Tag: videography

The Canoe (trailer) – a film by Goh Iromoto

John2 Comments

The canoe plays a pivotal role in the history of Canada. It was the vessel that allowed the voyageurs to utilize the rivers as highway systems for trade and expansion. It was the canoe that built Canada into the country it is today.  In the modern era, it serves as more than just a recreational vessel, but a symbol of Canada, and our heritage. I wanted to share this trailer of an upcoming film, scheduled to be released on 2/6/2017 called “The Canoe” by Goh Iromoto, which investigates the relationship of the canoe with the Canadian people.

“This film captures the human connection and bond created by Canada’s well-known craft & symbol, the canoe. Through the stories of five paddlers across the province of Ontario, Canada – a majestic background both in it’s landscape & history – the film underscores the strength of the human spirit and how the canoe can be a vessel for creating deep and meaningful connections.”

“Guided” trailer – Seedlight Pictures

John2 Comments

“Guided profiles the gentle spirit of Maine wilderness guide Ray Reitze, in his element amidst the whispering pines, singing crickets and croaking frogs of the North Maine Woods. Ray shares his philosophy of how to live in harmony with the outdoors to the next generation of guides, grappling with his own mortality as he transitions from the physical world of guiding to a more spiritual understanding of nature and our ephemeral place in it.”

A cool video I came across, with some beautiful shots of the wilderness and canoe culture in Maine. Definitely looks like a place I’d like to paddle one day.

Happy New Years

John2 Comments
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The North Fork of the Shenandoah River

We spent Christmas in a cabin along the Shenandoah River, just west of Shenandoah National Park. The weather was warm enough to paddle, so we paired up siblings and went head to head in canoe races up and down the river. It was rare for all of us to have a holiday break together so we naturally had to make the most of this occasion. I had never been to the town of Shenandoah (population 2354 in 2013) before this outing. And as we drove through this sleepy town, it was hard for me to imagine that this place served a key role during the civil war. There were three iron ore furnaces around this town which smelted raw iron into pig iron. Apparently in the days before the war, this pig iron was shipped down the Shenandoah River to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia. During war time, these goods were transported by wagon to Gordonsville, VA and then subsequently by rail to Richmond where it could have been used at the Tredegar Iron Works. Both of these Virginia mountain towns now are peaceful and quiet as can be. I was especially impressed by Gordonsville’s display of Christmas Lights. It was certainly a welcoming sight while driving through the winding, dark and foggy roads of the mountains.

Trains at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
Christmas lights at Lewis Ginter
Christmas cookies

I just realized that I have not been able to produce any new videos of canoe trips this year. I have several projects in the works right now but they have yet to be polished. I’ve been very happy overall with the performance of the Sony a6000 both as a still and video camera. Lately I’ve been experimenting with different lenses and shutter speeds in videography and have been able to catch some pretty decent footage. For our trip in Quebec, I also brought along an external audio recording device to see how the audio quality would compare to the native mic. Here is a demo reel of random shots I was able to capture in 2016.

2016 Demo Reel: by John Le

As the holidays come to a close and a new year around the corner, I look back at how much time I was able to spend with family and friends and the total number of nights I camped outdoors. While it was a good year for paddling and hiking, the total number of nights I spent outdoors, totaled just five. Four of those nights were in the La Verendrye Wilderness Reserve of Quebec, Canada and the other night was spent camping in St. Mary’s Wilderness. I’ve made up my mind….in 2017, I’m going for double digits. Happy New Years to all!

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Gordonsville, Virginia – all decked out for Christmas. In the middle of the Virginia mountains.

Voyageur Quest (Algonquin Park) by David Hartman

John5 Comments

My favorite adventure, documentary filmmaker, David Hartman recently released this cool promo video he created for a company called Voyageur Quest in Algonquin Park, Ontario. Located in the remote Northwest corner of Algonquin Park, the company offers visitors a chance to stay at a cabin completely off the grid. They offer activities and lodging throughout the year for visitors to experience all that Algonquin has to offer. The video does an amazing job capturing the beauty and atmosphere of Algonquin Park. I have camped in Algonquin Park numerous times in my childhood and recently took a weeklong canoe trip with my brother in August 2014. Itching to go back.

Check out more of David’s work at his website: Hayfire Media.

