The Future Professional Outdoor Photographer is………

…a storyteller!

You have certainly heard, maybe even said it yourself; anybody can take a picture! While that has always been true even before digital, the level of high quality photography is more prevalent today and easier to achieve. Why is that?

It is a combo of many things. Digital technology has made the ability to capture and process an image very easy. Software has brought many tools for interpreting a RAW file into a unique personal vision for the photographer. The web has brought us the greatest learning tools ever known. It simply is not that hard to learn how to create wonderful photography.

Yet one thing has always been there challenging professional photographers. It has been there from the early days of film to the today’s digital world. It is the biggest roadblock to success in photography.

Maintaining a current business model! … Continue Reading

Watch This Stunning Kayaking Video

If you are an avid, or not, photographer looking to make movies with your video capable dSLR, then you probably spend time looking at the work of others. I do because I want to learn how great adventure and nature filmmakers create their moving images. Simply to learn.

I look at camera angles, lighting, movements, high speed motion vs. slow speed motion, audio, music, and most importantly; the story. I spotted this video  on Chase Jarvis site that brilliantly shows all those ingredients I mentioned, masterfully molded into a 7 minute film on kayaking in Mexico. The A-team is Anson Fogel and Skip Armstrong of NRS and Forge Films, collaborating on this project; Cascada. Take a minute and be inspired.

CASCADA from NRS Films on Vimeo. … Continue Reading

One Camera and One Microphone: Filming a Conservation Project

by Jerry Monkman

When Canon introduced the 5D Mark II a few years ago, I decided to give shooting video a try. I
had long been shooting still photos for land conservation projects and it seemed to me that
turning some of those projects into short videos could be a great way to tell the story of the land
being protected. I had no experience shooting video or recording sound, but what the heck – I
now had a camera that shot video, so I was all set.

As usual, I may have overestimated what I was getting myself into, but after six months of
practice, I was able to pull of this video for a client who helped foster an easement that will keep
the Anderson Farm in agricultural use for future generations. … Continue Reading

Death Valley Dreamlapse #2 by Gavin Heffernan

Filmmaker Gavin Heffernan has just released another wonderful night sky film from Death Valley.

As Gavin states: “This time our adventure took place at the infamous sliding stones of Racetrack Playa Lakebed in Death Valley. No UFOs this time (we THINK) but we got lots of cool shots of the stones themselves, as well as some epic starscape stuff — including a desert aurora, crazy star trails, and an awesome milky way pass. ”

DEATH VALLEY DREAMLAPSE 2 from Sunchaser Pictures on Vimeo. … Continue Reading

Jerry Monkman Launches Kickstarter Campaign for Conservation Film

Editors note: Jerry Monkman is a well known New England nature, adventure, and conservation photographer and he recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a very important conservation film. We asked Jerry  to tell us about the conservation project and film.

I have devoted a majority of my 20 year career to helping to conserve open space throughout New England. This year I have decided to embark on one of the more ambitious projects I have ever undertaken: The Power of Place, a 30 minute documentary film that explores the negative impacts of Northern Pass, a proposed electricity transmission line that will run 180 miles down the center of New Hampshire.

When I first head about Northern Pass, I’ll admit that I thought it was a fairly innocuous project. After all, I happily use electricity every day, and more than 75% of the proposed Northern Pass route will follow an already existing right of way. However, my mind changed when I was asked by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests to produce a series of videos about the project. The more I learned about the details of the project and talked with people who will be directly affected by it, the more I believed that Northern Pass is a bad idea for New Hampshire. New Hampshire will just be giving up too much, and the benefits that may result from the project are too little. … Continue Reading

Video Pick: So God Made a Photographer

Great video here honoring the Super Bowl ad: And God Made a Farmer for Dodge Trucks. It was created by the Santa Fe Workshops.

Video Pick: Death Valley Dreamlapse

After the great response to SUNCHASER STAR TRAILS, my brave team and I trekked to the world-famous Eureka Dunes in Death Valley National Park to search for some of the darkest skies on Earth. Despite temps below freezing, we went on December 13th, 2012 – the night of the Geminid Meteor Shower Peak, and a time of great planetary alignment. Armed only with boxed wine, firewood, and our DSLRs, we had to conquer epic climbs, sand roads with the 4×4 Jeep, and the occasional UFO! … Continue Reading

Gavin Heffernan’s Joshua Tree Time Lapse Video Part 3

JOSHUA TREE JOURNEY 3: STORM from Sunchaser Pictures on Vimeo.

Related Post: Gavin Heffernan’s Joshua Tree Time Lapse Part 2

Stunning Aerial Footage from RC Helicopter

The explosive growth in aerial photography and video using RC Helicopters is providing some stunning videos. In this video shot by a team including photographer Corey Rich for Mammut, the team went to the Trango Towers in Pakistan and captured some breathtaking angles of the climbers.

Related Posts: Adventure Sports Photographer Corey Rich Shoots a Budweiser Campaign,  Chase Jarvis Shares How He Filmed an REI TV Commercial

John Eklunds Time Lapse Video: Purely Pacific Northwest

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Related Posts: Brilliant Filmaking: Sean Reeders Yosemite Time Lapse,    Gavin Heffernan’s Joshua Tree Time Lapse Part 2 … Continue Reading