you need me man, i don't need you...

Lagging a little on the blog front, again... Busy, busy...

Anyway, a couple of weeks back I assisted on the new film clip for Ed Sheeran, for his tune, "You Need Me, I Don't Need You".  A studio background, a simple rig and some well structured lighting made the shoot simple but gave it a really strong feel, and I'm a big fan of the end result.

Twas also another good opportunity to get familiar with the Arri Alexa, which seems to be the 35mm camera of choice at the minute... 

Big ups to DOP Richard Stewart and Director Emil Nava for getting the job done and all the talent and staff involved for bringing it together! You can check out the final product here, or below...

 

Talented peeps...

 

That's a big set...

Mr Sheeran...

100TH POST! henry bessell in europe, part three...

As I mentioned in earlier posts, Ischgl's park, despite being the location for the international Rookiefest finals, was less than perfectly maintained during our stay. So much so that Henry's coach Chad took it upon himself one morning to grab a rake and shovel and get the job done himself! Hats off to him, shame on the lazy crew posing about at the bottom of the park...

Anyway, conditions and crap staff aside, Henry had some good hits on both days, the highlights of which are below along with a short Q and A with the young man.

LTAS: So Henry, tell us how you found snowboarding and what the journey’s been like so far?
 HB: I've loved snowboarding ever since I started and have just kept wanting to get better and better. The best thing is, the better I get, the more fun it becomes, so it never gets boring. I never expected when I first started snowboarding that it would bring me to the stage that I am even at now. But my journey is still only really just beginning so let's just wait and see what happens.

 

Picturesque but not perfect... The Ischgl park...

LTAS: Your favourite part of shredding?

HB: My favourite part of shredding would have to be all the riding with my buddies, in the park, pow, pipe, rain wherever. And pushing myself to try different things and the feeling of landing a new trick that you have been wanting to get. That is what I love and is my favourite part of snowboarding.

Silhouetted BS 5...

LTAS: What do you like to get up to outside of the sport?

HB: I mostly just like hanging out and going for a skate every now and then.

 Ah the serenity... On the way back up...

LTAS: Plans for the coming year?

HB: For this Australian season it would just have to be, to progress and get as good as I can and to get some results along the way too. Then I hope to spend as much time overseas as I can.

  BS 5...

LTAS: Thanks to anyone?

HB: I would like to thank all my sponsors Oakley, Rome SDS, Sandbox and I Ride Sideways for helping me along the way. But also a special thanks to Andy Lawrence, Willy, Chad and my friends and family for everything they have helped me out with too. Thanks!

Cab 7...

I'd personally like to say thanks to Henry for taking the time to answer a few questions and hand out a few tips! Thanks also to Kim and Chad for the hospitality and Willy at Australian Snowboarder. 

If you'd like to see more of Henry, 

he's got an edit up from Austria here...

And some park laps from his US home resort of Breckenridge here...

 

Night night Ischgl...

henry bessell in europe, part two...

   Day two of our weekend adventure started with sunshine again, though the subzero conditions overnight (and substandard park grooming) were making for hard work on the jumps early... And so it was off to the jib line to search out something fun to hit and shoot... Henry worked hard on the hike and came through with a bunch of tricks which he's kindly commentated on the stitches below...

TRICK TIPS WITH HENRY BESSELL

5-0

 

1. For the 5-0 you pretty much just want to approach the rail exactly the same as you would for a 50/50. Straight at it or nice a square to the rail if it's an urban set up.
2. Make sure you ollie properly and don't two foot jump onto the rail because that will just create bad habits and will make it hard to get onto high rails. So pressure the back foot and snap it up once your front foot has left the take off.
3. Now you have to land in the press, because trying to press once you've already landed is not the way to do it. So make sure you are a little in the back seat but still balanced so you don't just slip out and land on your back. 
4. So just hold it as high as you can till the end of the rail, pop off, land on both feet and ride away clean. And thats the 5-0.

Tailslide to Fakie

1. Ok, so for a tailslide the key thing is the you have to land on your back foot or the tail of the board otherwise it's just a boardslide. So approach the rail on your heel edge to make it a bit easier to get into the tailslide position.
2. Now when you land on the rail make sure you have positioned the nose of you board out to the side as much as you can, so you land on your back foot and to give the trick a bit of style.
3. Stay balanced till the end of the rail and give it a bit of a pop at the end. complete another 90 degrees of rotation so you land fakie. Do this because I think it looks cooler and tailslides to normal look a little weird unless you do it really, really well or you are some type of style demon or something.

Frontside 180 on to Switch 50/50 to Switch Backside 360 out

 

1. This one's quite a bit harder. You are going to have to be comfortable with riding switch and both frontside and backside spins.
2. Approach the rail on your toe edge (for a non-urban set up) because this will make it easier to 180 onto it and not to the side.  
3. Frontside 180 onto the rail and start getting ready for you next spin. But while staying centred so you don't fall over before you even get to the end. 
4. Initiate and whip around the switch backside 360 at the end of the rail by looking over you back shoulder. And don't look down, your spin will just go nowhere. 
5. Try to spot the landing and tense your core and legs so you don't just collapse after getting it all around. This will prevent reverting too.

(Extra Tip: Place your shoulders and your arms ahead of the rotations so you can just whip your board around when you need to)

 

Alpine chillin after a long day...

henry bessell in europe, part one...

Earlier this year I spent a weekend in Ischgl with a young Australian snowboarder by the name of Henry Bessell. In town representing Oz for the finals of the Rookiefest series, we spent a few productive days cruising all over the resort, shredding and shooting photos. With the late season snow, conditions weren't incredible, but there was plenty of fun to be had in the sun. 

So over the next week or so, I'll be posting up a blog or two with some photos from our Austrian adventure and a little more info about this young Australian ripper... Hope you enjoy... 

Name: Henry Bessel

D.O.B: 5/6/96

Sponsors: Oakley, Rome SDS, Sandbox, I Ride Sideways

Stance: Regular

Home Mountain: Perisher, Australia

 

Scoping spots on day one...

LTAS: Give us a few highlights and lowlights of your Austrian adventure Henry...

HB: Well I will start with the ups. The ups where that I had my first photo shoot experience, first time in Europe, got some new tricks and had a great time getting to meet great riders from all over the world at the World Rookie Fest Finals. But the one downer, was that I stuffed up World Rookie Fest Finals. It was shame but so many things went well in Europe, I don't want to complain. But overall Europe was pretty good and I experienced a lot of new and different things.  

 

Making the most of some softer late season snow with a layed out backflip...

 

BS1 off a rocky outcrop...

LTAS: How did you find Europe as compared to Australia and the States?

HB: Well for starters there are real mountains there. Like the Gondola took 20min to get 3/4 of the way up the mountain and it wasn't going slow. But Europe is so different compared to the US and Australia. The parks might be a little sketchier than in the US and the Australian season is so much fun... it's a little hard to compare but it is definitely an experience that I would like to have again.

 

Carving up the crust...

ikea by night...

I helped out on an Ikea commercial shoot last week, spending a long night in their Enfield showroom shooting a new ad for their summer sale. A bit of tracking, a bit of jibbing and plenty of learning. Hats off again to Richard Stewart and, this time around, director Salmon.

You can check out the final ad here...

On a lighter note, imagine having the incredible job title of "cat wrangler"...

These guys are living that dream...