okay bubs we're almost done and then we can okay like 10 minutes deal um yeah uh it's I wish I was better at I was better at that because that was something like I was talking about this in the previous episode I think like my goal was always like within action sports like Red Bull is a client. Like that's like to me the pinnacle in action sports as a client is Red Bull. And I got that and it was like some of the most unhappiest times of my career even though I was like reached the goal and was like they paid your full day rate and they paid I guess on time. They were a net 30 but they would pay exactly on net 30 but still like not being happy and satisfied and then I'm like going from this Red Bull project where I'm making 1500 bucks a day and then I'm gonna go up to Burbank to go shoot this short film where I'm making 200 bucks a day and I'm 10 times happier like I remember talking to my wife one day on the phone like driving to a Red Bull shoot like in tears. I'm like this is not like what it's supposed to be like how does this make sense? So I wish that was something I was better at and like understood like it's okay to have goals but maybe not putting those goals on like such a pedestal and then being so let down when you you achieve them.

SPEAKER_04 2:04:10

I mean I only learned because I was let down just like you were too so I think that's what's allowed me to kind of have this new outlook on things.

SPEAKER_00 2:04:19

Yeah yeah weird times um let me let me grab my phone real quick and do a couple questions yeah what do you need your smoky plate for you want we're out of pancakes you ate all of them just some great podcast we're keeping it real I don't I always run this stuff I don't take it out you just run it first thing I see when I open Instagram Austin Faulkner will not remain on the 450 for the rest of Supercross and will not he will or will not oh I'm reading this wrong Austin Faulkner will remain on the 450 for the rest of Supercross and will not race the 250 East Coast Okayways our mutual friend Travis Hawks Travis good old Travis um so he says great pull great guy I know he spent a lot of time in the trenches and although I helped him a ton he learned a fuck ton on his own what's something that he learned in on the Supercross track while filming that he takes with him now whenever he shoots or edits well Travis good question um what do I take honestly like he taught me I mean from him I definitely taught learned a lot about like work ethic because for some reason we always have this this running joke of anytime you see Travis like he out on the track he's gonna be sprinting somewhere and he just he would always just he'd work his balls off to get the shot done and I think like I took that but then also I wanted to be like alright like there's a catch 22 of you want to get the shot but also like if you're running to every single place like you're never going to be steady if you're having to do video and whatever so like you gotta like cool down you want to almost like think uh instead of like always trying to get what's next like sometimes it's like being in the moment of like that's just like I don't know how to even like word it like I want to like not chase the guy who's gonna win and roll off to the podium but I want to be in the moment to catch the storyline of what's happening behind the winner.

SPEAKER_04 2:07:00

Like you don't always have to be chasing what's like popular you can like um chase the other storylines of uh you know this guy just came off in fourth and maybe he's got his head down on his bars and that shot's gonna be more powerful than you know what everyone else is getting so that's not really like a good answer to the question but like I think just like learning how to probably tell trying to tell stories that the TV isn't getting because that was like a lot of what Travis and I did of all right TV's getting this shot but like we have to you know uh work with the other stuff that people aren't seeing.

SPEAKER_00 2:07:34

Yeah yeah no I I agree I was when I was doing the TLD stuff they obviously did not have a good year so I never I went to the podium one time and it was at Buds Creek because Justin got fourth and they wanted him on the podium. Okay. Like just coming back from his collarbone injury. And um but otherwise like every moto with Caden Broswell or um Pierce Brown whatever like we're not on the podium. They're like not doing so hot so it's like I'm I'm running back to the truck to like get what you're talking about like team staff pissed off PBs mad or like whatever the case may be and I like I enjoy those moments though because it's like that's the real that's the raw emotion that's like you you can see how much these guys care about what they do and how much goes into it.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:23

100% no I agree completely. Yeah it's uh something that I think should be shown a little bit more but um also at the same time with it being a little bit more exclusive it allows it to be more powerful each time you see it I think.

SPEAKER_00 2:08:36

Yeah. Um what do you got here? One second um I think you already answered this but in terms of your camera setup are you a mirrorless guy?

