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6 Ranch Podcast
6 Ranch Podcast
Adventure Cinematography with Drew and Reid
Drew and Reed are professional photographers and videographers who have captured incredible stories around the globe. From Netflix's "Earth Storm" to National Geographic, they've navigated the complexities of filming in diverse locations like Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua, Australia and the American West. Their experiences range from zip-lining into volcanic craters to dodging rare bee colonies. Whether it's moose hunting in Alaska or exploring the Amazon's boiling river phenomenon for a Lego project, their stories reveal the realities of working in remote environments.
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That's like probably one of my favorite, like really pushing the envelope. You know, getting lowered into this volcano and just getting in there was crazy. They built this tower for us out of steel that would only last two weeks because the gas was so corrosive.
Speaker 2:These are stories of outdoor adventure and expert advice from folks with calloused hands. I'm James Nash and this is the Six Ranch Podcast. For those of you out there that are truck guys like me. I want to talk to you about one of our newest sponsors, dect. If you don't know DECT?
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Speaker 3:I'd say like outdoor commercial filmers and photographers.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think anybody that tries to make a living in this industry is pretty adventurous, pretty adventurous, yeah. What are some of the challenges?
Speaker 1:really just staying on top of your kit in the conditions like staying organized, keeping the gear running clean, and there's just so many moving parts. You can forget one cable and then totally shuts the chute down.
Speaker 2:Isn't that the truth? Yeah, this little spider thing that I plug all this stuff into it's come up missing multiple times, and then it's like okay, we can record our voices, but you won't be able to know what's happening because you can't hear anything. Yeah, so what's your process in? Like going through that kit to make sure that everything's looking good?
Speaker 1:just it's all got a spot, it's labeled yeah, very ocd yeah so, just like every time I come back from a drop, it goes into the same spot, and before I put it away I'll open up the kit and make sure everything's back in its place yeah, it makes all the difference.
Speaker 3:Reed is very ocd and I'm not, but I have definitely, definitely picked up, picked up a bunch of his traits and yeah, I mean it just helps yeah helps a ton to be very organized.
Speaker 3:And then I do like a lot of the producing and produce. I would say produce, I don't know 90 of my own shoots so like really being dialed and organized with all the models and the talents and having like a really, really good plan going into the shoot and then being able to be really flexible when the plan like doesn't work out, because I mean, almost guaranteed on the shoot something's not going to go the way that you want and so you need to be able to pivot and be able to produce that same product every single time for the client, like no matter what the conditions, whether it rains or doesn't rain, you've got to be able to produce the exact same product that the client's looking for. And I think that's the difference between kind of the amateur guys and then the top-tier guys. The top-tier guys are going out on a two, three day shoot and producing epic work every single, every single time, no matter what what the conditions are yeah, who are you guys?
Speaker 2:how would you introduce yourself?
Speaker 3:let's see, I'm a drew steckline and I'm a professional photographer and filmer yeah, reed.
Speaker 1:Uh, I'm reed morris and I'm operator.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're so much more than that. Yeah, I'll tell you one way that you're more than that. You two just joined a pretty exclusive club in being the first videographers Well, not the first, the second that I've ever worked with who helped cut up meat on a hunt. Yeah, and I've worked with. I've worked with a lot of different videographers on a lot of different hunts and projects, and man, you guys are are always. I think this is is this the third or fourth time we've worked together?
Speaker 2:I think it's the third yeah, you guys are always right in the mix and and helping, helping with the hunt, you're helping with dishes, you're helping with with everything, like you're just part, part of the crew and like that. That means a lot to me, because a lot of times I'm a, I'm a one-man band on on these types of deals and I get spread thin pretty quickly because just the guiding portion is a lot right. And then when you add on, you know, setting up a camp and cooking and entertainment and meat processing stuff like that, like those can all be and typically are jobs held by another person. Um, so you guys chipping in like thank you anytime, bottom of my heart yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:We really don't like our whole program is we run like a swiss army army knife program. Like we don't don't just do one job, like in hollywood, we have one deal. Like we try and work in all aspects of what we're doing, because I mean, I've been on so many trips and all it takes is one, one person to sour a trip, or just one person that's helping out more. That makes like the absolute difference in the total morale and the ability for everybody to get done, done at a right time, so all the footage can get offloaded. So makes a huge difference just to help out in all aspects of the shoot, not just your job.
Speaker 2:Help out with whatever's, whatever needs to be done yeah, and, like you know, this trip we're staying in tents, we're living in a in a really beautiful meadow, uh, alpine meadow, with, you know, gorgeous tamaracks and dug for ponderosa pine all around us. The needles have turned on the tamarack, the. The leaves are still mostly on the aspens and you know they're just glowing when the light comes through. The elk are still bugling. We've caught a couple rains, so it's it's soft and quiet walking around. We've gotten into the elk like crazy. You know we've had lots of good action killed two elk in the first two days and just, uh, finished processing the first one. So miss kylie can take it back to hawaii and have it all all packaged up and ready to go.
