It’s full-on stick season here in Vermont. Days are a mix of grey and brown with maybe a little bit of sunshine mixed in. I leave work in the dark (it seems too damn soon), pulled my headlamp from the fishing pack and into the post-workday hike gear bag and am pretty resigned to buying more than my fair share of tea boxes at the market.
And I finally had to turn the damn heater on.
Said heater is about to be turned off (or at least way low) for a week, however, as I’m trekking south for a week in Belize. It’s a bit hectic—shooting B camera for an Orvis fashion photo shoot, a marketing package for El Pescador, and doing a bit of in-country reporting about Rare Fish Forever, a conservation group doing some pretty awesome things in the area. It’s work that ideally I’d like a few weeks to do, but am having to cram into five days.
Funny how those little side projects tend to rear their heads. But, hey, all part of the challenge, right?
My packing paradigm is feeling right on track—personal clothing fits into a mid-size Eagle Creek packing cube, while camera gear, tech equipment, and assorted fishing articles takes up the remainder of my checked bag, as well as my Pelican case and the trusty ThinkTankPhoto Retrospective bag.
Priorities.
By the time you read this Sunday morning I’ll be out pre-scouting the Mayan ruins outside of Belize city, then Sunday afternoon taking an island hopper to Ambergris Caye and then finding my way to El Pescador, which will serve as the base of operations for the next six days.
The shoot is predominantly a fashion undertaking for Orvis’ men’s and women’s categories. We’re working with a NYC-based fashion photographer and a team including models, producers, stylists—even hair and makeup. Coming from the outdoor side of the industry where I out-and-out refuse to mess with any “looks” or set up shots and typically work solo, it should be an interesting—and educational—experience.
And, yeah, I’m kind of happy to keep to the documentary / commercial / editorial side of things. Although I have been asked to model for the half day of fishing photography, which will be interesting. Definitely more comfortable on the back end of the lens, but, hey, fishing.
Can’t argue with fishing.
I’m stoked to see new places and meet new people. Huge thanks to all the folks who make things like this possible—Orvis (for sending me on the trip and for letting me step outside the realm of Copy Land), ThinkTankPhoto for crafting camera bags that just won’t quit, Grayl for sending me a pretty awesome water filtration system to test on the trip, and the many others who make undertakings like this possible. And a massively big thanks to all of you, for reading the gibberish both here on Chi Wulff and on the Fire Girl blog.
At any rate, not anticipating a lot of down time to be able to post while on the trip, and I’ve been alerted our wifi may be negligible. So enjoy the radio silence and prepare for some tropical images coming your way soon. In the meantime, here are a few shots from three weeks ago at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Media Summit in Florida.
