Tales of Wonder and Woe: UWOL #3
 

"here's the thread where we share our stories of our successes and failures, the shot that got away, the happy surprise, the uncooperative weather. etc."

Sorry to pre-empt you Meryem ;-)

It's 11:15am BST and I've just sent my XL2 back to Canon. The 20x lens came back fixed, but it revealed a problem with the body. There must be some optical misalignment in the body. It focuses with the EF adaptor but not with the 20x lens. I need to get this fixed before June (when the next stage of puffin activity starts).

So I'll just have to shoot this month's challenge with a Canon MV940. I will not swim with the sharks!

Grant

As sheer coincidence, I'm actually booked on a daytrip to lundy on the 19th May ;-) and even more strangely I was thinking it would be a great venue for a UWOL challenge film, and then I saw your last movie - looking forward to it even more now!!! Are you linked to Landmark Trust in any way?

Hi Rob,

Can I borrow your camera? Only joking - I'll be working in the bar on that day. Yep, we're all employees of the Landmark Trust over here. It's the only way that you get to live on the island.

Welcome to the Challenge - Lundy is a great place to film "The Wild". I look forward to seeing you over here.

Grant

Not sure if I'm gonna have enough time to get this months challenge done in time if I'm coming over on the 19th, but the plan was to get some filming in even before I signed up for UWOL. My wife has worked for the Trust for about 2 years now at Shottesbrooke, and we've been to quite a few properties, but every time i flick to the Lundy pages in the handbook i'm totally blown away!!! I'll definatley pop in and say hi when I'm over.....

Cheers!

Hello All:

A good Theme: Wonderful

Two skidoos full of gas plus an extra 20 gallons just in case: Excellent

A weather report that's not super duper but not all bad: Fantastic

An idea for the challenge: PRICELESS

All fun aside I have an idea now I just need the weather to play along.

Good luck everyone.

Brian

hey brian, looking forward to your latest rendering of SNOW! snow and the living skies, snow and recreation, snow and THE WILD!

we need to start a UWOL travel fund specifically to send you and your camera to the tropics!

Donations....I like donations LOL.

I hope Meryem that in the July challenge I can prove that there is more to the north than just snow and ice.....the sad part is that by the September challenge I'll be back to showing snow and ice.

I need my head checked....sun and sand, snow and ice...decisions, decisions, how does one decide.

Brian

PS....I still like the donation idea.

B

How does one decide?

I woke up one morning and decided to move from Garland Texas to Disney World in Florida.

No regrets.

Talking my wife into it was the challenge.

Hey Stephen

Convincing my wife would be the easy part. Although she was born here she would love to have an outdoor flower garden, loves the heat and all the good stuff that the south has to offer but I'm soooo close to retiring that I want to ride it out for a couple of more years then pull the pin and move to the land of Freedom 55.

I give you credit for taking control of your life and making the move, way to many people fall into the trap of wishing and dreaming not doing.

Although I make fun of this place I wouldn't change it for the world....well maybe I'd do away with the 9 months of snow but other than that what the hell it's a great place LOL

Brian

Brian,

I grew up in the southwestern deserts: small town of Los angeles, off to New mexico for a couple years, then in 75 decided to Move to Saskatchewan (because i knew it was the heart of sharp tailed grouse and Northa americas Waterfowl populations) got here in 76 and I would not want to live anywhere else. Within a 24 hour drive I can do anything I ever wanted to do from mountain climbing, big game hunting, world class fishing, studying and filming wild life, raising a family where it is safe, and within a 24 hour flight I can be anywhere on the globe. Could there be a better place???

And Brian, I can retire this june, but wanting an xlh1, I may have to work one more year, eh??

Well, looks like I got lucky.

The idea was to introduce my short on "the wild" of cactus, mesquite, and maybe some out in the brush wildlife with a segment that alluded to the remote frontier of post civil war Texas.