Speaker 2:This is a project that we're filming for decked, which you guys will get to see a lot more of later on. It's kind of part one of a of a of a many part um lift. In order to get this project off the ground, and I'm excited to see it take shape. I just had a conversation with the writer, who's in costa rica, who's going to be um writing this, the script of this video, uh, which you you know we're we're already filming right, so it's just it's it's a funny and interesting process.
Speaker 2:One of the reasons that I wanted to have you guys on the show today besides that you know you're interesting people and your friends and I like talking to you is that I I am seeing adventure cameramen like you guys in the way that people are starting to see stuntmen, right, like there's more and more people that are recognizing that the parts of movies that they enjoy the most are not being conducted by the actor, that they're giving the credit to those enjoyable parts of the movie, right, that they're giving the credit to those enjoyable parts of the movie, right.
Speaker 2:And then, beyond that, there's the cameramen and the videographers who oftentimes are putting themselves at physical risk, enduring tough conditions. It was probably 10 degrees or colder last night and this morning all of our water and camp was frozen. Um, I had to. I had to crack ice and uh, and heat stuff up just to be able to make coffee this morning and, uh, that's tough conditions to film in and keep your batteries running and and all that stuff. I think a lot of people that operate at the level that you guys do would look at a project like this and just say, no, right, but you guys didn't.
Speaker 1:You said sure, we'll do that, it's cool absolutely love it yeah, yeah, I think you know the hang factor is is a big part of it. And you know, talking about chipping in and helping out, like I mean there's no real room for egos and it's like I know what I can do and so I'm going to go do that. But if I can help out a little bit more, definitely down to chip in and it makes the whole thing revolve a lot, a lot smoother. And working hard in those conditions is, yeah, you kind of thrive, thrive on it, like it feels good to be able to not only run cameras but just, you know, thrive in in those kinds of settings.
Speaker 1:And yeah, I don't, I can't put my finger on what it is exactly, but just coming out of those and being like, yeah, I don't, I can't put my finger on what it is exactly, but just coming out of those and being like, yeah, that was great. I saw some things like the lights different, that you know everything about those environments. There's usually something special that you can take away that a lot of people won't see unless they put themselves in those situations.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about some of the places that you guys have filmed. What's it like being on the inside of a volcano? Hot um, of course, an active volcano.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, tell me that story that, um, that's like probably one of my favorite, like really pushing the envelope. You know, getting lowered into this volcano and just just getting in there was crazy. They built this tower for us out of steel. That would only last two weeks because the gas was so corrosive and the volcano had created some weather, so you'd be on like lightning holds and then you get to call up and you get into your harness and head on down there into the volcano and once you're down there, it was like being on mars.
Speaker 1:There's like this pele's hair. There's volcanic shards, that's like fiberglass. There's corrosive gas like really uneasy walking. There's like volcanic caves that can break open. You can fall in. So you're really like paying attention to your safety line and you're just firing on like every, every sense in your body. You're just on high alert and we were running like 22 23 hour days in there. So it was like a really fun, like mental challenge to keep yourself geared up and being like all right, I got this. I don't want to be a liability, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, if you fell into liquid hot magma, you wouldn't be a liability for very long.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, that'd probably be the best case scenario for everyone else involved.
Speaker 2:A little crispy pop when the lithium went off. And that's about it. Yeah, the Six Ranch Podcast is brought to you by Nick's Handmade Boots, a family-owned company in Spokane, washington. For many of my listeners, you've waited and prepared all year for this. Whether your pursuit is with a rifle or a bow, early or late season, big game or birds, another hunting season is finally upon us. Nick's Boots and the Six Ranch want to wish you luck as you head out into the field. This season I'm wearing the Knicks boots Game Breakers beginning with the archery elk season.
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Speaker 1:One of my favorite memories in classic Drew seeing him look at the lava and it wasn't really moving at this point in the day and there's kind of a crust on it. He just picks up this big rock and is like you think I can hit the lava shirt off, tosses this rock in and it breaks a hole and then that hole just forms into this like just bubbling melting pot. He basically got it going in this small section.
Speaker 3:It's like oh man, I wouldn't piss it off, I don't need that thing to erupt.
Speaker 2:But like, what a guy thing to do. You can't resist an opportunity like that. You got to, yeah, you got to toss a rock. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you change the shape of the earth? Yeah, it was super funny like going down there they. Yeah, so you changed the shape of the earth. Yeah, it was super funny Going down there. They just sent us all these PDFs and we're reading through them and it's like oh, and by the way, there is a rare colony of bees that lives in the volcano, and Axel, who's down there with us, he's like this is awesome. I'm allergic to bees and the zip line that you went down into the center of the volcano.
Speaker 2:You took a zip line into the volcano.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a slow, slow zip line because there's like three lines on it and it takes you like 30 minutes to get down there. So the bees start swarming you. It's pretty much game over. They tried to send me down in a lightning storm and I'm like absolutely not oh really, you wouldn't even be close to a pool right now like there's no way I'm gonna be on the zipline for 30 minutes. I was like you can send somebody else. I'm totally good on that yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:Uh, we were getting so many pdfs that we were having to split them up between the three of us and just take sections, because yeah so you know, their department of safety was very, very scared where was this? Uh, it was in nicaragua, just outside managua okay, and what were you filming it for?