The Path of Grey Owl – a Goh Iromoto film

John2 Comments

This film by Goh Iromoto sheds light on the remarkable story of Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney), an Englishman who chose to take on the identity of a member of the First Nations people in Ontario, Canada. He was most noted for his work as a conservationist, protecting animals such as the beaver that were essential in maintaining the forests and landscapes in Ontario. Evidence of his work as a conservationist still remains today in Canada. This video also showcases the beauty of the boreal land in Temagami, Ontario, a place I was fortunate enough to experience on our canoe trip in August 2015. Itching to go back.

“Spirit of Killarney”

John7 Comments

In July 2015, we set out to explore the turquoise waters and white quartzite mountains of Killarney Provincial Park. The landscape inspired countless works by Canada’s Group of Seven Artists. This is a video of our trip. Filmed on several different cameras: Sony Nex5, Nikon 5200, GoPro Hero 2, Iphone 5 and 6.

View the full trip log here.

Save the Boundary Waters (A Year in the Wilderness)

John4 Comments

“Dave and Amy Freeman will embark on a yearlong adventure in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in support of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters’ efforts to protect the Boundary Waters from proposed sulfide-ore copper mining on the Wilderness edge. The two will travel more than 3,000 miles by canoe and dog team as they explore more than 500 lakes and streams throughout the year. The journey will begin on September 23, 2015, the fall equinox, on the edge of the Boundary Waters in Ely, Minnesota, and conclude with a paddle along the proposed sulfide-ore copper mining’s path of pollution through the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs National Park. In 2014, Dave and Amy traveled by canoe and sailboat from Ely to Washington, DC, on the Paddle to DC as a first step in their efforts to protect the Wilderness.” – savetheboundarywaters.org

Please help show your support for the boundary waters by visiting the website and signing their petition. Mining affects many of our great canoeing regions. This reminds me of the Temagami region in Ontario and the pressure that mining companies constantly exert on our pristine wilderness areas. What’s unique to the BWCA is the special place it holds in the hearts of many of the American veterans. It serves as a healing place for many of these veterans and is the least we can do as a country to protect it for them.

Algonquin Park – Ontario, Canada

John9 Comments

Watch the documentary of our trip to Algonquin Park (above)

algonquinMy brother and I last paddled the lakes of Algonquin Park over 20 years ago. One day, we decided it was time to return. While designated a provincial park, Algonquin definitely feels more like a national park. Every year, people from all over the world come to Algonquin to canoe, camp and fish in these pristine waters. The size of the park is immense, at almost 3000 square miles, it is larger than Canada’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island. For an American reference, it is larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

On the southeast coast, in Richmond, VA, we spent weeks planning our trip, looking at camping gear, watching Kevin Callan YouTube videos, and reading books on Algonquin Park. I don’t think we’ve ever been this excited for any other trip in our lives. The thrill of adventure was invigorating and kept us energized during long days at work. On September 6, 2014, after a 14 hour work day, we made our way north to Ontario. I took the first leg through the night, in the old Honda CRV powered on red bulls and AMP.

We arrived at the Portage Store in Algonquin Park with only half an hour left before the store closed. Thirteen hours of travel and it came down to the last half hour before they stopped renting out canoes – typical Le Brother style. We rented out a Souris River Canoe Prospector 16, a kevlar canoe.

Loading our gear at the Portage Store access point

The sun was already setting as we paddled across Canoe Lake, and Little Joe Lake. The cries of the loon welcomed us home as we paddled across glass-like waters. Not a cloud in the sky, nor a breath of a wind.  The small, red flickers of distant fires marked the Canadian shield around us. It appeared that most of the campsites on Little Joe were already occupied. We were worried that we would have to travel much further to the next lake of campsites. As we passed around a bend of forest, we found the last campsite hidden on Little Joe Lake. Both of us were far too tired to get a fire going. We heated up some stew in the Eureka bug shelter and turned in for the night.

Little Joe Lake

The following morning, we woke up fully energized. After a nice breakfast of bacon, eggs and bread, we set forth for our first full day in Algonquin Park. We traversed beautiful portages, streams, beaver dams, and massive lakes to reach Little Otterslide Lake as the sun was beginning to set. We spotted a couple of old men camping who practiced some Canadian hospitality and asked us if we wanted to join and eat dinner with them at their campsite. I’m sure they would’ve had cool stories to share but we politely declined and paddled on to our own rock paradise campsite overlooking the beautiful lake. This was probably my favorite campsite of the trip. We baked some pizza for the night, which looked much better than it tasted. As we cleaned dishes by the lake, frogs and turtles approached us because of our headlamps. A pretty magical night on Little Otterslide.

