Where does the time go!? We are at it again… out team is on-route to Midway Island to continue work on our project.
The message of Midway, through the photos and videos our team has created over the past 2.5 years, have reached a global audience and we are so very humbled and honoured by the response.
Please keep an eye on our blog: www.MidwayJourney.com where we will be updating regularly with lots of behind the scenes clips.
Will also also be doing a live LIVE-STREAM broadcast from Midway and will be posting the exact date and time on the blog. The live-stream link is here: www.livestream.com/midway
Our film site with the HD version of the trailer is here: www.MidwayFilm.com
This project has become so dear to my heart and to the hearts of so many people.. It’s making a global impact.. and I feel so proud and privileged to be part of it. Join us and get on board… we are off to Save the World!!! Click here: www.razoo.com/story/Midwayjourney
Thank you all for your support and for following along.
The third Midway expedition was unlike the previous two. This was the first time we had a chance to witness the innocence of the Albatross chicks. Their kind, gentle demeanor. Their love and curiosity. It was absolutely wonderful!
The bonding that our small team of passionate film makers and artist experienced, will last a lifetime. They all now feel like family. We laughed, we cried… and together shared the absolutely stunning beauty but also the tragic horror of this place.
For fourteen days, daily we were out with our cameras from sunrise to sunset. We were presented by some magical moments that could not be scripted. They just appeared in front of our lenses at the most perfect times… almost as if it was meant to be.
Daily we reviewed the footage we captured and were blown away by the images. We are so thrilled and excited to be able to share it all one day with the world.
As I leave this place, I am so very humbled and honoured to be part of this team and part of this project. It has been a life changing experience for me and I don’t take the responsibility of sharing the Midway message with the world lightly.
The deeper I sink into all of this, the more I realize that the message the heroic, iconic Albatross are bringing to Midway is much more about plastic….. it really is about each of us and the daily choices we make in our lives. It is about ALL our collective consumption of not only single use disposable plastics but really about everything.
Having that awareness that to go without, sometimes isn’t always a bad thing. Do we really need to take those free candies they bring us at the end of our meal in the restaurant, or use 3 napkins during our meal. Sure that coffee cup is made of paper, but it still had to be manufactured and shipped, only to be used for 10 minutes and discarded. Paper of plastic at the grocery store? How about neither?
Yes, the single use disposable plastic is the real tragedy but this thing is about way more then that!
One of the highlights for me during this past trip, was having Emily Chartrand join us. She is the next generation of eco warriors that will change the world. Please visit her amazing blog for some of her reflections of this experience. I am so thrilled to see Emily take this message of Midway and go share it with thousands of kids and people around the world.
This mission is far from over… in fact it’s just beginning. Please stay tuned and join us!
Thank you to Kris Krug for many of these fabulous images.
With much excitement and anticipation, our team has returned to Midway Island for the third time.
In addition to Chris Jordan’s ongoing photographic work on the island, we are all collaborating in the creation of a documentary film about our experience, that we hope will bring the message of beauty and renewal to an audience of millions of people around the world.
Following the devastating earthquake in Japan last week, Midway was consequently hit with a tsunami, which killed over 110,000 albatross chicks and many other species of birds on the island. We’ve had the unique, unprecedented opportunity to witness the aftermath of this first hand.
The first few days of our trip have been full of wonder and surprise. The island is currently covered with hundreds of thousands baby Albatross chicks. They are these adorable little fluff-balls, covered in brown down feathers.
We’ve been busy filming from sunrise to sunset and the island has presented us with amazing pictures and experiences so far.
We’ve had another fabulous photographer, Kris Krug join us on this trip, and he’s been very busy taking tons of amazing behind the scenes shots. All these photos can be found on our Midway Journey Facebook page.
Also joining us on this trip is a grade 11 student from Penticton Secondary School, Emily Chartrand. Please check out her amazing blog emilysmidwayjourney.blogspot.com
Here is a bit of a behind the scenes look at some of our work out on Midway Island for the Midway Journey expedition. The Kessler Cineslider is working amazing. We also have a 12 foot jib arm and a Steadicam. All have been great tools out here and we are very grateful for the golf cart that we can carry it all around in.
In the middle of the forest we found this little peanut. It’s a baby White Tern.
And our setup how we shot it with the Cineslider.
And our sound gear setup for our wildlife audio recordings. Thanks so much Byron, from Matrix in Vancouver for all the gear.
Here is a short behind the scenes video clip:
And one of our Midway Journey short vignettes: MIDWAY Brushstrokes 3
Our team arrived safely on Midway Island and the past six days here have been a whirlwind of activity. We’ve been getting up early, and going to bed late… filming and photographing not only the abundant beauty of this place, but also it’s dark side. It’s been an emotional roller coaster for me witnessing the hundreds of dying young Albatross chicks. They are such stunning and beautiful creatures, and it breaks my heart to watch them suffer and die. The cause of this is dehydration, starvation and chocking. The plastic bottle caps and cigarette lighters that fill most of their stomachs may just have something to do with it!
We came upon the seawall yesterday, on the south side of the island and there I saw a young chick, in the water, getting pounded by the waves into the chucks of concrete and rocks. He was water logged, wings spread open and drowning with each wave. I began to film him, to watch him struggle and die. I struggled deeply whether to keep filming or jump down and rescue him. I did both.
This has been the case a number of times now as we make our way all over the island. Each day it seems there is less and less chicks out in the field, and more dead ones.
My intention was to keep this blog going regularly throughout this journey, but I am finding it difficult to find the time. When we are not filming, we are editing and producing the short films for the Midway Journey website, Facebook etc. The painfully slow internet connection also makes it difficult.
Please visit our Flickr page where we are posting photos from our trip. For some reason I can’t get the photos to upload onto this blog. These photos are also posted on our Facebook page.
I also ask that you please join the cause! What we are witnessing here on Midway is the result of our disposable culture and the ‘throw away’ world we live in. We are all responsible for this! Each day we all make a choice whether the products we buy and use are made from disposable, single use plastic, or whether it’s some other material, that is better for our earth. Or better yet, to ask our selves the question, do I need that item or packaged good at all.
In our town a group of passionate folks formed a group called Plastic Free Penticton. In just 4 short weeks, our fan page on Facebook has 250 people and locally in Penticton, it’s turned into a movement. We can’t believe how many people are excited to join the cause and help spread the message. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Plastic-Free-Penticton/123790037652206?ref=ts
I’d invite you to do the same in your own town or community. Together we can make a difference!
With love and gratitude,
Jan
P.S. And here are a couple of the short films we’ve edited since we got here.
