A monumental and challenging build of a lit, 3-dimensional branding sign for Helly Hansen came to completion on Friday. As the riggers hauled this thing up we stood back and felt great relief. 560 pounds, steel frame, acrylic facing and 12 lighting units. See you all at the show Thursday.
More photos coming soon!
Crazy that it’s been a year already since the last round of snow industry editorial… but I guess time flies when you’re having fun.
Check out the new round of published words and photos from The Public Works team:
6 page Freeskier profile on Eric Hjorleifson, words by Ian Fohrman
Powder Magazine story on the Skier Chalet in Aspen, Haiku and Photo by Ian Fohrman
Powder Magazine story on Woodward at Copper, words and photos by Ian Fohrman
Contributor page in Freeskier, Ian Fohrman
And Freeskier article on Mark Abma’s biodiesel processor.
Article shot and written by Ian Fohrman of The Public Works team in Freeskier now.
Check out our earlier post on the project.
Hit us up with comments for more info.
A few weeks ago we did a shoot with Darren Rahlves in Telluride. The week was more about training than shooting but we still managed to bag a few decent ones.
Article on espn.com
Shots on Photofiles
We were recently asked to build the trophies for the 2008 AFP (Association of Freeskiing Professionals) awards.
Coverage of the award ceremony at Freeskier.com
This Friday we jumped on a plane and headed to the Lone Star State to shoot the Red Bull Sound Clash in Dallas. It was our first time to Texas and we weren’t sure exactly what to expect as our interactions with texans are usually on the mountain and not always pretty. Texans seemed much more in their element away from snow and during the state’s biggest college football event of the year.
Sound Clash was one of the coolest Red Bull events we’ve been able to shoot. The event was held in Victory Park with a stage on each side. On one side was the Shiny Toy Guns and on the other was Erykah Badu and the Cannabanoids. Each band opened with a 3 song set and then went into a battle of the bands back and forth format. They both covered the other’s songs and had to play songs within different genres.
While the two bands seem like an unlikely combination there was an obvious musical connection and it was amazing to watch them volley back and forth. When the official “competition” ended Erykah and the Cannabanoids were on top judged by audience applause. They voyaged across the crowd and joined the Shiny Toy Guns on their stage for a final jam session. Watching the eclectic combination of sounds and personalities come together in a bizarre but badass musical fusion firsthand was an amazing experience.
We usually shoot events like Flugtag , Soapbox, or athlete shoots and have just recently started shooting Red Bull’s “culture” events. It is a different kind of challenge because you’re working with so many lighting elements that are out of your control while trying to capture the powerful decisive moments that express the feeling and emotion in the music. Fortunately your window to capture these moments is decidedly larger than when an athlete is going by at mach speed and that moment will only happen once. There was also the added challenge of working around the film crews which is fairly common no matter what you’re shooting. The key to working well with the filmers is to find the right mix of good communication and standing your ground. Everyone is just trying to get their jobs done and you need to find the right way to make it happen for everyone.
After pushing our way through the crowds we jumped in the car and spent a solid half hour trying to make it 4 blocks to the Digital Hause where we did our editing and post production only to find ourselves with double the parking fees and equidistance from where we started to the studio. Thanks to Mark and crew for providing us with plenty of adult beverages and a beautiful space to work in till the early hours.
The next day we hoped to take in the spectacles that are sure to come with the biggest state fair in the country but we failed to realized the cluster that would surround the fair and football game. Due to a completely clogged bus system we weren’t even able to make it to the fair grounds. Despite missing out on fried butter and guaranteed epic people watching we were happy to get a chance to tour around the city before Mike headed out to Norway for Helly Hansen meetings and I headed back to the mountains of Colorado.
Thanks to everyone involved for an amazing event!
Check out more shots at Photofiles site.
Kastle came to us recently to work on several projects tying directly to their dealer network. The first one completed is a trophy for their four best dealers.
We based the design off the brand guidelines and added the oval cutout which is based off the Hollowtech technology in the skis. The final pieces are a mix of acrylic, laser cutting, laser etching and custom-made aluminum hardware.
The image is Kastle skier Chris Davenport taken by the Public Works on a shoot in Aspen.
Just returned from The Meeting in Aspen this past weekend and it was everything we expect that weekend to be…
Amazing fall scenery in Aspen, fun parties, insightful discussions, productive meetings, and something really really fun courtesy of by Red Bull.
The fall scenery was in full effect with snow dusting the peaks and leaves in full fall display and we got to enjoy it with throttles pinned up the face of Ajax first thing after arriving on Friday. It’s a fun feeling racing around a mountain that you know so well in the summer. Looking at some of the runs it’s amazing that we can even ski them in the winter much less charge them the way we do… peering down S1 feels like you’re going to fall straight down to Spar.
Obviously a major topic of discussion was the Warren Miller Entertainment/Level1 Productions situation. Avoiding too much comment on the issue here I’ll just say that most of the industry was in agreement that there are probably better ways for WME to be spending time and money.
