How did you get to where you are now?

Cam: We are obsessed. Our worlds revolve around creating, how we can better our crafts and what we can bring to the table at the next opportunity. This puts our families, our relationships and friends in the backseat for the ride. I think there is a lot of competition that drives us as well. You have to believe in yourself and build confidence in your abilities. I didn’t set out to be the best photographer that I knew, I wanted to be one of the best in the world. That’s a huge statement to strive for, but that is the fact. I’m not sure if any of the friends I grew up with ever felt that way, so when Clay and I first thought about joining forces, it was refreshing knowing that someone else besides me believed that it is possible to push the envelope over what has ever been done before. Do I think we are the best in the world now? Not even close. Are we the best in Motocross or Mountain biking? Maybe? But what really does that mean? Those are two relatively small markets in the world.

Clay: If it’s crunch time and you have a deadline you’re going to sacrifice having any sort of routine until that project is finished, but that comes with the territory. I never looked at things in the beginning as hurdles to overcome or anything like that, It was just what I had to do to get to where I wanted to be.

Juggling work, travel, all the planning and production whilst still having some sort of personal time and life cannot be easy. Or is the whole point that you have don’t have any hence not many people make it to where you are? Cam: You reach a boiling point where you have to shut it off. Some can do that easier than others, it’s a balance. I also have a family with a wife, and two young boys. Before I had them I could just work around the clock without any care for anyone except myself. I still sometimes have to do this when it comes to deadlines but I then need to make up for it when I can. Scheduling everything has become extremely important. It’s all about efficiency.

John: Juggling work, travel and home life can be one of the most difficult parts of what we do and it’s taken me a long time to learn how to manage it.

There must be a balance of sorts otherwise you cannot be in a healthy and creative state of mind?

Clay: There has to be a balance. It’s all about recognising and acknowledging when that balance is off and taking a break. Recharging the batteries and taking some time off can be hard when there are projects in production but it’s vital.

John: I’m the happiest I’ve ever been right now and I can’t get enough of it. We’re working on amazing projects so it’s easy right now to work long hours. I don’t need a lot days off but I like to get away every once in a while and go surfing or riding. As long as I can do that then I’m happy. How important is it to be working with the latest technology whether hardware or software?

Cam: Digital Cinema cameras have changed the game. Being able to have a camera that is capable of delivering your vision is amazing. You need to have all of the accessories so as not to be limited in any way and this takes a lot of research and testing to figure out what works for you. Having the right lenses for the job is mandatory, so being able to shoot the same lenses as my photo work has really helped me bite the bullet when investing.

Clay: It’s super important as long as it doesn’t interfere in the story you want to tell. I see so many young filmmakers that only talk about tech and cameras. The topics should be what films, filmmaker or edit inspire them. It’s self–destructing to only talk about new gear. I embrace new technologies but I don’t let them define me. Last year, iPhone footage made it into two of my favourite projects. It was a tool that allowed me to give the viewer exclusive access. The footage might look like shit but it made the scene seem more urgent. People wouldn’t have given me the same reactions or access to the reality if I pulled out a Red.

John: There’s no getting around it, technology is very important for us but at the end of the day if you can’t tell a story then your not going to make a good film. It doesn’t matter if you have an old Super 8 camera or the latest Red Epic. But I do think that having a Red Epic has changed the way that we tell stories. We go to a lot of amazing locations and shoot riders at high speeds and the Red has allowed us to slow down the action and show the viewer things that a few years ago you couldn’t see.

You have also worked with Amado Stachenfeld?

Clay: Amado is our buddy who we’ve just started working with earlier this year. He used to race World Cups and when he stopped racing he moved to New York to do some commercial work. At the end of last summer and hit me up about potentially working with us. He’s worked on a few projects with us as an assistant and shot the Super 8 footage on the Brendan short that we did a while back. Amado definitely has good taste for quality work and I like it that his influences are completely outside the world of mountain biking and motocross, and he is keen on bringing some of these influences into our work. He reminds me a lot of myself in a way. He loves to find amazing new work online. I do. He loves filmmaking and photography with a passion and is constantly on the hunt for new amazing new work and loves sharing it.

Can you tell us a little about your individual influences and career paths?

Cam: I wanted to do to action sports with a mainstream twist. I met and worked under a New York based commercial photographer named Monte Isom. Monte showed me the level that portraiture and commercial work could be done and I implemented that to my aggressive style in the moto world.

Clay: The biggest influence when I started was probably Alex Rankin’s videos. I thought the Sprung Videos were the radest thing I had ever seen and still do pretty much. I guess I was inspired by the fact that Alex did things a lot differently and was doing it on his own. As far as the filmmakers that influence me today, that’s constantly changing. I’m influenced by artists that are carving their own path and creating work that they can confidently claim as their own…work that doesn’t look and feel like anything else.

John: It all started for me about 15 years ago watching any and every mountain bike movie I could get my hands on. My early influences were the Sprung and Earthed series, Transcontinental, and Chainsmoke. I got into filmmaking to make mountain bike movies so I would watch everything that came out. I’ve always been a huge action sports fan though so I was always watching BMX and skate videos growing up as well. These days my main influences can come from anywhere, a big budget Hollywood film, documentaries, music videos or the thousands of amazing films posted on Vimeo. There isn’t one thing that influences me but I’m always on the look out for new work from Ty Evans, Curtis Morgan, Kai Neville, and Joe Simon.