PIKES RECAP

Snapshots from last week in Colorado Springs.

The ID Agency brought Matt and Ryan and I out there to document the Pikes Peak Hill Climb for Ducati. Basically this is a race that has been going on forever where all sorts of random cars and bikes speed up this super tall mountain.

Practice lasts a week. The schedule was intense to say the least. Wake up calls were between 1:30AM and 2:30AM.


The base of the mountain was about 9,000 feet high while the apex was just over 14,000 feet. Not sure if you guys have ever been up that high, outside of a plane, but it doesn't feel great.


Few stills from a timelapse we set up at sunrise on top of the mountain.


We started the day shooting in freezing cold temperatures but later on when we were off the mountain it would get as hot as 90º. Makes dressing yourself at 2AM really interesting.




We'd shoot practice from 5:30AM til 10. Then some interviews or other random b-roll stuff. We'd grab lunch at Chick-fil-A and make it back to the hotel somewhere around 2 or 3PM. We'd start downloading and backing up the footage from all 3 cameras right away. Later in the week we got smart and started dumping the footage in the car on the way down the mountain.


Everyday we'd edit a short video recapping the day's events which Ducati would post online at the end of the night. All told - between editing, selecting music, generating title cards, finding interview sound bites and making revisions - we'd usually finish the daily edits somewhere around midnight. Then we'd sleep for 2 hours and start the whole process over.

We've worked long hours before but this was without a doubt the most intense schedule and working conditions we've ever handled. We literally worked 22 hours some days and only took breaks for 20 minutes at a time to inhale junk food and caffeine.


A team from Contour came out and mounted cameras to all the riders' bikes and helmets for us each day which yielded some pretty sick point-of-view footage.


We got to drive up the mountain with 6-time champion Greg Tracy on day one and he pointed out all sorts of cool parts and features of the Pikes Peak. Very nice guy. All of the drivers and Ducati crew were super friendly and easy to work with.



Here's the 4th daily video we produced out there. Enjoy.

DUCATI DAY 3

We were out in the mountains all last week.



Here's some of what we were up to. More later - after I catch up on some sleep.

PIKES PEAK

Out in Colorado making some motorcycle videos.



Working with The ID Agency all week shooting for a little Italian bike maker.





The schedule out here is unreal. And we're used to unreal - so this is extra nuts.



Want to see what we're working on 20 hours a day - check out yesterday's video.

INSTAGRAM WEEKEND

Camera phone highlights from the past 48 hours.


Plum's cafe Costa Mesa. Saturday brunch. Nice spot. Healthy-ish.


Ralph Lauren store South Coast Plaza. I hear people hype up RRL denim all the time. Tried on a couple pairs to check them out for myself. Can't quite understand it.


Target. A few provisions.


Samy's Camera Costa Mesa. If you're a camera nerd then you know what's up with this. If not, then don't ever become one - it's way too expensive.


Chinese dinner with the fam at some random spot up in Alhambra.


Gramps. 88. Going strong.


Packing. Epic week coming up. Stay tuned.

GEAR

Ordered a few things online.





You guys have Amazon Prime? You pay like $80 a year and get unlimited 2-day express shipping on everything you order. If you buy as many things as Ryan then it's a pretty killer deal. Plus I heard it also lets you stream movies Netflix-style.

So your stuff arrives quicker and it lets you watch March of the Penguins anytime you want - just saying you might want to look into it.




New Contour +. This is the new, new version. Not in stores. Not yet available to the public. The only reason we got ours early was due to the overwhelming popularity of this blog and our immense online following. Yeah. Right.

CLOUDLESS I

About 6 months ago we started talking with Ryan about kicking off his own little business.

He decided to start a little event videography company. The basic idea was 'non-lame wedding videos'. We told him we'd help him out. The plan was that Matt and I would handle some of the behind-the-scenes stuff; marketing, strategy, biz dev and some general art direction. Anything but actually being dragged out to the weddings themselves.


