The Proof: Brian Hockenstein
Since the moment I picked up a snowboard for the first time, my obsession with the sport has pretty much defined my life. It shaped where I chose to live, introduced me to some incredible people and most of all, led me to discover my love of all things camera-related. Photography and cinematography is a language that comes naturally to me and I am grateful to no end for all the incredible places and opportunities it has led me.
My backstory is pretty par for the course – grew up in Montreal, moved out west in 2000 and the slowly put down roots in Whistler. But the sum of those parts has somehow led me to an amazing place in life, surrounded by an amazing group of friends and getting to spend my days out in the backcountry doing what I love. The past year especially has been an incredible journey, with my latest project being Editor of a snowboard/skate/surf/lifestyle web-base magazine called 33MAG. This new endeavor has given me an incredible new platform to share my writing, photographs and video work with a whole new audience, as well as explore the exciting new media landscape that is just now emerging as the result of the incredible force of the internet and social-media.
The Photos
01 I got Luka last summer and he was a badass right from the start. This is him up in Brandywine Meadows in the fall.
02 I spend a creepy number of nights out in the bush in the dark by myself. Sometimes I come back with a magic shot like this. Usually not though.
03 Snow = Life.
04 I am a lucky little boy who gets to see shit like this daily. No amount of thanks will ever be enough, if I ever forget that please slap me.
05 Yeah, I know.
06 This winter was short but one of the most fulfilling of my life. Ever year I get closer and closer to fulfilling a far-fetched set of goals I subconsciously set for myself back in my teenage years. Getting to do 1000m vertical laps with my best friends that most people would call the run of their life is just icing on the cake.
07 You ever think back to a seemingly innocent moment and realize it was one of the best slices of time in your life? This was one of those moments: a coming together of like-minded souls at the end of a perfectly classic day of fulfilling dreams.
08 This is the end goal – the end of a perfect day.
The Questions
What neighborhood do you live in?
I live in the best neighborhood in Whistler….Creekside represent!
What do you do and where?
I am a freelance cinematographer and photographer as well as Editor of an online magazine called 33MAG. In the winters I spend my days in the backcountry documenting amazing feats of daring performed by some of the most incredible snowboarders around, and I’m lucky enough to call many of them my good friends. My summers are spent exploring this wonderful natural playground we have been blessed with in the company of my incredibly talented and good looking dog Luka…. when I’m not glued to the computer screen that is.
What are you working on?
Right now as the season winds down I find myself being consumed by 33MAG, a new and extremely exciting online magazine project I am part of. The media landscape is evolving at a dizzying rate and trying to figure out how to ideally situate ourselves within that, as well as best fulfill the needs of our desired viewership, is an extremely perplexing and fascinating puzzle. There’s a happy medium out there between dancing cats and taking yourselves too seriously, and it’s been interesting (and sometimes surprising) to see what people react to. I’ve been pleasantly surprised, though, to find that although it seems none can resist the call of a picture of a furry feline, most are still also likely to click on that longer article that makes you think for a quick sec. It’s fun being able to fulfill both sides of that coin.
Where can we find your work?
I have a website I never update over at www.BrianHockensteinCinema.com where you can find my demo reel and some examples of my work.
This winter I was also lead cinematographer on two snowboarding web series – Andrew Burns’s ShipWrecked (latest episode: https://vimeo.com/61686925) and Dave Short’s Short Stories (latest episode: https://vimeo.com/61857629).
I do a lot of writing over on www.33MAG.com too!
Article source: http://www.whistlerisawesome.com/2013/04/16/the-proof-brian-hockenstein/
