An earlier post of mine featured a recent trip to the Uinta Mountains, and I'm happy to say that Orvis selected my story, photos, and the short video of the trip for their web page. You can check it out here.
I'm not a "classically trained" writer, I don't call myself a photographer (there are way too many others who take better photos than I do), and I really wasn't on the trip to shoot any usable video, but I must say I'm happy with the results of all three. I like the praise from Pat Monahan at Orvis, "The Trifecta! A great story accompanied by killer photos and a video."
Since my trip to Alaska I've been on four trips to the Uinta Mountains of northern Utah. They're one of my favorite places on earth with their grand vistas, verdant valleys, miles of crystal clear streams, and their innumerable lakes with colorful brook and cutthroat trout.
Our faithful companion taking a much needed rest from chasing chipmunks.
Freshwater Adventures has been providing air cargo service out of Dillingham, Alaska for many years. Owner Jerry Ball's experience is unmatched when it comes to safely traveling through the vast Alaskan wilderness. Thanks to him and his employees at Freshwater Adventures, people can successfully enjoy the remotest areas of southwest Alaska. I just finished spending two weeks in Alaska shooting video and photos (and primarily fly fishing), and I loved flying in their vintage Grumman Goose. Jerry and company flew us to a remote lake, landed on the water, taxied up onto the shore, and deposited us and all our gear in the "Alaskan bush" (in four flights total). Eleven days later Jerry flew us out from a gravel runway over 100 miles from our drop-off point. It was a flying experience that rivaled my time in the F-16...except at a much slower speed.
Here's my personal items packing list for the trip: Packing List
As part of an ongoing series of videos I've been creating for the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, here's a quick trailer created to promote the FUNdamentals Camps held at the Utah Olympic Park every summer for young teens. I shot on the Canon 70D as the kids participated in a myriad of activities during the four day camps. The autofocus system on the Canon 70D is truly amazing and makes single person filming much more manageable in uncontrolled documentary settings. This camera, along with a variable ND filter, make it much easier than ever before to properly expose and capture good footage.
Zeal Optics is a great company out of Boulder, Colorado that creates all sorts of eyewear ranging from hip summer shades to bomber winter goggles with integrated video cameras. I'll be taking their sunglasses with me on our Alaska trip and shooting video/photos of our team using the sunglasses in the remote wilds of Alaska. Meanwhile, I shot a few shots locally at Park City and Snowbasin for the Zeal Optics crew.
This was a great month to wrap up three video projects and now feel like I'm not multi-tasking too many creative endeavors. Park City has been our base of operations for the month and we've loved every minute of it...good food, good friends, lots of hikes, lots of bike rides, some fishing, more food, some snow, some sun...basically a good time. Next month is a big month with two weeks spent in the remote Bristol Bay drainage of western Alaska where I'll fly fish for huge salmon and shoot some video for Zeal Optics. Sounds like another great month to me.
Special Olympics Utah runs a wonderful program called Project Unify in which students with and without intellectual disabilities play and compete on teams in both soccer and track. It's an inspiring program, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to help promote it to students and school administrators. I sincerely hope more schools choose to participate in this program in the future - the benefits to all the young athletes is beyond words. You can learn more about this and other programs at the Special Olympics Utah website (www.sout.org).
Last week we finished the principal photography for a short film we are creating for the Utah Heritage Foundation. Utilizing a small crew and two teenage actors (twins, actually) we shot everything over the course of two days on historic 25th Street in downtown Ogden. The film's message is about the importance of a Main Street to all towns, large and small, and the film will be part of a curriculum developed by the Utah Heritage Foundation for kids in elementary school. We scouted the area months ahead of time and utilized old photos from the area to show that the buildings haven't changed much nor has the vibrance, energy, and community of the people who occupy them.
One of the greatest aspects of video-making is the opportunity to meet people, peek in on what they're doing with their lives, and to learn about their passions. I'm able to get an inside glimpse into the lives and lifestyles of many people, and while I don't have to make their lives my own, I do get the benefit of seeing them doing what they love to do.
