Alaska Revisited

In Notes From the Set by Rod SantianoLeave a Comment

Back in March, I had the chilling opportunity to shoot a documentary in Alaska. It was cold (understatement). If you missed my post about it, click here to read about it. We went back for a follow up shoot in September and it wasn’t as cold. Daytime highs were in the low 30s, so technically, it was still freezing. But it was a welcome cold compared to the -30s I was in last time.

I had to trade one discomfort for another, though. If you haven’t gathered this about me already, I’m not the outdoor/woodsy guy. Camping? Hunting? No. But on this trip, I got to be involved with both. I can’t say it necessarily grew on me, but it became tolerable. LOL Most of my fears about moose hunting and being eaten or mauled by bears melted away after a day. Sticking close to the guys with the rifles helped.

Funniest story of the trip:

So last time, we stuffed the furnace with wood so as to last longer in the night. It was cold! Towards the end of the trip, Josh and I stayed in a cabin that had nothing in it but beds and a furnace. Remembering what we did last time, and not wanting to freeze at night, I stuffed it with firewood like I had seen before. What I hadn’t taken into account was that it was more than 60 degrees warmer than the last time I was out there, and we were in a cabin and not a tent. You know that saying, “hotter than the blazes of hell?” Well, that’s what it felt like as I tried to go to sleep for two or three hours. It was the most miserable thing ever. I tried opening the window by my bed a bit, but the mosquitos started coming in. So I left it open just a crack, fanning the cold air into my face. Somehow, Josh was able to sleep through all this. Finally after a few hours, I realized I could close the vent on the front of the furnace to choke the fire. Yeah, I wish I had remembered that could be done a lot earlier. After a while, the heat became tolerable and I fell asleep. Never again.

Here are some random pictures from the trip:

Leave a Comment