Latest Shoot: New Orleans

Production on EveryDay Earth continues to keep us busy.  With "Mission 1" pretty much completed (barring peer review and any revisions we might need,) we've moved our focus to "Mission 2."  That means it's time to get back out in the field and shoot some footage.  Since Mission 2 continues with the Water Cycle we headed out to the New Orleans area.

Although technically, we shot very little in the actual city.  We spent a lot of time driving around Louisiana to get to the good stuff.  Our first destination was the Old River Control structures in the eastern central part of the state, along the Mississippi border.  It helps control the mighty Mississippi River.

We had actually filmed there before years ago when we tagged along on an OU field trip.  That footage eventually found its way into an old GeoAmerica segment about the Mississippi Delta.  Of course, those were the SD days.  Now that we're HD/4K fancy-pants big shots, we frequently find ourselves re-shooting locations we've visited before.  But that's not a bad thing since we've been at this a while and people, places and things tend to change over time.

We weren't able to use our new favorite toy, the drone, here because the Army Corps of Engineers doesn't allow drones at this facility but they were still very helpful and welcoming and we're happy to thank them once again for allowing us access.

It's worth mentioning that one of the main draws of the area is the food.  And we tried to get as much of it as we could.  The first New Orleans dish?  Etouffee!  We found a cool gas station/restaurant in a little out of the way town between somewhere and somewhere else.  

The main reason we traveled to the area was to get shots of the Louisiana Barrier Islands.  We chartered a boat with local guide Richie Blink of Delta Discovery Tours who was a great resource.  Unlike some of the showier guides around, Blink has spent years studying the science of the area and really helped us get the shots we needed.

Once we got out there we finally got the drone in the air. We toured the islands for several hours and got tons of great footage!  It's an important story to tell and we're glad to include it in EveryDay Earth.  The islands are covered in various shells, especially oyster shells...which gave us a craving...

Since we're usually so far inland it's hard to find fresh seafood so being near the Gulf was a great excuse to destroy a tray of oysters.  We looked over the shells afterward so you could say this also counted as research.  This was pretty much our fuel for shooting geology footage on this trip.  And there was plenty to shoot...

One of the last hings we shot was Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours.  It was a great chance for us to get some wetlands footage and there were plenty of gators, turtles and other critters that we could get shots of in their natural habitat.  Thanks to the tour company for letting us hop aboard.

The overall shoot was exhausting but we ending up getting a lot of great shots and eat a ton of great food.  You can check it all out (except maybe the food) in Mission 2 of EveryDay Earth...coming soon!