When people learn that you work in television, usually their next question is, “what’s the most interesting thing you’ve done?”
I am very fortunate that between my first career in TV news and my current career in production, the list is fairly long…and it’s very difficult to choose.
In the interest of narrowing it down for blog’s sake, standing at the edge of an active volcano is tough to beat.
It was 2002, and we were producing a show for Travel Channel called, “World’s Best Places to Brave Mother Nature.” Anne (my wife and Co-Producer) and I shot several hours of aerials from a helicopter hovering over Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii. The volcano happened to be active at the time, and had at least 3 vents shooting out geysers of lava. This alone was worth the trip, although the sulfur smell, and sudden drops in altitude from the extreme conditions, gave us what we used to call an “E-Ticket ride.” The Blue Hawaiian pilots are the best, and they knew how to maximize the flight to get the best shots, but still maintain a margin of safety for the guy…me…hanging out of the helicopter with a camera.
Surprisingly, this was just a walk in the park compared to the real adventure coming the next day.
We had contacted (and begged) the USGS to fly us up to the edge of Kilauea, conditions permitting. They do this periodically, to maintain the equipment they have stationed around the crater, but they usually do not allow non-government workers to fly with them. The timing was perfect…the volcano was active, but not so active that the lava was spilling out of the crater. The Chief Volcanologist (I love that title) eventually agreed…he wanted to go up there anyway…and he thought it would be good PR to take us, and our camera, along for the ride.
I know this sounds like a crazy thing to do, but most of you reading this blog know enough about this business to know that when this kind of opportunity presents itself, you get “Kodak Courage,” and find yourself doing things with a camera that you would never…ever…do on your own.
Evidently, there’s only one pilot licensed to perform this feat…it takes more guts than technique…and unlike the cushy, state-of-the-art ship that we flew the day before with Blue Hawaiian, the official USGS pilot had a beat up Vietnam-era craft that felt like it could barely make it off the ground. In fact, the pilot had to replace a rusty cotter pin on one of his pedals while we were flying.
We landed about 100 yards down from the edge of the crater. We jumped out, and hiked up the rest of the way…the surface was crunchy and brittle. It was like walking on the moon…or so we thought at the time. The sound of the erupting volcano was so loud…you could barely hear yourself speak over it. The weather was a weird combination of wind, hot steam, and rain. And the smell was overwhelming.
Pele, the Goddess of fire, was definitely going to give us a show.
Finally we got to the rim of the crater. At that moment…standing less than 5 feet from the edge of this erupting volcano…we realized that we had not fully thought this through. We never thought about the instability of an active volcano…never considered the fact that vents open and close unpredictably all over the terrain we were walking on. We only knew that we were going to get amazing footage…and share a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
As we peaked over the edge, we could see that while the crater surface below appeared solid, it was actually fluid. As large pieces of the cooled crust melted, they would fold back into the crater and reveal the red-hot lava. It was unbelievable…it looked like the Dawn of Man…and, in fact, it literally was the newest earth…on earth…forming right in front of us. There were three vents open at the time, and lava was shooting out, although fortunately not high enough to hit the spot where we were standing. I can’t remember how long we were there, but it was long enough to get what we needed, and long enough to be completely awed.
What we discovered in the end is that it’s an experience that is hard to translate to TV. Standing there, it was total sensory overload…the mesmerizing swirling and shooting lava…the rush of the hot air…the smells…hearing the jet-engine-in-your-ear roar of the vents. Only two of the five senses can be captured on tape. But the total experience is burned into Anne’s and my memory, and it’s one that we’ll never forget.
Dan Fox