Speaker 1:uh for a netflix series called earth storm, and we had a episodic uh segment that was on volcanoes and so we filmed filmed this I believe it was the Masaya volcano and I think it was the fifth most active volcano in the world and so we did that. And then we also documented a family that lived near the volcano and one of the children had some injury to his lungs from playing outside when the winds had shifted and breathed in the gases and now has like a lifetime treatment that he has to do because of that.
Speaker 2:What were you doing to protect your lungs?
Speaker 1:We were wearing masks and smoking rolly cigarettes. Yeah, yeah, no, it was um the gas would change.
Speaker 2:And so, every once in a while, keep your body guessing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. Um, yeah, the gas would change and you could kind of see it. We'd try to keep our masks on as much as possible, but it was so hot and you're wearing safety goggles that your goggles would fog.
Speaker 2:And you're trying to look through a camera.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, look through a camera. Yeah, look, looking through a camera, even the um being in your harness. You know I was carrying maybe like 200 pounds on my harness down and it was a chest harness and it would hang below you and your shoulder straps would start like choking you out.
Speaker 2:So it's hard to get air.
Speaker 1:And yeah, it was. Yeah, we had that um goggles mask and like a safety suit that um didn't fit perfectly, like if you wanted some slack in your elbows you'd have to bend your knees and just classic. Yeah felt like sandpaper classic.
Speaker 2:Uh, yeah, I remember seeing something on your instagram that was a volcano and I didn't really register it. And then I watched that on Netflix, which it turned out so good, like it's tremendous, couldn't get enough. And then I connected the two and I was like wait, that was reading true, like how cool is that? Yeah, pretty awesome. What were you? What was your experience like in Saudi Arabia?
Speaker 1:Oh, that was, um, that wasn't great.
Speaker 1:Um, I had was was hired to fly drones over a solar field and it was one of the biggest in the saudi desert and got to riyadh at like two in the and my last Pelican case through had the drone and the guy was like drone and I was like aerial camera.
Speaker 1:He asked me three more times and I figured I didn't want to get caught lying. So I was like, finally I was like, yeah, it's a drone, and they quickly separated myself and the producer and they took all of our stuff and I was able to keep one of my camera bags with, telling them it was personal, like clothing and things like that, and then they loaded us into a car and off into the night we went and couldn't really tell where we were going until we got to this checkpoint and there's camouflage and guns and I knew I was in for a little bit of a delay on our trip, so to speak. So, yeah, we got put in a one block by one block compound with big chain link fence and razor wire and it was pretty much like a hotel, other than the razor wire keeping you in.
Speaker 2:Did you feel at any point like you were going to end up on the wrong side of YouTube?
Speaker 1:I tried not to think about that and had a real short haircut, so I was thankful for that and, yeah, most of it was like, very like fugazi, we didn't know if we could come and go, if they were keeping track of us and they had, like, all of my equipment, and so most of my energy was focused on just getting my equipment back and getting out of there yeah, how long were you detained?
Speaker 2:uh like eight days and did the us government get involved in that?
Speaker 1:we called them and they said that at the point that we were at, because of um our situation, they wouldn't, basically they wouldn't intervene until it was slightly worse, and if we were there longer than I can't remember how many days then they would get involved with getting the gear out, because I think we were like free to go home but it was like unclear if we would get our equipment back.
Speaker 2:And what would that investment have been like?
Speaker 1:oh, like 80 to 100 grand, yeah, yeah yeah sketchy very sketchy, yeah so would you go back? No, yeah, no once was enough on that yeah, I saw a lot of sand and figure there's other places in the world I can go check out sand.
Speaker 2:Did you get paid a day rate for the days that you were detained? Yes, that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they tried to fight me on that a little bit and I hit them for the full price.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think I took like five photos out this room. I was in the first morning. The sun was coming up over the desert and it was just this big meatball in the sky. You could see some structures and oil infrastructure out there. That was the only images I had. Nothing related to the project.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was 100% their fault because they didn't do the paperwork properly Correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So there's nothing to read. Yeah, it's all pre-production. And yeah, reed did everything he could, but he just couldn't read Arabic. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I can't either. It's too squiggly yeah.
Speaker 1:I sent him the. I knew they were illegal and I sent him the equivalent of the FAA and the phone number and email and there was a pretty green assistant producer and her email back to me was this seems complicated, let's see what the letter of invitation says.
Speaker 1:and the trip got delayed and then quickly rebooked like two weeks later than we were supposed to take off and that letter of invitation came at the like 11th hour and yeah, it was all in arabic and google translate couldn't sort it out, but I just assumed that the production side had had ironed it out and there was some, some wrinkles yikes, what are some, uh, what are some other interesting places that y'all have been?
