Dan is doing something different right now. While most kids his age are putting together impossibly technical ledge lines, or pumping around on their front wheel for miles at a time, Dan is pedalling his ass off at set-ups that are larger than life. It’s been an intense experience watching his style develop over the past 5 years; it’s turned into a complete disregard for his own well-being, and it scares the shit out of me. The big stuff is casual and he’s flagrantly putting it on the line pretty much every day. It’s not exactly the most relatable type of riding at this moment in BMX, but there’s always room for the dead man.
Interview.
1.Explain what motivates you each day to do what you do?
My love for riding my bike is my biggest motivation of all! I feel like I always want to be pushing myself as a rider and filmer because I’ll get bored if I don’t. I’m always looking for a different rail or ledge set up or different angles when I’m out filming. I think it keeps everything more fun and exciting that way and it’ll keep bmx from ever getting stale to me.
How did you get into filming, how did you start learning about cameras?
I got into filming a lot later than when I got into riding. I got into it because my close friend Jake (Petruchik) and I would go out everyday after school and go ride street and we started to want to capture what we were doing because we had never done it before. For my 16th birthday my parents got me a little soccer mom camera and I didn’t like leaving the house without it from then on. As far as learning, a lot came from just going out and trial and error. But I was really lucky to have Darryl Tocco and my friend we called Redbeard who would always help me with any questions I had or tell me when I was blowing it haha.
How does being involved in filming and editing help you when filming your own edits or parts with other filmers?
It’s great when editing your own video because you can portray yourself and your riding exactly how you want to, but its usually homie cam or just tripod shots you have your friends press a button for so it’s a give and take. When it comes to my own footage I prefer when I get to work with other filmers. Especially people like Darryl and Christian who I know I’ll be hyped with how the footage comes out whether its just the filming or filming and editing.
What’s your opinion on filming SD? Do you think it still has its place in BMX?
I definitely think it has its place but I wouldn’t miss it if it was gone haha. I think when guys who have been filming SD since day one are still using VX’s that’s awesome. But when there is 14 year old kids in 2015 trying to preach on the Internet about their opinion of “SD for life” it’s actually comical when we all know they were in diapers when the VX was in its prime.
Will Dan Coller be filming with a drone anytime soon?
I don’t believe so but I am not against it! I think they are rad and can be used really creatively but I’m waiting on some new cameras as we speak so that is not high priority for me.
You don’t seem to stop riding and traveling, what’s with that? I think you might have a problem… 😉
Haha I definitely would say I have an addiction! Even my friends I ride with try to tell me I “ride too much”. Right now we are working on a Kink project called Intervention where Darryl, Calvin Kosovich and I are all filmers for the video as well as riders so I’ve stayed very busy on the road and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When this project is over I’m gonna make sure I stay riding and filming on the move. I don’t like staying in one place for too long. No days off from bmx!
Hometown spots get blown out easily and I know how its hard to find motivation when you’ve ridden them for years, how do you feel about that? Do you look with a fresh set of eyes when standing in front of the same old spots?
Absolutely. Having guys like Chris Doyle, Connor Lodes and Mike Gray roll through my hometown of Rochester the last few months and watching them look at spots differently then my eyes have ever seen them is huge motivation. It makes me want to try and be more open with how I look at set ups and it’ll make me find more creative ways to use spots that I’ve been riding for years!
How do you cope with injury? What else occupies your time when its not riding?
I’ve been very fortunate to not have to cope with injury for a little while now but if I were to get hurt tomorrow I would stay eating healthy and doing whatever I could to heal up as fast as possible. When I’m not riding I’m either holding the camera looking for the best place to eat and the strongest cup of coffee to keep me going.
How many countries do you plan on visiting by the time your 30?
As many as possible. I’m not worried about a number but I would like to hit all continents by 30 for sure! Excluding Antarctica, I could do without the cold.
