Caity from Groundswell Media Lab reached out last fall for help filming a series of short videos on a pair of new via ferratas at the Mohonk Mountain House. She specifically needed someone to film with a drone, climb on the cliffs, and create nice well-lit interviews and I was more than happy to join the team. This was my third time at Mohonk- the first was my brother’s wedding on a very stormy weekend and the second was a perfect fall day to film the S.OS. Triathlon for Caity. Mohonk is such a unique and special place and I was very excited to get to spend a few days filming there. The main videos Caity edited are online here.

I filmed/photographed on a DJI Mavic 3 Pro and DJI Mini 3 Pro and it was great to have both drone options for different settings. It feels much safer to take the Mini off from the cliff and try and thread through trees (though I wish I had the new Mini 4 Pro for omni-directional obstacle avoidance) and it has a great vertical mode for portrait shots. The Mavic Pro on the other hand has three lenses for a little more variety and much better 4K slow motion capacity. We filmed the interviews and B-roll on two Sony a7Siii’s and I had a backup Sony FX30 which I never ended up taking out of the Pelican case but it’s always nice to know you have another option.

Here are some frame grabs and BTS photos:

Here’s another edit of the video for YouTube:

We had worked together a few years ago on the S.O.S. Triathlon that finished at the Mohonk Mountain House and I even got to swim in Mohonk Lake to film. Long story short, whenever Caity calls, it means there is a beautiful project coming up. Thanks, Caity!!!