Five years ago today marks one of the most monumental days in my life… November 1, 2005.
I was 20, a sophomore at Baylor University, living what I thought to be the college dream. I was spending most of my time with a rowdier crowd, and loving it… constantly drinking, often getting belligerently drunk and acting with no regard for the Law.
October 29th, 2005, the Saturday before Halloween, marked one of the biggest frat parties of the year. That night I got drunk enough to pass out and have zero memory of who took me home. The next morning I woke up around noon, feeling pretty hung over. I finally got out of bed, only to discover that someone had drawn in Sharpie on my face after I passed out.
I didn’t really mind, writing it off as just another crazy “fun” night in college. I washed my face, laughing to myself, and sat down at my computer for my normal wake up web surfing routine. Shortly afterward, my roommate came in and hit me with some shocking news.
Kyle Lake, head pastor of UBC (the church I attended), was dead. While preparing to baptize someone in front of the church congregation, he dropped his microphone in the water, short-circuiting a faulty electrical system… he was gone a few minutes later. He was 33 years old and had a wife and three kids.
Kyle’s funeral was the following Tuesday, November 1st. I can still remember it well. Kyle’s friends and family shared stories of joy and passion, his intense love for all and his drive to share the love of Christ. His very being exuded love, and this came out over and over and over.
Through it all, there’s a specific moment that sticks out like no other. As I listened to stories about this passionate man of God, the Lord struck me and opened my eyes. In an instant, I found myself thinking, “wow… if I died today, people would say ‘Austin was a nice guy and could fix computers.’” There was no substance to the life I was living, no eternal impact… only self-indulgence and foolishness. I can remember this epiphany as vividly as if it were yesterday… I can remember where I was sitting, who I was sitting next to, where I was looking and most importantly, the overwhelming feeling of conviction for the life I was living.
That night, I decided it was time to make a change. The first step was to give up alcohol (I was underage at the time and had a conviction somewhere deep inside against it, but I had been conveniently suppressing it.) My goal was not to drink again till the end of semester… nothing huge, but a step in the right direction.
As it turns out, I hit my goal of not drinking till the semester’s end, though I still hung out with the same crowd and frequently went to parties. I decided to go ahead and hold out at least till my 21st birthday nine months later in September. At this point, I had never seriously picked up a camera, much less traveled outside of the country. I had no idea what was coming. Over Christmas, I sold some old medium format film equipment on eBay for Wichita-based photographer Paul Bowen, and he gave me his old Canon D60 and a 70-200 f/2.8 as payment. This was Canon’s second dSLR after the D30, with a sweet 6MP sensor.
When I returned to school in January ‘06, I decided to drop the party scene altogether…it offered me absolutely nothing. All of a sudden I found myself home alone frequently while nearly all my friends were out getting hammered…
I was bored and decided to play around with my new camera. And that’s how it all began. Next thing I knew, I was shooting on Baylor’s campus all night long, sometimes even till sunrise to get epic images of golden skies and liquid light pouring over campus. I would spend hours in my room with my dad’s old Vivitar flash, dropping water into cereal bowl, hoping to create a beautiful image of the water drop splashing on the surface.
This time in my life was a peak of creativity, full of experimentation, failing, trying again, failing again, changing settings, working the light, studying the work of fotogs around the world on sites like deviantART, finding ways into restricted rooms/rooftops on campus just to get the angle I wanted… and really just doing anything it took to create the image I had in mind, despite the limited tools I had.
As I shot, I listened to Rich Mullins incessantly on my iPod. I was inspired by his creativity and the vast number of tracks he’d laid down in beautiful harmony. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my photography was drawing me closer to my Creator. It had turned into a form of worship for me, a way to glorify God by capturing the Splendor I saw in everything around me. Photography had given me an avenue to take the talents God gave me and run as hard as I could with them.
On my computer, I’d edit and manipulate pictures for hours on end, striving to achieve my artistic vision. I called my Dad, a passionate photographer by hobby, hundreds of times saying, “hey, check your email for a new image.” He’d always view it immediately, we’d talk about how I created it, and I’d always learn something new.
Looking back, I can clearly see how God used stories about the life of Kyle Lake to bring me to my knees, to gut check my life, and to ignite a burning fire inside me to bring glory to God instead of run away from Him. Five years ago from this morning, I thought the life I was living was just fine, in fact I thought it was great… but as Isaiah writes, just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than ours. His plan for my life far exceeded my wildest imagination.
I write this with tears of thankfulness streaming down my face, for Kyle’s life, for the enormous impact it had on me, and for the grace of God. Today, five years after Kyle’s funeral, I can’t help but urge you to live a life that exudes love and passion, a life that is making an impact on eternity. Kyle knew not his time, and most certainly knew not the dramatic effect his untimely passing would have on me among so many others, but he lived his life like there was no tomorrow and because of that, I write about him today.
Finally, I leave you with the conclusion of the sermon Kyle wrote and planned to give on Sunday, October 30. It was a divinely appointed message that he never delivered, and one I’ll never forget:
“Live. And Live Well.
Breathe. Breathe in and Breathe deeply.
Be present. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now.
On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and feel the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.
If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to freeze your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE.