Speaker 3:um, I think there's so, so many spots. All right, uh, filming the Iditarod, for I think it did two or three seasons on the Iditarod, which is awesome. I did that for Columbia Sportswear and that was just a wonderful experience just going out there and you'd hop in a bush plane and fly from check station to check station and then you'd uh barter with the local people and get snowmobile rides out and follow the guys through just the sub-zero temperatures and it was just quite the experience.
Speaker 2:How do you keep your batteries operating in those conditions?
Speaker 3:So you definitely want to sleep with your batteries and keep them warm. So I was in Columbia Sports where they were like, oh, you don't want to go do the iditarod again. I was like, yeah, that would be awesome. And then they're like oh, we actually want you to go to uh sweden, go do some ski stuff instead. I was like, all right, that sounds better. So I went to uh sweden and did a big ski shoot there, and then they go oh, they did, or I got delayed and the other filmer that the other filmer uh needs to leave so we need to fly you from sweden all the way to noma, alaska, which took like I think three days.
Speaker 3:When I got in anchorage, all my bags were lost and I was like the lady was like do you even know where you are? I was like I know where I am, but I don't know what day it is. Yeah, and then, uh, go land a gnome and meet the other cinematographer as he's leaving. He's just like good luck with this trip, dude. Like thanks, man, thanks. And then I go meet up with the pilot and normally the pilot like gives you kind of an itinerary and like do's and don'ts, but it was just like, all right, hop in the plane. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I just grabbed my camera and all the batteries and everything and hopped in the plane and then we flew out to this check station and we met up with our musher and our musher ended up having some wound, uh, some not wounded, but injured dog. So he wasn't going to, uh, wasn't going to run in the daytime. They also like to run at night because optimal temperature for the dog and the riders about they have 20 to negative 30 and that's when the dogs can run the fastest and they can see the lights at night. And I was like, all right, well, we'll just go and fly back here in the morning. We'll meet you at the next check station.
Speaker 3:And the pilot was like no, no, you're not. Like weather's coming in, you need to like decide if you're going to go stay at the next um village or not. I'm like what? Like I don't have anything, dude, like I just have my camera. He's like, yeah, no, you need to figure it out. We need to leave here before, in 10 minutes, before the weather takes off.
Speaker 3:I'm like, okay, like calculating my batteries, like how long I can last out there while shooting with like the image stabilizer and my camera, and I was like, all right, well, if I don't use the monitor on the back of the image stabilizer and I just use the camera, then I can probably make it a couple of days out here by myself. And then went into the check station and he ended up giving me a sleeping bag and some money to barter with and then went out there and slept out there, because it ended up taking a couple days to get to me. So I slept out there with the mushers, which I don't know if you've ever smelled a musher, but it smells like the worst BO you've ever smelled. On top of that, they're like covered in dog shit, so it's like quite the dudes to be sleeping next to. But yeah, and then I had to barter with, uh, barter the natives to get snowmobile rides out way out on the. I used to go follow these guys and it was just I mean quite the experience for sure.
Speaker 2:So would you do that again? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, when I was moose hunting in alaska, you the area and the folks that I was with kind of had a culture of like not telling the clients what was going on. Um, it's like it's none of your business kind of deal. And I was asking like, hey, you know what general area are you thinking about putting me in so that I can download the Onyx map ahead of time? I want to know where I'm at, I want to have this stuff downloaded. And he's like, well, it could be anywhere in this unit. And the unit spanned hundreds of miles more than you could reasonably download on your phone.
Speaker 2:And I kept expecting him because he'd go out and fly and look for moose and stuff like that and you know, in these little weather breaks, and was thinking about, okay, like you know, where am I going to put these guys? And I just thought, for sure, before we took off he would tell me so. Then he flies, the guide in right, comes back to get me. We're in a super cub. We cram as much stuff as we could, like I had waiting boots on either side of my head, um, in the back of this cub. You know, I I can fill up a super cub all on my own, but we've just got stuff crammed in there everywhere and they were staged so that they'd fly in part of the gear for the camp and a guy at the same time. So the guy had gone in with some gear and then I was going in with some gear and the next trip was supposed to be Max Benz videographer.
Speaker 2:Weather rolls in while we're flying, we're getting bumped to pieces trying to get over this mountain range, end up going around as we come in. Um, we drop and like, plow through the willows before the runway. Um, make the landing like it wasn't a crash. It wasn't even a hard landing, it was just a brushy landing, um, but we landed neither where nor when. We intended to. Uh, throw everything out as quick as possible. He spins around, gone and that's it. I don't know where I am right, uh, and it's just. It's a, it's a goofy, it's a goofy feeling, and I think it's just something that that alaskans are comfortable with, I guess. So I think that there is a cohort of Alaskan pilots that live like that Because of the weather.
Speaker 2:Max wasn't able to make it in, so all I had was my like extremely meager skills with my trusty little Sony a two. That um has uh just been beat to crap in my pack over many, many years. And I think one lens and I hit max on the in reach and I was like it doesn't look like you're coming today. Uh, how's tomorrow? Look, and he's like not good for a couple of days.
