DUCATI ISLAND PART 1

Flew to Monterey last week to film a couple videos up at the MotoGP race.


After Pikes Peak, Ducati and The ID Agency hit us up and asked if we wanted to come film some stuff up at Laguna Seca raceway. We agreed, of course. Then I came home from the meeting and Matt and I googled MotoGP related stuff for awhile to figure out exactly what we'd signed up for.


Landed in San Jose - nice airport by the way - and Yelp found us this legit deli called Freshly Baked Eatery. Line out the door, cash only, sort of reminded me of a soup-nazi-like situation. Awesome sandwiches.

This painting is from the foyer outside the deli - love the style and colors. Yelp failed us a couple days later, by the way, when we ended up at this wack Thai place - so it's sort of hit or miss.


Thursday we scouted the location at the racetrack and did pre-production planning type stuff. Checked into the room - Hyatt Regency - really legit. Huge room really came in handy when we were working and editing late at night.


This photo doesn't quite do it justice but this mirror with frosted glass edges and recessed lighting on all 4 sides was amazing - my favorite part of the room by far. (That's a Phillip Bloom Pocket Dolly that we rented leaning on the sink. Matt was in the midst of disassembling it at this moment because that's the type of stuff he does with expensive equipment that doesn't belong to us).




Jessica Hall, from Playboy Radio and a million other things, hosted the video we filmed. She was cool to work with. Handled all the interviews like a pro and kept things fun. She's chatting here with our boy Arrick from Ducati.




Our new BFF, DJ Hapa. Not only is this guy super sick but he's also going to teach me how to spin. For real.


Our boys from Pikes Peak, Carlin and Alexander, chilling with the Ducati President and CEO.




Sometimes you've just have to break out the self timer.



On Saturday we got to shoot an appearance by the Ducati riders Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi.


Really cool environment to be in the middle of. Crowd was going insane. Rossi is a 9-time World Champion and does not usually make appearances like this. He's also consistently one of the Top 10 highest paid athletes in the world. No big deal.


Enjoyed shooting Nicky Hayden - this guy reminds me so much of Jason Williams (the white one) from the NBA. Nicky is straight from Kentucky and has a really unique charisma. Peep the blinged out Ducati belt buckle. Almost tempted to grab one of those for myself. Or maybe for Matthew.

Anyway, more from MotoGP to come. Stay tuned.

MOTOGP: THE PREVIEW

Few flicks from last week.








Epic weekend. Couple amazing projects. Unreal schedule. More photos and details soon - but for now, it's time to edit.

CLOUDLESS: NAPA

We helped Ryan shoot a little wedding up in Napa recently.



As far as weddings go, it was pretty legit. Let's just say that no expense was spared. They had a custom made cake shaped like their dog. They had a live oil painter. And after the reception was all over - they had an official catered 'after party' back at the hotel.


Kia Soul mobile office. This is that car that the hamsters drive in those commercials.


They also had a vintage Rolls Royce.


Anyway, cool event overall. The girl who shot the stills was actually a celebrity wedding photographer. While we, on the other hand, are just kids who happen to own expensive video camera stuff. I'm excited to see this video when Ryan's done with it.


And speaking of wedding videos, one of the first videos Ryan ever put together was recently shown on StyleMePretty. The kid is blowing up - just like I thought he would.

SACRAMENTO

Few pictures from the state capital.



We weren't planning on visiting the Capital Building but we ended up eating lunch across the street so we figured we'd pop in and check it out. It was semi-interesting - we walked around inside for about 10 minutes.



On Sunday, Brian, Matt's brother-in-law, took us out to the middle of nowhere to shoot some guns.




Did a little skeet shooting. Here's a shot of me throwing the alley oop to Brian. I'd never been shooting before but this was actually sort of fun.

Then we hit Chicago Fire Pizza for some deep dish on our way out of town.


Art installation at baggage claim at Sac airport. Really well done. You don't see a lot of this type of stuff at airports.

NAPA

Flew up to Napa for the weekend to shoot a video.

Looks pretty much like you've seen on TV - a lot of wineries and fancy restaurants and old people. We fit in great. Meanwhile, I have not been home on the weekend in awhile - seriously. Doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon either. Whatevs. Cool trip coming up next week - can't wait.

More photos from wine country on the way soon...

COLORADO, AGAIN

Back on my blog game.



Flew back out to Denver last weekend. Felt real deja-vu-ish.



Had an epic off day on Sunday. Grabbed breakfast at The Delectable Egg and then headed out toward Central City.



Killed a couple bucket list type things - first we did some gold panning.




#24K #nobigdeal

Then we went white water rafting.



Guide said there was record-level volume in the river.



Water was freezing. We did a few Class 3+ rapids. Ryan seemed frightened the entire time but I handled the whole thing like a champ.





Stopped by Central City Casino on the way out. Made a small fortune at craps. #hard8 #hard6

Lost track of time. Almost missed our flight but it all worked out. Definitely worth it.

DUCATI ALL DAY

Last shots from our week at Pikes Peak.




Mobile office.




Experimented with a few things. Don't try this at home.




One of my favorite shots all week. Matt hard at work - 14,000 feet up in the middle of nowhere.


Behind the scenes: When you're multi-tasking on a week of no sleep, lists are imperative. (Matt doesn't exactly have the strongest short term memory to begin with...)


Hardly any guard rails at this place. I asked one of the Ducati reps on day one if any of the riders had ever died in a crash on the mountain - he said 'I'm not sure, but I know some spectators have.' So, that was comforting.

These guys are pushing things hard - they're trying to set world records. They end up sliding off the road way more than you'd think. We tried to keep that in mind all week in between worrying about getting the best shots.


The 3 of us along with Victor from The ID Agency in front of the part of the mountain the locals call 'Bottomless Pit'. Long drop. They like to say if you wreck off the road at this point you'll starve before your body hits the ground below. Yeah, it's charming - I know.


Daily video #6.

Amazing experience overall. Grueling schedule, crazy weather and really random conditions but definitely a character building type of situation. Met back up with Victor and the Ducati guys in LA this week - can't wait to finish and launch the full length short film we're working on that recaps the whole story. Stay tuned.