SPEAKER_04 2:08:51

Yeah um as of now or well now I am yeah uh two canon R3s and now they've got like I haven't really been like now that I don't shoot as much I'm not like up to date with all like brand new tech like because now they've got the can's got the R1 and all these new like 100 to 300 lenses and everything and like I have one RF lens and I just use an adapter for pretty much everything else. And it's just like I know I should bite that bullet and invest more into it because when you get that like proper mirrorless setup and everything's working without an adapter like things are so sharp and so fast that it's like for sport stuff it's just hard to argue with but um I just uh I'm not shooting as much so I just uh I pick my battles a little bit on on what to buy and like it was also tough like when I was doing more of a mix of photo and video like I don't really want to invest too much in a photo setup if I'm also getting a lot of video work and and then alright what's you know it's just like it's it's an awkward game because they're just two completely setups to run and what I was doing for video was not proper because the R3 does halfway decent video in my opinion um but like I wanted to get like maybe you know a C300 for a little bit or then the you know the um is it the R5 yeah uh what's that um why am I blanking on what it's called but the other Canon body and I just uh yeah I was a little bit of just procrastination of like all right let's just see what work comes in more and then now I'm like alright I'm more remote so I'm just gonna invest in like a desktop setup with monitors and it's lock in here so we'll see maybe the future will change and I'll get back into more gear based stuff but um like even yesterday I did some shooting and I'm looking at my setup now just uh R3 with a small rig cage on it but a 24 to 70 an adapter and a monitor and so nothing crazy just uh still some EF lenses and 7200 RF but yeah nice RF bodies or uh mirrorless bodies nice um I'm just gonna fire off a few things to ask everyone else well at the end um uh are you uh do you see yourself as a realist optimist or a pessimist realist realist very much so yeah to almost to a fault too fault yeah um uh guilty pleasure you could say uh riding my bicycle but that's like not I guess too bad uh honestly like the bicycle has allowed me to eat like I I love sweets and stuff like that but like now that I I can burn it all I it's a little bit easier to justify eating that stuff. I still try to like I track everything I eat pretty much now because I'm trying to lose weight. But um I have a sweet tooth like uh I can eat Pop-tarts all day, every day. Um, waffle house all day, every day. Don't have those in Utah, unfortunately. But um, yeah, just kind of like those like foods that high in fat and uh carbs I very much enjoy, but we gotta limit them.

SPEAKER_00 2:12:15

Yeah. Um, and then if you could have a dinner with three people dead or alive, who would they be?

SPEAKER_04 2:12:23

Oh man. Um Rick Shepherd is one, first one that pops to my mind. He's such an interesting character. I love his stories. He's a also a great human being, great photographer. Two, um, I'm gonna say man, I've never really thought about something like this. Uh two would be honestly this uh I'm gonna say this cyclist, uh Keegan Swenson. Um he's from Utah as well, but he's like the leading endurance guy in uh North America right now, just has a cool outlook. He also enjoys punk rock and and I think has kind of like a cool mentality, just about he enjoys the suffer, but also is like a really grounded human being, which I don't think a ton of people have. Three, I'm trying to think of someone that's even dead now. Um, like I've never been like a uh like a celebrity guy, like even when people are like, Oh, did you see this new movie with this guy or this actress? I'm like, no idea who you're talking about. Um, but even like political figures, uh I think actually I'm gonna quickly go back. I just thought of this. This is back to a previous question. One of the coolest shoots I did was uh going to the Met Gala with Jet. Like I didn't go into the Met Gala, but I was able to follow Jet around New York City and stuff for Supercross.

SPEAKER_01 2:13:57

Right, you did I forgot you did that.

SPEAKER_04 2:13:59

I forgot I did it too. Um that was really cool, and actually I was not a Jet fan going into that shoot at all. I um just didn't really care. Like I respected his writing, but as a person I wasn't I thought he came off a little stuck up, and then I got and he opened my eyes a lot to he's talking about this one book that he read that I have the audiobook saved. Um it's uh blanking on it, but um he just really talked about how important it is that you treat people the same no matter who they are, and that like it's a courage to be disliked. Um and just like whether they're a janitor at a school or they're a multimillion dollar businessman, like you treat them all the same because uh everyone's deserving of you know respect at first, and then you kind of base your uh interactions with them off of how they treat you. But he treat he like thank he texted me multiple multiple times thanking me for coming to shoot with him. And I'm like, dude, like supercross is paying me to come shoot with you, like it was just my job, but like he just treated me like a human being that he cared about my time and everything. So um opened up my eyes. I got to spend a lot of time with him and Jacob Hayes, his agent. So um that was that was really cool, but yeah, um, I don't know if I have a third right off the top of my head, but I I did appreciate that outlook that uh Jet gave me, and now I'm a big Jet fan and um how he handles himself and all that.

