2009 Year in Iphone pic's

The best camera is the one that is always with you. When I moved to Seattle years ago the only person I knew there was Chase Jarvis. He is a big believer in the statement above. In honor of that statement here is a collection of my 2009 iphone photos. Top 5.


Click link to see the more than 60 photos that made up my year.

Digging in sometimes needs let out

I've been making stuff lately and haven't had a chance to share it so here it is. A new show reel.


Photos from a shoot for the Townhouse.

more photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/26148580@N05/sets/72157620526032852/

and the last segment from the Toyota road trip series I shot at the Dew Tour.

Day 5 Toyota Road Trips from Ben Dolenc on Vimeo.

Technology talk

Technology seems to be a common thread in a lot of what I have been doing lately. Looking at what is in front of you and seeing the possibilities of what can be done with it. Opportunity lives on every street corner. I just finished a bunch of interviews with hyper successful creatives and their relationship with technology. They use it as a tool to create balance in their personal lives stay connected and enhance their creativity. Many of creatives have worked in many different fields. It is exciting for me as new technologies are giving us the opportunity to put these different jobs in the blender and try to spit out some thing new. One of technology's biggest assets is making collaboration easier. So go out and collaborate. Oh and check out this collaboration inbflat.

Rehashed, refurbished, Reused

Here is some one of the pieces I did for Banquet (USA Today's action sport web site) in collaboration with Toyota. We shot these little travel pieces on a road trip following an JT to the Dew Tour. Each day we would shoot, edit and try to post the pieces to the web. In hind site we should have planed one day on, one day off. So I went back and dressed this one up a bit.

Road Trip from Ben Dolenc on Vimeo.

If you cruse through my posts you will see some photos from the behind the scenes of The Fray's latest video. We shot on the old War of the Worlds set at Universal Studios. Here is the video
Never Say Never

It was a very cold night for the people in that truck to say the least. Check out my good buddy Rod shooting the behind the scenes from within the scene at 1.20 or so.

Make something

Challenges always create opportunity. I have always been interested in aerial imagery. For years I have been looking for a way to shoot images in the space between where a plane can fly and we can stand. From cable to pole cameras getting creative with the space up off the ground seems to always be rewarded. I came across this video from Make Magazine today and it got the ideas flowing.

Make Magazine is doing these great pieces on the DIY culture. I first saw them as pod casts on Itunes and now they are making there way to PBS. Web to TV? I cant verify this but expect to see more content headed that direction.

Honda the power of dreams

Its funny that the title of this project is The Power of Dreams it fits both the content of the short films and the promise of what you can do with on the web with video. The content looks amazing and is powerful, going against everyone who ever said web video is for handy cameras and lip sinking videos. As more brands see what can be done with web content, expect more short format branded content like this. Note there is hardly a actual Honda car in some of these pieces. They are building brand loyalty with quality content. This was a viewer comment- Chaitanya K "I think these are very good videos, I was thinking about Toyota for my next car... but the videos will make me got to the Honda Showroom..." Ha! Probably a friend of the film maker yet there is no question to the value of the content.


This second piece reminds me of one of my favorite places that I look for inspiration the TED talks web site. I am sure most of you know about it but whenever I need some help remembering what is important and how much I enjoy creating these always seem to do it for me.

Behind the Scene's the Fray

Here are some photo's from the Fray video. I was helping my friend Rod Blackhurst shoot a behind the scenes of the video. Rod and I meet when I was an athlete and he was beginning filming. We have kept in touch through out the years and its always good to catch up with him. He has just finished a documentary on the Fray as well as a coffee table photo book of touring with them. Check out both of them if you get a chance. It is always funny to see where you end up and we were cracking up at being able to work together again in such a strange environment. The weirdest part may have been a cow that was almost okay with explosives and provided fresh milk for the coffee the band needed at 6 am. Life only gets stranger.

Shape Your Life

Tom's Creation Plantation Trailer from Cyrus Sutton on Vimeo.

Ive always believed that you shape your own future. I happened across this video while looking for the surf report. It is a teaser to a film about the resurgence of Alala surf boards by Cyrus Sutton. I love the stop motion filming and the teaser in itself is inspiring. It reminds me a lot of Thomas Cambell's filming who by the way has a new film he is touring around The Present. The Present also has segments about the Alala.

Surfboard shapers are so interesting, each one is a character. The skill and precision of shaping is mind numbing. They are a special form of designers in that they have a active relationship with what they are creating. Here Tom Wegener is shaping boards in the fashion of the old Hawaiians. It's accessibility to anyone is what amazes me. Go out and create some thing even if its just looks like another piece of wood. Its the intelligence behind it that could start a revolution.

Dew Tour Finals

A quick post of some of the photos I shot for Banquet at the mens ski half pipe finals at the Dew Tour. I used to spend many nights a winter at events like this. It was fun sitting right in the middle of the pipe behind a camera. I did an interview with with Tanner Hall after he won. The only thing he wanted to talk about was leaving the next morning to go ski Alaska. We all evolve, thank god we do. A funny side note that Im not sure he knew is that I was in Alaska with him the first time he ever went.

I just got back from a shooting a Toyota ski road trip for Banquet. Banquet is USA Today's action sports web site. You can view the on the road uploads at bnqt.com or they might appear here when I get a chance. Look for a full piece on the trip when it gets cut as well. It was the first time I have shot ski action in two years, a return to how I started in the TV/film industry. For right now I will throw up some of the still images.

Mission G

While the user interface may drive you mad Gatorade seems to be the first product company to get in on the original web video content band wagon. They have created a web TV channel called mission G. The production value is top notch if you can make the player stop scrolling through the different episodes. Hopefully they can clean up the site sports and Gatorade's stable of athletes lends itself to great stories and content.
They also seem to have gotten the memo to step into slight less mainstream avenues in producing break dance shows and the music behind it. The best part of the Underground show, the break dance segment of the site is a competition chart where you can click and watch each battle between the each of the different crews. Conceptually the site is there but it I give it a C- for user experience.

stoneyour.tv

Volcom has joined the ranks and realized the worth of Internet TV. They created this great piece as a part of their web TV station going live. I could not agree with it more. They join companies like Vice at vbs.tv in realizing the strong content is the missing link in to creating a following in the web TV world. Content that is edgier and "out of the box" seems to have a special advantage of the web TV format. Less constrictions allow producers to dive into more controversial content from a different angle as in this piece. Exciting stuff!

 Network TV is at the edge of the cliff that the music industry has already been pushed off. Companies are figuring it out and old network formulas are not going transfer across mediums. The average age of the live TV viewer has hit 50 according to Magna Global. There is a vacuum of network quality content that fits this new medium. “Genius is its own end, and draws its means and the style of its architecture from within, going abroad only for audience, and spectator, as we adapt our voice and phrase to the distance and character of the ear we speak to" Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pretty cool people interviews

Video content on the web is something that is always changing and evolving.  I love that it is a not quite as contrived and formulamatic as most broadcast content. One of the sites I use as a example of good content in my meetings is http://prettycoolpeopleinterviews.submarinechannel.com/ . These are concise pieces about different artist and their artistic processes. Feed the urge to keep creating. 

Stereo-scopic blog

After perusing the web and continually feeding this brain of mine with a plethora of weird, beautiful and interesting content. I decided that it was time to join the masses. I wanted to do something with all the cool shit that floats across the screens in an effort to repay the people who are doing the same. Truly when I have hit the wall of absurdity, a lack of creativity or just the end of the my rope they remind me we make this what it is. Everyday we do so here is to carving my piece of it. Hope you are not offended by whats in my brain or my writing skills.