Staff hike in Dzantik’i Héeni basin
On a sleety December 11th, 2018, Discovery Southeast staff (and Clay Good, board) hiked together in the lower valley of…
2018 | Richard Carstensen | 7 minutes
I’m a late-adopter of most technologies. Nearly 40 years old before my first camera; last among my friends to give in to email and cell phone. No different in the world of moving pictures. In education, I remember Clay Good’s dictum to his phone-wired highschoolers: stills, but no movies. In his experience, video viewing and making sucked kids into a subjective vortex. When instead, they backed into the ‘old-fashioned’ technology of still photos, a more observant mindset emerged.
That was at least a decade ago. Today (2018), the triumph of selfies has warped our teens’ relationship to stills. In the seesaw-&-wratchet of technology, anything we do too much of is dulling. The trick is to stay fresh—to keep searching for each tool’s noblest use—and to desist from pounding screws with hammers.
I was lured into video by drones—one technology I jumped into rather early. I just knew that watching forests and streams pass below from Raven-strafing level would be mesmerizing. Hard to imagine one could tire of that.
And then there’s motioncams. What a revelation—to learn what critters do when we’re not there! For me, video is currently a spice. Not the main course, but a tasty complement to more and more of my documentary efforts. Some of the older vimeo-posts linked below are composed strictly of still images, assembled into narrated slideshows, but using pan and zoom for some of the features we associate with “moving pictures.”
Oh yeah, and speaking of the rapidity of technological change, it’s already pretty amusing—that ‘poster’ for my 2015 video below called New technologies for old naturalists. The drone in that photo already looks about as “new” as a Model-T Ford.
In this section
Áak’w & T’aakú Aaní: the natural history of resilience
Presentation for Evening at Egan On November 9th, 2018, I gave the second in a series of 4 lectures for…
Nov, 2018 | Richard Carstensen | 36 minutes
Flight at Asx’ée, twisted tree (Eagle River)
In late October, the meandery delta channels at Asx‘ée, twisted tree (Eagle River) are pretty ‘used-up.’ Salmon season is mostly…
2015 | Richard Carstensen | 1 minute
Bear-Lawson flight
Quadcopter views behind Anax Yei Andagan Yé, where the sun’ rays hit first (Douglas, harbor area) Launched from divide between…
January, 2016 | Richard Carstensen | 3 minutes
Windy moonrise
Experiments filming moonrise on a cold, windy February day in Juneau, Alaska. Includes segment with great blue heron, trying to…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 2 minutes
Skiing at Spaulding Meadows
Skiing at Spaulding Meadows, above Auke Bay. spaulding from Discovery Southeast JuneauNature on Vimeo.
2017 | Richard Carstensen |
Bog visit on Sayeik (Douglas Island)
Tracking from skis on fresh snow in deer-&-hare country, Sayéik, spirit helper (Douglas Island). douglasbogs from Discovery Southeast JuneauNature on…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 96 seconds
Behrends avalanche
Three days after an avalanche came down Behrends Slide, near Juneau, Alaska, I went up for some raven’s-eye perspectives. The…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 2.5 minutes
Natural history of Kupreanof
Introduction to the natural and cultural history of Aansadaak’w, the town before (Kupreanof), hosted on the City’s vimeo site along…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 20 minutes
White-fronted geese
Coming home from Hoonah in late April, 2015, Cathy and I swung out to the Industrial Boulevard wetland access to…
2015 | Richard Carstensen & Catherine Pohl | 10 seconds
Amalga flight
Low-elevation views of the Amalga Salt Chuck and the Eagle Valley Center, under renovation in spring, 2017. amalgaflight from Discovery…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 3 minutes
Spring migrants on the Refuge
Yellowlegs, peeps, and northbound songbirds on the Refuge dike trail.
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 90 seconds
Discovery’s education and research at The Glacier
Discovery Southeast celebrates 4 decades of research and education at Áak’w Táak, inland from little lake (Mendenhall Valley) glacierdiscovery from…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 27 minutes
Raven’s-eye views of postglacial succession
Aerial views of post-glacial succession. Combines UAV perspectives with high-res orthophotography plus forest profile views in the LiDAR point cloud.…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 20 minutes
Kids & porpoises
Sealaska Heritage is wrapping up a 10-day culture camp for middle school students. I came along to share information about…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 1 minute
Steep Creek Critters
Filmed all these clips in less than 2 hours at Mendenhall Visitor Center today. Never would have guessed what a…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 3 minutes
Cowee flight
100 seconds of aerial video over Ch’eet’ Taayí, murrelet fat (Cowee Creek), on the north end of the CBJ. End…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 2 minutes
Wild food
Wildlife photography on northern Tàan, sea lion (Prince of Wales Island). I was hosted by Don and Andrea Hernandez at …
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 2 minutes
Eagle beach aerials
Out to the scout campside of Eagle River today, Sept 10, 2017. This is where I became a naturalist in…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 2 minutes
Eaglecrest aerials
In September, as deer cabbage turned gold, I flew some of the new trails on ridges above the lifts. eaglecrestaerials…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 2 minutes