"... for the team of twenty-nine who man the Calypso life aboard is an incessant labor - repair and re-repair, improvise and re-improvise, and when it's all fixed, all fashioned, re-fix and re-fashion it all over again... the work requires pros... men who got guts and brains - and few romantic illusions... there are no Conrads here, no Melvilles, no Lowrys - only realists , with two or more trades... only men who can endure, ignore or shrug off long confinements, the perpetual rack and pitch of Calypso, the endless cacophony of wind and sea, machinery and other men's work... and when it isn't fix it, it's scrub it or paint it - an endless fight against corrosion, peeling, blistering... (Rod Serling)
"... whatever the job, complex or mundane, the men of Calypso do it, and they do it well... they all know that they are vital parts of a collective endeavor... that our discoveries will be seen by millions of television viewers, and that our hull will echo in the hearts of young people world wide..." (Jacques Yves Cousteau)
- 'The Water Planet', Cousteau Odyssey, Episode 12
... combining a sh*ty winter (no snow) with the current downturn in life, we've had a lot of opportunity the past few weeks, and months, to revisit the highly influential television series, 'The Cousteau Odyssey' (aka: 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau') - gotta love YouTube...
(Internet Image)
... the men, Jacques Yves Cousteau (R) and his friend and chief diver of the Calypso, Albert Falco...
(image from the book, 'Falco, Chief Diver Of The Calypso')
... cross-sectional view of Cousteau's research vessel, 'Calypso'...
... we hadn't seen these shows since they first aired on television beginning in the late 60's and extending into the mid 70's - beyond then and extending into the early 80's the luster of the adventures began to tarnish as larger corporate sponsors with political agendas became involved - you could even see it wearing on Cousteau...
... highly recommended viewing for those looking to occupy some time, and particularly for the unfamiliar...
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... the September, 1970 underwater cinematography issue of 'American Cinematographer' magazine... again, highly influential... besides articles on Cousteau and crew and underwater filming in practice, there was an article on a surfer/filmmaker by the name of George Greenough, who had recently completed a new surfing film called 'The Innermost Limits Of Pure Fun' - we were most impressed by Greenough's low budget and go-it-alone approach to his work, which included designing and fabricating his waterproof camera housings, mounts, tripods - just about everything he needed - no quest for fame and fortune, he mainly just wanted to be left alone to go about his own business... he was the first filmmaker to film the inside of a tube of a wave while riding a kneeboard of, again, his own design...
... another work of influence was a film titled 'Solo' shot by a skilled climber/filmmaker by the name of Mike Hoover - we saw it unexpectedly in a movie theater (probably 1972) as a short subject prior to the main feature, a typical practice in feature film presentation back then... have no recall what the main feature was - all we could think about was hastening the showing so we could set into the repeat performance and view the short again... the May, 1973 issue of American Cinematographer (which we still have) had a pretty informative production article... the old (before the '85 flood) visitors center at Seneca Rocks, WV used to show it regularly in their theater - don't know if they still do, never been inside the new center subsequent to the fire years back... we finally go a VHS copy sometime in the '90's - a click on the link provided above will get ya' to a YouTube feature - not the best transfer, but good none the less... probably a bit hokey by todays standards, but guys back then had more soul than splash...
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... doesn't hurt to have multiple skills other than pointing and shooting a camera as nowadays - here's a few suggested in the excellent book, 'Secrets of Hollywood Special Effects' (Robert E. McCarthy, 1992)... we could add a few to that...
... we've had probably more fun designing our own equipment and solving the logistics off "getting the shot" as we did with the actual process of creating a finished film... we always took the "rubber air bulb duster" analogy when it came to equipment - if ya' purchase it from a camera shop it's called a "camera air bulb duster" and it costs $15 - if ya' purchase it from a drug store it's called an "ear syringe" and costs $.99... we've fabricated scrims, filters, diffusers, reflectors, mounts - it's a lot cheaper to beat up a modified 100w/12v halogen automotive work light ($10 from NAPA) in a wet cave system than a several hundred dollar photographic Lowell lighting system - and they both work just as good (and use the same bulb)...
... one of a set of four dolly trucks we built from pressure treated 2x4 lumber, nylon rod, steel all thread rod and skateboard wheels - designed to roll along tracks fabricated from flush coupled 4" diameter pvc casing pipe, of which we had access to a free used supply...
... helmet cam fabricated from an old dirt bike helmet - no GoPro at the time - that's an old Hi8 Canon video camera attached...
... learning the ins and outs - an old 'Kodak Brownie 8' film camera and Kalart 8mm film editor... shot mostly Eastman Kodachrome II color reversal film back then and a bit of B&W as well - don't recall the manufacturer of the B&W film stock - do remember that we shot a pretty good pheasant hunting short, probably around '68 - it was tossed long ago, with a ton of other stuff, when mom decided to clean out the attic without asking - we talk to a lot of guys who've had that same problem...
(internet image - 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark')
... somewhere out in the cosmos there's an asteroid orbiting that is home to a warehouse of infinity proportion that stores every item ever tossed by every guys mom... might not be a bad fate spending eternity going thru all those crates - it's all good sh*t... wonder how long before we'd get to our stuff...
... a couple young guys have inquired to us recently with questions (mostly film processing and negative cutting/editing) regarding Super 8mm and 16mm film photography - said that they don't even know anybody that's ever even shot 35mm still photography... Arriflex, Eclair, Beaulieu - all great cameras each and we've shot with 'em all, and we're still pissed for not purchasing a used 35mm Mitchell years back when we were messing around with stop motion animation (a guy we met in NY was selling it for $500 in perfect condition) - you get just as great results from less expensive equipment and a good lens - pictured above are two Eastman K-100 16mm turret cameras we own - camera on the right is mounted with a Peleng 8mm/f3.5 fisheye lens w/ 180ยบ angle of view, M42 to c-mount adapter... and we've always loved spring wound motor drive - we were reading a biography a while back of a guy who was cameraman on a small expedition to a difficult mountain peak in Pakistan or somewhere - comes time to get the summit shot and he discovers that his batteries have frozen - pretty much ended his career on the spot (f*k it, shit happens - we'd still use 'em - and most had died attempting that peak) - but he would have done himself a big favor if he would have packed along a spring wound camera as backup - even if he only got twenty seconds of even 8mm footage - we sure would have... anyway, lots of that stuff still out there on eBay in good working order...
... filming with our Bolex H16EBM...
... Strongman Matt checking out an underwater video camera housing...
... ha - inspired by Cousteau we long ago attempted to film a huge, rumored 8ft length, Muskellunge that was lurking in a deep stretch of water along the local Youghiogheny River here in PA - was said to resemble a railroad tie when lying about the shallows - despite swimming probably every inch of that river bottom and hours of surveillance from an overpassing railroad trestle, we never saw the fish - but many reportedly did - a local guy who was obsessed with landing that thing was said to have blown it out of the water with several sticks of dynamite - don't know the truth to that story but we ourselves were questioned by the local Fish Warden concerning the incident - suspiciously, the suspected culprit (who everyone knew) gave up his quest for the fish immediately thereafter... we only got as far as shooting a few test still photos of a couple bass and walleye (saw some big ones, too) - those all disappeared - the only remaining image from that adventure is the one above... we suspect that they're all locked up in a crate somewhere in that warehouse...