SPEAKER_00 2:15:30

So that's cool. I I will say you you you know very much that I was not a fan of at all. Um just from my own fly on the wall experiences. But since being removed and kind of seeing everything that they've had to go through with the Lucas bullshit, like I I I have become much more of a fan and see myself cheering for them uh a lot more now. Like I feel like the way they've handled all the the BS these last couple years has been really impressive and like has shown a level of maturity that I didn't really see before. Specifically more specifically. Again, this is just my own like fly on the wall of uh personal experiences from working with them. Um it's definitely made me like much more of a fan, and I I was like actually bummed when I found out he got hurt and he's missing he was missing another year of supercrossmak. That that sucks.

SPEAKER_04 2:16:32

Yeah, I think the Lucas situation dragged down his uh people's perception of him quite a bit from the outside. Because I was the same way. Like I didn't like him, I think, a lot because of how Lucas would treat us. Never forget this one quote that he told Emery when we were shooting photos for Honda, and they weren't like a we weren't trying to let the photos be used for Jet Sinco, like his clothing company. They said, like, hey, if you want them, just let us know, but you have to pay a separate fee. And Lucas went off on Emory saying you would not have a uh you would not have a job if it weren't for Jet. And he's like, I'm just contracted by Honda. Like I'm gonna have a job either way, if Jet's there or not, but sure, like so. I think uh Lucas did not help the people's outlook of of Lawrence's.

SPEAKER_00 2:17:22

Yeah, I don't think so. And I mean I think when I go back in retrospect, a lot of it had to do with uh having to deal with Lucas and the like one day it's yeah, mate, yeah, mate, and then you go to do that thing on the day of the shoot, and it's oh no mate, oh mate, and just like fucking like okay. Um so yeah, I think Yeah, I've I've definitely become more of a fan, and I th I I forgot about that Met Gala thing. I know that it got a lot seemed like it got a lot of heat from like the Moto fans.

SPEAKER_04 2:17:51

I thought Are you surprised though?

SPEAKER_00 2:17:53

Uh no, oh my god, no, dude, not at all. Um but I thought it was fucking cool because I go back to the like again, I remember being in like these meetings and stuff, Red Bull meetings with Lucas and Red Bull people, and like the whole plan for Jet was like the next Travis Pastrana. We're marketing him as the next Travis Pastrana, he's gonna beat McGrath's records, he's gonna do all these things, we're changing the fucking sport, mate. We're doing all these things, mate. I was like, oh okay. But none of it happened. And I'm I'm just like McGrath was on Jay Leno several times. Like that was a big fucking deal. Like Jeremy transcended the sport and did an excellent job with it, and you're saying that that's what Jet is gonna do, but you're not doing anything to do that at all. So when I saw the Met Gallery stuff, I was like, that's fucking that's cool because that's transcending the sport, and that's what I think to get if you want to grow the sport, that is a step in the right direction. So I thought that was super, super cool.

SPEAKER_04 2:18:52

Yeah, and not that one event is gonna take you to the next notch, but you gotta do these small little pieces just to you know build up that's that momentum of yeah, going to these more public events and being in the public eye a little bit more. So um, yeah, I think I think it was a good step, but yeah, the fans of Supercross, I remember we were I was like doing both photo and video, um, right following him around as we were like shopping for some like clothes and stuff, and he had like I don't know the technical term, I wouldn't wear it, but it's like a little like a purse style satchel thing, whatever you want to call it. And the Supercross fans lit him up. Oh, I'm never gonna cheer for a man that wears a purse and blah blah blah. And I'm just like we are fixating on the wrong things, guys, but whatever.

SPEAKER_00 2:19:36

Like I'm yeah, so it's yeah, it's I I mean, yeah, I'm not I'm not gonna wear a purse, whatever you call that thing. Like that that whole style is not my thing. I still thought it was cool. I was like, this is a step in the right direction of like trying to help get the sport into eyeballs that don't know who the fuck Jet Lawrence is. Absolutely. So um sweet, I think that's everything, dude. Um well anything you want to add in or that we didn't touch on that you want to bring on?

SPEAKER_04 2:20:16

No, I mean honestly, I don't enjoy talking about myself, but I uh I really appreciate I just like I'm not uh I don't it's just not my cup of tea, but I really appreciate uh you open up the platform and having me on, and I know we've talked about it for a while, but it's uh it's been really cool and cool to see your progression with it, like how professional you handle it and how everything you run it on social and and uh got some really cool people on. So um credit to you and thanks for having me on. It's cool to join the list.

SPEAKER_00 2:20:45

Yeah, of course, dude. I'm stoked we can make it happen. It's been been on the list, like you said, for a while. So it's like once I figured out this remote thing, I was like, fuck it. We're just gonna we're just gonna do some remote ones and make this happen. So yeah, I'm stoked, dude. Thanks, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 2:20:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:20:59

Um sweet.