I’ve started to spin my glider, get a little more over the top on wingovers, and am really enjoying early morning speed runs very close to the treetops (watch my shadow in the video).

The video was made using my gorillapod on my keel with my Canon 7D, and another mount that I set up using a fisheye on my Canon HF100, see a picture of that mount on my other blog. I’m not too keen on fisheyes because they distort the image so much it makes trees that I’m inches away from look like they’re many feet away, so it’s hard to get a grasp on what is really happening when you watch things through a fisheye.

I will be moving soon so this may be my last hang gliding-related video for a while, hope you enjoy.

I just rotated this image from the video so you can see what it looks like if the horizon is oriented properly to my position.

So we decided to try for Mount Elbert which is the tallest mountain in Colorado at 14,433′. We spent the night close to the trailhead in the well established camping area of the San Isabel National Forest. We woke up early to start up the standard route, the Northeast Ridge.

It was beautiful hiking, up until we were postholing through snow near the treeline at 12,000′. It was really slow going through that area. Carson even resorted to ‘ninja rolling’ to get through the terrain, which means he looked like he was practicing the stop, drop, and roll. Punching through the snow with almost every step, up to your hip, was exhausting and felt like you were falling through a trap door every time because it happened so quickly.

The rest of the hike was gorgeous. We only saw two other people all day. On the way down I decided to try some glissading which you can see in the video was a ton of fun (and by my crazy laugh). I think it probably took about 9 hours of hiking roundtrip, including rests.

We also went and saw the Great Sand Dune National Park and we also headed over to Golden, CO and I got to check out the flying launch there, which is also named Lookout Mountain. Wish I had brought my gear for flying, next time I will. We also got to see JB Smoove in stand up in Denver, he’s probably most famous for THIS scene in a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode.

The crew with Elbert in the background

Follow the yellow br... I mean sign

Carson trying to get out of a posthole and Eric mocking him by walking away.

Just out of the treeline.

Carson.

Eric.

Summit.

Leaving the summit in our dust.

Shortly after this steeper section we started glissading

Watch your step.

BJ Herring climbing out.

Liftoff.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

I used old footage from when I was making my Nikon Festival Contest video and color corrected in an interesting way to me using Magic Bullet Looks. All the footage used came out of my Canon HF100 too.

I also posted this to my new Youtube account LucasRidley. I thought it would be easier for people to remember than my other account, alta8bird. So I thought I better make the switch before I get any more subscribers. It’s really something I’ve been putting off because I’m afraid none of my current subscribers will make the switch.

The name alta8bird came from my first AOL account a long, long time ago and when I signed up for Youtube in 2007, I thought, eh, what’s this thing, Youtube? I’ll just use that random name I had back in the day . . . even though I really didn’t like it, it’s not memorable, and I don’t think I’m doing myself any favors by keeping it if I’m planning on posting more videos to youtube, plus everything else I have, like this website, vimeo, twitter, etc. is in my own name too.

So you can click HERE to subscribe to my new Youtube account, I hope to post a video weekly, but we’ll see . . .

Thanks for watching!

My wife and I were the first in line of our family to buy tickets. I had the tickets in my hand! That was a done deal! I was going to see Avatar finally! BUT, I had purchased the last tickets so the rest of her family wouldn’t be able to go. So I held back the tears as I got a refund and thought, I’m never going to see this movie. My commitment to family was really tested that night.

Well, the time came and we eventually saw it. My palms were so sweaty during the flying scenes I got dehydrated! Or it could have been the fact I refused to drink water until the family agreed to go back and try and see it again? Anyway, I knew that I had to do a spoof video related to hang gliding. It was just too perfect.
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You're going down Scott - I pretended he had to land because I shot his glider, but really he had to land because . . . it's a glider. I think I started to like the costume too much at this point.

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But it was one of those thoughts you have and think I ‘should’ do that. Like checking your oil when filling up at the gas station but you’ve just bought two delicious ice cream snickers bars while your car was filling up and your brain can’t fathom putting them down for something that you ‘should’ be doing. Well, my ice cream snickers bars this time was my apathy towards the effort it would take to create such a video, but I sat it aside like two melting ice cream snickers bars on a hot summer day and I went for it and I did what I thought I ‘should’ do, and I made an avatar spoof (confused yet by the metaphor? me too, I just like ice cream snickers bars).

