The beginning of a new year always means an inundation of “best of” lists and montages reflecting on the year before. Shortly we’ll all be so sick of both we’ll be vomiting iridescent rainbows of turkey and electromagnetic radiation. Never one to miss an opportunity to contribute to mass public puking, I too have put together a GoPro retrospective of last year. Watch it above.
Above is a short video encompassing some of the experience of hiking through Subway in Zion National Park in early September. It’s a damn good time if you have the knowledge and will to do it.
I recently got back from Zion yet again—this time—backpacking the Narrows route for my third time. It is always rewarding, although, I felt the pain afterward in a way I hadn’t before. Too much time at a computer being sedentary is wreaking havoc on my body. Thankfully, I was able to renew my gym membership last week so I can get into proper shape again.
I finally decided to give sleeping outdoors tentless a try while on the Narrows trip. Thankfully, it didn’t rain and it was an enjoyable experience. I’ll have to do it more often. I also led my first multi-pitch sport climbs in September (two pitches each). Hopefully, I can start devoting some more time to climbing and advancing my skills.
Work has been pouring in, which is great, but I’ve had little time for much else. Balancing life and self-employment is a challenge I certainly haven’t mastered yet. I’ve completed several projects recently. Some of them will be live soon and posted here for the world to deride.
I’m back from Utah. Karl, of Extreme Things, and I were doing a bit of canyoneering through the Left Fork of the Virgin River—a route called Subway. It’s a great slot canyon with a few rappels, squeezes, and swims. We added a bit of extra adventure to our trip by accidentally entering the canyon too soon adding four rappels to the hike. The adventure compounded when we realized a few members of an inexperienced group of ten had followed us down and were stranded on a ledge 35 feet above the canyon floor.  Karl ascended our rope, built them harnesses from webbing, and I belayed them down to safety. The next several hours were filled with awesome canyoneering and a bit of babysitting as we helped the group navigate the more technical obstacles. I, of course, brought along the GoPro and intend to post a video and more in-depth trip report later.
A couple of videos I directed recently are also online now. The first is this year’s commercial for the West Hollywood Book Fair. The second is one of three Combat Arms shorts we at Butcher Bird Studios  did for Nexon earlier this summer. The other two should hopefully be completed soon.
My preferred outdoor activities tend to involve rocks or water—something to climb over or pass through. My favorite outdoor activities involve both. And that is why I enjoy canyoneering so much, especially technical canyoneering. For those unfamiliar with the term, canyoneering (canyoning outside the U.S.) is essentially hiking through a canyon. Frequently, these canyons are the homes of rivers and waterfalls. This may call for wading, swimming, scrambling, climbing, and/or rappelling. Technical canyoneering tends to require specialty equipment for rappelling and climbing. Canyoneering is what Aaron Ralston was doing in 127 Hours before his mishap.
Although I have hiked several non-technical canyons (such as the Zion Narrows and Surprise Canyon) without a guide, I had not descended any technical canyons without trained leadership (such as my first time in 2008). I spent a lot of time last year acquiring proper rock climbing training and honing climbing skills. There is a lot of overlap between climbing and canyoneering skill sets. Thus, I decided this year would be a good time to attempt technical canyoneering without guidance.
My friend Karl (of Extreme Things) and I decided Rubio Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains would be a good test run. We ran the canyon twice: once in late February when water flows were big and cold, and again in late May when flows were more moderate. Above is a video compilation of those two trips.
Next up is Subway in Zion National Park in a few weeks.
Down and up the Grand Canyon with Karl Domangue’s Extreme Things Adventure Club.
Down the South Kaibab Trail and up the Bright Angel Trail.
I have been to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and I have lived to speak of it. I am being a bit facetious with my melodrama, although many have and will die venturing into the canyon. It is not a trip to enter into unprepared, but its rewards are spectacular.
I have been a member of Karl’s Extreme Things Adventure Club for a few years now. We’ve been many places and tried many things, yet this was our first collective trip into the Grand Canyon. I had only been once over a decade ago and had only spent a couple of hours at the rim. This time we would backpack down to the river, spend the night, and hike back up the following day.  The canyon is roughly a mile deep. The hike to Bright Angel Campsite at the bottom is roughly 7-8 miles. The hike back out via a different trail would be 9 miles…all uphill. The air temperature topped 100 degrees during the middle of the day. Heat exhaustion is a serious concern, especially with 40+ lbs. on your back. This was the first Extreme Things event I’ve been on where Karl felt it necessary to turn down participants he didn’t think were physically capable. Backpacking the Grand Canyon is a great—albeit arduous—trip, but it is beyond the capabilities of many.  Do not attempt it if you are inexperienced. We saw several people hiking down with little or no water. My hope is they turned around before they exceeded their personal thresholds.
