Community
Mar 18, 2020
Over the last two years, we've watched Steven Donovan push the envelope with 360 content, leaving us and thousands of others watching and rewatching his seamless loops.
Known as the 360 wizard, over the last year Steven chased opportunities across the U.S., hustling to build his portfolio while working odd jobs to make ends meet.
And the result? Not one, but FIVE of Steven's clips made it into this year's HERO8 MAX Million Dollar Challenge video. We were especially curious about one clip: The insane rope swing off of El Capitan. How does one find themself swinging off a 3,000 foot granite monolith?!
Stepping outside of his comfort zone in more ways than one, Steven put himself in front of the lens for a change to get this clip and took a leap of faith-literally.
GoPro: Swinging off of El Cap ... supes casual. What went into making this shot happen?
Steven: I turned down this swing almost exactly two years prior because it absolutely terrified me. I didnt have too much regret not doing it since Im perfectly content capturing the stunts and dont feel a particular draw to scaring myself for the adrenaline rush. Swinging off the top of El Cap is truly a once in a lifetime experience, so when I got a second chance at it, I had a feeling it was something I shouldnt pass up again.
I was pretty anxious the week leading up to it and barely slept at all the night before, but as soon as I clipped my harness into that rope, (most) of that anxiety went away and I felt pretty calm about the whole thing. As soon as the swing was in motion, I had this intense wave of euphoria and felt a huge weight come off my shoulders for having done it.
Ive never felt the need to prove myself doing these stunts, but I think part of that has always been out of fear. I didnt feel the need to prove myself to any of my friends that were there, but to prove to myself that I could over come this huge mental block that had my brain telling me I was going to die if I did this swing.
What GoPro were you using settings?
I knew I wanted to capture every angle of this moment to relive forever so having the MAX with me iss my number one choice. I usually shoot in the highest capture quality of 6k at 30fps.
It was kind of last minute that I decided to get the foot cam angle, which I got by loosing up my shoe laces and putting my mouth mount underneath the laces, then tying them super tight. I figured my leg was like an extended self that still left one of my hands free to hold the rope. So this time, I shot in HERO mode using the Max SuperView digital lens at 1080p 120fps because I knew Id want to slow that short free fall down as much as possible while also maintaining a very wide angle view to capture everything.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Steven Donovan (@es_dons) on Jan 30, 2020 at 1:33pm PST
--
Not once, but twice you've now made it into Million Dollar Challenge videos. How does it feel to be a two-time Million Dollar Challenge awardee?
Being featured in the Million Dollar Challenge last year rocked my world and completely changed my life.
I didnt necessarily change my life and my routines, but it gave me the support to keep doing what I was doing, upgrade to a van from a little truck I was living out of and helped me to stay focused on capturing the content I was truly passionate about instead of whatever would put food on my plate.
Did you put a lot of pressure on yourself to keep topping up your content?
Subconsciously maybe, but I wouldnt call it pressure. Its just a natural fascination for coming up with new creative angles which are pretty endless when it comes to the MAX. Ive really dove into 360 the past couple years and feel like Im only scraping the surface with what kind of creative shots are possible.
What are you going to put the earnings toward this time around?
Pretty much the same as last year and just pour all the winnings back into this lifestyle to keep adventuring and living on the road. Now that I have the van of my dreams, Ill probably spend some money on getting new tires, shocks, solar and other upgrades to the van. I have also spent the past few months investing in my own business venture by creating a custom 30-foot carbon fiber pole with a manufacturing company that I will have for sale soon.
What's next?
I take life one day at a time and like to keep my schedule open for those last minute adventures that always seem to find me, but I also want put more effort this year into planning bigger trips and getting my own business up and running.
Any tips you'd give aspiring videographers or your younger self?
ORGANIZE YOUR FOOTAGE, seriously, organization is something I struggled with for years and still struggle with a bit, but I've gotten so much better at. The bigger file structure the better-folders are your friend.
Other than that I think its really important to just trust in the process. Its so easy to get discouraged in the beginning and think youre ready for your big break, when youre really not. Dont wait for the opportunities to come to you, go after them as hard as you can because all of a sudden your big opportunity will come to you, but if youve been in the same place all along waiting for it you wont be ready and it will pass you up. In my own case, I always dreamed of shooting professional action sports but never had the access to pro athletes, so I shot whatever I could so that I could master becoming a pro at my own craft behind the camera.
With that being said, if you want to shoot action sports, youre not going to get there by shooting weddings. I got offered a full-time video job with benefits making swim training videos, but I turned it down to go out west and work seasonally. I cleaned toilets and carried peoples luggage up stairs for four summers in National Parks so Id h
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
Community 
