Our Wyoming life Take 1
Hi I’m Mike, everyday a rancher has to wear multiple hats, welder, mechanic, veterinarian
are all pretty common.
A silly little director’s beret isn’t one that I thought I would be wearing almost
every day here on the ranch.
Let’s see how we film the ranch on Our Wyoming Life.
The very first video we put out as Our Wyoming Life was a simple one about feeding the cows
and by the next morning we knew that we were doing something that people wanted to see
more of.
It was then we made a commitment to begin bringing videos to anyone that would watch
them.
Detailing life on the ranch from the exciting to the mundane.
But one thing that is never mundane is the filming process.
No matter what we are doing, we not only face the challenges of doing that task, but also
the best way to film it and bring it to you.
Every week around here begins with thinking about that week’s videos, and incorporating
it into what needs done on the ranch.
We don’t make work just to make videos and everything you see us do is exactly what we
had going on that week.
We don’t get ahead of ourselves because we want to bring you the real world of the
ranch, and that real world is full of unpredictability.
All the filming we do here is done with 4 cameras.
iPhone, a GoPro, a Canon DSLR Camera, or the Drone.
And the first part of any project anymore, it getting the cameras set up.
So that’s where we start.
When we first started making videos, I used to have do everything three times for different
camera angles.
Drive the bobcat out of the shop, video from one angle.
Back it back in, move the camera, get it from a different angle, then do it again.
Since then I’ve gotten smarter and using more than one camera I can get different angles
and not have to repeat myself and save time.
That works for some things, but for other tasks it gets a little trickier.
Today we are heading out to the feed the pigs.
They have gotten quite a bit bigger from the last time you saw them and they are always
hungry.
Just this week we went to a friend’s farm and picked up an entire trailer load of pumpkins
that were going to go bad, which the pigs will love.
Another bonus about pumpkins is that they are a natural de-wormer for the pigs so two
birds with one stone.
These pigs now weigh close to 200lbs apiece, a big difference from the day we brought them
to the ranch and carried them into their pen, each weighing less than 10lbs.
And they are solid, each one will eat over 10lbs of food per day and that’s where the
pumpkins come in.
Even though they are frozen.
It takes a pick to break each one open but after we do the pigs go nuts and gobble them
up.
Even the simple act of feeding the pigs takes 2 cameras to video.
The Go Pro on the tripod and the iPhone to shoot close ups.
Arranging the cameras can also be a little tricky, with animals moving around there’s
always the chance of knocking over a camera as we learned when preg checking and I thought
it would be a cool angle to get a cow coming out of the chute.
I honestly thought the cow would avoid the camera when she came out but I didn’t think
that she would be more interested in getting away from us than watching out what was in
front of her.
Lesson learned and one camera down.
It was quickly apparent to us that cameras could get expensive in this adventure, so
we needed to protect our investment with common sense which sometimes was lacking but in the
case of the crashed drone was actually beyond my control.
We use the drone whenever we can, getting those wonderful aerial shots.
Showcasing the amazing Wyoming terrain and sky.
Not only does it get us the shots we need but it’s fun to fly as well.
Growing up I always wanted to fly, and in high school I dabbled in radio controlled
airplanes.
I spend an entire summer scratch building my first plane and when it was done I took
it out and flew it for the first time.
And crashed it nose first in a wheat field.
That was the end of my radio-controlled airplane career but a few years ago I did get a DJI
Phantom 2 drone, which we used here on the ranch to catch a number of the original aerial
shots that you have seen.
Filming with the drone can be easy or hard, depending on the situation.
Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting it up in the air and letting it hover, catching
the action happening below it.
Other times requires catching a moving subject, such as the gator as we head out to cake the
cows.
Flying and driving at the same is a trick, throw in dodging cows and it’s a recipe
for disaster, another obstacle that the drone has to deal with is wind, and I have definitely
flown it in winds that were above the recommended wind tolerances for the drone.
Put together a few different obstacles and they all add up to something bad happening.
Like a drone falling out of the sky, and landing hard in the grass.
This landing killed the drone, and later I did find out that it was actually an electrical
issue and not my own pilot errors that caused the crash, but either way the drone was dead
and again we needed a replacement camera.
Because we didn’t want the channel to suffer from what we felt were iconic shots that everyone
loved of the ranch we found and purchased another DJI phantom drone, the next generation
after the one that died but not the newest model they make for a decent price and we
were back in business.
After feeding the pigs I have some fence to fix in the corral and this is a perfect time
to put up the drone.
The wind is calm and chances for catastrophe are low.
This corral is where our lame bull had been hanging out since we brought him home, we
have since taken him to auction but before we can get new cows in this corral I have
to replace this board on the fence that he broke with his big bull head.
Filming does add time to some projects, like fixing this fence.
Moving cameras, getting closeups and trying to make it interesting, but with other projects,
we don’t have time to do all the fancy camera stuff.
Like when we were sorting off calves to go to auction.
Situations like this is where I get to wear the GoPro on my chest.
Getting you right into the action, and in turn, making me look like an idiot with a
camera strapped to his chest.
These are some of the hardest videos to edit, because they can be hours long require sorting
through hours of video to find that one shot that I need.
After we have all the video we need for a story, then it’s time to put it all together
in the editing process.
This is usually my night time project, you put the kids to bed and spend a few hours
a night putting together that days video.
My longest night is always Saturday night, when I am up til 2 am at times putting the
finishing touches on Sunday mornings video.
By no means is this a sob story, we love what we do, in a weird way, filming has started
to become as natural as ranching itself and I think that’s because some of the payoffs
are the same.
The freedom to do what I want to do, and the excitement and satisfaction of a job well
done.
An added bonus that we only get from filming is the ability to bring you along with us,
we honestly couldn’t do it without you.
If this is your first time here, hit that subscribe button and join me and our entire
community in a journey that we are taking together.
From ranching, to gardening, to living a life that is like no other.
Through hard work and dedication, you can accomplish anything.
Even when your life is turned upside down like ours was 9 years ago when we came to
the ranch.
Be sure to find us on Facebook for content you can’t find anywhere else and as always
have a great week and thanks for joining us in Our Wyoming Life.