Speaker 2:Uh, he's like this is what you're supposed to film. It's like, oh great, so now I'm gonna have to like figure out how to shoot this thing myself. And uh, you know, huge investment from the company that was sponsoring it. And a couple days later maxi did get in there and then, I think, a day or two after that, you know we got the bull and we got the project done. But with with this, this line of work that that you guys and and I are both in, you know, just on different sides of the camera like just random, weird stuff comes up like that. You know it it's always wild, it's always it's awesome. So what are some other locations?
Speaker 1:um, I went to the amazon and did a project with national geographic and lego. That was. That one was a trip. It was some grown adults grown adults during the hot part of the day and we'd be building Lego sets in this little thatched roof house.
Speaker 2:Why.
Speaker 1:They had made these adventure sets and so it was like a co-branded Nat Geo Lego set that you could buy for a while. And we were also filming like a kid's show. So we had a geothermal scientist who had kind of put this boiling river of the amazon on the map. It was kind of like this you know folklore of someplace in the amazon the waters boil and he set out like actually boil yep, you have just kind of like yellowstone, like geothermal activity, um.
Speaker 1:And so he had kind of discovered it.
Speaker 1:There was like locals that knew of it and had there's like a small community that lives around it and, um, he kind of like located that and so we went in to film a kid's show, um, for lego, and then also map the boiling river with a thermal camera on our drone. So we'd wake up at like you know, real early in the morning, like five in the morning, and fly the thermal camera when the canopy was cool and you could really see where the river went, and then we'd film this kid's show in the afternoon. And you know, working in the afternoon and you know working in the jungle, was inherently slow going. And the last day we were behind the eight ball and we were trying to knock out our last scenes and one of the scenes was one of the bigger lego sets that you could get and, um, we had it all built and we had um like a pa carrying this lego set into the jungle, like it was, you know, extremely fragile which it was like a wedding cake for royalty or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally, and uh, there was a tapir that was young and had followed us in from the village, which is what it it's kind of. It kind of looks like an anteater, so to speak. Okay, um, and it gets.
Speaker 1:When they're young, they get spots like a, like a fawn deer um, and the village had, like they'll hunt them and eat them, but this village had kind of taken it in as a pet and it had a collar on it okay, and so I like being around people and it followed us up this trail and then continued on. But there was this steep section of the boiling river, that kind of wound its way up the side of this waterfall and it was rocky and kind of unstable and this tapir tried to make it up the side and couldn't make it and we had placed the lego set on the ground and we were just about ready to film. This tapir comes bouncing back down the trail and just stomped this Lego set out and there was pieces flying everywhere and Lego's very specific, like if they're one block off, it's a. You can't use this shot. So just watching this producer, just sheer panic and like people looking under ferns for little lego pieces, it was, uh, it was hilarious so did you get that on film?
Speaker 1:I did not no, I was on. Everyone was all hands on deck, like find the pieces and where they went and did you?
Speaker 3:we did nice, nice yeah, I mean we do a ton of work in the hunting and fishing world, but we, I mean you also have no idea like where the next job's gonna come from. Like hey, a few years ago I bought a uh outboard jet from a guy on craigslist and met him at sportsman's warehouse and we started talking and he's like, oh, you into guns? And I was like, yeah, and he's like, what do you do for a living? I go, oh, I take a photo and video for like benelli and sig and all those guys. He goes, oh, my gosh, sig. He's like I got like 10 of those in my car right now. I probably shouldn't bring him out, but that's incredible. He goes, I'll hire you one day. And then we just leave and I'm like I don't even know what this guy does. Yeah, right. And then he calls me two months later and it's the president of the allergen labs of copenhagen and they have a facility in post falls and it's the um.
Speaker 3:They host the largest um growing facility for dust mites and so they make um pills out of the proteins and dust mites that you can basically micro dose with. So they take the dust mites and they spin them up and they pull the proteins and dust mites that you can basically microdose. So they take the dust mites and they spin them up and they pull the proteins out and put it into a pill and then you microdose the proteins to increase your immunity towards dust mites. So there's two types of dust mites there's North American dust mites and there's European dust mites.
Speaker 2:Obviously I mean who doesn't know that?
Speaker 3:And so we shot that, and then they do um, that's not random at all.
Speaker 3:And then they do bees. So they uh have all these women in this uh facility and they um pull the stinger out of the bees and then they take the venom sack out of that and so you can microdose with the bee venom if you're allergic to bees. And then we did birch pollen. So, yeah, you never really know. You never really know who's gonna call you for what job. But I mean, I think our job it's just an incredible line of work because you get to hang out with, I mean, people like you and all sorts of different people around the world that are like the best at what they do. So it's really cool just to spend time with all these people around the world and just see, like, what the best person is doing and the dust mites and how they do that, or right. Yeah, this is really interesting line of work to be in that's.
