Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Inspirational wednesdays, Interview with Roman Königshofer, ocean stoked filmmaker

I met Roman in 2012 in San Sebastian. He and a crew of Austrian filmmakers and photographers were filming a surf documentary all along the coast of France, Spain and Portugal.
By the time I was working at Surfrider Foundation, and they first contacted me to ask for our sponsorship for the project.What I loved the most about my job at SF, was the opportunity to be in contact with all kind of interesting projects involving surfing and ocean stoke people. I'm still thankful for that!

I met Roman at their way back from Portugal, as all the crew stayed in my house for a couple of nights.
For me he had all the looks of a typical Austrian. Tall, super blond and athletic. I thought he was some kind of a professional surfer!, and despite I never got the chance to see him surfing, I know he surfs amazingly good, he understands nature so much, it can't be other way.

After 5 minutes talking I knew we were in the same channel. We could've perfectly spend hours speaking about surf, travels, movies, art, simple living, exploring the world, etc. This is a man living his dreams everyday, working with his passion and I always admired that in other people.

He just launched his new stunning reel a few days ago, and I interviewed him about how he got at this point of his life pursuing his dreams, what traveling means to him and how is working on something you love.

So, here we go:

-Roman, how come you ended up doing the job of your dreams? 
I guess because I was always following my gut instinct…

-Why traveling is so important in what you do? 
It’s important for me as a person. It puts you in a state of awareness, it inspires and sometimes even transforms you. Instead of thinking how things may be, you see them as they are. And all that reflects in your work.

-What is one of the best memories filming/shooting lately? 
I just came back from a short trip/shoot from Switzerland. Two friends of mine came with me. When we were arriving the agenda got messed up though and we constantly had to adapt to the new situation. But we managed to get the needed shots in a very short period. It’s just a good feeling when you manage stressful situations like this. It gives you confidence and let you grow.

-One of your favorites projects? 
Shooting the ASP tour back in the days was always fun. I was traveling with great friends and we also had time to surf by ourselves - what more can you ask for?
http://vimeo.com/romankoenigshofer/surfchronicles

-What place you would go again and again and why? 
I love Morocco. It’s close to Europe but a totally different world. We met the most hospitable people on the earth there and of course the surf is great!

-What is Surfing for you?
Freedom & fun!

-Source of inspiration? 
Mother nature. Sunlight. Other people.

-Next destination and future plans of exploring/working?
I’m looking forward to hang out on the mountains at home and sleeping under the stars. Internationally it’s a never ending list, really. But some of the the upper ranks of the charts are definitely Africa, Nepal/India, New Zealand & South America..

Thanks Roman! 

Just to finish, did I mentioned he's an excellent photographer too? Check his Flickr here

Roman's selfie at a travel of Nicaragua & Salvador, 2012
And here's his new reel, enjoy it!









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