Yet Another Reason I Love My Job...

The first day back to work from Christmas break you'd normally expect things to be a little slow. Not everyone is back in the office yet, things are still slow from the attitude of Holiday lethargy that pretty much permeates the U.S. ...

So I was pretty amazed when at 10:30 yesterday I broached the subject of shooting some video for an upcoming (rush) video project. The project is about how eco-friendly my company is. The script is quite extensive and involves lots of video clips of nature, trees, beach, etc... Rather than spend a FORTUNE buying stock footage for everything we needed (if it was even available), I suggested we drive out to the coast and get shots of hikers, of trees, coastline... Imagine my surprise when my "supervisor" (it's in quotes because he's technically the supervisor, but he's really just one of the gang here at work, we're all really laid back) said "sounds good, what are you doing for the rest of the day?"

I jumped on BART (the commuter train), pedaled my new pink bike home, jumped in my Jeep and headed out to the Coast with Kelly (work let me bring her as my Camera Assistant, she ended up being the still photographer, tripod assistant, location scout, navigator and other half of the laugh-squad).

We had an amazing adventure!!

The only bit of background info you need to know is this: We had a ton of things to shoot and were in a race against sunset, which was at 5pm yesterday.

We stopped off in Martinez for some quick shots: of an old barn/windmill we happened on and of an oil refinery and then proceeded to plan our route to the beach: HWY 4 to 580 to 101 to good 'ol HWY 1 - the coastal route.

An old metal piece of farm equipment near the barn. Photos by me.

Before crossing the Richmond bridge, we drove down a hill and this scene unfolded before us:

(pre-bridge PIC HERE)

We were both in a panic trying to find a place to turn off and get the shot! Finally we found a side-road and got distracted by some horses...












One of the horses. Photo by Kelly.


...before deciding the best way to get the shot was to hike across a field, into a marsh and onto a convenient little wooden foot-path that had been constructed in the marsh. The whole time we both felt like someone was going to come after us and tell us we shouldn't be there. It made it even more fun! :)













The mountain view after hiking across the field and some of the Marsh. Photo by Kelly.


















Someone had dumped some old mattresses in the field, topped with this janky old trunk. Pretty cool to take pix of. Photo by Kel.

Next we headed down to Muir woods to get some shots of the Giant Sequoia Redwoods. It was the fastest sightseeing trip ever! I'm going to have to go back there, because until yesterday, I didn't even know there was a bunch of Redwoods there to see! LOL.

At 4pm, we paid our ten dollars to get in ($5 each), hiked a bit, shot the video and were out within in 20 minutes.













Some of the Giant Sequoia Redwoods. Photo by Kel.

Some quick driving on HWY 1 (if you've ever driven HWY 1, you know that quick driving is nearly impossible, considering the crazy, winding, cliff-perched roads) and we had an act of serendipity happen to us: A happy accident: we saw a sign for "Muir Beach Overlook" and decided to check it out. I don't think we could have had a more fortuitous moment in photography/videography.

The fog and clouds hung right below the tops of the cliffs, making it impossible to see the ocean. What we did see was a sea of clouds and fog, with the setting sun nestled into them, beaming it's rays of orange, yellow and red right into them. It was STUNNING, BREATHTAKING, AMAZING. When we got out of the car we were practically giddy, stumbling over each other and the car keys to open the back of the Jeep and grab the tripod!

Here's what we got:

Photo by Kel.


















Photo by Kel.

Next, we jumped back into the car and decided to try and make the run to Stinson beach before Sunset (5pm). It was 4:43. The drive took us about ten minutes. A frequent phrase between Kelly and I yesterday was: "We're burning daylight here, people!" said in a british accent (name that movie for bonus points!!) We practically leaped from the Jeep, grabbed the gear and ran out to the beach. Set up the tripod in the sand (only to have it sink over and over again) and realised that we were going to have to take our sandals off to get the shot we needed (of feet making prints in the sand and then waves washing them away). The ocean in Northern California is FREAKING COLD. All year. It's bearable in the summer. But HOLY COW the water was cold yesterday. We spent a few minutes jumping in and out of the water, trying to acclimate. Finally, when we couldn't feel our feet anymore, we got the shots! Yeah!! It was one gorgeous sunset.













Photo by Me. (My fave of the day)













Photo by Me.

We wrapped, stowed the equipment and put socks on our freezing feet. Cranked the heat in the Jeep and started the long drive home in the dark up the winding roads around 5:30. Home by 7:30! Let's do it again tomorrow!! :)

2005 to Today!

In 2005 I somehow ended up on a documentary-filming expedition in the South of France. And when I say ended up – I mean ended up. Seriously. It was quite a turn of events. At the time I was working for a hideously dishonest British man who happens to have a lovely father. (I was actively looking for a different job and eventually wound up in Mississippi… and then back in Utah, but that’s another story) Anyway, Horrible boss' Father (Bill) is a bit of a history buff and is very interested in the mystery at Rennes-le-Chateau (More later on that).

