I feel compelled to share with you my latest documentary short film in the series I’ve been commissioned to create for Russell Investments. This particular piece is about planning–a topic that bridges my client to the rest of the world’s day to day endeavors–but it might as well be about inspiration. That’s the primary reason I want to share it here… Not for the commercial message, but because Helen Thayer is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met.
She began climbing mountains in New Zealand with Sir Edmund Hillary (first man to summit Everest) at age 9. She solo walked to the north pole at age 50. She has walked thousands of miles across numerous deserts, most notably the Gobi Desert in China, when she was 60 . She has walked across Antarctica. She has lived with wolves in the Yukon for a year. She was a national champion in track & field and luge. She has represented 3 countries in international competition. It came up rather casually that she’s summitted Mt. Rainier more than 20 times. And she most recently celebrated her 70th birthday by kayaking the Amazon River. Oh, and she’s really coming into her own now as a National Geographic photographer. She’s 72 now and she’s showing no signs of any real slowing down.
You’ll see a few shots in the video of her snowshoeing along a snow-capped ridge. I’m buzzing over her shooting out of the helicopter. Immediately following the shots you see, a storm blew in and we had to land and pluck her from the ridge. I’ll never forget this brief moment… we set the chopper down atop the peak…”We gotta get out of here,” I belted under the roar of the rotors. I explained that we were in an emergency situation an that we needed to get out of there immediately. She gave me a wink, and asked if I could leave her up there and come pick her up in a few days time after she’d had some time to look around a bit more. She said to me, as serious as a heart attack, “I’ve got plenty of food and water and I quite like it up here…” I’ll never forget it.
[See the first two documentary shorts I created for the project here. And the ‘making of’ video which features the RED one camera and Nikon D3s camera here.]
Always great to see people who can see their own goals and targets crystal clear!!
thanks for sharing Chase 🙂
Just had my first big break with a branding firm. They want to do a “talking head” segment, much like what you’ve done here. Less personal story and more financial stability talk. 3 minutes max per person. I am scrambling to put together a bid to account for all the unknowns and equipment I need for video. I will use either a pair of D300s or D3s. Sound is just as important as well, so I am having to cover the bases on mic equipment too.
A super long reach, but are there any quick bullet points/lessons learned that you would expound as critical information that you’ve learned and thought were vital when dealing with the video side of things? Whatever tidbits would be amazing.
Thanks,
Todd
Once again.. impressive and inspiring work.
Well done.
@grady: it’s simply called inertia… 😉
” A problem is only a problem until it’s solved! ”
Loved that!!!!