Justin Kosman Photography

December with ESPN, Odyssey, Vans and Red Bull

December with ESPN, Odyssey, Vans and Red Bull.

December came and went with a fury of last-minute shoots for a handful of my favorite clients.  December started out by preparing a selection of stock photos from Malaga, Spain for an Espn interview with BMX legend Ruben Alcantara who I had shot with in Torremolinos near the Western Mediterranean earlier this year.  Ruben is an icon in the sport and it was a pleasure shooting a rider whose influence has spanned generations. And you can’t beat tapas!

Then is was off to San Francisco for a week to direct part of a team commercial Odyssey BMX was putting together for a January 2011 release.  I was working with Metal Bikes rider Jimmy Levan and S&M’s Matt Beringer for a week in the heart of downtown. With the help of some local scouts, we found some very unique locations to film for Odyssey’s biggest project since their 2008 release of Electronical for which I shot several print ads.

The whirlwind didn’t stop there. Landing back in San Diego, I went immediately into a 4-day shoot with the Vans BMX and Shadow Conspiracy teams to promote a one-off shoe the two companies had designed for an endemic release to follow up on the interest that sparked a15,000 unit pre-order.  Vans provided their decked out RV for us to travel in style and we shot in a variety of locations including a bridge, skatepark and ravine and I got to test out a new portable dolly system I rigged up this summer and some of the trail footage turned out amazing.  The team riders put down some big moves for the promo video and print ad dropping in January 2011.

While the Vans and Shadow crew finished up their trip at Mammoth by shredding the slopes, I flew cross country to Miami for a week-long shoot on a barge floating through the waterways between Ft Lauderdale and Miami. Red Bull came up with the concept to build a skatepark on a floating barge and film some of the world’s best riders on the first ever BMX barge. Surrounded by X Games Gold Medalists and Nora Cup Champions, it was hard to take a bad shot.  We took a morning off to go deep-sea fishing and I’m proud to say I hooked a 30lb sailfish while most of the boat was sleeping or trying not to yak in the choppy conditions. 

Today the rain is pouring in Southern California and I’m prepping for an interview with a Sports Psychologist for an Espn piece and planning out a hectic January packed with still photo shoots. Let’s hope the weather clears up or it looks like Arizona is going to be Plan B.  Below is a shot from the Red Bull barge floating towards the Miami Heat game at American Airlines Arena.