May 5th was Ft. Chadbourne Days event at the old fort ruins on a ranch halfway between San Angelo and Abilene. On the 4th they held a special event for school kids and I popped over to see if I could negotiate something with the re-enactors.

What I got was this: The Ft Chadbourne cavalry living history unit met with me just off the fort grounds, out in the brush, mesquite, and cactus and rode patrol formation past me a couple of times while I rolled tape. The First Sergeant and one of the troopers dismounted and crouched down to inspect "sign".

The next day I came back and grabbed a bunch of "vignettes" on various re-enactors so I now have two ways I can go with this. One way is to follow thru on the original idea and finish in a more remote area concentrating on what rugged stuff I can find and the second is to present a look at how the various re-enactors portray those who lived in "the wild" of the frontier.

Maybe I can do it both ways. It's gonna be fun.

wild west, huh? there's an original interpretation....


coulda fit the RECREATION theme, too, come to think of it.

looking forward to your film, bruce. happy editing!

Wow, so here is where I am at:

.......................Nothing........................

Yep, nothing at all...... Not one thought......

Sounds like you guys got some good ideas out there. Best of luck in completing them!

~Gabriel

The Forest
 

My idea for the next challenge will be a trip together with some friends to (quotation from a website about Trillemarka )..

Look forward to this trip which will be my first to this area. It's alway exciting the first time in a new area. Hopefully I'll get the shoots that I already got in my script ;-)

Good luck in Trillemarka, Per Johan.
I'm almost done with my uwol#3, and been filming at Runde (island) and Kvamsøy (island). I had to get my PC on repair and hope to get it back this week, so I haven't edited anything yet.
This time I'll try to make the theme music myself, but I'm struggeling to get the right sound.
I'm looking forward to see the results from uwol#3.
Good luck to all of you.

whoa, trillemarka! i want to go to trillemarka! sounds fabulous.

someday i'm gonna organize the UWOL world tour, where we all meet in Norway (i hope you're a good cook, per....) and then travel to all of the interesting places where UWOL regulars live.

uh, i guess i better get started on those UWOL T-shirts first, though. many ideas, too little time.

*begin lecture*

hey gabriel, this is one of those themes that you don't over-think. you live in oregon, fer cryin' out loud. just take your camera to one of those creepy, murky forests nearby and start shooting stuff, close-ups, long shots, etc. take a day trip to mount saint helens. if you can't shoot THE WILD in oregon, then you're not gonna be able to shoot it anywhere!....

if kevin railsback can think of something WILD in iowa, yes iowa......wild cows? wild corn? wild miles and miles of flat land? now that takes a bit of talent and imagination.

you you, young gabriel, are living in a mad cornucopia of wildness. the most wildness in the continental USA, with the possible exception of nearby washington. Ho rainforest, anyone?

*end lecture*

it wouldn't be a UWOL Challenge if i did not shake down young gabe at least once....

Wow Per, that sounds like a great trip!
I would be up for going to Norway! :-D

Your right Meryem (as always). I think I am over looking it....
However, I am pretty much limited to my bike this time. :( So I guess that I am going to have to start looking for closer places...
Ideally, by UWOL #9 I'll be driving so I can make it places... Time needs to move faster....

Thanks again Meryem! You and your "lectures" always seem to effect me right... Thanks.

Maybe I'll be able to get that time lapse footage I wanted to do last time. Thanks to finally getting a 320gb external hard-drive.

~Gabriel

Well, I am headed out tomorrow to a Wilderness Area in the Southern Appalachian Mountains to hopefully get some wildflowers, forest, and stream shots. I swore I was gonna try this one without any telextenders or a single bird in the whole clip. We'll see how that goes.

Also have an opportunity to get some footage at a Wild Ramp Festival near the TN/NC border this weekend...weather permitting. What is a ramp you say...wait and see or google it for a quick rundown.

Rick

Sure Meryem...go make a movie you say........

Cut from our weather report!!!!

