My story of the Racer X job interview!

Yep, you heard right. Racer X Illustrated job interview! I haven't spoken of this to anyone but to a select few people. Maybe it's the New Years cheers or the giddy feeling I have about my new business but I feel now is the time make it public. Life has presented something to me that I feel is a career gift and Racer X actually had a little something to do with it.

Drum roll please... this is how it all went down. I'll try to make it short and not go into every small detail, cause there was definitely a ton of it! :)

It was winter season, 2010. I submitted my resume to Racer X for a photo/video/web position that was open at the Racer X headquarters. My first interview was actually a phone interview and my thoughts were, if I can have a good phone interview, then the next step should be a face to face interview. A face to face would be a giant step forward you know! Why else would they bring me all the way up (West Virginia meaning all the way up) if they just weren't interested.

So, e-mail confirmed, I'm headed North for a dream job interview with a company that I'm a huge fan of, doing something I'm passionate about! You can guess that I was not on cloud 9... it was more like cloud 100!

After checking into my hotel for the night, I got a call from Bryan Stealey (who I'd been talking with during the whole process) asking if I wanted to meet up for coffee the next morning. And you know I was up for that! A good chance to shake the nerves before going into my interview.

Long story short and skipping all the fine details, the interview was outstanding! After the interview, Bryan, Davey Coombs and other members of the staff took me out for lunch at a fine Indian restaurant where we all talked about... yep... you guessed it, motocross! It felt so good that it was almost inexplicable.

After lunch we wrapped up, shook hands and I drove back to my hotel to get my luggage and start making my way back home. Before I left, Bryan had mentioned something about going out to some local bars that evening for a few cold ones. But a serious snow storm was moving in and I felt it was best that I start making my way back to the Carolinas.

The job position was between myself and one other guy! I made it in over hundreds of applicants. That alone is a great accomplishment!

About a week later, I was notified that I didn't get the job but to keep my head up. I think the next few days my mouth didn't open much unless I really had to talk. I was bummed out for sure. I mean, how many chances in life do you get an opportunity to work for a company doing something you dreamed of since childhood, along with the industries top professionals?

Even though I didn't get the job, and was a bit bummed, I didn't let it take over my life. For whatever reason it be, it was just not my time to shine at Racer X or shall I say, in the motocross industry.

So, just like what the pros say when they're on the podium; I must give a huge shout out and big thanks to Bryan Stealey, Davey Coombs and the entire staff of Racer X Illustrated. I had the time of my life while I was there! I see it like this. I can look back and say that I was in close running for a position at Racer X Illustrated, bench race with the people that produce one of the best motocross magazines and was able to talk with some folks that most people will only read about! That to me, was a chance of a lifetime! And I am proud to say, that I came in second place on this deal!

What else can I really say! Hats off to the guy who got the job! I'd shake hands with the guy If I had the chance. I believe in having a good and positive attitude about situations that both work out and don't work out.

Now you ask, how does this tie into what I'm doing now? Well, to come so extremely close to having a dream job in the motocross industry and then have the doors closed on everything, especially when it all seemed to go so right; there obviously had to be something else in the hands of life waiting for me to grasp.

Now-a-days, I'm building my very own business. And I specialize in videography. There are some photography jobs that come around but it's mostly the video side where I stay the busiest! And I'm completely stoked. Who knows... maybe one day I'll get to do some video/photo work for Racer X.

You just never can tell!


One more thing! West Virginia is one heck-of-a beautiful state! There are postcard photos on nearly every corner. And I could just kick myself for not taking the time to snap a few shots of the breathtaking views around Morgantown!

Instead, enjoy these few I shot while driving!!! ;) I promise I was being safe while doing so...

I've always thought this sign was in a funky spot!

The Updated Factory 987

Over the holidays, I managed to make a few updates to the factory. I'm super proud to say that Factory 987 is purely, 100% dedicated to motocross!

If you've visited my factory 987 website in the past, you'll know that I stay very involved with the wedding industry. It just didn't seem right to mix these two together. So I decided to build an entire new site dedicated to weddings.

Next up,  a look back on 2011's best mx photos.

Now,  click here and go check out the all mx site!

Carlo Gagliardo. And it's a wrap!!!

Now that all the filming is over. It's time to begin the editing process. I can't wait to get this thing finished and delivered to Carlo.

Until then, enjoy this trailer I put together of the entire journey that we captured.

A day in the life at Beaver Creek. The last segment.

I must admit... I'm a little sad that this journey has come to an end. A few weekends ago, we filmed a sport bike practice at Carolina Motorsports Park and I guess you could say that was officially the last portion of riding that we intended to do. As we headed home, I mentioned to Carlo that it would be icing on the cake if we coud sneak in 1 more mx practice. And true to Carol G's pro fashion, he made it happen. And that's mainly the reason why I'm so bummed. No matter what the situation was at hand, Carlo G made it happen. If you really think about it, I was just a tag along with a video camera in hand.

This journey actually started back in May of this year. Carlo sent me an e-mail saying he wanted a profile video sort-of like the teaser I made for Tom Kraft last year. Usually this is just a 1 day event but Carlo had something bigger in mind. Instead of a 2-3 minute video, he decided to have something more like a movie made about himself.