So far, so good. He's made about 8 videos in less than 4 months and managed to book quite a few more. The clients love his work. The site we designed for him isn't even up yet - all his business is from word of mouth and referrals. He's already double booked a few Saturdays and has had to bring us out to help shoot - I'll admit it's not even as bad as I thought it'd be.

It's amazing to see the start of something like this up close. No investors and no business loans. Just an idea and some camera equipment. We researched a ton of videographers and weeded out the 95% of them who seemed like they didn't have a clue. We dissected the work of the remaining few and used it as a reference. Then we threw our own twist on things and everything was set.

Introducing Cloudless.



High end, non-lame wedding videos. Made by Ryan in Southern California. With just a little bit of help from your boys at 0484. Stay tuned.

BLOGIVERSARY II

Two years and exactly 250 posts later...

You can never really tell what's going to happen too far ahead of time so in some ways none of this is ever really 'planned'. We do a few things, see where it takes us and then periodically reassess. We try and look at the big picture every once in awhile - make sure we're still aimed in the right direction.

I knew I wanted to do some creative stuff and be my own boss. The rest just sort of fell into place.

We landed a killer fucking project today. That's an amazing feeling. I realize that some people never get that type of rush at their jobs - ever. I'm aware of that.

When someone asks what I do - I usually downplay it. A lot of people, especially in LA, try to really overhype shit. Most of the time I'd rather people underestimate us - I'm okay with that.

It's not all as fun as it may appear here. It is still a job. Parts of it suck.

We helped Ryan start a business recently - it's going pretty well so far. I can already tell that it'll grow quicker than 0484 and he may even outgross us in a couple years. That's fine. We have a stake in it. Hopefully Ryan doesn't go all Zuckerberg on us when it really blows up.

Spellman is really the key to everything. Dude is unbelievably skilled and super efficient. Still amazes me that we found him.

Life is short. You've really just got to keep it moving.

For me, getting to work with Matt is the best part of the whole deal, hands down.

Few shots from the past 12 months. Hard to believe these all came from the last year.


I miss Vegas. Seriously.




The Nobizplan-mobile. Thanks to Iron Horse Jeans - for this and all the opportunities. And for the connections.


M.I.A.




Albuquerque.


Knicks vs Lakers at Staples Center in 2 of Nike's corporate seats. Thanks to the crew at The ID Agency - for the tickets and for every single thing else they've done for us over the years.


Charlotte. On our way to chill with Tayler Malsam at the Randy Moss Motorsports garage.


Last race of the 2010 NASCAR season down in Homestead outside of Miami. NASCAR doesn't let you shoot video at races at all let alone wander out in the middle of the infield like this. Sometimes you just have to do your own thing.


Planet Hollywood Towers Vegas.


Wisconsin. Summer vacation last August.



Thanks to everyone who reads the blog. All 4 of you.

BACK TO THE 805

Ryan woke me up at dawn on Saturday and dragged me up to Santa Barbara.


The Four Seasons Biltmore in Montecito


The spa at the Biltmore is called The Coral Casino but there was no gambling there - I checked. Just thought you guys should know that. Also the food at the pool cafe isn't great and it's kind of overpriced. But then again when you're putting everything on Ryan's credit card stuff does tend to taste a bit better.


Private residence inside Hope Ranch. Really nice crib but these people went pretty hard on the equestrian decorating theme. (horse dishes, horse lamps, horse wallpaper... I'm not kidding)




Anyway, we shot a little video while we were up there. More on that later. When it's edited I'll throw it up here.

0484TUMBLR

Random images I stole from the internet.


Air Yeezy II's






I really like shots of people's workspaces






Ryan sent me a link to this photographer Tyler Branch. I see a lot of portfolios but this kid is really killing it.




Penmanship will always be a turn-on




Ridiculous perspective. Wish Matt and I would've snagged this shot while we were shooting down there.