A low pressure system tracking across the southern Kivalliq area has spread snow across the Chesterfield and Rankin Inlet areas. 15 cm of snow has fallen in Rankin Inlet as of 9 AM this morning..With about 20 to 25 cm in total expected by the time the snow tapers off overnight tonight. Similar snowfall totals are expected over the Chesterfield Inlet area, but with slightly stronger winds in this community blizzard conditions are expected today. The blizzard will end late today as winds diminish somewhat, with the snow ending early this evening.

Wild ah.....no pun intended.

Brian

Brian, that's THE WILD weather!!
Just point the camera out the window and start shooting. :-)

We haven't your snow here, but my camera doesn't like the tons of rain we have gotten here lately.
Haven't shot anything yet. So far I just have a couple of ideas.

Good luck to all of you!

UWOL world tour.... sounds exotic.
#4 theme: "view from the top of Mount Everest". No wait, that would be perfect for the wild #3.


PER: Start cooking! We are on our way to trillemarka. (which I have never heard about until you mentioned it)

Well, nothing like this was taking place during that time frame. One fort (the best restored fort in the southwest) is right near the middle of the city. They have a big celebration with re-enactors each December, "Christmas At Old Fort Concho". This December they will celebrate the 140th anniversary of Fort Concho.

Fort Chadbourne is on private ranch property about 1 hours drive from here. I'd never been out there because until the present owner inherited the ranch, his folks did not want to do anything with the ruins. "Let nature take it's course" was their attitude. Present owner looks on himself as a "steward" of the history the fort represents, made it open to the public, and is spending a lot of his own money funding restoration of the buildings, one at a time.

Fort McKavett is a little further away and not as well restored. But each one of these places has their own annual "event" and I need to make the rounds and put together my own documentary.

The real history bears little resemblance to Hollywood's depictions, when they made the movie "Buffalo Soldiers" they had a chance to get it right and depict the story of the 10th Cavalry at Fort Concho. But they chose instead to go with some Hollywood fantasy that bore little resemblance to history (except the troopers were black).

At the very least they could have filmed Elmer Kelton's "The Wolf And The Buffalo" which was at least based on some semblance of fact. Kelton does real research before he writes a book (The Wolf was a Commanche war chief and the Buffalo was a freed plantation slave who became a 10th Cav Trooper. Their paths crossed a few times.)

What I've got on tape so far is how the re-enactors place themselves "on display", mingle with visitors, and in their own way portray life "in the wild" on the Texas Frontier.

A good read if you can find a copy is the true account of two brothers abducted by Indians in Texas. One was traded to Geronimo, and both eventually recovered. "The Boy Captives" by J. Marvin Hunter, the account of Clinton L. Smith and Jeff D. Smith.

Who has time to read anymore?

I share your idea, LOL... I'm in the middle of another project (time friendly) and can't seem to grasp a single idea for "The Wild" yet...

Right or wrong I usually go with the first thought that pops into my head.

My original idea all hinges on one single shot that will be very hard to get. So, I'm trying to think of a backup shot that I can do which won;t have the same impact but still move the story along.

I'm heading to Yellowstone in a couple weeks and I can think of a million things I'd do out there for the theme but here I am in Iowa for this challenge.

But pretty much anything that's not manmade could qualify for wild.

Haha, yeah.. Bummer! Well I hope you get something put together.

I am starting to think macro now... There is but one other thing that I can think of that would work... But that takes a little bit more work and a little more risky... Hmm, take the risk, or go for safe?

I need my UV filter to hurry up and get here!! Arrgh. Its taking to long....

~Gabriel

"The Nothing" - dread the thought.

Scribes call it writer's block.

See this debilitating paralysis sets in. The pen will not flick into the hand with the thought because the thought will not flick into the head. Nothing so drastic as a fire lit under the dot is required however.

Just go out into your own back yard.

Sit down - on a dry place preferably, find a frame with your eyes, look upon a single sharply defined point somewhere, lock you vision onto that point, don't look away, even blink or let your eyes wander even for a moment.