A good friend of mine recently hired me to make a documentary video of a high school softball team he helps coach at a local high school. It was a chance to gain an insight into a sport I've never played before and have little interest in. That doesn't change the fact I was able to meet a wonderful group of young women who really love each other, who truly embrace playing as a team, and who know softball is a great way to prepare themselves for the future. Their determination, self-assurance, and upbeat attitudes made me very hopeful for their generation. I'm thankful for the chance to stand in the dugout and on the field and film them doing what they love - playing softball!
I am way overdue posting this, but through the support of all the people who liked our Snowbasin video, THE WORLD OPENS UP, we won the Southwest region in the Warren Miller Hometown Hill competition. Thanks to everyone for their support! The next round of voting for the National champ is in September. In the meantime, here's a photo of Emma and Lucy enjoying a nice ski run after the lifts closed at Snowbasin.
Our video, THE WORLD OPENS UP, made it to the second round of the Warren Miller Hometown Hill competition, so voting is open until midnight Tuesday night (22 April) at the Warren Miller Facebook page (http://bit.ly/1gLGoGn). It'd be nice to win the region and see the video play this autumn at all the Warren Miller screenings in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
We're making a series of videos about the people behind the scenes at Snowbasin Resort, and the first video in the series highlights veteran ski patroller GR Fletcher. He and the other members of the Snowbasin ski patrol are up well before the crack of dawn to set into motion their avalanche control plan. I had the good fortune to follow GR around early on a beautiful morning as the ski patrol team did avalanche control work around the Needles Peak area. We look forward to presenting this and the other videos before the start of the 2014-15 ski season.
Congrats again to Patrick Pearson for filming such amazing footage. On April 5th our short film PEARSON STYLE will be playing as an official selection at the Leavenworth Film Festival which focuses on outdoor films. You don't have to attend the festival to see it; you can see the film here on our website.
I just finished editing a video featuring Snowbasin local skier Jim Forster in a video we shot this month at Snowbasin Resort. It was a great excuse to hike the upper ridges and chutes to get some shots that hopefully reflect the nature of this wonderful ski area. Everything was shot using a Canon DSLR, a Panasonic HD camera, and a GoPro Hero 3+. Initially I wasn't sure if I'd use the GoPro a lot, but now I use it daily to take pictures, such as the above picture I used as the placard for the video. With the wide FOV it's certainly easier to catch the majesty of the locations. I also love the rapid shooting mode to capture jumps and the time lapse to capture hi quality photos of different phases of a ski run. All in all, it has ended up being a very useful tool to have in my backpack.
(April 2014 update: This video has made has made it to the final eight in our region in the Warren Miller Hometown Hill competition. The winning film will be shown at the Warren Miller screenings this fall.)
I just finished editing a short video compilation of some truly amazing footage shot by Patrick Pearson and his crew out in Europe. He's based in Switzerland and is really pushing the envelope in the sport of speed flying. The video is currently featured on the Outside Television homepage.
I've been shooting a lot of video out on the snow these last few weeks as I learn how to get better video out of my GoPro Hero 3+, as well as my Canon DSLR. Unfortunately, video takes a lot of post production time to create something worth viewing, so it's always nice to snap off some photos for instant gratification. Here is a classic technique of combining a sequence of photos into one frame using Photoshop. It might not be a new trick, but it still works great.
I'm heading up to Powder Mountain quite a bit this season to lend my hand as the Powder Mountain Ski School video advisor, but my time on the mountain also gives me the opportunity to work on my photography skills. Here's a photo of a nice guy named Josh from Breckenridge.
When I created the original video about John Young, a SLC luthier, I knew it was too long at almost 15 minutes in length. While I love hearing all about the various aspects of the violin making world, I finally found time to cut it down to less than five minutes long. This is hopefully beneficial for folks, such as myself, who have a hard time watching anything more than a couple minutes long.
It's finally snowing again, so it's time for me to post some photos I took on my first day of "work" as the video advisor at Powder Mountain Ski School just after our last round of snow earlier this month.
