Part XXVIII: Boats and Burns

I have a sunburn. Not just any old sunburn. A raging scarlet red face sunburn. I got home looked in the mirror and started laughing hysterically. The burn is a result is of day one of a two day boat shoot extravaganza! Try saying that five times fast.


I am on the Alliance (the Parks Canada boat) following Nadia around like a puppy dog. She is the marine biologist at the park and I'm shooting a movie about her. Following a pre-determined course, we cruise along mapping the predators in the area while at the same time using echolocation to track the prey. Today was a special day. This is because for the first day ever, we didn't see over five marine mammals. It was a foggy foggy day and the mammals were all hiding. Sad for footage but hilarious in another way. There were lots of birds out today and we were all discussing the names of them in English and in French. Well, one of the species present on the St-Lawrence was the booby. Yes, the bird. So energetically Nadia starts calling out, "Booby! Booby!", in an effort to get them to come closer. It was hilarious. Once the translation of the other use of booby in English was passed around the boat, it was even more hilarious.

Nadia is a great character to profile. She's really passionate and energetic about her work. At about 3:00 when I was crashing she was still running along the top of the boat, binoculars in hand. Also, her English is fantastic and I can finally make my English film! She's open to any suggestions I have and is really excited for her interview (to be shot next week).

All and all, a great day on the St-Lawrence.