South Seas Explorer

South Pacific Ocean:  Its strange how life works. Its strange how dreams come true. When I decided in 2007 that I was going to travel the world and start a video blog, I thought I was embarking on an expensive indulgent project that would take me no where in my career. I thought that it was the last great f*ck-off before I got a real job. But what I didn’t realize is that I was making a name for myself as a camera guy who travels the world. And that whenever someone I knew needed a traveling camera guy, they’d think of me. This has been the case for 4 years… and every new project has compounded the effect to the point that I now have a veritable career in my desired field. And so it was about three weeks ago… just after I returned from Cambodia, I got a call from my friend Marcus who needed a camera guy to come with him on a sailing adventure from Valdivia, Chile… to Easter Island. Three days later I was on a plane to Chile. And now here I am… on a 72-ft sailboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean… documenting the expedition’s scientific mission to measure the levels of plastic pollution in the oceans. My favorite part so far; steering the ship at 3am, navigating through the darkness by watching the Southern Cross, enjoying a cup of tea while swapping stories quietly with new friends. Yeah… strange how dreams come true.

Siblings in Asia

Phnom Penh: Between February 7th and March 7th, I traveled with my brother and sister through the countries of Cambodia and Laos. It was one of the best trips of my life… as the three of us get along very well… and having them with me on the road begot a constant supply inside jokes, bad puns, and references to our childhood. None of us had ever been to South East Asia before… and though we certainly found it to be a bit more of a drunken European mess than we expected… we surely had a good time. Highlights included the Paklai Elephant Festival in Laos, a journey through a 12-km-long cave on a small wooded boat, and swimming in multiple waterfalls and rivers. The best part probably came on the last day, as my sister and I quietly rode rented bicycles along an old rail trail on a small island in the middle of the Mekong. Pedaling past dry forests at sunset, the smell of cooked rice and wood fires blowing through the sunset air… we arrived at a concrete ledge at the end of the island. We stared out over the river at a spot where there were supposed to be dolphins… and we just sat and watched the day end. Sure… Angkor Watt was amazing and beautiful. But the quieter moments with my siblings is what I’ll always remember. Not that the video demonstrates that at all. Oh well.

Extreme Sports

Mammoth Mountain, California: Over the weekend, I went up to the Sierras and enjoyed one of the best days of skiing that I’ve had for years. This was due to a combination of three reasons. The first is that I’m not drinking any booze this January… and as a result, I’m really energetic and healthy and ready to hit the mountain. The second reason is that I was with a gaggle of great friends, and anything is better with friends. The third reason was that I was testing out my newest camera purchase; the GoPro HERO. These little cameras have been around for a few years, and have made a big impact in the extreme sports world. Designed for surfing and motocross and such like that, they’re lightweight, waterproof, and shock resistant. So I hit the slopes with friends and an extreme sports camera. And we had a blast. We also made a fun little video that made my East Coast friends jealous of our easy California living.

Underground Filmmakers

Undisclosed Location: A few days before Christmas… I received an invitation from a friend of a friend to attend a party in an underground bunker. This was the sort of invitation that I just couldn”t turn down. Myself and about 25 people were led through the woods, to what seemed to be an inconsequential location overlooking the Pacific. Our host reached down by a small bush, and lifted up a hatch, revealing a muddy hole just large enough to crawl through. Inside was a huge military bunker with hallways and interconnecting chambers large enough to fit maybe 2,000 people. It was an awesome party, and one of my immediate thoughts was that I had to come back and film something down there. So when my friend Brent showed up from New York for the holidays, I suggested that we shoot the latest episode of his character-development project down there. The two of us had been talking about collaborating for a long time, and I had an idea that worked well for both of us. I conceived of the story, produced and shot the piece. He developed the character and acted it out. We both shared in the editing. It was a super fun project to be a part of. And I’m sure that I’ll find myself back in that bunker sometime in the future. Where is the bunker, you ask? Well… I could tell you… but…

Greenfield Village

Dearborn, Michigan: This may be the coolest dorkiest place in America.

Prospectors!

Desolation Wilderness, California: I’ve been coming to this protected wilderness area every year since I was 15 years old, and it continues to surprise me. This time, I was joined by good buddy Tyler… who was making his 4th trip up there. This time we got ourselves lost in a fanciful image of a mythical past full of rugged gold-miners and mountain homesteaders. Though indeed the Sierra Nevada was home to some wild explorers in the 1860′s, our principle infatuation was in their relationship to various inebriants. At the grocery store on the way up to the mountains, we found a tasty-looking bottle of Port, and decided that had we been prospecting the local creeks for silver, we would have been appropriately supplied. Indeed, we brought two bottles of Port on the trail with us… and spent the trip congratulating one-another at how “prostector-y” we were.

In the Convent

Pisa, Italy: I lived in a convent this weekend, working for the MediaEval 2010 Initiative. What does that mean, exactly? Well… it took me the whole three days to figure out that one myself.