Click here to see a preview clip of the movie.
The idea for Anza-Borrego: Seasons In the Desert began with tarantulas. I had recently completed shooting Nature's Classic, for KPBS in San Diego. We shot part of that film in Anza-Borrego and I had decided, just for fun, to come back and photograph the male tarantulas in the autumn when they come out and roam the landscape. Two years later I found myself with a complete film on the Anza-Borrego Desert. Ironically, there is very little in the film about tarantulas. The seasonal changes of the desert wilderness, along with sightings and interactions with the creatures of the desert began to fascinate me, and altered the focus of the film. Wildlife plays a very large part in the film, but the true star is the desert itself. The play of light across this lonely landscape is ever changing and full of surprises.
Making the Film
I found filming in this environment both exhilarating and frustrating. Blowing dust and haze often thwarted photography. Half way through the filming, the camera's lens had to be sent back to the factory to be cleaned of all the sand grinding around inside of it. I wanted a crisp and clear look to all of the landscapes. I wanted them to have depth and sharpness. If the air was hazy I concentrated instead on close-up photography.
The process tested my endurance and patience. Months went by with no perceptible changes; waiting for the fall colors was agonizing. Once I froze my hands and feet in a snowstorm. I sweltered day after day under the brutal summer sun. I wore the knees out of several pairs of jeans and ruined the tires, paint job, and suspension on my Jeep. I was constantly pulling Cholla cactus spines out my legs and hands.
But I also saw things that most people never get an opportunity to see. I camped under the stars in the badlands watching meteor showers. I made friends with a coyote and a mother hummingbird and was tolerated by a herd of bighorn sheep. I spent hours flying over the desert and the mountains in the park's plane. I had the privilege of spending great stretches of time in an amazing wilderness. I learned to slow down my hectic pace and to be still.
Wondrous things happen when you sit quietly and let the world move about you. We watch television all the time and very seldom consider what goes into making a program. Not all films take two years to make, but when you want to photograph all of the seasons you need at least one year. Then it helps to add another year so you can get some of the things you missed on the first go around.
Flash floods, for example, are very unpredictable and uncooperative. I had been filming for nearly a year and a half without seeing a flash flood. I had given up hope of ever getting one on film. Then one day the sky opened up and in minutes water was gushing across the roads and down the dry washes. In half an hour it was over. I was soaked and muddy and cold but I had my sequence.
I was not always so lucky. I spent several days filming Great Horned Owl chicks. Their mother sat on a ledge and watched them. I decided I needed a shot of the mother flying so the film could talk about how she goes hunting and brings food back to her young. I drove out to the canyon before light and set up where I could see the mother owl. I stood in the same spot for twelve hours watching her. She sat in the same spot for twelve hours watching me. Owls do hunt at night, but I had hoped she might change her position during the day or fly over and check on her chicks. She didn't and I never got a shot of her flying.
Bighorn Sheep
People often ask me how I got so many shots of bighorn sheep and how I got so close to them. Most of the year the sheep stay high up on the rocky slopes and it is difficult to get close. Several groups, however, stay in the same general areas that happen to be on the main road that winds down the mountain. No matter where I was going, if I drove by these areas I would stop and scan the slopes with binoculars. Often I would spot a group. At these times it was necessary to use a very large telephoto lens on the camera. I adapted a 420mm fixed focal length lens from a 35mm still camera to fit the video camera. To find the sheep with this lens I would have to aim over the top of it, using it like a gun sight. It was a lot like looking through a telescope and if there was the slightest bit of wind the lens would shake and ruin the shot.
During the summer, the sheep come down closer to civilization to find water. I spent several weeks set up near a popular water hole where the sheep came to drink several times per day. I suppose to them I became a fixture and they stopped worrying about me. I never moved or made noise when they were around. On one occasion the entire group of about 20 sheep surrounded me. Several older females approached me to within 15 feet. We stared at each other for a while and then they slowly moved on to the pond to drink. If other hikers or sightseers showed up, the sheep would bolt and run away. I imagine it is movement and noise that spooks them. They even scare themselves sometimes.
Equipment
Most of the time, I worked alone. When you photograph wildlife, the more people present, the less success you will have. I had to have a package that I could carry by myself. I used a professional Sony digital video camera shooting in the DVCAM format. The camera, along with the tripod head and tapes, batteries, drinking water and extra wide-angle lens all fit in a backpack for long hikes. The tripod legs I would have to carry over my shoulder. Often, though, I was able to work out of my car.
