100 Miles in the Mountains
Aug 23rd, 2011 IN personal

At 4am on August 20th my brother-in-law Zach began running. 24 grueling hours later, after 100 miles of Rocky Mountains he finished the infamous Leadville Trail 100. In addition to completing one of the toughest races out there, Zach and his wife Kylie are in the process of adopting a child from South Africa. This race was part of their fundraising efforts for a donation to the orphanage. Way to go Zach!

During the race my father-in-law Scoot shot all this video and asked me to edit a short piece they could share with their supporters.

In the Name of Science
Aug 17th, 2011 IN work

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Back in the Summer of 2008, I worked on the production of Body Trek a short film that examines the physiological changes that take place in a person's body as they climb a 14,000 foot Colorado mountain. This film is part of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science's permanent exhibit Expedition Health and is on display there in an object theater with an ultra-wide screen.

We used two Sony F900 HDCAMs with prime lenses mounted together on a single plate to create a panoramic setup. The two images were shot slightly overlapping and were later stitched together to create the panoramic image used in the film. The tripod alone weighed 65 pounds and the entire rig took a good 4-5 people to carry. It was so fun to work with this kind of technology and image quality high in the mountains. The end result was something we were all very proud of and will be on display in the museum for years to come.

Skiing Blind
Aug 4th, 2011 IN work

Back in the winter of 2008 I was lucky enough to be an cameraman for a documentary called Blind Skiers Edge. It is a film about Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to ever climb Mount Everest, his technique for skiing, and the state of blind skiing today.

I had met and worked with Erik on many projects before so I was used to regularly being inspired by him and his audacious adventures. What was really unique was the day we filmed a group of newly blinded Iraq & Afghanistan war veterans as they stepped into skis for the very first time. These wounded soldiers, who had giving their sight for our country, nervously approached this new challenge. They were learning to deal with their new disability in real-time, before our very cameras. When they each skied down the hill alone for the very first time and with arms raised triumphantly, realize they could still do anything they put their minds too, blind or not, I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. It was one of the most truely inspiring things I've ever witnessed.

This is a preview of that film, in a poor resolution, that has nothing of the soldiers in it, but I hope it at least gives you the basic idea of what it means to ski blind.

Mountains of Crested Butte
Jul 28th, 2011 IN personal

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Was fortunate enough to go spend the last five days in my most favorite of mountain towns, Crested Butte, Colorado. Took four different images while mountain biking near Paradise Divide and then stitched them together into this panorama all using my iPhone. What an amazing little device and an even more amazing place.

Mount Everest Basecamp
Jul 18th, 2011 IN work

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Back in the Spring of 2007, I spent two and a half months in Nepal filming Everest: Conquering Thin Air 3D Imax, the sequel to the highest grossing Imax film ever made, with MacGillivray Freeman Films. For almost two of those months this was home, a tent at 17,500 feet at the base of the famed Khumbu Icefall. It was my first time ever working with Imax film and one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The film is due out in 2013.

What the World Needs?
Jul 12th, 2011 IN thoughts

I recently heard someone say, "What the World Needs is More Creativity!"
Not to be preachy or a wannabe scholar, but here's what that question made me think about.

Creativity often results from situations where one is actually forced to act on their feet and come up with creative, novel solutions in order to succeed or survive. Take someone stranded on a deserted island for example. Well, in our current world of convenience and comfort not a lot of people willingly place themselves in these kinds of situations. Whether it's a product of laziness, a fear of failure, or insecurity; a lot of people greatly avoid the pressures of having to be creative because frankly they don't have to. They can get by without it. As a result we wind up copying and slightly altering the results of the few brave people who have made a leap to be truly creative. So often the progression of things is greatly slowed because so many people aren't willing to put themselves out there. They just want to stick with what works or what kinda works cause it's easier, because they can still survive that way.

So, while it's probably not the only thing the world needs, I'm sure some more creativity wouldn't hurt.