Speaker 2:That's the thing that I love the most about working with decked uh is that they have ambassadors from like so many different fields. Right, because before I was pretty, pretty focused on just stuff that was hunting or fishing or gun related, which is a pretty narrow space, and you see the same faces over and over again and uh, and now and now, with these guys, man, it's like, oh, this is the best trophy truck driver that there is. Like this guy, uh, it's like one of the best skateboarders in the world. Um, this is the best Tarpon guide in Florida. Um, so you, you get the best of the best from like all these crazy different fields and you get to see the things that people have in common that have elevated them to that position and then the things that are so unique and different about them that led them down these paths that are, you know, all loosely uh at first and then tightly at the end, connected by needing to store stuff in your pickup. That's pretty cool, yeah.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I dig it, I dig it and yeah, this has been a lot of fun. What? What is your future hold? Do you know?
Speaker 3:So we're going to go do a shoot for P pulsar thermals in a week, we're gonna do another meteor deal next week and then I'm uh prepping all the models and the equipment because we're gonna have jet boats and all sorts of different stuff out in eastern montana next week and then, um, after that, go out to uh the bahamas and go out on a like private yacht with a bunch of uh skiffs and go out there and shoot, and then it'll be after that'll be time for the holidays.
Speaker 2:Yeah, reed, you've been doing a bunch of uh underwater stuff lately.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, mainly just for fun.
Speaker 2:I really enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Um, I got certified to dive when I was really young and I think it's like one of my favorite things to shoot, or it is my favorite thing to shoot. It's like a ticket to the moon, and it's also very challenging and technical, so I think there's an aspect of that that I'm drawn to.
Speaker 2:And what specifically have you been trying to get?
Speaker 1:I've been just trying to film some bull sharks and sharks in general. Seems like they've always kind of eluded me, yeah, which I guess is good in a way, but I would love to get one on camera and have the opportunity to just check them out.
Speaker 2:Are sharks misunderstood?
Speaker 1:I think so. Yeah, I would say yes. I think they're like extremely intelligent and also very curious. Which? I think is where they get their bad rap from. But if you think about you know, some of the shark species have been on the earth since before trees and I just think that's like outstanding and you know, as an alpha predator, that's that seems like as good as it gets if you can be around that long and endure all the changes and challenges, for, you know, millennia.
Speaker 2:Before trees yeah. I didn't know that. That's wild to think about, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, it's wild to think about a planet before trees.
Speaker 1:Yeah, at least that's what I've been told. I'm no shark expert, by any means, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, we're all making stuff up at some point, taking some guesses, we weren't around. I was just in Singapore and they're pretty close to the equator. It's a city-state, so the whole country, which is quite small, is the city. There's about 6 million people there. I got a great rundown on Singapore from my taxi driver, from the airport to the hotel. It was awesome. He is so proud.
Speaker 2:English is their first language, although it doesn't sound like it because it's not honestly, a very elevated form of English and it's got a heavy accent so it sounds like it's being spoken in a second language, but it's their first. The government owns most of the housing and you can buy a flat from the government for like a three-bedroom, two-bathroom was, I think, what did he say? Eight or 900 square feet, not very big Would cost about $400,000, $450,000 Singapore dollars, which I think were like 70 cents of ours. We'll buy one of theirs, but it's only a 99-year lease, so after 99 years it's the government's to sell again or for what's remaining of that family to try to purchase again. But they had invested a huge amount of infrastructure into their trees in the city to try to cool the place off a little bit and they'd managed to do so. So through trees they'd managed to drop the temperature of Singapore.
Speaker 1:That's incredible.
Speaker 2:It's awesome, isn't it great?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the tenacity to go for that. Somebody ran the calculation and was like this will work. Yeah, that's awesome?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting. Does it work? Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting. Favorite meal of every Singaporean that I talk to is chicken and rice. They're big on chicken and rice. Yeah, it's a pretty solid staple.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Does it seem like you'd go wrong?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Both good things. I think that's what we were going to have for dinner, but now we're going to have elk for dinner. Cook up some tenderloins. Um, we've been eating okay this week.
Speaker 3:That's been phenomenal, yeah, phenomenal yeah.
Speaker 2:Made a little, uh, elderberry reduction for some, uh, for some, pork loin that first night. Uh, the elderberries this time of year after the almost a little bit like a like a citrusy blueberry kind of, and uh, I'm starting to see people use elderberry as uh, as like a health supplement now too, which is kind of crazy, but well it's, it's not crazy, it makes a lot of sense, it's just interesting. Um, yeah, but we've had prime rib and tri-tip and, yeah, it's nice to be able to to cook a real meal in a camp setting.
Speaker 3:I like that yeah, it's awesome then be able to, after after the meal, be able to go sit by a campfire and hang out and talk and nobody's on their phone, or it's just great dude, how about last night, though incredible yeah, that was extremely wild to hear a bunch of wolves calling around camp and, um, I've never really heard that like directly outside of a campsite before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard them, but not like that out in the wild, and it was really special I think they were probably.
