Time

When you film nature and wildlife, you are documenting a moment in time. Every frame that is recorded is a moment in the past. The thing I think a lot of filmmakers and photographers fail to see is that our work also captures our past as well.

When I look at footage I’ve shot over the years I often get a little sad. Not too long ago I looked at some footage of an amazing sunrise over a field of wildflowers. Today, that field is covered with $250k homes and bright green grass. The wildflowers that once bloomed there will never bloom again. The wildlife that called the field home had to scramble to find another a new home that hopefully is safe for now.

Old footage also shows me that some things change much slower with time.

The first shots I ever took at Artist Point in Yellowstone National Park look the same almost forty years later although the quality of my footage is much better. I remember back then how blown away I was with SD footage and it’s hard to believe that my next trip will be capture in 4k video.

But time even changes places like Yellowstone. I have images of a huge boulder sitting on the brink of Tower Fall that isn’t there anymore.

Hundreds of acres of scorched earth from the fire in the ’80’s have new growth and every year cover up the scars left from that fire just a little bit more.

One of the biggest things that has changed with time when I look back at old footage is me. over the years as I progressed from photography to filmmaking, I can see a lot of change in my photographs and video footage.

Gone are the rainbow Cokin filter sunbursts and the little brown dot in the middle of a field far, far away that was a huge whitetail buck.

When I first started capturing nature and wildlife on film, I cast a wide net. I had a 36 exposure machine gun of a camera and I blasted my way though nature. It’s pretty embarrassing now to look back and try to figure out what was so amazing about that tree branch that I had to take a half a dozen images of it.

I’ve noticed that over time, I’ve not really filtered the subjects I film in nature but have refined how I film them.

I think one thing that time has given me as a nature and wildlife filmmaker is the ability to understand which I think will be the subject of my next post.

Time gives you the opportunity to practice, learn patience and learn to be persistent. Three things that I think are vital to being a good photographer or filmmaker.

Technology in camera and film gear mean less time is needed to take technically correct images and footage. I think people just getting out in the field haven’t figured out that no matter how awesome technology gets, you need time for all the ingredients to meld together in order to reach your greatest potential.

Time. The more passes, the less people want to spend. The question is, will we lower our standards and start accepting mediocrity for our work instead of being willing to put in the time?  Only time will tell!
And as always, shoot the ordinary and make it extraordinary!