This is to log the start of action: Actually finally got ’round to publishing a couple new videos for my fledgling YouTube Channel “Nature Visions Alaska” which is something I realised I should have been doing for a long time.
Making individual clips, and uploading them as individual stock footage has been my focus for a long time, along with the the music tracks I deign fit to publish. However, I’ve not put a lot of energy into putting all this stuff together, and making this new channel also gives me an opportunity (an excuse?) to spend the extra effort required to record pristine audio for it, as well as building up my own nature recordings/SFX library, something I stopped doing a while back as there really was not a lot of need for it.
At any rate, please bear with me as I slowly build out this channel. It seems that it makes sense to put the finished nature-specific videos on this channel, but to put other videos, like the BTS (Behind the Scenes) videos that I make on my regular “Mizamook” channel that bears my name as well as experimental videos that I run into during the process, but that do not quite “make the grade” or fit in with Nature Visions Alaska.
Any and all video and/or audio is available for licensing … contact me directly!
The Nature Visions Alaska videos are intended for persons seeking respite from a busy, noisy, stressful, and peace-challenged world. They are for meditation, ASMR effects, or simply to share with family and friends who may never make it to Alaska. These videos and their audio can be used to imbue a working space with calm, whether at home, or at the office. I like the idea that they are “a window” into nature, especially for people who have no access to open spaces and areas free from the effects of humankind’s efforts to mess it all up.
Holy cow, it’s been a long while. But, since I finally got over my inordinate fear, and started to populate my Bandcamp page, and since it links back here, I thought mebbe I’d better show mizamook.com some love.
So I will, more, in a bit. But for now, be among the first to partake of the bizarre and slightly chaotic world of Mizamook’s music: https://mizamook.bandcamp.com/releases
Another Roughage Queen/Mizamook production .. they wanted to put this song by Burl Sheldon up, and thought it would go well with my wildlife and Alaskan nature clips … so … here it is!
One fine day the phone rang … it was Burl Sheldon, asking me if I could/would help them make a video for their new song and put it on YouTube. They thought it would be easy. So did I, actually, but, true to form, I totally overcomplicated the whole thing and Nancy Berland was right alongside, goading me on with her own ideas and complications! I think (I know) we enjoyed the process, but man oh man, it was a lot of work! Still reeling from the post-production vacuous feeling “What do I do with myself now?”, despite knowing full well I needs must attend to the pile of projects that have been accumulating as I worked on video instead, I have only to wait for the word that Nancy and Burl, as “Roughage Queen Productions” indicating it’s ready to post, and so … here is our result: (and please .. do us the honor of watching it at least twice, preferably full-screen!)
It’s been a dream of mine: To shoot aerial video of our sailboat .. while sailing. Now, as you can imagine, this presents some “slight complications” … the boat has lots of lines and stays and mast thingies poking up, as well as no real clear landing zone of any significant size … this necessitates hand launching and retrieval (a “skill” some don’t like to practice even on land!) even when at anchor in still coves … but we were not at anchor, and it wasn’t still … so everything was in motion, in every direction, all at once. The launch was fine: the drone (Mavic Pro in this case) activated and rose from my hand when I released it. Then it seemed as though it was flying away from my perspective; rather, it was that the boat was sailing away, and the drone was hovering over water. I pushed record feeling that “I’m committed now!” feeling.
The flying was pretty nice .. got a few shots I liked although I was not really “working it” as I was too worried about the retrieval. We got a lucky sighting of a small pod of sea lions during the flight, and they showed up fairly well on the video.
Then the retrieval: My first attempts to maneuver the drone close enough for me to grab but far enough forward so I had time to let go of the controls to grab the drone met with zero success. This drone is a little trickier than some due to its small size and the proximity of the whirling props to the fingers that grab … so I could not be too careful. I promised myself to use the Phantom 4 Pro next time .. it comes equipped with much larger and safer “handles” (as in the landing gear) so it can be snatched more easily.
Michele went to turn the boat into the wind, and we knew the big genoa would flap around a lot … but we did not anticipate how much force the wind had on that sail, and a slight oversteer lead to backing the genoa, and now the boat is still in motion, heeling, and the wind is blowing in the wrong direction for a hand retrieval of the drone, so … let the drone hover over the waves while I reefed the sail, and tried again. After the boat had slowed enough, I was able to get the drone close enough to hover, and I reached out and GOT IT!
I was prepared to land the drone on the nearest beach and go back and get it with the dinghy (or have someone pick it up for me if it was on the mainland) but happily I didn’t need to do that. I was making sure to start the retrieval process with plenty of battery left so I would have enough to get to land “just in case” …
Anyway, here are a few of the clips (the fast-motion semi-circle shot was from the drone being in Target Follow mode, and it was having to correct a lot … the actual shot is cool, but took way too long) and I look forward to topping these clips with better light, better camera (Phantom 4 Pro) and both sails up! But that will take more planning … so be patient.
This project was one of those that required a whole lot of skillset growth, planning, lots and lots of shooting, and editing. It really pushed my limits but also was kind of a breakthrough for me as it marked the first project of this magnitude that I feel came out fairly close to how it was first envisioned. Sadly, they did not win the FedEx Small Business grant, which Paul and Jeanne would have used to kickstart their solar power installation project. Besides being lovely people to hang out with, not to mention the exquisite beers to enjoy, Haines Brewing Company is a boon to our community, and its location at the heart of town is no coincidence. Visit their website here Haines Brewing Website or better yet .. make sure you stop in!
Montage of various aerial clips of Steller sea lions in Lutak Inlet, Haines, Alaska during springtime hooligan runs. Shot with Phantom 4 Pro using care not to disturb the critters. Clips and music available here: Sea Lions 2017 Media
Not only does the dark, cold, windy Alaskan winter provide the requisite “down time” for creating these videos, but I’ve stopped shooting long enough to scramble together some footage for to allow a glimpse into what I’ve been doing over the course of the past year.
This video is a smattering of clips shot while on the extended footage-gathering exploration trip from Homer to Haines at the height of Alaskan summer, 2013. Most of the video clips and all of the music can be found here:
Media Bin on Pond5 For others contact me via this site or Pond5 sitemail for inquiries.