I could write more about the trip and eventually I may. I will also post a GoPro video eventually. For the time being, enjoy some of the photos. If you want to see even more, check out my Facebook album.
Early in 2010 I  eagerly opened a box containing my brand new GoPro HD Hero. It was a small (practically tiny) $300 video camera that I would be able to take anywhere. And I did. Over the last year and a half, I have dragged that miniature camera across snow, through deserts, over rocks, down into the ocean, through canyons, over waterfalls, alongside canoes, and wherever else I remembered to take it. Some of that footage has appeared in various videos in my Vimeo GoPro Album. Because of those videos, people often ask me about the GoPro—if they should buy one, what model, what attachments, etc. Thus, I’ve decided to put together this post answering all of those questions (and maybe some people haven’t asked).
Which Model? Original or 960?
The GoPro HD Hero can shoot both flavors of HD: 720p or 1080p. It can also shoot at 960p which is essentially 720p with 240 extra lines of pixels. 960 is a squarish picture instead of 720s rectangular widescreen picture (4:3 ratio instead of 16:9). I almost always shoot in 960 mode. Yes, the image quality is much better at 1080 and yes, the fisheye distortion is more prominent in 960 and 720 modes. Why do I shoot mostly 960? The GoPro (as I use it) is rarely operated by a person. It is usually attached to some person or object, aimed in  a direction and turned on. The lens is very wide angle, but without an operator it can’t be expected to always compose the most interesting shot. I shoot at 960 and edit at 720. That gives me 240 extra lines of pixels along the top and bottom of my image that I can use to recompose my shot. It makes a huge difference. GoPro now offers a cheaper version of the HD Hero (the 960) that eschews the 1080 mode. When I buy my next GoPro, I would consider that model if it wasn’t missing one other feature: 720p at 60 frames-per-second. Why is that important? Most of us edit our videos at 30 or 24 frames-per-second. If we shoot at 60, we can get some decent looking slow-motion shots.  I used that feature several times in my Hesperia Swimstream video. If only 960 mode could shoot at 60 fps (I’m sure GoPro knows we all want this)! The other reason I will probably buy another original HD Hero and not the 960 is because of the recent release of the LCD Bacpac. It’s a screen that attaches to the back of your camera. It lets you see what you are shooting and review your footage in camera. No, the base GoPro does not have a LCD screen attached. Often times you wouldn’t be able to see the screen anyway since the camera is designed to go where you can’t. When I am in a situation where I can operate the camera and compose shots, I absolutely shoot in 1080 mode. My advice when choosing a model is to decide if you need the higher resolution and slow-motion capabilities. If not, get the 960 and save 80 bucks. Just keep in mind, that 80 bucks may not seem like such a big deal when you find yourself in a situation where you would love to get a slow-mo shot or a less distorted higher resolution 1080 shot of something.
What Accessories?
I bought  the Helmet Hero Pack. Within a year, I bought almost every other attachment. I’ve yet to use many of them. Here’s what I’ve learned. The GoPro on a headstrap showed me just how much we move our heads. POV (point-of-view) footage gets boring very quickly unless other people are in the shot. The headstrap and helmet attachments are very useful. They capture great footage for you to edit in with other footage. Don’t rely on them solely. I recommend buying whichever attachments most fit your sport. For most people, my strongest recommendations are the chest harness and tripod mount. I use the chest harness more often than every other attachment combined. It is not right for every circumstance, but it often gets the camera where you want it and keeps it stable and focused in a general direction. It also keeps the camera easily accessible. You can quickly see when you are and aren’t recording, quickly detach it and catch a shot from a different angle, or flip it upside down and aim it at your face. Keep in mind, you can also wear the camera on your back. That’s how we got a few of the cooler shots in Big Bear Slipstream. So, why the tripod mount? Isn’t the point of the camera that it can move around, go anywhere, and not be locked to a tripod? Yes. Buy the tripod mount, but don’t put it on a tripod (unless you need to for a shot). Attach it to a monopod—an extendable stick.  A GoPro on a six-foot-long stick can capture lots of great footage from almost any angle. I only recently bought the tripod mount and I wish I had bought it much sooner. A few weeks ago I was using it to hold the GoPro over the edge of a waterfall to get footage of my friend rappelling from above. I see videos online all the time of people using this approach to get amazing skydiving and surfing shots. I’m also pretty fond of the suction cup mount. It’s great for boating and for mounting to cars. It’s how I got the canoeing shots in Black Canyon (You can also see some 720 60fps slow-motion action in that video). Do keep a safety line attached to it just in case. There are lots of other attachments. I’ve liked each one I’ve used. Get the ones you need for the shots you want to get.
