Iceland: A Behind the Scenes Look at a North Face Running Shoot

Back in May, Camp4 Collective went to Iceland to shoot some running.  This is a detailed account of what happened.  All true.

Skip and Blake try to figure out how to turn the camera on, while Tim stands by, unwilling to help.

Tim had been trying to get Skip to play Rock, Paper, Scissors all day long.  Skip once again resists the urge to throw rock.

TIm angrily yells at Blake for leaving his ten-gallon pleather cowboy hat in the snow.  Scott and Rory look away as the uncomfortable silence is broken by Blake's soft, tearful whimpers.

Like penguins in a storm, the group huddles together for warmth, while outsiders stand by, trying to get in.

In what will be deemed the "second best upset of the season", Tim Kemple takes the lead in a high stakes race up the hill.  Later, after coming in last, Hal Koerner's leg was cut off per the rules of the race.  When asked about the upset, Tim said "well, i wanted to keep both my legs, and i don't really care for Hal, so i'm glad he came in last".

Tim documenting Hal's triumphant return to fame after completing a very impressive  5 minute one-legged mile.

After hearing Rory call him a "second rate photographer", Tim circles back around preparing to fight, entering what will be known as the "best upset of the season", when Rory gets him in an arm bar in under 5 seconds.

Show Pony doing what Show Pony does best. . . lagging behind.  Carrying lots of bags, but still. . .  lagging behind.

BF Goodrich: A 26 Day Sausage Party.ª

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to participate in a month long shoot for BF Goodrich Tires.  We traveled around the west filming adventures ranging from kayaking waterfalls in Washington, to climbing rock towers in Utah.  It was 26 days of non-stop filming/editing/driving/running/hiking/lifting/punching/sobbing/vomiting/blinking/winking/eating/barbequeing/flying/crashing/swearing.  Needless to say, afterward, we were all pretty exhausted, and hungry.

During those 4 weeks, I shot a little bit of film on some medium format cameras showing some behind the scenes moments. Below are the shots that I found most easily captioned.  Nothing is staged, including the one where Skip is staring straight at the camera pointing at it.  I swear it’s not staged.  That’s just how Skip is all the time.

Tim stares at the ground, utterly dejected after Anson whooped him good.  That’s what happens when you talk back to Anson.

There are 3,137 rattlesnakes in this photograph.  Try and find them all.

Tim, sneaking up behind the group, getting ready to push them over the edge as a “joke”.  Unfortunately for Tim, I alerted them to his antics before he could act.  Even though I broke one of the rules of journalism (never get involved), I don’t think I could have slept at night knowing that I let Tim get away with it.

Just a bunch of dang ole rocks sticking out of the ground.  Kind of a useless place.

 the BFG truck making record time back for lunch after it was announced that little debbies would be served for desert.

Looking out from the whiterim trail, one can almost see a maze of canyons.  Almost.

Oh wait, there’s one.

Ug, more rock.  So dumb.

Blake, hiking up a bag of balloons.  I never thought I’d see Blake struggle with such a light load.  It was pretty sad.  He’s really let himself go.

Nick, 10 minutes before scuttling his ship into the ground, like the captain of the Titanic.

Matthew McDonald, AKA Chewie, AKA Chwy, AKA DJ Snake-in-the-Grass,  practices his marching skills while he waits for the rest of the party to get to the top.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!!!!!!!!!

The setting sun illuminates some really mellow riding.  Seriously, riding a bike here is as easy as it gets.

Oh, don’t mind us.  Just a bunch of shirtless dudes, sweating and grunting.  Nothing funny going on here.  The figure all the way on the right is a ginger.  No surprise there.

Here is Skip not posing at all. Seriously, he was just kneeling there doing his thang and I snapped a quick photo because of how weird it was.  He was like this for about 20 minutes before I took the photo and about another 30 after I took the photo.  Afterward, when I asked him about it, he said that he had fallen asleep kneeling down and didn’t remember a thing.

ª While there were actually girls on this trip, there is unfortunately no photographic proof.  That being said, the hotdog to bun ratio was about 10:1 which easily falls within the guidelines of what constitutes a sausage party.

Whistleblowing 101: A Beginnners Guide to Not Ending Up In Jail

Like 99.95% of the popoulation, I spend my time at work reading news and watching cat videos instead of working. This keeps me up to speed on current events, so. . . . after much pondering and deliberation I came to the conclusion that because of the Bradley Manning case, people might be confused on how to properly inform others of unlawful activity. Below is a pretty straightforward list on how to approach the uncomfortable topic of being a tattle-tale.

1. Don’t be a whistleblower. Trust me, It’s better if you just don’t say anything.
2. If, for some dumb reason, you choose to ignore rule #1 and do it anyway, under no circumstances should you ever say anything bad (even if it’s true) about someone with power. Ever. I’m not talking about your local meat head down at the gym who can squat 400 pounds, I’m referring to people with “real” power. A good example of “real” power would be, I don’t know, the U.S. government, or walmart, or something like that. In this instance, the word power is interchangeable with the word “money”.
3. If you choose to ignore #2, you need to be prepared for some consequences, such as but not limited to. . .

a.  Hanging out in a holding cell naked. To prepare for this, I would suggest feeling comfortable with your body. That way, when agents strip you of your clothes, they won’t be stripping you of your dignity. A good way to feel comfortable is to have a rocking six-pack. So do your self a favor and work on those abs a couple times a week, that way you’ll be able to stand around completely naked with the confidence of a thousand guidos. 

b.  Torture. Torture is a tricky one. It’s hard to train for something like that. If you’re really interested in torturing yourself, start small. I started waterboarding myself a couple weeks ago and I must say, I’ve started to enjoy it. I feel pretty confident that my cheerful demeanor would infuriate anyone that tried to waterboard me. Another good way to train yourself mentally would be to hang out with a bunch of teenagers, although you’re more likely to shoot yourself in the face than train, so. . . good luck.

c.  Being treated worse than a murderer. Because whistleblowers are the scum of the earth, it’s important that they’re treated as such. When I see photos of Bradley Manning walking around in handcuffs, I don’t see the tiny nerd that most people see. I see the real Bradley Manning. The monster behind the mask. He really is a terrifying individual.

d.  Bending over and allowing the government to insert their vague policies directly into your rectum. Not cool government. Not cool. At least buy my dinner.

So, I guess the take home in this would be that if you see something that might be illegal or morally wrong, like killing journalists, killing civilians, etc. . . You should probably do yourself a favor and forget you saw anything. Besides, it’s clear that the people running this country have a pretty firm grasp on what’s right and wrong and they’ll be more than happy to take care of the situation.