My boss had the idea to send me over to England to film a series of interviews for his lovely business partner. He must have mentioned this to his father, who became very excited because he was in the process of planning his next expedition to France for research and a bit of mischeif. So I ended up spending a week in England for the interviews (got to pop up to London town and tour a bit and see Les Miserables!) and then headed down to Carcassone and the Rennes-le-Chateau area with Bill and two other lovely people – Sandy, an archaeologist, and Ben, another lover of the Rennes mystery. (Ben Hammott – thetombman.com)

We stayed at a gorgeous new (for France, 1923) Gite (a house you can rent) in Esperaza, Aude Languedoc region of France, called La Maison du Chapelier. It is owned by a great English guy and his French wife. They run a hotel out of half of it, and rent out the other half of the house as a residence. It was lovely!



















Our Gite - "La Maison du Chapelier." There is a lovely boulangerie around the corner that has fresh bread (french bread, of course!) and pain au choclat every day! Yum!


Let me tell you, the South of France is everything everyone makes it out to be. Seriously.
I grew up near Napa, and Napa, while pretty, ain’t got nothin’ on Southern France’s rolling green hills and valleys covered in perfectly planted vineyards. Medieval Castles still dot the hillside – you can stand in one “tour” (tower) and see three others on the facing hills.




























The soft sunlight caresses the region (really, there’s no other way to describe the delicate interplay between light and land there) and you can just feel the history of the place all around you, whispering its long-hidden secrets quickly through your hair, barely inaudible, yet always there. (Obviously, I needed a minute to wax poetic just then... okay, I'm over it.)















Me on the Tour Magdala (Magdalene Tower) at Rennes le Chateau.



















Bill & Ben

Aude Languedoc was once a Roman region, and you can still find (and bathe) in the ruins of Roman baths built on hot springs. It is also the region where the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail and Priory of Sion come heavily into play in medieval times, and where Christ’s body is rumored to have been buried (and still lay, for whatever that’s worth - which is, in a roundabout way, what brought me and my companions to the area).

I have to say, I had no idea of what I was getting myself into. All I heard was: “Trip to England and France?” Right. Sign me up. “What? I’m going to film an archaeological expedition? Sweet! Lets go!”

I really wish I'd had more background info on the project before I went. Normally I would have researched the heck out of the subject before jumping on a plane, but I was finishing up my last semester at the Y and working 3/4 time as well. I had zero time. In fact, I skipped out on “walking” at graduation to go on the trip. Pomp and Circumstance or crawling around in caves and visiting castles in Southern France? Yeah, just try and tell me I made the wrong decision. I’ll laugh really, really hard.















So, long story short, while we were there, a small group making a documentary film on a subject similar to Dan Brown’s DaVinci code (the Film was set to release a few months after I returned from France) collaborated with us to film our group’s expedition (and use my footage) as Ben Hammott, one of our party, had actually made some amazing headway with solving the mystery of the Priest Sauniere. He’d actually found one of the artifacts Sauniere had hidden as a part in a series of clues left to solve his mystery. Part of my expedition was to find the second clue, which we did.














Near the site of our "Finds" (The guy in the BYU sweatshirt is actually wearing my BYU sweatshirt. It was chillier there than he'd anticipated so he borrowed it. It was quite humorous as he is in no way, shape or form connected to BYU... ya know?)















Our "Finds"

Bill, Ben and Sandy agreed to let the producers of the documentary use our footage in exchange for letting us use their footage for our own documentary once theirs had been released. That film was FINALLY released this year in limited release. It did the festival circuit, some colleges and indie venues across the states. It is releasing on DVD today. I’ve ordered it and am expecting to receive it today. It should be interesting.

Disclaimer: I have no idea whatsoever how this film looks, what its ultimate message is, etc (sadly)… so, I have to say cautiously – check it out, but beware! I think the message is trying to discredit the resurrection of Christ, ultimately, but I’m not sure… All in all, watch it carefully, be a responsible viewer, if you do choose to watch it, and take things at face value. For my part in the film, I was privileged to be part of an amazing archaeological discovery and loved every minute. Nothing we discovered lead to the conclusion I mentioned above and none of my companions on the shoot believe the two subjects (of Christ’s resurrection and Sauniere’s mystery) to be interconnected in that manner – it is believed that Sauniere’s mystery may have more to do with discrediting the Catholic Church than with discrediting Christ’s resurrection…)

That’s it. I hope I haven’t confused you too badly. The short of it:
Theres a film I helped film. It releases on DVD today. I think you should check it out (carefully).

Oh, it’s called Bloodline. And Netflix is carrying it.

Cheers.

Housekeeping!

Its been a while since I've blogged. Is the novelty wearing off? Or am I just doing less exciting things these days?

Ha. Probably option 2.
Work has been keeping me busy! I've had a nice project load these past two weeks: An awards video (two big days of shooting for it), a duo of videos for Canada (1 English, 1 French) and one other project that I honestly cannot remember right now. Lol. I heard a very exciting rumor for next summer though: We may be sponsoring Keith Urban's tour! Wooo! As much as I loved working on Tim McGraw's video, I enjoy Keith's music much more... hopefully there will be another video for me to work on (and some more concert tickets!!) :)



















I spent the weekend catching up on a few things. I was most excited to finally get prints made (thanks to Kelly!) of a few of the travel pictures I've been wanting to frame up for my house (my walls have been bare since I took over the lease). The photos turned out amazingly well and I'm really excited to get them situated all over the house. Here are a few of them: