Conservation Dogs and Sundance

Wow, who would thought living in Missoula Montana as a photographer would have it's national appeal. I got a call last week from the a production company in LA who was workng on a film for the Sundance Channel. They wanted to hire me to shoot stills for this show called " Big Ideas for a Small Planet". It was short notice but fortunately I was free that Friday. I met the film crew that Friday morning at a hotel in Missoula and we discussed the weather and what the episode was about. The show was about dogs who sniff out kack ( poop) to monitor wildlife. The weather was a concorn becasue the film crew wanted to shoot in Idaho over Lolo pass but the road leading to the site was blanketed in snow. I suggested shooting the first interview in Pattee Canyon and hopefully by early afternoon the snow covering the pass would be gone. They agreed and filmed an interview with Aimee Hurt in the morning. My job as a still photographer was to document the documentary and try and recreate what they were filming. Which was challenging since I couldn't shoot while they were filming during sound...I had no time to rent a blimp so I had to work around the sound crew.
The afternoon was even more challenging, the weather cleared and we were able to go over Lolo pass into Idaho to the sight where Aimme's dog could scent out some wolf kack. The entire crew ventured into the dense woods trying to about bogs that would litterally take your shoes off, it happened to one of the crew, and thick brush, ice and snow. Without equipment it was bad enough but having to carry a lot of extra weight ...some close calls of falling face first. Of course I had to shoot around the crew, chasing after the dog on a scent, and avoid shooting while they were shooting with sound. In addition the DP Paul Mailman would be chasing and turning with the camera and I had to make sure I was out of his shot. All and all it was a fun day, met some great folks, dedicated to their work and got some great shots...to follow...The odd moment of the day was when we were having lunch and Paul and I realized that we graduated from the same high school, he graduated two years before me. We also had some friends in common from high school. Considering he lived in Seattle and I in Missoula and that we graduating from the same high school over 25 years ago in Cleveland, Ohio, and were working on a documentary together
well made me realize we really do live in a small planet....