Heli's, Hawaii & Happy Days!

Written by Tom

We're back!!

It's been a while but for the past few months we've been finalising our work visas and felt it best to keep a low profile before our embassy appointments back in the UK. The good news is we've now both been granted work visas and Michelle has started in a new Jackson Florist, Floral Art (http://thefloralartist.com).

Day trip into Yellowstone

I've had a crazy couple of months with shoots in Hawaii for our surf film, Yellowstone for my own show and a trip to Las Vegas just last week for a technology trade fair. We've had Shell's folks pay us a visit for her birthday which provided the perfect excuse to visit all of Jackson's attractions (without me!) and spend some quality time with her folks. It was lovely having them to stay and hopefully they'll be back to see the Tetons in the autumn.

Turtles chilling on the North Shore

 I was about to fly back to Jackson from the UK when I received a call from my boss that I was needed in Hawaii to shoot aerials and assist with our aerial camera system. My first thought was that i didn't even have shorts in Jackson (not much requirement in negative 30) but then how can you say no!? Before I knew it I was driving through Oahu on my way to beach house on the North Shore to film one of the world's best surfers.

Waiting for takeoff in Honolulu airport

It was an AWESOME trip filming in some stunning locations and getting a taste for aerial filming with an incredible team. The landscape of Hawaii is amazing and hopefully we'll be filming there again in the future...

Grand Prismatic Spring - My favourite part of Yellowstone

Little did I know that i'd soon be flying again around Yellowstone. We flew all day for our winter scenics and (hopefully) captured some stunning images of the park. It's amazing how small it feels when you can reach almost anywhere in 15 minutes but i'd actually like to fly it again and look out the window rather than having my face burried in a monitor the whole time. It's very strange filming natural history sometimes, you've visited amazing places or seen rare animal behaviour but your own experience of it is the same as a tv viewer simply watching it on a monitor unfold in front of you. The only difference is a deafening helicopter and mechanic cracking dirty jokes rather than an M83 soundtrack!

 I thought I'd end with an photo from our buddy Ryan Sheets. He's starting work for us in May and has been an incredible photographer on many of our shoots already. If you'd like any shots of Yellowstone or its wildlife then check out his website http://sheetsstudios.com/blog/

Ryan making it look easy!