In late February, 2010, Nicolas Teichrob, of Dendrite Studios, traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, to compete as an invited photographer in the Ski Salt Lake Shootout. This photo competition gives 8 ski photographers 4 days on 4 different mountains with 4 different pairings of athletes, to produce the best possible images in 5 categories.
Travelling with ski gear by plane was a first for Teichrob, so he documented his travels in a way that may be out of the ordinary; with a GoProHD. The GoProHD provided the perfect tool for solo filming and allowed him to shoot both time lapse stills and video. With the variety of mounts available with the GoProHD, he was able to provide unique perspectives on the sometimes boring activity of flying. As a producer for Dendrite Studios (link to http://dendritestudios.com), Perspectives #7 web clip was produced as a result, combining GoProHD travel footage alongside beautiful still imagery. The final image in the webisode is titled “Surrounded” and is of Leo Ahrens, and it won the City Lifestyle category.
Shots: The GoProHD’s capability to shoot in low light was great, and the ease of setting up the camera to shoot a timelapse or two is great as well. To capture some of the unique angles, Nicolas strapped the camera to his bags using the ‘Chesty’ chest mounting harness. With this, he was able to attach the camera to various bags as he wheeled them around Vancouver and the airport. Warning: if you do not make the strap tight enough, or put some safety line on it, you may lose your camera (which almost happened 2 minutes into the trip as Nicolas was wheeling his ski bag on the bumpy ground getting onto the BC Ferries). Another super useful mount as the clamp mount, usually associated with the VIO cameras (VIO UltraClamp mount). This is a versatile mount that has been used frequently by Dendrite Studios. To see more Perspectives webisodes and upcoming teasers of their debut ski film, stay locked on www.dendritestudios.com.
Overall, this was the first time Dendrite Studios used the GoProHD specifically as a tool to get unique travel shots and it worked flawlessly. Couple that with the ease of capturing ski imagery and you have yourself one fine tool that should be added to any filmmakers arsenal.
It’s five thirty in the morning and the thermostat reads –21. I’m in the Yukon and getting ready to try my hand at Buffalo hunting. The GOPRO has been charging all-night and ready to capture whatever comes my way. My only question is will it perform in such cold weather? Only one way to find out.
We load up the sleds. I finish my third cup of baileys and Coffee and hop in the waiting truck packed with sleds and half asleep bodies. It’s about two hours north out of White Horse and just the drive alone is worth the trip. Some of the most breath taking scenery in Canada is up here. By the time we start unloading the sleds it’s warmed up to a cool –17. I’m riding a Polaris 600 and wondering how are prey wont here us screaming around the trails. I pull the GOPRO HD out of my pocket and with a quick snap I mount it to my helmet.
I manage to press record with my gloves still on and we take off on the first leg of our trip. It’s blue sky but feels like thirty below. My head is freezing due to the fact I’m only wearing a snowboard helmet and I start wondering if I’m going to last the trip. One of my buddie takes one look at me as I drive past him and frantically waves me down. He tells me to quickly put my hands on my face due to the fact my cheeks are in the first stage of frost bite! They feel like I have two pieces of tape under my eyes. I warm up the frozen area and one of the other guys gives me his extra face mask. Rookie mistake but no harm done.
We see no sign of fresh tracks, only frozen dung from weeks back. I’m not too concerned if we find some buffalo or not, just ripping around the endless trails and hills is just fine with me. We do some scouting on top of a few hills and then drop down to a very large frozen lake. This is where the fun starts. Not another sled track as far as the eyes can see. After just doing about 24km/h for hours and then getting to open up on the biggest track was unbelievable. The GOPRO captured it all while my friend and I cover every end of the lake doing about 140km/h. If the buffalo were any where near us, we definitely made our presence known.
Tip: if you are going to hunt Buffalo on sleds make sure you use a four stroke and leave the guys who want to just rip around, at home. We then went to the other end of the lake, built a fire and roasted the most amazing caribou smokies. So lean, so good.
One of our friends is an avid hunter and very familiar with the Yukon’s wild outdoors. He has all the gadgets from the GPS to the satellite phone. Naturally, we follow him without question. He decides to take us on a trappers trail and assumes it will eventually take us back to where we started. Well it did. But not before we roll two sleds and bend one ski. We came out empty handed but safe and still with a little light left.
When we got home I was very curious to see if the GOPRO had managed to capture our adventure. I was pleasantly surprised on how clear the footage was and how long the batteries had lasted. My only thoughts is when you are shooting in such cold temperatures it’s probably a good idea to keep the GOPRO close to your body until it’s time to shoot. Because it’s so simple to snap on and off it wont be much trouble. We have already made plans to come back next year and this time we will triumph!
~Mark Zealand
Have you ever been on a Buffalo Hunt? We’d loved to hear your story.
Kevin Sansalone Bella Coola Heli Sports GoPro Hero – Telescopic Ski Pole Test March 9th – 13th
On March 9th 2010 I headed up to Bella Coola Heli Sports in Bella Coola BC for a five day heli boarding adventure. With a ton of new snow and a great crew we knew we were in for some great snowboarding. I brought my GoPro HD Hero with me to get some unique footage and take some photos. The footage looks great and I was really impressed with the photo quality.
In this clip here I am riding almost 5000 vertical feet of champagne powder on an experimental snowboard called the Pocket Woody designed by Johnny Q for Whitegold Snowboards (whitegoldsnowboards.com). I fastened my GoPro HD Hero to a telescopic ski pole and set it to the R2 setting of 720 30p for the widest angle HD quality recording. This was my first time using this camera technique and I really like the results.
[PointofViewCameras] How did you first become interested in film production?
[Sandbox] We have been filming each other riding since the early 90’s and started putting videos together as a hobby in the off season or when I was injured.
[PointofViewCameras] How would you describe your film making process?
[Sandbox] In the old days we would just go out a snowboard everyday and film our friends and film our travels. It was all very casual back then. Now it’s little more of a professional process but still nothing like a major production. We assemble a crew of riders, raise money from their sponsors and industry companies. Then we assemble some filmers and make a plan for the season. Locations depend on weather and snow conditions so we have to be very flexible on a daily basis. We shoot all winter then edit all summer long and release the film in September and travel the premiere tour all fall until the snow falls and we start it all over again.
Jeremy Koreski is the Photo Editor for SBC Surf Magazine and the leading surf photographer in Canada.
Jeremy bolted a GoPro HD to the top of his Aquatech still housing to get these great shots. He will continue experimenting with different mounts to see what other shots can be captured.
It is really quite amazing the clarity that can be captured with the GoPro HD. You have many options for mounting this camera, one of those being the surf mount attachment. Here’s a great video on what can be captured using a pole while skimboarding. How do you mount your GoPro?
Jeremy Koreski is a professional photographer based on Vancouver Island. Born and raised in the town of Tofino, Koreski works for a wide variety of editorial, commercial and fine art clients. With a singular style that sees the West Coast’s cultures and ecologies through the intensely artistic values of his contemporaries, Koreski has become one of the leading recorders of outdoor life in Canada.
