Bears, beavers, eagle videos featured at Audubon program
Take a good helping of bald eagles, toss in a handful of brown bears and add a dash of beaver and what do you have? The program for Juneau Audubon Society's first fall meeting at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School.
Wildlife biologist turned videographer Nate Johnson will share some of the footage and films in progress he has been working on over the last couple of years.
He will start with a music video for kids called "Busy as a Beaver." This video started in the summer of 2001 when he spent many early mornings and late evenings hanging around the active beaver ponds near the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center.
Johnson wasn't quite sure what to do with this first footage until Jeff Brown of KTOO told him about the song "Beaver, Will You Follow Me?" written and sung by Juneau's own Glacial Erratics. He then cut footage to fit the words and timing of the song. Untold hours in the field and 10 hours of footage boiled down to a three-minute video.
This short film was a finalist at the 2001 International Wildlife Film Festival, winning a merit award for Promoting Watchable Wildlife. It also was entered in the Canadian Recreational Canoeing Association's Waterwalker Film Festival, where it was included as part of the festival's nationwide Canadian film tour.
Johnson also will show and narrate a film in progress focusing on the gathering of bald eagles in Haines from September through December, and a rough cut featuring the brown bears of McNeil River.
Johnson has been a still photographer for years, working for the Anchorage Times when he first arrived in Alaska. He also spent many years as a habitat/wildlife biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and an environmental coordinator for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
He had long been interested in producing wildlife films, but could never find the time or the money to do it. With retirement came the time, and with Apple Computer's decision to produce a digital "professional system in a box" for their Mac computers came an affordable editing system.
"I've always liked to look at the beautiful photographic images of wildlife and landscapes that many well-known photographers have made," Johnson said. "I've had fun trying to do the same. But to me, still photos seemed to lack something - motion and natural sound! With my video camera and a good microphone, I can add both, creating a more intimate feeling of being there."
But, he admits, you can't frame and hang a video on a wall, or publish it in a magazine. "There is a place and need for both media in today's world of shrinking wildlife and wildlife habitat," he said.
During his presentation Johnson will give a quick rundown on his "semi-professional" equipment and how his entire system works. He will share ideas on how others can get started filming, too.
"Getting good video, as with good photos, takes time and patience," Johnson said, "but the key is to capture your audience by telling a good truthful story! That can be the hardest part," he adds, "to entertain but not Disney-fy, to address tough issues in an interesting manner."
Johnson's program will kick off the new year for Juneau Audubon, which meets the second Thursday of the month, usually in the Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School library.
The Southeast Wild column is written by members of the Juneau Audubon Society. Contact members at ckent@alaska.net.