Excited to see this piece go live with Gear Junkie! I’ll be doing more pieces down the line for the site’s fishing and hunting category, so tell me — what gear review / collection would you like to see?
Let me know — and be sure to give the full article a read here.
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Commercial shoots are funny. Pending on the client and on production, they’re either a circus of high-intensity panic and juggling, or they are a laid-back, “let’s get it done” undertaking with cool people. We can have a team of 15 or a team of two. Thankfully, a recent shoot held in Bozeman, Montana, for Oboz Footwear, was the mellow kind.
The job was to shoot a “Main Street to Mountains” product shoot, featuring two new products the brand is releasing. Finding models with sample-sized feet can sometimes prove challenging, but thankfully three old friends made the ladies’ size 7 rule, and we were able to rope in Oboz Amabassador Lorenzo to be the “men’s size 9 dude” — and he proved to be an awesome fit with our little group.
There’s something special about tackling a project with friends. Former landlady / Chalet Sports all-star Jenny, along with former Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures co-workers Kimberly and Michelle, pulled out all the stops: laughing on command, walking through woods or water or whatever when I asked and staying fueled on quality coffee and plenty of ice cream scoops. Kimberly’s English Labrador, Bea, joined us for a few adventures, perhaps culminating in her stand-up paddleboard ride, a stick placed carefully across the bow.
Despite intensely smoky conditions and record-setting heat, the team rallied for long weekend of shooting. The images are in editing and on their way to the client, but here are a few behind-the-scenes shots of the weekend’s shenanigans.
So if you were in Bozeman and wondered what the group of people carrying scrims, laughing as we downed cups of coffee at Wild Joe’s and coaxing a lazy lab up Pete’s Hill were doing, it was us. Doing what we do.
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This is one of my favorite stories from this past May’s trip to Jordan. It’s been kept under wraps waiting for this feature to drop with Kuhl’s The Outsider — and now I can finally share it with you.
Hiking the northern reaches of Jordan, I knew we had plans to stop in the small village of Iraq Al-Amir and visit the women’s cooperative located there. I’d already fallen in love with the region — hard and fast — but this visit turned my view of the country upside down. Read the full feature to see why, but here’s a sample:
… For the women of the Women Cooperative Society, the sentiment rings true more now than ever. Jordan is struggling. Struggling to accommodate a rising unemployment rate — currently between 35 and 40 percent, with every one in two jobs going to Syrian refugees. Struggling to house and provide for waves of those very same incoming refugees. At the moment, more than 150,000 refugees live in two large camps near the capital city of Amman, while tens of thousands more live in tents, apartments and even caves throughout the countryside. More arrive every day. While driving through Amman, it’s not uncommon to see a makeshift tent pitched next to a road, perhaps tucked under the shade of an old oak tree, often hosting two or more families as they seek to create a life — some form of life after war.
The struggles are visceral; hard, in-your-face daily battles that make our incorrect coffee orders and slow internet struggles seem rather petty. Here, life is boiled down to the bare basics: shelter, food and family. A means to provide. In a country bracketed by war — and, by all accounts, quite possibly more wars to come — Jordan remains a beacon of hope for those in the region. “Jordan has borders with many countries that are unstable. We are not. Jordan is the oasis of stability in the Middle East,” shares Zahir, my guide who leads me through the countryside. By day two, he’s quick to warm to political discussions, and as the miles pass beneath the truck tires, he explains the struggles this country is facing. Underneath the talk of policy and politics, an undercurrent of hope is clear. Someday, he hopes, someday tourism will return in full force to Jordan, bringing with it foreign money and the hopes for a revitalized country.
That same night, I stand on the porch of my little forest cabin just past 4AM, listening to the nearby village’s call to prayer echo through the hills and watching the sky northward. There, a mere 22 miles away, lies Syria. Hiking across a ridge earlier in the day, I’d stopped and simply watched the northward sky, recalling recent news headlines of bombings and missiles and war. Remembering a journalist friend who had been killed several years ago somewhere, somewhere under that northern sky. Less than 12 miles to the west is the West Bank, bringing its own set of strife and recent headlines. Under the shadow of the night sky, I wonder if missiles were fired — as they were the night before — if I could see it from here. It’s hard not to think over the recent conflicts and the centuries of wars and battles these lands have seen.
Huge thanks to the ladies of the Cooperative for letting us stop in for lunch and conversation, and for their lovely smiles in front of the camera. Thanks to the awesome editorial team at Kuhl for taking a risk with this story, and to the incredible travel mates I made along the way — I look forward to meeting many of you in bars and on beaches (or deserts) around the globe.
And thanks to the Adventure Travel Trade Association, Visit Jordan, Visit Jordan North America and Abercrombie and Kent for making the logistics possible.
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Once upon a time, I worked on an island in the South Pacific. I slept in the open air, ate raw bonefish in fresh coconut milk and spent the majority of my waking hours submerged in saltwater with my camera. One day, I learned how to throw spears at coconuts suspended high in the air. And life was simple, and life was good.
The end.
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Grayling doings its thing at Tjuonajokk.
Just back from Swedish Lapland, on an assignment with Swedish Lapland Tourism, and am working through an edit. The majority of these images will stay quiet until published (some cool stories coming your way soon!) but I had to leak a few here in the blog.
The best quote of the shoot goes to Ted, a videographer with Swedish Lapland, who commented succinctly after yet another night of very little sleep, “I would drop some bodies for an ice cream.”
We were able, later in the day, to find an ice cream.
Some interesting new adventures and shoots in the works… stay tuned for more!
Playing with light and color on the water.
The dock and sauna at Tjuonajokk camp.
Camp life at Tjuonajokk.
Early-morning pike fishing means breakfast and gear sorting on the water.
Carrying young birch cuttings back to camp at Guenja.
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On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again
Heading off on an assignment Swedish Lapland. I’ll be incommunicado until July 24, so if you’re looking for me please send a note and I’ll answer as soon as I can.
Cheers!
Jess
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