Man… so i can’t stop thinking about the people that Project Athena serves.
People who perhaps haven’t learned that there are SO many good people out there, just waiting to help them with anything they could possibly dream of.
Perhaps that’s just one thing about our culture that i’ve never understood… why it’s ok to just suffer-alone… why people feel compelled to not reach-out for help when they well and truly need it.
Team-building exercises like the one we just underwent in the Grand Canyon, force people to rely on others. Strength truly is in numbers. You can be an Army of one, but sometimes you’re going to need
your buddy next to you to lean on when things are seriously in the tubes.
Today was sort of a ‘reflection-day’. I’m working on details for the upcoming bike-in-the-desert-trip surrounding InterBike. It’s SO gear-intensive that it’s a little daunting. In order for us to take the next step as a production-company, we need to involve all the pieces necessary to pull off the production the way it’s required… and i’m faced yet-again with a probable need to spend yet more money on gear to get the job done ($75k in the last year apparently hasn’t been enough…). So, i’m working on another list… wondering if we can get enough content, hoping that we can solve our nagging lack-of-power issue to recharge everything while out in the middle of nowhere… and also still wondering why clients never answer their phones.
I’m also dealing with a bit of a marketing issues. Wondering how it can be made more streamlined… can we edit up everything that was shot on this last trip and work in bike-stuff from the upcoming trip for our in-house promo? Will clients be stoked on it? We’re also bringing some new technology into the mix which should be ridiculously fun… (i’ll share later) and i can’t even tell you how stoked i am on it!
Blah blah blah… now i’m just typing for the sake of filling space… baaaaaaa-d-d-d-d-d….. ok i’ll stop.
Here are a few other photos from the Project Athena Trip. Still editing, still working… still thinking.
Went out again this afternoon to hike a bit above Taylor Pass to check out this singletrack that i’ve been obsessed with lately… and brought Cath… what a great little hike. 4wd up Xpress, then hiked for a while to just below the top of the M&M’s… had some rain showers, hail, awesome clouds, and Osprey Packs to carry gear with. What an amazing load-carrying system… certainly one of the finest i’ve had the privilege of using to-date. Hauled around 50lbs of camera-gear up with us, and the only thing that felt the weight a bit was my legs. My back was unencumbered by the equipment… and i felt super-stable hiking to well over 12kft (in sandals)
I wanted to get my carrying-system dialed in before i leave for the Grand Canyon in 2 days to support www.projectathena.org. I’m volunteering a few days of hiking and photo-support for a fund-raising trip they’re taking to the Grand Canyon. Hiking the Rim to the Rim (and then back to the Rim). 44miles over 2 days to support their non-profit with photos for 3 publications who are coming along to document the trip. I’m stoked! I’ll post up if i can while out there, and certainly upon returning back to base, with photos edited and ready to go.
I’m STILL attempting to solve some power-in-the-field issues i’ve been having, centered around our desperate need to have a means to recharge while on-location. Calls have been made to several companies, but nobody seems to answer their phone/check emails/return phone calls out there… How do businesses stay in business? I’ll get it sorted out hopefully, but it’s looking dire, what with the upcoming bike-trip for around a week with no plug-in-options along the way (in the middle of the desert), and solar being our only option. Can you HEAR me Goal-0 ?
OK, enough… It’s 0120hrs and it’s time to call it a night…
here are a few shots from this afternoon.
So i decided after a phone-chat with the good-people over at Yakima the other day, to show them some lifestyle-stuff that hasn’t been shot in Oregon.
I’m having a difficult-time understanding why companies insist year-after-year, and season-after-season, on shooting the majority of their collateral in their backyards. Doesn’t this
make location-photographers obsolete? How do you introduce VARIETY to your campaign materials?
Are companies THAT pinched that they can’t spend an extra several hundred dollars to get to another location?
REALLY? wow… Just for the sake of giving someone something different-looking, i wouldn’t even charge transportation-time to get to another location… hell, i’d even drive all my shit there to-boot!
