Bas Van Steenbergen’s latest video release, ‘Canvas’ comes from the hallowed freeride ground of Virgin, Utah, but it’s definitely not just another freeride video. If you haven’t watched the video yet, pause now and enjoy it HERE. Otherwise, read on for a look at the process behind the masterpiece.
Photographer/filmer/rider/van-builder extraordinaire Peter Jamison was on hand capturing these phenomenal stills on top of his video duties, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that one of his shots graces ‘Chroma’, the photo gallery in Beta’s premiere print issue. Hopefully by now you’ve seen several angles of this move in the full video, but it’s worth another look:
Here’s what Peter had to say about the shot:
“As with every photo or clip we captured on this shoot, there were a lot of steps taken before Calvin and I even turned our cameras on. All of us had to first create the setup for Bas to be able to bar drag, before ever considering documenting it. Once the feature was built, it still wasn’t the most simple image to capture. It took a few mornings of testing and tweaking for Bas to figure things out. Frozen dirt was something we even struggled with for this shot; one particular morning we watered the berms and an ice layer immediately formed on the dirt. Despite all the hurdles, as a team we had a jolly good time with this feature and it turned out to be one of the more memorable moments.”
For more backstory on ‘Canvas’, we checked in with Bas Van Steenbergen, Peter Jamison, and filmer/editor Calvin Huth.
“I have always raced, and I think most of my riding is inspired by racing of some sort. Whether it’s BMX, motocross or DH racing, I think that will always be pretty present in my riding. I guess I just always like going fast and riding flowy features, so I figured I should do the same in Utah.” – Bas
“This was my first film trip post-lockdown. Even just the travel there and back was kind of gnarly. Having limited flight paths both days were super long, and then the quarantine when I got home was pretty lengthy as well. It was definitely all worth it though, it was such a fun trip and I knew what I was signing myself up for before traveling.” – Bas
“The line that started with the rollers for sure was the sketchiest and trickiest to get right. It was super hard to get the speed for each feature in the line; I would have to hit those rollers as hard as I could, race the first and second stepdown, get a pedal in and pull up as hard as I could for the first big gap. It measured out to be about 75 feet, so any mess up on that technical run in would be pretty problematic. And, the last feature in the line was terrifying to try since you only saw the landing once you had jumped onto the pad.” – Bas
“Like any project there are always unique challenges. Luckily we only had one winter storm roll through, dusting all of Virgin in four inches of snow. However, we were able to build the final hip in the snow, so we definitely made the most of a snowy situation.”
“The cold mornings were tough too…some mornings our features were completely frozen. Bas was literally riding ice berms one morning, so we had to call it, it was way to dangerous. Another morning the water pump froze. I even peed in the pump to try and thaw it… We all had a good laugh about that, plus it didn’t work!” – Calvin
“Utah is definitely one of the only places where you can have three people go build and film an entire piece in three weeks. It’s a ton of work, but that’s why I love the Utah. If you’re not afraid of the work, you can make a lot happen!” – Calvin
“Honestly, there wasn’t really anything we left on the to-do list out there. The hip we shot at the end of the trip was almost a bit of a bonus, it snowed the day before we built it and didn’t think it was gonna happen, so we pretty much shot everything we set out to build, and everything worked out pretty well!” – Bas
“Generally, when Calvin and I work together he handles cinematography and editing, while I handle additional cinematography and stills. It is a tricky system, but after a few projects together now we have an efficient flow when out shooting. With Bas in particular, he is an absolute workhorse and was willing to do a bunch of laps on almost all of the features. His hard working attitude gave me the ability to capture so many stills on this project. Thanks Bas!”
“To get slightly more nitty gritty, I will almost always bring a photography backpack and video backpack to the zone with me. For each given setup, Calvin and I will plan the video shot list and that takes first priority. Once the main video clips are captured, I will take out the photo camera and snag a few moments while Calvin gets a few extra bits for the video. Depending on the day, I will also get a few still photos captured while the athletes warm up.” – Peter
“We wanted every line and feature to be completely unique and built from the ground up, so it was a pretty full-on three weeks. We had two days off the whole time I was there and we got super lucky with the weather.” – Bas
“It might sound cheesy, but the most satisfying part of a project like this is getting to work though personal goals with riders. Pieces like this are often huge undertakings for riders. To be the person who’s there with them, helping to make that happen, is something I don’t take for granted.” – Calvin
“The bar drag on the scrub is probably my favorite shot. That’s been a bit of a dream of mine for a long time and I was super stoked to make it happen!” – Bas
“The three of us work so well together because we take ourselves super seriously, we don’t goof around at all and none of us find farts funny.”
“But actually, I think being motivated, hard-working individuals is the biggest thing. It wasn’t a secret what we were getting into, so we were ready for the grind. With the right mindset, it’s a blast.” – Calvin