Should I get it as my still camera?
The GoPro isn’t just an HD video camera. It also shoots stills. It can even shoot time-lapse (a photo every second or so until you tell it to stop or the battery dies). I almost never use these features. I do intend to start experimenting with the time-lapse options, but I see little use for the single photo feature. You can’t see and compose the shot unless you have the newly released LCD Bacpac attached. If you are trying to capture an action, you are probably better off getting it as a video. The photo function is a nice additional feature and can be used in clever ways other cameras can’t, but I would not recommend buying the GoPro instead of a proper still camera.
Overview
I love my GoPro. For a $300 video camera, it is amazing. It is tough as hell. I saw a posting online where someone dropped it when skydiving and it still functioned when they retrieved it on the ground. I’ve taken it 60 feet under the ocean with no problems. There are a number of things you need to keep in mind, although. It is an inexpensive camera. It is fully automated. You will have no control over aperture, ISO, or other features you may expect from a prosumer level camcorder or DSLR. It shoots to SD cards in MP4 format. This keeps it fast and inexpensive, but does mean lower sampling rates for your data. Do expect some artifacting and pixelation. If you like to take it wet places, water will stick to the lens on your housing and affect your images. I recently read a piece of advice online that said Rain-X combats this effectively. I have not tried this out yet, but I intend to very soon. The inside of the housing will fog up because of temperature changes (especially dunking it in cold water on a hot day). Thankfully, GoPro sells anti-fog inserts that work spectacularly. I have been pleasantly surprised with the battery life of the GoPro. I’ve yet to run out of juice when I’ve needed it. If you are not like me and prefer to run your camera non-stop GoPro does offer a battery bacpac that prolongs your record time.
For a $300 (now even cheaper) camera, this thing is pretty fantastic. If you want to get video places you normally can’t, buy one. I’m looking forward to their next generation of cameras and I hope we will eventually start getting prosumer features at a modest price.
Note: I took both of the photos in this post with a Panasonic GH1 Micro 4/3 camera with their 20MM pancake lens. These photos were not taken with a GoPro.
Working from home brings many benefits yet poses several obstacles. Sure, there are inconsistent work and pay, but one that kills me frequently is something I will dub ‘Desk Chair Imprisonment.’ There are days I awake, walk a few steps to the office room, and sit at a computer for many hours —never stepping outside of my apartment. This is unacceptable and it is one of the detriments of self-employment I have yet to conquer. Sadly, today is one of those days.
Last spring was when I made the leap. I quit my job and pursued self-employment. Last year was a time of travel, copious climbing, backpacking trips, and other adventures. Moving into this year, I accepted it would not be the same. Growing and developing my businesses would have to be the priority. Sometimes it is, sometimes it is fighting procrastination, and other times it is embracing the need to get out of my house and do some fun shit.
Thankfully, I have been doing more fun stuff again lately. Within the last few weeks, I’ve taken a short I worked on called Delivery to a festival, ran the technical canyoneering route in Rubio Canyon again, participated in the Tough Mudder, hiked one of my favorite rock-hopping routes, rafted some whitewater in Kernville, and biked 24 miles down the beach. Thanks goodness summer is getting here, it is just the incentive I need to get out of this damn office chair.
I’ve been busy knocking out shots for Marty Mitchell. If you don’t know what that is, check out ManyMaladies.com. It’s a short kid’s show I shot in my living room two years ago and have been slowly compositing and animating. I am forcing myself to finish it this year. You can find out more, see images, videos, blah blah blah at the website.
The business I started with a few friends, Butcher Bird Studios, is officially an LLC and we finished another half-hour episode of Nexon’s Block Party Blabberbox. I’m hoping to update our website in the next week.
Erika and I attended the Red Rock Rendezvous, a climbing festival in Red Rock (near Vegas). It was great excepting the traffic to and from and the lackluster weather. The wind was ridiculous. I’m planning to go again next year.
Oh well, enough for now, back to stuff!
Here is a compilation of some of the stuff I managed to capture during my first year as a GoPro owner. It’s too bad I didn’t take it more places. There were so many times I forgot it and wished I’d had it with me.