It was sometime around the end of summer when we finally started rolling with everything. And to fire off this journey, we just filmed a play session at Carlo G's shop. That's actually another thing that made this journey so nice. His shop is about 5 minutes from my house. So it was nothing to meet up. He also never required that I drive anywhere. I would either meet him at the shop or at his house (which was around 15 minutes away) and I could ride with him and the fellas in his van. When he really didn't have room, he made room! That spoke volumes to me. He was really putting in a solid effort to make his movie of A day in the life happen.

After the play session at the shop was in the books, the very next week we headed out to Club mx in Chesterfield SC for a day, and a week or so later, Cedar Cairn in Concord for a few sessions. It was during these times when I heard things like, mile long wheelies and backflips. I already knew he could ride a good wheelie but the backflip... I just had to see that for myself.

Around this part of the journey, daylight savings was still in affect. I met Carlo at his house one evening after work and the next thing I know, we're blasting down Albemarle Rd, filming Carlo on 1 wheel. The other wheel was in the air. Now that the adrenaline was pumping pretty good, it was time for the backflip. And he did it twice!

Next up was the big air jump. There is a huge mound of dirt that is ever so gracefully next door to Carlo off Albemarle Rd. It was one of those jumps where you had to make sure the wind wasn't blowing too hard. Cause there was definitely some air time involved with this jump. And don't you know it. Just so I could get several camera angles, Carlo hit that jump numerous times. He even pulled off a heel clicker on 1 of the jumps.

In a nut shell, that pretty much leads us up to these last 2 events. The sport bike practice worked out perfect and to put a ribbion on this whole deal, we filmed our last session at Beaver Creek MX. I must give a big high five to David Root for allowing us to film at his track.

So here we are. The very last segment! Along for the ride was Carlo G's niece and the super fast TJ Snow. One more thing! When we met that morning, Carlo said that he wasn't exactly feeling it and almost called this session off due to some back problems. After a Red Bull and lots of good ole country talk, you'd never know it. To me that's just another thing that makes Carlo Gagliardo a pro!

Here are a few screenshots from my video camera.

Beaver Creek Compound with Austin Root

Now this is what you call striking gold! A couple of months ago, I started hearing and seeing things about a private mx track that involved David Root. If you happen to know David, then you'll know that guy puts his whole heart into everything he does.

At first I thought it was just a place nearby that David Root and David Wollenhaupt were gonna build up over the years to come. But that would totally go against what I just said about David giving his whole heart. Next thing you know, I'm hearing 100 footers.

Lets rewind a bit here...

David puts his whole heart into everything, David has access to a private track, which now has 100 footers and I receive an invitation to go out and take a few pictures. Yep! I struck gold!!!

Austin was a little bummed since his 250F Kawi was down and had to ride the ole faithful 125, but good grief... you'd never know the difference if you watch him ride. And my buddy Hunter had another flat. So he took a few laps on the 125 while Austin was resting.

A few other riders were out jammin too. Blake Hovis and a couple other guys that I didn't know. Mucho thanks to all the guys riding cause they made it really fun for the picture taking guy!

Here are a few of my favorites. After you finish here, head over and check out the entire gallery at: http://brianbunn.smugmug.com/Motocross/Beaver-Creek-MX-112611

Carolina Motorsports Park - A day in the life of Carlo Gagliardo

For the last couple of months, (or so it seems) Carlo and I have been trying to work in a sport bike riding session for the DVD. Several attempts were made but none seemed to work out just right. For a while, I was starting to think a road session was never gonna happen, at least for the sake of the DVD. On the last attempt to make a run at it, everything worked perfectly. On the chilly morning of November 19th; Carlo, myself and Tom, a friend of Carlo, was heading south.

Carolina Motorsports Park is located in Kershaw SC, and all I've ever heard about this track was... no one is allowed on the track for photos or anything else. Not even close! Knowing this ahead of time, I was afraid that our only sport bike sesh wasn't gonna be worth the time. In addition to that, this track was considered a green track (something I learned that day) and there were crashes happening all over the place. Lemme tell ya, it's nothing like motocross practice. If you fall on the mx track, and all of your body parts are still working, you might get roosted by your buddies when they pass. With sport bikes, everything comes to a complete stop. Nobody moves until everyone and everything is clear. I guess it makes good sense with the speed these guys are going.


So, being the professionals that we both are, Carlo and I walked up to the guy and explained what we were doing. And voila! Permission granted! Now... it wasn't the best kind of access, but it was way better than standing behind the gates.

I once heard that Carlo was "the man"  out on the sport bike tracks. All I can say about that is you should've been there to see for yourself. I actually thought his bike was choking cause it wouldn't go fast enough. He is most definitely " the man".



Check out a few of these screenshots from that day.

 

Carolina KTM Ride Day 10.23.11

When my alarm clock went off this morning, I thought long and hard about rolling back over and slipping back into that peaceful land of zzz's. But I knew I'd really be bummed out if I did that.

I knew of a couple of friends that were gonna be there but lemme tell ya - the whole motley crue was there!  It was good times for sure. And let's not forget the folks that put all the work into making this track so nice for all the riders. They really deserve some praise! All I can say is... that was one gnarly track! Thanks for this ride day. You couldn't have asked for better weather.

Check out a few of my favorites!