Gorp, the fuel of champions
Pizza into the reflector oven
Looks a lot better than it tasted
Little Otterslide morning
Leaving Little Otterslide

The sun was out in full force the next morning. We utilized this to our full advantage and swam in the cold but refreshing waters. We washed off the grodiness of a 13 hour road trip, and 2 days worth of paddling and portaging. We picked up and headed off for Big Trout Lake at about 3:00pm. It was a late start to say the least and we knew we were in for a long night. We made our way through amazing marshlands. We traveled deep into the night and used headlamps and navigate our way through the swamps. We had some tough portages during this leg but the arrival to Big Trout Lake was epic.

Portaging
Big Trout Lake after midnight
Paddling

We paddled out onto the biggest water we have seen yet. We traveled by moonlight which was shining incredibly bright across the still lake. Not a single ripple for kilometers ahead of us. Such moments are religious. Remarkably, we were able to find an island campsite in the dark and unpacked our gear. As I took off my water shoes, I went to brush off some bark on my feet. It did not come off so easily. This confirmed my fear….it was a leech. We grabbed some matches and burned off the sucker.

Heaven

The next morning we were able to enjoy a full day of rest. No traveling today. It was time to refuel and take in our surroundings. We were able to make a large dent in our food. We fried potato pancakes, baked pies, chopped fire wood and we tried to fish unsuccessfully. Before I knew it, our time at Big Trout Lake had come to an end. At this point, we were half way into our trip and were now on the return loop. It always impresses me how much one can accomplish in a day of camping. I feel like so much happens in one day and no day is like the one previously. No schedules to follow, no traffic and no people. Your lifestyle pace is suddenly changed. You are no longer in control of the day, but you build your day around nature. The weather, the animals you encounter and the elements. It is a soothing experience.

Brewing tea on the emberlit stove after a long day
Mapping
Rain

The sky was overcast and rain fell upon us as soon as we started paddling. As night came, the storm descended upon us. We were forced to pull off the lakes because the water was far too choppy and we risked capsizing. We set up camp in the middle of a storm, our headlights were dimming and the wind ferocious. As we staked our tarp poles into the dirt, the gusts of wind would blow them clean off. We lashed them to spruce roots instead. As we continued the fight to tie the tarp, the wind picked up and the storm intensified. We breathed a sigh of relief when the tarp was finally up. Next, we set up the tent right underneath. By this point we were both cold and shivering. We slipped into the tent and took off all of our wet clothing. To be dry again was one of the most satisfying moments I have felt in a long time. Amazing how one can feel after being dry. We felt ready to put on some dry clothes, and face the next obstacle ahead of us. We fired up the snowpeak stoves, and made some delicious sphagetti; such a simple but satisfying meal.

Chicken tikka masala
Campsite
Reading

The next morning we woke to explore our surroundings in the daylight. The campsite was a beautiful one under spruce trees and a clean flooring of pine needles. We set out to make a fire to dry our clothing. We ate some chicken tikka masala and rested for the day. We originally planned to paddle that day, but the weather was still overcast and the waters still choppy. We opted to stay an additional day.

The next morning we started the final leg of our trip. It was a big day of paddling culminating in a 2500 m portage. We were rewarded for our efforts. At the beginning and end of this tough haul, we saw a moose eating in some reeds. The perfect goodbye to our time in Algonquin Park.

Poutine
Portage Store
Our campsites marked in purple triangles. Map from Jeffsmap.com

Upon arrival to the portage store, we felt a sudden sadness as we pulled the canoe out of the water and onto the deck. The park gave us so much in the 7 days we traveled and unforgettable memories. We packed up our gear and found a hotel in Huntsville, Ontario to spend the night. As much as we missed the park, a hot shower and a warm bed was incredible. We spent the next day exploring the town of Huntsville, eating sausages from the hot dog vendors and chatting with the locals. We found an old laundromat to do some laundry in order to have some clean clothes to wear. We then ventured back into the park to pick up some gifts for friends and family from the souvenir shop. We lingered at the portage store to enjoy burgers and poutine before officially departing.

It is easy to see why people from all over the world come to Algonquin year after year. There is a certain magic to it that you can already feel when you’re at the park boundaries. The sheer size of the park and the endless possibilities of adventure that lay ahead is more than enough to create an atmosphere of excitement. The cry of loons that echo in the background, and the gorgeous sunsets particularly stand out in my mind. The place is unlike any other, the sight of canoes on every car, and groups of campers pouring over maps and prepping their gear, each party with a unique adventure in store for them, waiting to be fulfilled.