If I could just wrastle some more help from my friends Scott and Eric for another video endeavor I thought “I could do this.” With Eric’s horrible acting skills, Scott’s ability to paint my face, and their combined experience and expertise in making fun of me, they were perfect for the job. And lucky for me, agreed to do it.

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Eric (left) and Scott (right) were really commited to this job. They even put in overtime and kept making fun of me after the shooting for the video was done. Now that's commitment! But what are friends for? No, seriously, what are friends for? I'm beginning to think I have a distorted definition of friend.

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Normally, I will storyboard something out and get everything just right, but in that area I picked up those ice cream snickers, devoured them, and threw the wrappers on the floor. I took a different approach so the footage might seem more natural. I had a general idea of what I wanted the outcome to be and a couple specific references to the movie, but other than that nothing was written out so everything would seem more natural. Scott and Eric did a good job playing along considering I didn’t really fill them in a lot on all my ideas.

One challenge was giving it that documentary and ‘The Office’ -look with only three people because the camera would be stationary on the tripod any time we’re all three in the shot. But it seemed to work out and get that natural feel as we traded off each being cameramen so we’d get that little camera shake.
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Me jumping on Eric's glider. This was one of those shots where you only have one chance to get it right and we were lucky enough to do just that.

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Getting the costume together was half the battle. I had to go buy the longest wig I could and braid it myself. My wife called while I was doing it and I couldn’t pick up the phone. That was one of the weirdest excuses I’ve ever had to miss a call. Oh, and don’t ever expect to find blue lipstick anywhere if it’s not halloween, I probably visited like 5 different stores and couldn’t find it. I actually made an iron-on tshirt that says “Let’s make Tsahaylu under the Tree of Voices,” with the image of the movie poster below that. My character was going to wear that, but I scrapped it at the last minute because I thought it would clash with trying to look nerdily identical to the real movie characters.
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We shot this in my front yard (thanks for Kurt's help too). My Vietnam vet neighbor thinks I'm crazy now though.

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All in all it took about 4 or 5 hours to film and a little over a full day of editing to put together. I’m going to make another short little video of outtakes and other funny stuff I didn’t use too. I’m hoping this video will garner a lot of views, a similar Avatar spoof video got 800,000 views in it’s first week. I couldn’t imagine getting that many views, but you never know. Pass it around to friends and family and it might get there, you never know until you try.

So put down whatever your excuse is for that project you’ve always thought you should do, and go after it! You just might want to avoid that project involving having your friends make fun of you or you might end up in tears that are soaked in blue body paint running down your face. I mean, I’m just saying, not from experience or anything, just a word of caution.

But seriously I think it went great and appreciate everyone’s help from Eric and Scott, to Kurt, Rex, James, Mike B, Jen, and George for showing their support (James had that cameo at the end, hope your eye is better . . .) to the guy who took a picture of me on his cell phone as he drove by to let me know I was doing something special. And thanks to my wife who not only puts up with these random ideas but supports me. So share this video around to everyone you know, I’d really like to see how many views I can get out of this thing, and I think it is an interesting way to expose people to the sport of hang gliding who might not every look for it.

(Everything was shot on my trusty Canon 7D)
Don’t forget to check out my photoblog: http://lucasridley.tumblr.com
And the new clothing I started making: http://borntofly.spreadshirt.com

Oh and if you do the Digg thing too, then Digg this video: http://digg.com/movies/Avatar_Goes_Hang_Gliding

And most definitely subscribe to my Youtube videos!

If that’s not enough . . . don’t forget to brush your teeth either!

I’ve always wanted to make my own t-shirts, so I stopped wanting and started doing! There is only one design up right now, but after 10 products are bought I can upload 5 more designs that I already have ready to go!

These shirts will be for both hang gliding and paragliding, you can use the drop down menu on the shirt’s website that says “All products” to pick between hang gliding and paragliding shirts, hoodies, bags, and tank tops. If there’s some kind of clothing that you’d like to buy, like having a long sleeve shirt or for you crazy college girls, something written across the butt of some shorts, just make a comment here and I’ll make it for you.

This isn't your Grandma's computer print-out iron-on t-shirt. These designs will not fade with time, and don't look hokey like those home-made shirts. This is the real deal. (sorry Grandma, just trying to make a point.)

These are your typical digital print iron-on’s either. These designs will last! No ink’s are used in the design so it won’t fade. See the pictures below for some close-ups! Pictured are the organic Vintage-style shirt and the Organic Men’s Jersey Tee. Both are super soft, I’m wearing the Jersey Tee right now, right out of the shipping bag and it feels great! The Vintage-style feels soft like an old t-shirt, very comfortable.