Here’s some stuff shot in what amounts to our backyard… 30min from the house. Minimal-prep (we decided to go about an hour before we packed up and left), some lighting, some props, and some people (including myself in the frame for filler). What did it cost? Less than $100k ?… Think we could do the same for your company? Eh…. probably. Think it would be equally painless? Eh… who knows. We’re not really into drama over here… so my guess is= yes.
So, with the Outdoor Retail Show behind us now… it’s time to focus on what we CAN do for clients.
Last weekend we bounced our way up Pearl Pass in search of some amazing locations where we could shoot
both footwear/running/hiking along with some vehicle-accessory-type things (racks, etc).
What we found was pretty much beyond compare. I haven’t seen wildflowers and light that beautiful for a long while.
Ice-cold streams running thru velvety-green high alpine wildflower-kissed meadows, trickling their way down and across our narrow double track, with some of the more majestic peaks in the state
graced views in every direction. Around every corner, the view just seemed to get more amazing, as the light settled and the shadows lengthened.
Clients… if you can hear me… ‘we should be using this location sooner-than-later’…!
Let’s get your end-of-summer campaigns shot!
Here are a few things we came away with while up-high.
What a smashing success we’ve had over the course of the past week!
Outdoor Retailer in SLC was amazing. We had Courtney from Two Penguins productions join us, and
a pleasant-surprise from Heather Hill (www.H2Brandworks.com) as well. Fantastic meetings with clients and prospective-clients
and what looks to be a lovely marriage between photo/video/marketing in what will probably be something entirely new to the industry.
More on that to come.
Most importantly, i wanted to send out a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who dedicated their time and energy to chatting with us at the show.
VERY nice to see everyone there, and many-thanks for indulging our interests in your company!
We look forward to communicating with you in the coming weeks/months/years, and hope for a healthy and happy relationship
assisting you with your marketing and collateral needs in the coming years!
Here’s the ‘embed’ So you can check out the gallery yourself, and all the beautiful images that have made it thru!
Congrats everyone! And congrats to all my friends who are in there as well!
Man, so finally the end is in-sight (i think)… on the final approach to the Outdoor Retail Show. Retrieved promo-cards from Boulder yesterday and they look great!
Now i’m just putting the final touches on some portfolio-images to integrate into the iPad presentation… and then i think i’m ready to re-launch!
Video-ends are coming together i think with the TwoPenguins-alliance as well, which i’m VERY stoked about.
Sounds like we’re going to be working on our promo-piece in late-august, to launch at the world of Outdoor clients… I’m very excited!
Not much else to report. Another wonderful weekend of amazing mountain biking in Crested Butte was knocked-out last weekend… and looking forward to getting back on the bike hopefully this evening, for a pedal someplace… perhaps Snowmass…? Maybe on the hard-tail?
Probably time to get out and shoot a bit more too, i’d think. Need also to work on video-clips of biking from around here so i can complete a bit of a local-project that i wanted to compile from this summer.
I’m off the back once again. Been tied to the desk doing retouching-work and prepping for the OR-show in SLC.
Heading to CB tonight to ride this weekend. May have some photo-updates upon my return!
What a fun weekend! Actually stepped away from the computer and got out and did some shooting! My friend Dave Clifford (www.davecliffordphotography.com) was teaching at the annual Rock and Ice Photo Workshop up in Marble, CO. So i went up there to (ostensibly) help him drag lights and gear about, and to lend a hand with answering questions etc. What a fun-day we had! Met in Redstone and then drove up past Crystal City… hiked up a scree field and then worked with some 5Ten athletes (climbers) and chatted about photography with students who’d signed up for the workshop! What a fun day! Weather cooperated, light was ok (mostly mid-day, but workable), and everyone was stoked i think! Was super-great to meet new and interesting people and to be outside doing what i love most! Photography!!!!
