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NEWS FROM THE PADDLING WORLD Q&A BY TIM SHUFF
Lives of Bryan
AT 32, PACIFIC HORIZONS FILMMAKER BRYAN SMITH IS ALREADY WELL INTO HIS FOURTH CAREER
Squamish, B.C.–based paddler Bryan Smith is a marine biologist by education, a car- penter by trade, and a pro kayaker by des- tiny. Now a mix of fate, ambition and talent has rocketed the Michigan native into film- making, with his first DVD making the cut at the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival. We had to ask how he did it.
So, tell us your life story. I didn’t really get into kayaking until I moved out to the West Coast. I stumbled upon a marine biology job in the San Juan Islands and that’s when I met Shawna Franklin and Leon Sommé. I started out as a guide and the next thing I knew I was an instructor, and the next think I knew I was starting a kayak company. From there I decided to take it a little bit further and make a movie.
You’re a self-taught filmmaker. How did you get started? I got into filmmaking through whitewater. My first big whitewater expedition was in 2003 to India. I decided to buy a video camera because most of the other people were taking stills. Ten I really wanted to make a feature-length film. I knew that a whitewater film wasn’t going to be a viable DVD because it’s so competitive. Te idea of making a sea kayaking DVD was perfect.
We hear you just went skiing in Whistler with your biggest competitor. [Te film- maker] Justine Curgenven is a friend of mine. At first Justine felt a little threatened but we’re both friends and we both firmly believe that there’s enough room for us to do what we’re doing. If you look at the number of crews making films in the whitewater world, there’s
lotsam
no reason why there can’t be two of us going pretty full steam and doing quite well at it.
What’s the hardest thing about filming kayaking? You don’t have many land angles available to you. If you’re on the Oregon coast, you can’t get out of your boat. People don’t re- alize you actually have to be a really good sea kayaker to film sea kayaking.
What kind of camera do you use? We’ve got a Sony Z1U which is a big three-chip cam- era and the other camera that was used in Pa- cific Horizons is a Sony A1U, which is a smaller camera but it also shoots in high-definition in the same format as the Z1U, and is capable of being boxed in a waterproof housing.
What does it mean to be a finalist at the Banff Mountain Film Festival? For an adventure filmmaker what it means is that you get accepted to the festival that has the
most prestige. You get introduced to a set of people that are potentially quite helpful: the Nat. Geos., the Discovery Channel people. You have a certain amount of credibility all of sudden.
What’s next? We’re working on another sea kayaking film for next year that’s going to be focused on the East Coast. We’re going to do something similar to Pacific Horizons but make it a less segmented and chaptered film and more a complete story.
What’s your day job? Full-time work for me is a combination of adventure filmmaker and professional kayaker. To do it you’ve got to do a bit of everything: write articles, take photos, shoot film. My wife, Lise-Anne, and I are both paddlers and while we’re not going to be millionaires, it fuels our lifestyle and it allows us to go on some amazing trips and to do what we love to do.
www.adventurekayakmag.com 15
PHOTO: GARY LUHM
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