CHURCHVILLE – Take a passion for photography and a love for driving trucks and you’ve got yourself an Internet Sensation.
JimHowDigsDirt is a YouTube channel that features videos of trucks: plow trucks, bulldozers, Bobcats, tracker trailers and more. Collectively, for 180 videos, they have 3,335,527 hits and 1,036 subscribers, as of Jan. 27, 11:35 a.m.
The man behind the videos is a Churchville man Howie Hennigar.
About five years ago, Hennigar, discovered YouTube. He liked what he saw and posted a video he took with his Canon camera of a D11 bulldozer. It was two minutes long and was the first video he made. The video has more than 850,000 views.
“It didn’t go viral, but it’s starting getting a lot of hits,” said Hennigar. “I thought, this is pretty cool and I started adding more.”
His passion for trucks and photography began in Hennigar’s youth.
“As a kid, I was always asking Dad about cars and trucks,” he said. “I remembered one time, him telling me about every car he ever owned. That is when he told he wished he had pictures of them.”
When he started to own cars Hennigar took pictures of them all.
Hennigar drove trucks for years and then graduated from NSCC Truro in 1993 for graphic design. He started his own company, Photo Graffix, 15 years ago, restoring old photos and providing graphic design services. The company didn’t survive and Hennigar moved on.
He started his own excavating company, JimHowDigsDirt, four years ago this spring and used his video to promote business, featuring his skid-steer loader.
“When you are running equipment it’s not really working,” said Hennigar. “I just like getting in the machine and going.”
Hennigar has viewers from the United States, New Zealand, and Australia viewing his videos. Even his 89-year-old mother goes on YouTube every day to watch his videos.
Part of posted material anything online is feedback.
“Most comments positive,” he said “There is always some couch operator saying you should be doing that or this. If it is just there opinion, they are entitled to it.”
“All your videos that I have seen so far are great man... Keep it up,” was the comment on the D11video by a viewer with the user name MrGrambo90.
Another viewer commented on a Bobcat video: ‘Great vid friend! One of the best I've seen showing the versatility of these machines.’
Some comments aren’t as supportive but Hennigar admits he likes some of the banter that comes from the comments.
Hennigar was watching TV one night and saw a man in Ontario make $20,000 a month in his YouTube videos.
“I applied to become a partner and they turned me down,” he said. “A month later they contacted me and asked me to become a partner. I think that is after the D11 video got a million hits.”
With the money he has earned so far, Hennigar has bought more what he calls ‘toys’ to make more videos.
“This is all gravy,” said Hennigar. “I do this for fun.”
Here’s the gear
1 Canon camera
1 Sony Handy Cam
2 GoPro Hero cameras
1 Attachable LCD screens for the GoPros
2 protective covers for GoPro
2 Attachable batteries
2 Tripods
1 Monopod
1 MacBook Pro
iMovie
1 Dashboard mount
1 suction mount
1 chest strap with camera mount
1 head strap with camera mount
Several adhesive mounts, currently used in his motorcycle helmet
1 Bobcat with digger bucket and set of forks, grapple
1 Truck with float
