Jimmy is a genius. He walks around, pant hanging half off his butt, ciggy barely hanging on to the corner of his mouth, super relaxed, kinds looks like he is just cruising, then … BAM, he delivers you a viral vid that you feel should be winning Oscars.
He really has an incredible feel for his subject matter and manager to draw the soul out and expose the truth of it, whether it’s a rotary ink printer or a hand stitched jacket. Pure genius. 

He tells us how and why…
Q. Give us some background on how you reached this point in your career, what work have you been involved in over the past few years.
A. I grew up in the film industry, so i didn't put up too much of a fight to end up where i am today. I started working on the bottom rung of camera department on a few feature films, then left to ride BMX full time. While riding Tyrone Bradley and I made Unleash The Fury 1 and 2, films about all our riding adventures. . From there the guys who did Boardriders TV started using me to shoot BMX, skate and surfing. After that work picked up and I started shooting more and more other stuff and learning how to create the visuals I have floating around in my head.
Q. When did you get hooked on shooting film etc, was there a moment where you knew this was you future?
A. Yes, on the first feature i worked on, I found myself doing some BMX stunts. I had an old Arri 2C 35mm film camera attached to my bike and did all sorts of jumps and other stuff for an onboard angle. (The sort of stuff that’s so easy to get with a GoPro these days...) then when the director saw the rushes from thats days shooting the look on his face was so rad that I just decided that thats what I want to do, shoot stuff that people like.

Q. You are an eccentric little freak, tell us what inspires you on a daily basis, what gets the creative juices flowing?
A. Zombie and Horror films are my biggest influence, I think its so rad to shoot stuff that you don't want to happen to you. I guess its the polar opposite to all the Reality TV crap that’s around these days. They are generally low budget so it's also about doing as much as possible with as little as possible in the simplest way possible just like we did when we started shooting BMX films. Now days I also get amped on how people are shooting things like snowboarding and Downhill MTB because they have big budgets and can create the most amazing visuals of a guy doing the most normal stuff. I guess these are opposites but I don't really get anything from all the stuff inbetween...

Q. explain your process, how do you go about shooting a subject?
A. Well with the Black Hawk Project I walked in to the office and it felt like we were 100% on the same page from the word go. So I just set it up to look pretty dark and edgy, its not white budgie after all. I had such fun lighting it, it was a super simple setup but it worked out great! then when we shot the other stuff and we didn't have as much control I just tried to make it match as much as possible. Sometimes I don't have such a clear idea of what I’m aiming for so I shoot it a bit safer and have more options to play with in the edit. This one was special and I loved every second of the production.

Q. what are your plans for the future of jimbaloosh?
A. I try to plan as little as possible and let life take all its twists and turns. I want to shoot Zombie films for the enjoyment and all the grittiness and fake blood, and I want to shoot super clean commercial stuff too and they are both challenging creatively and enjoyable. I've also been involved in a few music videos lately which I enjoy because of all the creative freedom and how it can look as rad as you want it!
Thank you Jim.
Rad, thanks boys!
For more of jim’s awesomeness:
www.vimeo.com/jimmyreynolds
website coming soon at www.jimmyreynolds.co.za
Black Hawk Winter vid http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=10150105888329111
|