Close up of the Organic Men's Jersey Tee collar, it's soft around the neck.

Close up of the Organic Vintage-style collar. Here you can get an idea of the light-weightness of this style shirt.

Vintage-style shirt full shot of design.

Organic Jersey Tee full shot of design.

The pictures below are taken from yesterday’s footage for an upcoming video I’m doing for the Nikon Festival, and I couldn’t be more excited about the footage and film I’m making. I just hope I can put it together correctly. For the shots from the tug I used the Canon HF100 instead of the Canon 7D because it has a greater zoom and it would be easier for Scott to handle up there, especially with gloves (see pic of the camera with the gorillapod to help balance it).

Flying above clouds is like another world. You can’t describe it really, it feels like you’re in outer space, very surreal. The experience I had yesterday just epitomizes the sport for me, what is so beautiful about it and the perspective it gives you. I had a huge grin on my face while I was flying that is still on my face – incredible! I love hang gliding! The USHPA has a new website up too, so if you’re interested in the sport it’s aimed at you, check it out: http://www.ushpa.org/

I have a ton of footage to go through so I have to get back to work! The video should be done by the 15th so stay tuned here to see it and vote for me if you like it so that I could win the Audience Award! Thanks!
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Me, sandwiched inbetween cloud layers.

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Sunset behind me, still above the lower layer of clouds.

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Thought these lines were pretty.

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Eric (above me) and I cruising through the valley.

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Eric doing a wingover, me in the background.

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Coming in for a landing.

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Eric nailed his landing, right on the cone (and Xmas tree sticking out of the cone).

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I bent the gorillapod this way to counterbalance the camera, since its screw in point is so far forward and it provided a good pistol-style grip to help stabilize shots - Scott did a great job with it, as you can see above!

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This is from the Canon 7D this morning from it snowing last night, the dogs loved it.

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Taken with the 7D

This is my entry into the Dewmocracy campaign. So far, people have voted on new flavors, names, and can designs. Now this last contest will pick three people to each produce a 15 second national television commercial for Mountain Dew with a budget of $200k each.

Voting begins Dec.1st and continues until Dec 13th and you will be able to vote 3 times a day:
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Contest link: http://12seconds.tv/campaign/dewmocracy

My video link: http://12seconds.tv/v/NZMUH

I made the 3D logo in Cinema 4D and then brought it into After Effects for the particle system (the fizz). I really enjoyed creating that part, not to mention I had a great excuse to go flying. Thanks to Eric for filming that launch. I used the Canon 7D for both shots, drinking the dew and the foot launch, which was in the 720p 60fps mode so I could slow it down enough. (And that’s Scott in the background: “Nice…”)

It was great air today, pretty smooth. It got a little better later. Early on the majority of those that launched sunk out, but later it became ridge soarable. This never gets old! I had a blast today: my feet being lifted and feeling weightless as I ran off of the mountain and the incredible feeling of having control over a passive machine that can cut through the air and carry my body along with it while responding to my control inputs. Can’t wait to do it again!

The new iMac just came out and I’m thinking of getting the i7 quad-core version and get Final Cut Pro to start learning that, since that seems like it’s the industry standard these days. If you have any thoughts or advice on that please make a comment below.

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I noticed this bus just in time to race it a bit. It only lasted a few seconds before the road peels off to the right, but for that time I was keeping up with the skool bus. It would have been a cool way to catch it if I was late for skool.

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Several pictures put together of Eric climbing out

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The view

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James in his Wills Wing

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Eric grinning about his new glider.

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Eric ready to launch his new WW T2C

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Carl is below me on the ridge and Eric is in front of us just above and to the left of launch a little bit. It was fun cruising around with other people today.

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Sunset Nov 19

Similar to The Sport of Hang Gliding, A Glimpse of Hang Gliding displays what the sport of hang gliding looks like in a more dramatic fashion than the informative The Sport of Hang Gliding.

Hope you enjoy!

The music is by Keane and the song is called Bad Dream.

Below is a little more detail on the contest this is in:

They have 4 categories of entries: Sports, Animation, Music/Fashion, and Narrative – this one is in Sports. Each category winner, choosen by celebrity judges (like Jamie Foxx), will receive a prize of $10,000, except for one of the category winners. One of the four category winners will be deemed the best overall, in addition to winning their category, and they will receive $100,000.