Much of Anza-Borrego can be explored with a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Roads are all over, ranging from good to impassable. I spent much of my time driving around, exploring. I would find places that I liked and return to those often, looking for different conditions, a different quality in the light. I would also return to these spots with heavier equipment. I wanted as much motion in the film as possible. I wanted to draw the viewer into the landscape. Two pieces of equipment that helped me do this was a jib-arm and a steadicam.
Put simply, a jib-arm is a teeter-totter with weights on one end and the camera on the other. It is supported in the middle by a tripod that allows it to move up and down and swing from side to side. This allowed me to fly the camera out over water or raise it from ground level up to about eight feet above a field of flowers, for example.
The steadicam is a spring-loaded camera mount that you wear. It allows you to walk with the camera over rough ground and achieve smooth moving shots. I don't use this device very often and it took a lot of trial and error to get a few marginally good shots. It only takes a few, though, to bring a film alive. I used the steadicam to walk through very narrow slot canyons, between trees and around ocotillo plants. I flew it across a wash and into a smoke tree, simulating the flight of a hummingbird.
Another absolutely invaluable piece of equipment was a small, tough airplane known as an Aviat Husky. The plane belongs to the State Park and is flown by ranger Jon Muench. The park graciously allowed me to fly with Jon during his regular patrols. Jon allowed me to make some drastic alterations to his pristine airplane. I first taped large foam pads around the wing struts and jumpers. Then I taped the camera itself to the struts. Gaffer's tape is very strong and I had no qualms about trusting my camera and the plane with it. I then ran two cables down the strut to the fuselage and up through a window into the cabin. One cable was for a small color monitor and the other was a remote control to start and stop the camera. The plane is very small; you don't sit in it so much as wear it. The plane has tandem seating, so I sat behind the pilot, with my head buried in the monitor, watching the picture and trying not to get airsick. For hours we flew like this, clearing the boulder strewn mountain peaks by mere feet, gliding out over the vast Salton Sea and skimming bushes in a dry wash.
The Park also allowed me to fly in their helicopter. I couldn't mount the camera to the helicopter so was forced to hang out with the camera on my shoulder. Shots are not as smooth this way but it gives you perspectives that you don't get from the airplane. Also, it allowed us to land in very remote and inaccessible areas where I was able to film wildflowers that perhaps no other human would ever see. I owe a great debt to the park for allowing me these opportunities to fly. I produced the film on a zero budget and renting a helicopter or airplane was out of the question for me.
Editing
Landscapes are very static and don't always make interesting video. The tools and tricks I used in filming helped bring the desert alive, to pull the viewer into the film. But where the magic truly begins is in the editing process. I edited the entire film at home on a Macintosh® computer using relatively inexpensive editing software. The footage was loaded digitally onto the computer's hard drives. Once there, I could manipulate and organize the shots any way I wanted. In the field I shot a lot of time-lapse photography. With video you have to shoot time-lapse in real time. In other words, if you want ten seconds of quickly moving clouds you may have to shoot them static for thirty minutes to an hour. I would load that hour into the computer and let it compress the footage down to ten seconds. What you are left with is a speeded up version of the original. This works great with clouds but also looks nice with sunrise and sunset shadows and light moving across the landscape.
First I edited all the picture elements together. Next I wrote the narration to complement and fit the pictures. After that came the music, written specifically for this film by composer William Bradbury. Then I began the long and tedious process of adding natural sounds. Sound technician William O'Bryan helped me create missing sounds and clean up existing sounds. Towards the end, I recorded Greg Heimer (a professional voice-over actor) reading the narration. The challenge was to combine all these elements and have them compliment each other. The music has to do a careful dance with the narration so neither one steps on the other. Sound is a very important part of a film and if the quality is poor, people will change the channel. The entire editing process took six months.
The finished product
The film was first offered as a VHS video and is now available in DVD format. This hour-long documentary won three Emmy Awards: Best Documentary, Photography, and Original Music Score.
Click here to get the DVD or to see a preview of the movie.
DesertUSA note: This incredible hour-long documentary film was produced, written, photographed, and edited by Chris Pyle. It captures the spirit of the Anza-Borrego desert and is a must own DVD for anyone interested in the desert and its wildlife.
