In the hot deserts of Baja California, a wall of dust engulfs a crowd of spectators who have come to watch the annual Baja 1000 off-road desert race. Thirty feet above the roar of the racing trucks and billowing clouds of dirt, Producer/Director Kevin Puotinen is strapped to the side of a helicopter, capturing the race in all of its glory. For most, standing on the landing skids of a helicopter flying at 100 miles-per-hour would be considered a harrowing task, but for Puotinen it's just another day on the job.

Ready, Steady, Go!

Kevin Puotinen's self-start production company, Antarctica Productions, officially began operating in early 2005. Though his days now consist of a variety of exciting projects, in the past they weren't always to be desired. "For awhile it was pretty much anything that would allow me to gain experience," says Puotinen, "but now it's really turned into working on quality content that I enjoy."

Shooting the Baja 1000 is just one of many projects Antarctica Productions has completed in the last year. In addition to the Baja 250 and Baja 500 races, Puotinen was swamped with shooting and editing ad campaigns for California governor candidate, Meg Whitman; web promos with Sylvester Stallone; a short film starring Jon Lovitz and Ken Davitian; and base jumpers leaping off snowy peaks in Utah to promote Clearwire's Rover, a pay-as-you-go 4G mobile broadband service. Needless to say, Puotinen has been keeping busy. "I'm a one man band on a lot of my own personal projects, but I've been trying to step away from that and bring in crews. That way I'm able to produce better content, while working with people I can trust to get the job done r…