This is getting redundant, this whole pre-explanation of what makes something special. Hint: It does not have to be some crazy banger. People say it has to do with the story. And while Seamus Foster—the recipient of this week's Shot List—tells a hell of a story with these clips, there are a few more specific threads that run through these. There is an intentionality in the way Seamus films, a vision that extends beyond the, Oh, this angle looks good I’ll stand here. There are also monumental first moments in these selections, it’s as if this list describes Seamus’s journey, where he started, and where he is now. Oh, and what a journey it is. 

Seamus Foster

Originally From: New Hope, PA

Currently Resides: Salt Lake City, UT

Forest Bailey—Line:

Basically, this clip is special to me because I believe it was the first snowboard clip Forest and I filmed together, and this was my first time out of the country and it was my first—what I felt was my first—big break I guess you could say. Or my first real snowboard project I was getting paid to do. Forest asked me to do it, I was tripping. I had met him through mutual friends and he asked me if I would want to film snowboarding with him all year. Definitely had a big case of Imposter Syndrome with that one because I had barely filmed street snowboarding at the time. I filmed a lot of skateboarding. Right before this trip, I got an Xtreme fisheye lens for my HPX and I got a nice tripod but I had no experience using either. And this was the first snowboard spot. It was a creeper to crazy pole jam over a sign. It was very Givin looking, which was cool. I was a big Given video fan. It’s just funny to look back on because that spot for sure should have called for me following with the Xtreme or using a tripod but I did neither because I was scared. I just went handheld long lens from across the street. But I really liked the way it came out. The lighting was cool and that pole jam over the sign was crazy. I don’t know how he did that. And he ate shit so we had a good bail clip in there. We were both hyped on how it came out. 

Jonas/Dan/Noah—Lines: 

This is technically three clips which I hope is ok, but they all happened within the same two or three days. And it was cool because this was my first trip working for K2, met up with the Dustbox and it was their first time filming with each other, that was their first trip as well. They had such a big crew that I was able to help them film and stuff but also steal a few of them away to get content for K2. K2 sent me and Jonas this board, this limited graphic, and said please get some clips on this to make a little Instagram thing. So, we went driving around and found this cutty little alleyway to film a line. We did it a couple of times and then we were like, Oh it would be cool if you did a back one in the street after. It was just super close quarters. I liked the way it came out, the buildings looked cool. And when we were done—right across the street from the spot were those window paintings. I don’t even remember what the business was but there were just cool caricatures of these people and there’s just this random punker with a mohawk. I remember filming it and panning across the people and being like, Oh, it’d be cool when I’m editing to have a chill song, and when it gets to the punker with the mohawk it drops into a heavy song. And then it expanded from there to, Oh, when it drops into a heavy song I want to play a bunch of lines. I want a couple lines in a row. So, then I became obsessed on that trip with trying to find line spots. There was just so much snow in the streets, it kept snowing in Quebec so then Dan and I filmed that line where he hit the c-rail and we had to cross the street which is always hectic. And then we kind of had the same conversation of like, after you do the ledge to rail you should do a 180 on the sidewalk because Jonas did the 180 in the street. And then the last line was Noah Peterson and that spot was just sick. He found that and I just came and met up and was excited to film it. It’s hard to make a wallie on a snowboard look good but he did it really good and landed like six inches in front of me. I was really hyped to have those three clips together because I had it planned out since I filmed the window painting.

Sam Taxwood—Front 7:

I feel like a lot of what I’m picking is like monumental firsts for me. I think this was my second year with K2 and they had just signed Pat Moore. I was told you’re going to be filming some cheese wedges and some powder. I was like, Oh god. I had no experience doing that. Basically, I get hit up by Pat saying, I have this jump built, the Mineshaft jump in Utah. He’s like, it’s built already, I tried to front double 12 it, I kinda landed it sketchy but we’re going back tomorrow morning and you should come film an angle of it. I’ll double you on my snowmobile. I was terrified. I had never done that shit before. I had to borrow avalanche gear. I had never been on a snowmobile. I had filmed some powder stuff but nothing like this, not a double cork into powder. And, we get to the jump at like 8 am. The light is insane, beautiful. He dusts it off and he asks me, You have an angle figured out yet? I want to hit it soon and I really want to land it first try. I’m just like, holy fuck. It’s so scary to not even have a try at filming things. So, the classic angle for this jump is to the side so you can see how big the gap is. But Joe Carter was already over there. I was just walking around with snowshoes trying to figure it out. I just went to the bottom because it looked like he was gonna go really high and I thought the bottom angle would be cool. And he just drops, does it, lands. He rides out of frame and I instantly just watch the clip and I was so relieved like, I didn’t fuck it up thank god. And he comes up and watches it and he’s stoked, he’s hyped. I instantly felt so relieved, not scared. I all of a sudden felt confident in myself. I was tripping so hard and then I was like, holy shit I’m out here in the mountains, it’s beautiful, I can smell the trees. Up next was Sam and it was sick because I remember being way more comfortable filming Sam after I filmed Pat. I didn’t even know what he wanted to try and then he blasts the steeziest front-seven nose grab. I was stoked on how I filmed it for having never really filmed that shit before. And I had no idea where that clip was going to go but it was cool that Stark ended up using it for the first Torment video. And I think it was the only powder clip in that video which is pretty funny. 

Parker Szumowski—Line: 

I love this clip. We had the idea, we set it up, I had an angle that I liked instantly and he just did it really fast. That shit never happens. I liked how easy that was. It’s cool when you work hard for things and you have to go back to a spot multiple days, but it’s also really cool when you set it up really fast and someone does it really fast and it all falls together and you’re on to the next spot. Yeah, I just love this line. I love the mural in the background. I love that he went to fakie on the boardslide. Natural speed. And it was cool because right when he first started trying it, Colton Feldman, Tommy Gesme, and Spencer Shubert rolled up. They had just gotten to Newfoundland to film for Good Sport and they just hung out for a bit. There was no stress, we didn’t feel like we were going to get kicked out. It was just fun, easy. That leads to the next clip which is kind of similar but kind of the opposite. 

Mark Wilson—Boardslide:

If you look at the pad he jumps on, there’s a steel railing. There are two sections of it. There was a third section of that steel railing. It’s so funny the efforts we go through sometimes to make a spot happen. We find the spot and, Oh, it’s really close to being cool but this railing is too long so you can’t ollie onto the pad and get a good line into this down ledge. Next thing we know, we’re going to home depot to buy a fucking saw to cut property of this train track. That’s probably a federal crime or something. It took so long to cut that railing. We were doing it at night and I was the lookout which was cool but also scary. Mark was up there just cutting. I think it took an hour of continuously cutting this thing to get through all the pieces. He cuts through it, throws it in the woods, and we set up the spot. We came back first thing in the morning and he did it pretty fast. And the drop in too was right next to the train tracks, that seems sketchy. But, that’s a cool other end of the spectrum from Parker’s clip. Just putting in an insane amount of effort. But it’s worth it. That clip rules.