Two of them have honed their skills in the world of mountain bikes and the other is bringing 10 years action sports commercial photography to the deal. Who are they? Well, Clay Porter and John Reynolds are household names for those in mountain biking circles. Porter having filmed and produced The Atherton Project, Four By Three, 3 Minute Gaps and numerous other cinematic triumphs; and Reynolds, being perhaps one of the most talented camera operators that has ever pointed a lens at two wheels, having been the creative force behind Yeti’s output for the past three years. Cameron Baird is perhaps the ‘unknown’ in but is on the leading front of sport’s photography having worked at the top of baseball, football and motocross advertising for the past 10 years.

Blind Melon once sang that “Three is a magic number… it takes three legs to make a tripod or to make a table stand”, fitting then that there are three individuals all at the top of their game putting their collective talents on the table in an attempt to redefine the possible. Also fitting that the dictionary definition for Metis contains three entries, ‘wisdom’, ‘skill’ or ‘craft’. We wanted to find out how they got to this stage, why they have decided to put their names under the wrapping of a collective and what they see as the future both for themselves as individuals and for their new partnership.

Cam: I am Head Coach, Hustler Kamikaze, Problem Solver, Project Hunter. Clay is the All–star Midfielder, Rainman, Visionary and Future Hall Of Famer. John is the All–star Striker, The Glue, Jack of all trades, Motivator.

Clay: Cameron produces every project we do. He takes care of logistics, planning, budgeting, scheduling and more. On our recent Aaron Gwin and Cole Seely (MX) edits, I directed, shot and edited the project. We’ve done projects that I’m not involved in at all and then sometimes John and Cam take over the directing and shooting and John will do the editing.

John: If Clay’s directing and I’m on the shoot then I’m usually running the second camera, operating the steadicam, in charge of data management, assisting with the edit and working on the colour grade. Then there are shoots which I direct. I wear many hats within Metis.

Cam: This business is about trust. Clients trusting in you to deliver something special for their money in return for making them look like all–stars to their superiors. I had this down pretty good solo but I knew the mediums of still and moving image were merging in advertising. It took me 10 years to be proficient in the photo world, I didn’t have an additional 10 years to do the same in moving image. I had been watching Clay grow since his first films and we were on the same trajectory in the action sports world. It seemed only natural for me to court him when I decided that moving image was my next move.

Clay: We decided to join forces in the pursuit of creating the best work possible. Filmmaking is a collaborate art form and I felt I had reached the capacity of what I could do on my own. I wanted to work with a team on projects in order to create better work. In the summer of 2011, I got Cameron on board to produce a product video for Giant and Metis was born from that project really. Cameron brings a solid business sense and level head to the team. He’s a great problem solver and he’s good at identifying flaws in our work and figuring out solutions to improve those. He also brings his background and skills in commercial lighting to the team which has been huge in giving our work a more polished feel. John is a jack of all trades kind of guy that is pretty dialled in every aspect of production.

Cam: The response for both were very positive. In the MTB world people know what Porter is capable of but in moto a lot of people were surprised that things can be done at the level we bring to the table on every project. Motocross is using a lot less gravity! Having a motocross bike able to reset in seconds rather than re–hiking a mountain makes life a lot easier for everyone involved. Especially when dealing with as much equipment we bring to every shoot, it allows us to really get into a good flow.