Further, Unplugged: Cold cameras
What it takes to 'get the shot' in the sub zero temperatures of the arctic
Originally Published: March 17, 2012
By Seth Lightcap | ESPN Action Sports
The latest chapter of Jeremy Jones and Teton Gravity Research's
Further Unplugged series celebrates the unsung heroes of the movie
project: the cameramen. The episode details the gruesome cold conditions
and nerve rattling exposure that TGR cinematographers had to suffer
through to bag the banger shots on their 2011 expedition to the Arctic
Circle in Svalbard, Norway.
The efforts of his production crew on the Arctic trip, and every other frozen adventure he has taken, are not lost on Jeremy Jones.
"You can't even fathom what the cameramen have to deal with on our expeditions," said Jones. "Just keeping the cameras operating in the cold is a huge challenge, let alone the weight they have to carry up the mountain to get the shot. It's incredible what they do. It's an art form."
Teton Gravity Research's head of production, Jon "JK" Klaczkiewicz, was one of the cinematographers who joined Jones in the Arctic. Maintaining battery power and steering clear of unstable snow were Klaczkiewicz's two biggest obstacles on the trip.
"Batteries were a constant day-to-day battle because we only had solar power to charge," Klaczkiewicz said. "On overcast days we never knew if the batteries would last and the cold made it worse. There were a couple times that we had a hard time getting the laptop to spin up because it was so cold."
Christoph Schimpføssl(left) JK, Chris Edmands and Dan Milner at a shooting perch in Svalbard. (right) JK using a splitboard dolly.
The avalanche danger wasn't extreme while the crew was in Svalbard
but the potential for a slide was never far from Klaczkiewicz's mind
when he was shooting on-slope.
"Avalanche danger is the most unsettling aspect of shooting in the backcountry," Klaczkiewicz said. "When you have a 50-pound camera pack on you just can't move as fast to get to an island of safety."
Shooting between a rock and frozen place does have it's rewards though. Photographer Dan Milner who also accompanied the crew in the Arctic says the shots he has to work for are often the most fulfilling.
"It's often hard for the viewer to appreciate the 5 a.m. predawn starts and 1000-meter climbs needed to reach the shooting spots, but the shots where I had to put in more effort fill me with more personal pride and fulfillment," Milner said. "Perhaps it's due to having your own personal limits pushed, your own comfort zone threatened, to get the best you can. I'm not saying that I'd necessarily want to repeat some of those crampon-and-ax climbs though!"
For Jones, finding cameramen willing to push the limits of their bodies and their equipment in the backcountry was the initial challenge, but after successfully filming "Deeper," the focus of "Further" is simply to get better at it.
"For years I had cameramen tell me 'You just can't winter camp with cameras,'" Jones said. "It has taken us four years of dedicated work to figure out how to do it, but were getting there. The only way we've learned is to make mistakes."
The efforts of his production crew on the Arctic trip, and every other frozen adventure he has taken, are not lost on Jeremy Jones.
"You can't even fathom what the cameramen have to deal with on our expeditions," said Jones. "Just keeping the cameras operating in the cold is a huge challenge, let alone the weight they have to carry up the mountain to get the shot. It's incredible what they do. It's an art form."
Teton Gravity Research's head of production, Jon "JK" Klaczkiewicz, was one of the cinematographers who joined Jones in the Arctic. Maintaining battery power and steering clear of unstable snow were Klaczkiewicz's two biggest obstacles on the trip.
"Batteries were a constant day-to-day battle because we only had solar power to charge," Klaczkiewicz said. "On overcast days we never knew if the batteries would last and the cold made it worse. There were a couple times that we had a hard time getting the laptop to spin up because it was so cold."
Christoph Schimpføssl(left) JK, Chris Edmands and Dan Milner at a shooting perch in Svalbard. (right) JK using a splitboard dolly."Avalanche danger is the most unsettling aspect of shooting in the backcountry," Klaczkiewicz said. "When you have a 50-pound camera pack on you just can't move as fast to get to an island of safety."
Shooting between a rock and frozen place does have it's rewards though. Photographer Dan Milner who also accompanied the crew in the Arctic says the shots he has to work for are often the most fulfilling.
"It's often hard for the viewer to appreciate the 5 a.m. predawn starts and 1000-meter climbs needed to reach the shooting spots, but the shots where I had to put in more effort fill me with more personal pride and fulfillment," Milner said. "Perhaps it's due to having your own personal limits pushed, your own comfort zone threatened, to get the best you can. I'm not saying that I'd necessarily want to repeat some of those crampon-and-ax climbs though!"
For Jones, finding cameramen willing to push the limits of their bodies and their equipment in the backcountry was the initial challenge, but after successfully filming "Deeper," the focus of "Further" is simply to get better at it.
"For years I had cameramen tell me 'You just can't winter camp with cameras,'" Jones said. "It has taken us four years of dedicated work to figure out how to do it, but were getting there. The only way we've learned is to make mistakes."
