Living and photographing the life

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Stand up paddle boarding, wade fishing, drift boat fishing, mountain biking and hiking in August at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, were all part of a 12 day photography adventure for Aaron Forrester. This seeming vacation was paid work for this Radford University M.F.A. graduate student.

Two Fisted Heart Productions based in Alexandria, Virginia, hired Forrester as director of photography for a project with Orvis. Orvis is one of the oldest mail order outfitters and the longest continually operating fly-fishing business, according to their website.

The creation of three two-minutes videos highlighting a new clothing line coming out in spring 2015 was the project goal. One video features women, another men and the third both sexes. Along with the filming, Forrester and his team of photographers were contracted to shoot stills for magazines, promotions and in-store displays.  

“We were on location for 12 days and many days we would work all day and into the night going on three and a half to four hours of sleep a day,” Forrester said about the schedule, which also involved maintaining equipment, offloading footage and preparing a for the next day.

The environment also proved challenging.

“The water there is VERY cold, and we spent many hours standing waist deep with thousands of dollars worth of gear in our hands. Although I almost fell a few times, I never lost any equipment,” he mentioned. 

The cameras involved in this project included a Canon C100 on a Movi, which is basically a gyro with a camera mounted to it to so the footage appears smooth and not jittery. For the still shots, he used a Canon 5D Mark3.

With the Teton Mountains as a backdrop, it was not all work, though. There were a few days when he enjoyed fishing instead of just filming it.

But even with this, the experience of executing a vision is what stands out in Forrester’s mind, “The amount of preplanning and moving parts is really unbelievable. We were working with great contacts from Orvis who scouted locations and supplied models as well as organizing the timing of events.”

“Being able to use skills and new techniques that I picked up here at RU was a great feeling – knowing that I'm learning skills that translate to making a living doing something I love,” he said.