Speaker 2:It sounded to me like five or six wolves that were around half a mile away when they started and Kylie, you know, was a little bit. She didn't want them to come any closer, but I sure did. So I was howling back at them and trying to get them to come in, giving them some like barks and whimpers and howls and stuff, and she's like no, no, like this is close enough. But uh, I'm sure they came in and checked us out last night at some point, if they haven't already. But yeah, it's, it's pretty special to be in a place like this and get to hear elk bugling, and I, you know we had an elk while we were making dinner run within like 10 feet of of the kitchen. Um, didn't see it, just thundering hooves screaming past, almost hit the guy lines of the wing. I've got over in the kitchen.
Speaker 3:I don't know quite the scene, especially we got wrapped up and ripped that down and then ripped the tents down yeah, that, that too.
Speaker 1:Just to hear footsteps in the dark like far away and then you're like oh, it's coming real close, and then just hear it go through you know, right through the middle of camp at dark and not be able to see it. It was like pretty surreal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is cool, hunting Like we were like in such thick woods and getting close to them and when that wind would swirl and they'd blow out. I mean it's just like a train moving through there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thundering hooves, yeah, pretty incredible, yeah. And Reid brought up an interesting question about whether elk can sense the vibrations of stuff through the ground, through their feet, and I I'm really going to have to dig into that. I don't know if I can do anything with it, but it does. It does make sense to me. They have a gland between their toes, um, so there's more going on with their feet than what most people realize. So there's more going on with their feet than what most people realize. But it would make sense to me, given how loud they are and how quiet their predators are, that they would have a sensitivity to sonic movements through the ground, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and this particular zone just seemed I don't know if it was just the way that the air was in the woods the day we were out or what, but it does seem like the soil makeup here. It seemed like it was. There was like more acoustics to it. Yeah, this is kind of what triggered my.
Speaker 2:It was a really quiet morning that day, you know it was. We'd just gotten a rain the day before. So all the grass, all the, even the pine cones and stuff, you know you just about couldn't make a sound on the ground if you weren't stomping. So the lightest, lightest bit of sound, the zipping of like puffy jackets against the limb or, um, you know, if I accidentally clicked the legs together on the quad pods that I was carrying or anything like that, like all that was really keying those elk up, and the elk are like they're very on edge right now. You know we got busted on movement when we were in the trees by a cow that was 670 yards away yesterday.
Speaker 2:I thought we probably could have got away with movement there, but she wasn't having it. Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 1:That, as a camera guy, is terrifying. I mean, it felt like I did Pilates at the end of that take. It's like we do not want to be the people that bust the hunt. Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:And both you guys are hunters too, which is you know you're. You're on a pretty short list of people that I recommend for hunts, because you understand the hunt, you're going to get the shot and you're not going to put yourself in a dangerous situation. You're not getting in front of the gun. You know you're, you're aware of, of the whole situation all the time, and that's not an easy thing to do. Yeah, not an easy thing to do. What are, what are, some of the most challenging things you've ever tried to film?
Speaker 1:that's a good question. It's a good question. That's a good question. Yeah, I mean wildlife. Yeah, like honestly, yeah, hunting is very challenging because you want to get the shot, you want to be out of the way and then you're working with a wild animal that can show up at any time.
Speaker 3:Totally unknown variables yeah time, totally unknown variables, yeah, yeah, um, it's kind of lame cop out, but I mean, I think I think every single shoot has its challenges and like, like we were talking about before, just working as a team and putting in the effort, like I think every single shoot has some sort of challenge. I think, doing the photo and video and working as a team, like at the end of the shoot, I feel like you just come away with such a great sense of accomplishment. So what's?
Speaker 2:what's the fakest thing you've ever been involved in? Jeez Cause there's a lot of malarkey. That goes on sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, we try to try to stay away from that. But then there is like the the hollywood aspect to it, when you're like going for a specific shot that's not like really trying to like pretend to be something other than cinematic.
Speaker 3:Um yeah, there's like rain and snow like all all the time.
Speaker 3:We had to do a shoot for mossberg like way back in the day and we didn't have a cloud in the sky for a week.
Speaker 3:So I mean, you're getting up way before sunrise and getting the rain, machines going and trying and filming duck hunting and cornfields which there's not a ton of shade in there. So you gotta have your shot figured out in the location and you have probably about 30 minutes. That's it. So you gotta get all all your, all your hardcore weather shots done because, I mean, all companies, they want their products to be coming out at the right time but they don't necessarily come out at the right time. So, right, we have to go film hunting, hunting stuff in june and different stuff, and have to change the different colors and all that because, like I said, like that brand needs those photos next week for their catalog and it doesn't matter if it's june with green grass. So you need to figure out a location and go there and figure out the right height of grass to make it look realistic. And yeah, I would say yeah, I would say we do a lot of Hollywood magic stuff to make it happen for those companies.
