Grateful:
The Isaac Johnston Story
It all started with an email…
I came across Isaac’s work through Instagram. He was tagged in a photo by world renowned adventure photographer Alex Strohl and while I was first taken back by the stunning imagery what really inspired me to reach out was his character. Isaac is an incredibly charismatic director and photographer so often chooses to inject a bit of his lifestyle and personality into his work. Having grown up in Montana and bouncing around in his 20s, Isaac found photography later in life and what began as a way to just document his adventures soon grew into a lifelong career working as a producer for Alex Strohl. Isaac currently resides near Whitefish, Montana with his wife and two girls.
Video Production - How Did We Make It?
As a Boulder based filmmaker and photographer, I had to take a little bit of a road trip up to Montana. Since it was September 2020 and flying had a bit of a COVID risk, I decided to pack up my video production equipment, paddleboard, tent, bike and some snacks to drive 15 hours north to Isaac’s house. Since neither of us had tons of time available to dedicate to the project we had to pack in as much as we could in a 3 day window.
Check out the podcast below where I talk about the film and my career up to this!
Day 1 - The Bikes
Our first day was spent fixing up his old bikes in his incredibly photography friendly garage. After filling the room with haze and doing some tweaking of the available and rigged lights, we got to shooting. As a cinematographer, my goal is to always find that right balance between the highlights and the shadows and feel that everything really came together on this day. Check out the stills below for a more in-depth look at what we were able to create.
After our video shoot in the bike shed we returned to Isaac’s at home office where we were both able to get some other work completed as we waited for the light to stream into his office. Since the Boulder video production scene had begun to open with some precautions due to COVID, this was a nice time for me to do some work on my other client projects. I got some footage of Isaac working then we set up an interview once we had the right lighting. There were many moments from this interview that I felt were providing a lot of value and interesting perspectives on the adventure filmmaking and adventure photography industry. After a long day of paddling and talking on camera we called it a day.
Day 2 - Kayaking & Interviews
First off, we were incredibly fortunate with our access to some epic locations. There was a small slow moving river right outside of Isaac’s home that we filmed the kayaking session at. We groggily arrived at the waterfront to catch the sunrise begin to crest over the mountain peaks. The first 30 minutes of our journey was spent in relative darkness but when that sun came out, all the conditions came together. There was an amazing fog on the surface of the river due to the colder September moisture which led to some pretty amazing imagery.
We took a bit of break in the middle of the day since the light ended up being a bit harsh for creating some good videos and photos. We reunited a little closer to sunset and took a hike with his wife, Meg Johnston, just outside of Glacier National Park (since there were no need for film permits required on the trail we took). This was a fun day because it also provided an opportunity to show a little behind the scenes of Isaac taking some photos too.
Day 3 - Hiking & Family Time
The final day was all about showing how important family is to Isaac Johnston. We started off with a little scene of Isaac and his family doing some polar plunges in the river out front of his house. At sunset, we were able to get some more tender family moments as well as the Johnston’s hosted for a homemade pizza night. This shoot was a little more inspired by a verité documentary style meaning that I sort of just allowed life to unfold in front of the camera to capture more raw and unfiltered moments of Isaac interacting with his wife and girls. This dinner put a wrap on production so I packed up the car and headed back to Boulder, biking, camping and paddle boarding along the way!
