I don’t keep a daily journal, but I do keep shoot journals and editing journals. Here is an excerpt from the recent Bristlecone Pine Pine Forest shoot journal.
August 16, 2010
Travel day. Six hour flight to San Francisco, six hour drive to Bishop. I had done the math abstractly. Leave JFK at 8:15, arrive SFO before noon. Arrive in Bishop, CA before sundown. But I hadn’t done the math plus the reality.
Now, on the plane, on this seemingly interminable flight (infant in front of me that won’t stop yammering the same sentence: “It’s pretty, mama!”) I’m beginning to wonder if my scheduling was sound. Should I have planned on spending the first night in SF and driving to Bishop the next morning? I’m beginning to wonder about the shoot. Expected highs in Bishop of 100 degrees. Altitude of 10,000 feet. Going solo and lugging the gear – tripod, camera, pack full of accessories and lunch and water. What was I thinking? I’m going to die on that mountain. Were all those jokes about not finishing the film in my lifetime more than jokes, were they prophetic?
…
I drive the rental car out of the lot and my mood shifts. Half way through the drive on 108 I hit Stanislaus National Forest and then Toiyabe National Forest. I’m driving on nausea-inducing winding roads through Ansel Adams photographs, but I’m not feeling sick. I’m excited again. I stop the car and take some photos. I drive by Mono Lake and then through Inyo National Forest as the sun sets. There is no time to scout. I arrive in Bishop, check into my motel, get some Mexican food, and plan tomorrow’s day.
This will be a good shoot.
Next installment, Shoot Journal – 08.17.2010: The first day of shooting.