Screenshot: Pathology Project
I started filming as early as possible. I filmed my first video part my junior year of high school. I had arranged it with my school up here in Oregon so that I got to leave for half the year and check out of school for the season then come back to school at spring break to finish it up. It worked out well. During that four months I would film a video part. My first part I filmed was with a local company called NC Productions. My second part was with We’re People Too, for MDP People Films. The second one really impacted what has become my life since then.
It was shot when I was still a senior in high school. It ended up winning video part of the year, and I won rookie of the year. That time was really crazy, still being a teenager and all. I still do a couple token contests here and there, like the Dirksen Derby, but if I am healthy all I want to be doings is traveling with my friends filming.
When I was 13 and started snowboarding, I would do contests, but it was more so I could ride a halfpipe and parks, which we didn’t have at Baker. Then I did one of those stadium big airs, traveled to handful of slopystyle events and the X Games. I got second to last at X Games but even when I didn’t do terribly I wasn’t having as much fun as filming, the weather always seemed to be questionable and I felt forced into trying to do these runs at a given place and time. And in that way I have been lucky, I’ve been snowboarding and traveling with my closest friends for the last ten years.
Screenshot: Pathology Project
People say in the larger scheme of things, contests are important. Translating viewership to an audience that supports and grows the sport is important. But I don’t personally need the sport to grow that much. I think the sport has gotten pretty big, every time I go to a resort their parking lot is full. We should be focusing on how to maintain what we have and contribute to current culture. And that happens through videos not from who is standing on top of the podium.
Robot Food did it in a way that spoke to me, the 12-year-old kid eating, breathing, and sleeping with these magazines and movies. They were having the greatest time out there, pranking each other, not taking themselves too seriously. They were the best snowboarders in the world, but having fun the entire time. You don’t want to watch parts and think, They are good, but it looks like a lot of work. That is not inspiring anyone to snowboard.
Photo: Nitro
I just hope people see what we are doing and it is something they can relate to. Pathology was our project.
We’ve been hanging out for the past decade and they say we’re one of the least “professional” and least “productive” crews. Photographers give us shit for it, saying, “You all never get anything done. You’re not getting up at 4 a.m. and building massive wedges. But when I come out with your crew — it’s the greatest.” That makes me proud.
Photo: Nitro