When your eyes eventually begin to desensitise to the image, anything that moves will be instantly apparent - old bushie's trick. Go shoot that for starters.

Then, the impatience of youth - yeah. Lots of time on your hands. Enjoy while it lasts.

Come the time the slow passage of time becomes a raging flood and all you have time for is hang onto the rails and tremble at the prospect of going down the stairs - face first, let alone have time to hang onto the camera and point it.

Still and all, wrinklitude does have a lot going for it.

That old football injury gives you a nip to tell you when it is not worth going out because the weather will turn foul.

The eyeglasses you wear double as safeties when some clown charges his weedwhacker into a path of gravel when he trips as you walk by.

You can use your assumed deafness to gather up all manner of interesting intelligence.

You learn great situational skills because wherever you have walked into, you have to walk out of again on those cracking ankle joints.

You can use dementia as a good excuse for impatience.

A bit of bad broken wind works wonders for clearing the unwelcome press of a crowd from around you.

The best part and the worst condescencion of it is all that you are forgiven because you are OLD.

Wanna swap?

How very poetic Bob (in a good way)!

I enjoy being young, even though my bones seem to say otherwise.

I just wish that I could drive and afford to do video work. Thats all I am asking for (for now)...

Maybe I'll just go out tomorrow with my camera and start looking for things.....

~Gabriel

Hi Gabriel, I hope you'll find an idea for uwol#3. I thought your last entry was very good. Maybe you should try the microcosmos, or something near by? I wish you good luck and I'm sure you'll come up with something great this time too.

how can you not love this kid??

if it's any consolation, gabriel, i think we all wish we could afford to do video work! i've never done anything else in my life that has given me such a case of the "i wants"....

going broke, but oh the gear!

Be careful guys I think young Gabriel has the winning idea and is just toying with us. I'm willing to bet that he has his entry completed and is just waiting to upload it.....it's in there Gabriel, in that grey matter.

Relax my friend lay back and let that youthful imagination of yours roam.....your trying too hard just let it flow.



" I spend half my money on Video Gear....the rest I waste"

Stay with it Gabriel you can do it, we're all counting on ya.

Brian

Ha, thanks guys. I think I am going to have to go macro. Maybe tomorrow. I am I little busy today.. :(

I will get something in though! Even if I have to take the bus!

When is the deadline again?

If only this challenge was in the last week of June when I'll be in the Olympic National Forest....

~Gabriel

Macro Marco HEY! Now I know where you got the idea, LOL!

Haha. Maybe that is how I got the idea! lol.

My UV filter made by B+W that I ordered from b&h friday arrived this morning. Great condition, the only thing was that the lens has spots on it. Just some dust spots, but still annoying. Then I realized that I don't have a lens cleaner! lol! So I guess that I need to order one of those now, or just head down to Ritz camera store...

Maybe today I'll get something.

~Gabriel

Finally got 'em
 

After running around all over the northeast Tennessee mountains for the past week, I had just about given up on one of my target species to include in my film. As luck would have it, a friend who was out birding in the mountains yesterday happened upon a small group in the Cherokee National Forest near Bristol, Tennessee. I was up driving to the site at the crack of dawn this morning and by 10:00 am I had my clips. Here is a still taken from the memory card of the Canon Optura 200mc of a Yellow Lady's Slipper Orchid.

Rick

Wow, that is awesome Rick! Good to hear it!

I can't wait to see it in action! Sounds like today will be the day for me too.

Best of luck everyone!
~Gabriel

The "Isn't that cute" factor
 

My footage didn't come out as well as I thought once I got it captured. But the subject is still pretty good. And by the time I shrink it down to the challenge frame size, it may be OK.

I went for the "cute" factor. Meet Mom and Baby White-Cheeked Gibbon.

Ha, perfect time for mothers-day! Was that your plan all along!?

I would say you got the "Cute factor" as you put it. :D

~Gabriel

Gabriel,

Here we call it, The Cuddle Qotient" Spelling???

"Quotient"