Category: Free Roaming Photography

Though the documentary is still in its filming phase, I have a number of plans for the film coming up in the near future.

In just a couple of weeks, my girlfriend and I will be thru-hiking the Arizona Trail. We also plan on making some kind of film about the hike, but that won’t come until after the light pollution documentary is completed. The hike itself has been a dream of mine for years, so I’m very eager to get going! But then, so has creating a feature-length film.

I’m preparing some shorts from the interviews to introduce you to the different people that will be introduced in the film that I will be posting during rest days while hiking the trail. – Read more

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This past weekend, my girlfriend and I made a quick trip up to Cody, Wyoming for their annual Cody Ice Climbing Festival. Despite the warm temperatures, the festival went on and there was still plenty of climbing (both ice and rock, it turns out) to be had.

Being new to the sport, I did a beginner’s clinic, all of which took place in the South Fork of the Shoshone River Canyon. Our approach to the falls being quite a bit steeper and more rugged than I was expecting. A few spots had me a little nervous, but our guide seemed to know exactly where he was going so I continued on with everyone else to our destination, a route named Wake and Bake.

Though warm, the waterfall was still well suited for a beginner. It had one or two short, but completely vertical segments, with the rest of it being slightly inclined, ideal for beginners.

We had two top ropes set up, one route being a little trickier than the other. My first attempt was up the harder route and proved that my technique was completely wrong since my legs felt fine, but my hands turned to jelly, preventing me from finishing. After a rest and giving the others their turns, I tried the easier route, and ascended much easier with an improved technique, but soon discovered my calf muscles weren’t ready for the entire ascent up. I had a lot of fun, but clearly need to do it more to be able to truly enjoy it as much as I can.

That night, my girlfriend and I left the fest to go camping in the Bighorn Basin, an area that I’m quite fond of and that I believe deserves significantly more protection than it currently has. I was hoping for clear skies since I still haven’t been able to do any night photography out there, but as we found a place to camp, clouds were already rolling in with an incoming winter storm.

Morning brought the clouds of that storm beginning to break up, leaving the badlands and the Bighorn Basin lit with dramatic light, the distant desert mountains sprinkled with a light dusting of snow. I got a few shots of what I could before the bitterly cold wind left my fingers numb. We soon got everything packed up (more like hastily thrown in the car), and then headed back for Jackson.

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You may remember me saying that I would conduct a crowd-sourcing campaign to fund the feature-length documentary on light pollution that I’m currently working on. I’m putting this on hold until early this summer when I’ll have the time to give it the proper attention. But more so, I didn’t want to be traveling off the grid in the middle of when I was to be editing and updating donors on progress. Why would I be off the grid? My girlfriend and I are currently making our final preparations to go hike The Arizona Trail!

Initially, we were looking into the Hayduke Trail, but this turned out to be much more ambitious than we’re prepared for at this time, so we substituted that trail with the Arizona Trail, something we feel much more confident in completing safely.

Since this is my first long-distance thru-hike, I’ve been learning a number of things. The biggest obstacle I’ve been trying to overcome is how to store all the photos and video I’ll be shooting without lugging around a computer, or even having one available at various stops in towns. Both my girlfriend and I were struggling to come up with a cost-effective and lightweight practical solution when I came across a post on PetaPixel about storing photos while off the grid. To summarize, this particular person simply used a tablet as an intermediary between the card reader and portable hard drive, providing both a lightweight solution with just as much functionality as a full laptop. In researching a bit more (aka, my girlfriend pointing it out), I (she) discovered that my cell phone has the same capability to transfer data to a portable hard drive from a USB card reader that is plugged into the phone. So now I’ll have 2Tb of duplicated storage adding a total weight of “just” one or two extra pounds.

Of course the camera equipment I’m bringing along is adding plenty to my base weight. For those that aren’t familiar, your base weight is everything you’re carrying, minus food, water, and fuel for cooking. The goal is to be as light as possible, around 15lbs ideally. At the moment, I’m exceeding 20lbs primarily because of all the camera equipment. I thought about leaving the camera gear behind, but for no more than a few seconds. It’s not an option. That being the case, I’ll be bringing the following gear:

• 5D Mark III
• 3 camera batteries – one in the camera, one ready to go, one charging
• 24-105mm lens for most photography and videography
• 14mm lens for night shooting
• 2x 2Tb back-up hard drives (because I’m not going to trust just one)
• cell phone
• card reader
• solar charger
• adapter for camera battery to solar charger
• carbon fiber tripod and RRS ballhead
• shutter release cable
• 2x AAA batteries for shutter release

All of this adds up to over 10lbs, proving I might be slightly crazy, but it will be well worth the effort. I hope.

On the plus side, we’ve gotten two official sponsors interested in promotion and being featured in the film we’re hoping to come away with. Both happen to make my favorite snacks to have with me in the backcountry (I’m not just saying that). Kate’s Real Food is the maker of five different granola bars that are made just over the Tetons in Victor, Idaho. They’ll be donating a few dozen Grizzly Bars, which are packed with calories and epic chocolatey deliciousness. I always want at least one with me for epic days outdoors. Chapul produces a unique bar made from cricket flour, which of course makes most Americans cringe for a second or two before deciding if they even want to hear about why they’re so much better for the ecosystem. Head over to the Chapul Home Page to see all the reasons why cricket flour is healthier than beef for both humans and the environment we live in. Fortunately, they taste amazing and I love having them with me whenever I’m out doing something active.

If you can’t find either in your area, request them! Both can be ordered online if you want to give them a taste first.

Our next step is coordinating what to send to which post offices for resupplying, and finding friends in Arizona that want to volunteer with a bit of help here and there. We’re planning on being on the trail within the first week of March, so we’re looking forward to getting everything squared away.

One of the highlights of the journey for me will be going across the Grand Canyon, pictured above. Though I’ve visited some part of the canyon over a dozen times, I’ve never actually been down to the river. I’m not only looking forward to seeing the views from Phantom Ranch, but also camping down there. Since we have no idea exactly when we’ll be there, we’re going to take our chances on a spot opening up as soon as we get to the South Rim. I’ve done a bit of research and apparently it happens pretty regularly to other thru-hikers.

Check back here for more info as the starting date gets closer!

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This is the song that I created for my first trailer for the upcoming documentary film I’m working on, Reclaiming the Night. I posted the trailer last week here: Reclaiming the Night – Trailer 1.

I took a bit of a departure from the sound that I had created with the tracks that I had previously made. For this one, I embraced the electronic sound much more blending the orchestral elements that I liked about the previous ones. One of the key tracks that inspired this transition is a song called Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor) by John Murphy. – Read more

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