Speaker 2:I was part of a Danner shoot. That was in November after second bowl season, and part of the shoot we did was up in the mountains, snowing, very cold, frozen rivers, and then they're like, you know, we really want to launch this in the spring and it needs to look like spring. It's like, okay, I'm fresh out. So we uh dropped 6 000 feet of elevation and went way down in the canyons and found some place that had some fall green up and I was like this could kind of look like early spring-ish and went for that and that's what we did. But it's really tough for companies when they want to have like a fall launch and then the first prototypes of their product might only be coming out, you know, two or three months before that. Uh, you know they're without changing hemispheres. They've really got to mix and match, like to, to make it all happen.
Speaker 3:But we did boulder boat works in the summertime. They needed a fall shoot, so we had people in july wearing down coats, yeah. But I mean you shoot it, shoot early in the morning and yeah, good post on it and your green green trees turn to yellow and yeah, there you go, there's your there's your fall shoot, but we're trying to do everything within reason for the like. The talent can only go so far, until your talent melts underneath the puppy coat in the summer heat.
Speaker 2:What's the talent for people that don't know?
Speaker 3:Talent would just be the person that's in front of the camera.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, which is the nicest possible way to put it. I think If I was in charge of coming up with a with a noun for that, I would have picked a different one. Speaking as the talent you know, like I would, I would have come up with something else. Yeah, uh, what's something that's that's aspirational, like what's what's the, what's the film you want to make and you haven't?
Speaker 3:I don't know. I'm always just excited for the next adventure around the door the next phone call, the next shoot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just always you have no idea what's going to happen. I think the whole key to the industry is just like to stay really hungry and stay on top of your contacts and always be top of mind. And I think, yeah, no matter who you are, I think things will get thin at some point in time. But then all of a sudden there's another call to go to Australia and go film at, like, a medical facility in Australia. Like I mean, you just never know. Never know what's going to happen. So it's just always interesting to see what's around the corner what about you, reed, besides sharks?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think like telling um, I really like working like in the commercial space and you know you have that direction of you're trying to film for the company or a product, but getting to tell like really unique brand stories and profiling people that have like a really unique life or story and what they do that are like genuine. I really like working in that space. You get to learn about that person and something along those lines. Working in that space, you get to learn about that person and you know something, something along those lines, and you know if it could create big change in the world around, whatever it might be that we're we're filming, I think that would be incredible. Yeah, I think that's like really where I'd like to like to put my energy in the future.
Speaker 2:What advice do you two have for the folks who are getting into the game or want to? If they want to be like you, how should they start out?
Speaker 3:I'd say you just got to stay hungry. Stay hungry and keep your head down, and your best is never the best. So I mean, reed and I are still just head down and the next project that we do, we want it to be the absolute best project we've ever done and just always continue to learn and stand in the forefront of the technology and always thinking about what could have been better on the shoot that you're on so you can make the next shoot better. So I mean that's the only way to way to progress. But if you don't keep your head down, just keep barreling forward, no matter how bad things are going like, as long as you think you're going in the right direction. Just keep your head down and keep keep grinding, grinding and great things will happen.
Speaker 3:But being the swiss army knife guy that can do everything, everybody, everybody notices that guy. So if you're, if you're just helping out on a shoot, but you're the one running around helping clean up the floor and do the dishes and all that, that's definitely noticed and you'll definitely get a call back. But if you're the guy sitting over in the corner grabbing instagram photos for his feed, trying to hype himself up, I mean that's a awesome way to get cut off, to kicked off, to shoot and not asked back yeah, I think that that working hard and staying humble is huge.
Speaker 1:and realizing realizing that there are, you know, an endless number of people that want this job and your position and to give anything like less than your best is kind of a slap in the face to the whole industry. You know, it's an awesome opportunity to be able to do what we do.
Speaker 2:If people want to hire you for a shoot, how do they get a hold of you?
Speaker 3:stop on our website or just give us a phone call, drewstechlinecom. But you can't spell it okay, how does? How's it spelled s-t-o-e-c-k-l-e-I -N.
Speaker 2:It feels like he got nervous spelling that just now.
Speaker 3:I know you're judging me. I can see you waiting being like yeah, watch out, he's going to deliver this.
Speaker 2:I'm not Well. It's cool being out here and working with you again. We've had a fun experience. It's not over yet. We're going to go try and call some coyotes tonight and, yeah, have another nice dinner and you'll all be getting on the road tomorrow. Sounds good.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having us here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hopefully we can work together again on uh, on this brand or another at some point. It'll be great. Yeah, yeah, look forward to it, as always.
Speaker 1:Thanks again, fellas yeah, thank you, james thank you, bye, everybody, bye.
Speaker 2:I just want to take a second and thank everyone who's written a review, who has sent mail, who sent emails, who messages. Your support is incredible and I also love running into you at trade shows and events and just out on the hillside when we're hunting. I think that that's fantastic. I hope you guys keep adventuring as hard and as often as you can. Art for the Six Ranch Podcast was created by John Chatelain and was digitized by Celia Harlander. Was created by John Chatelain and was digitized by Celia Harlander. Original music was written and performed by Justin Hay, and the Six Ranch Podcast is now produced by Six Ranch Media. Thank you all so much for your continued support of the show and I look forward to next week when we can bring you a brand new episode.