Anza Borrego: Seasons in the Desert

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.