Cinematographer and owner of Proud Line Pictures, Juan Antonio Puyol, trekked through Antarctica using JVC’s ProHD GY-HD250 to shoot an expedition of four veteran explorers and scientists en route to Vinson Massif, the highest peak in the world’s coldest desert.
The expedition brought together four of the original 10 climbers to commemorate the American Alpine Club, National Geographic and National Sciences Foundation-sponsored ascent 40 years after they first tackled Vinson Massif.
Puyol chose the GY-HD250 because he wanted to shoot the Vinson Massif expedition in HD to capture the breathtaking scenery. He also needed a camera that was light enough to climb up a 16,000ft mountain, while shooting the entire way.
He spent 22 days documenting the expedition and captured 30 hours of video. The footage highlights the crew’s personal stories as scientists and mountaineers who have a passion for what they do.
Anticipating the extremely cold temperatures and excessive winds (40 degrees below zero with the wind chill), Puyol had a special goose-down barney made for the camera. He only used it half the time, however, because the low temperatures didn’t affect the camera. At times, the winds were strong enough to knock over Puyol and powder him and the camera with snow, but the “GY-HD250 proved to be well sealed,” he said, so it remained unaffected by the frigid elements.
Currently in post production, Puyol is editing on a Mac Pro system running Final Cut 5 with an AJA Kona Lhe card and JVC’s BR-HD50 deck.
For more information, visit www.proudlinepictures.com and http://pro.jvc.com.