Saturday began with an American Supercamp session thanks to Red Bull where we got a chance to rip around a mini track and work on our moto fundamentals. Directly following a leg burning 100,002 laps on the Supercamp course at the bottom of Buttermilk we headed straight through town and up Smugglers passing dozens of nannies pushing strollers, house wives with lap dogs, hikers with ski poles, and bikers in spandex. The views were epic and the riding was fast and fun.
Straight off the trail we headed back to Buttermilk for session #2 and #3 of the meeting where we discussed the state of freeski competition and the AFP.
After a quick break we broke into the topic of the business of film making. The discussion centered around the sustainability, or lack thereof, of business models based solely around sales of action sports DVDs. It was an interesting discussion with representatives from all sides of the table joining in. We discussed the merits or team videos vs. independent films vs. special projects
After the official meetings were over we had a chance to sit down and talk some Helly Hansen and Aspen business and then on to the MSP premier at the Wheeler and a party at the Belly Up.
Sunday morning we made it a goal to be out early and as sad as it always is to leave Aspen we were excited to get into the desert. We unloaded and headed into the expansive Utah desert rolling through sage brush terrain and a perfect mix of fast and technical trails.
Add a stop in Grand Juction for some natural moto terrain park and you have a pretty great weekend.
Congrats to Riley and Katrina!!! and thanks to the entire Aspen crew!
We have been brainstorming this event for years. A week ago it was finally time for a beta run. The general idea is to gather a panel of action sports experts from different fields of expertise and let it be known to college and high school age students that if you let your passions lead the way, there is probably a job that will make you happy.
We worked with the Colorado University Freeride Club which is the largest college club in the country to kick off this 1st event. Many industry partners kicked in time, promotions and product to also light a fire under the event. There was catered food, plenty of free Red Bull, TONS of give away product from all the involved companies (snowboard, bindings, outerwear, hoodies, magazine subscriptions, shoes, etc. etc.), and a poster signing by Chris Davenport.
The event started off with 4 short films and then the panel introduced themselves and explained how they were able to get their current jobs. The most consistent themes were “chasing what you want without ever giving up” and “being unique”. Got to love Steve “Stix” Nilsen and his stories and antidotes. He told a story about a potential hire telling him she was way to overwhelmed as her house burned down the night before. So he sent her a smoke detector. Persistence with humor.
Then things transitioned into a Q&A session with the students asking about everything from how to become a pro skier to how to sell photos to a magazine. The panel was amazing and provided insight from all different angles.
We look forward to the next Business of Fun and keeping the conversations going here in this blog and also on the Facebook site. Always open to any and all feedback.
The panel was:
Chris Davenport – Helly Hansen Pro athlete
Jake Knigge – Helly Hansen regional athlete and current CU student
Shay Willams – Freeskier Magazine photo editor
Mike Basher - Snowboard Magazine editor
Deric Gunsor - Aspen Ski CO marketing
Trent Bush – Brand Base (Technine, Nomis & Sound) co-founder
Steve Nilsen – Pabst Blue Ribbon marketing manager
Ian Fohrman – Helly Hansen sports marketing
Marily MacDonald – Outdoor Divas marketing manager
Frank Phillips (moderator) – The Public Works, LLC
Huge thanks to all the people that made this first event a huge success. Video of the event coming soon.
Lucky winner of an autographed copy of Chris Davenport’s book
Our newTrailball table seeing its first action
Nothing makes work better than tying a lot of fun into it. We headed down to Crested Butte last Friday and hit the Rainbow Trail from Salida on the way. 100-mile single track that is a must-do for mt bike or moto.
From there it was on to Crested Butte where we met with the marketing folks at the resort.
We also spent some solid time with the whole crew at Match Stick Productions. They have just completed the edit of “In Deep” which will have it’s World Premier in Colorado instead of Canada for a change. Much easier to cross the border into Boulder rather than Vancouver.
We should have know when to call it complete day but dinner with the MSP folks transitioned into a serious Trailball game, many PBR’s and a late night.
This would have been OK if we didn’t need to be up at 6:30AM to do a extremely difficult 40+ mile moto ride to get to our meetings with Aspen Ski Company. Seemed as though the crew at Aspen were amused by our condition and smells coming off of us. Mike’s backpack opened at some point on the trip and literally lost his shorts so the day of meetings was spent in some tight red moto pants. Not that cool.
While in Aspen we also had a great meeting with Hamilton Sports where we will be doing some branding projects for Kastle Skis. Chris Davenport was nice enough to join us and offer up some opinions as he is the king of Kastle in the Aspen valley. 58 mile home and thinking that every day of business should be like that.
The last day of the trip we got Ian out for his first moto ride. Figured if he has worked with us this long he needed a bike so we could stop feeling guilty about leaving him behind. What was suppose to be a mellow ride had some hairball moments and ended up finishing at almost 50 miles. Ian killed it and I am sure we’ll be riding in his dust soon enough.
The Public Works
Share on Facebook