Get knee-deep in a novel and lose track of time.
If you bike, pedal hard and if you crash then crash well.
Feel the satisfaction of a job well done, a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed.
If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all because soon he’ll be wiping his own.
If you’ve recently experienced loss, then grieve. And grieve well.
At the table with friends and family, laugh.
If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke.
And if you eat, then smell.
The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven.
And taste.
Taste every ounce of flavor.
Taste every ounce of friendship.
Taste every ounce of Life.
Because it is most definitely a Gift.”
- Kyle Lake
This week I was interviewed and featured on a couple of blogs…
The first one is for Josh Fulmer, creator of the Wander Project. Josh is a stellar journalist who I worked with at Nat Geo Adventure mag… since then he has gone on to work for Men’s Journal and is now a freelance writer. He’s about to kick off a round-the-world journey has launched a great site full of useful information to supplement his trip… He asked me to write and article on how to keep your expensive gear safe when traveling abroad.
Excerpt from the Wander Project:
“Keeping all the gear you left home with is a constant struggle, since there’s rarely a perfect solution to securing your stuff. Mann suggests evaluating each situation and determining the best course of action. “The most important thing is to be smart, active and aware,” he says. “Opportunity creates thieves, and if you create an opportunity by being careless, someone will capitalize on it.”
Read the rest over on WanderProject.com by clicking here >>
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The second was an article for a blog run by Heber Vega, a stellar photographer that runs a blog featuring different humanitarian fotogs in the community… He gave me 10 questions about what it’s like working for missions groups, what the major struggles are, etc… I gave him 3500 words of response (maybe a little much!) but hopefully some useful stuff in there.
Excerpt from Heber Vega: 10.Qs:
“Most industries within the photo world require the photographers to pitch their services to clients who are aware they have a need… in the world of working with missions organizations you often don’t start by pitching your services, you must start by pitching that they have a need at all and THEN pitch your services!”
I’m a guy that seeks information about nearly everything i use or buy. i read extensive tests, i test it myself if i can, i ask others… I compare and contrast it’s advantages over competitors and strategically come to a decision. and when I say I do this for everything I really mean everything (shoes, socks, underwear, sunglasses, cameras, bags, batteries, chargers.)
As a result, i get emails pretty often asking me questions and advice for all kinds of stuff… sometimes cameras, sometimes travel gear, all sorts of things… anyway, after responding to one of those emails tonight and I read back over it thinking, “wow, this is full of info that other people might enjoy reading!”
So I’m starting a new series of posts… as I get these emails full of questions, I’ll be writing my response just as I would regularly (quick and off the top of my head, unpolished but gets the point across) and then taking those Q&A’s and posting them here…
In this first post, a friend of a friend asked me a few questions about using DSLRs for video in the bush, and a couple other things… hope you enjoy.
The Question:
“…I’m about to head to Tanzania for a few weeks and would appreciate any advice that you would share.
I’ve gone on a few trips and have always used a HVX200 for a couple of years now. But this time I am considering taking a Canon DSLR instead of or in addition to the HVX200. I’ve honestly not captured much video with the Canons but am in awe by the quality of the video and the ease of using 1 device/1 set of batteries/cheap cards etc. I have been trying to shoot a few projects over the last week to see what it is really like.
Any chance you have had experience relying on Canon DSLR for video on a run/gun trip like this?
Any hints on recharging batteries? We are scheduled to be in tents for 2 weeks – little to no access to power. I have access to a sat phone solar charger and was considering purchasing another 10-15watt 12 volt solar panel. If it ends up being a Canon, I guess I could take a case of AA batteries.
I would very much appreciate any other hints/thoughts.”
My Answer:
HVX 200 used to be the bomb but I’ve seen so many film makers set those things down in exchange for the Canon DSLRs. It just doesn’t hold a candle anymore.
I’ve just returned from a 6 week trip in Ethiopia where I shot a TON of video with 5D Mark II and 7D. We carried 8 batteries and were out in the bush for several days without need a charge (2 shooters almost all the time.) I’ve also been on a several other trips relying on it for video. It’s rad.
The only things you need to be careful of is… use a tripod whenever you can. It’s not ergonomically designed to be held steady for video so it can get very shaky if you aren’t careful. Audio is it’s biggest downfall… if you have updated your firmware to the latest, do that now… it will give you new audio controls. If you really want to step up your audio, use something like a H4N Zoom (external audio recorder) that allows you to monitor it (with headphones) as you are recording… something you can’t do with 5DMKII.
Lastly, when you’re color grading the footage out of the DSLRs (already in H.264) you’ll find the the range is a bit limited and you’ll see slightly more artifacting than the HVX… but the color out of camera, the depth-of-field and incredible low-light capability far outweigh that issue.
I would say definitely take a power inverter, just a standard one that you can plug into the cigarette lighter in a car to give you a regular AC outlet… and some gaffe tape and rubber bands to hold it in while you are driving on bumpy roads. Almost anywhere you go, you’ll have a car with a cigarette lighter.
I’ve got solar panels but despite multiple lengthy trips into the bush have NEVER used them. They can be so finicky and a pain to use. The best way to use solar is if you have an inverter hooked up to a car battery of some sort so you can charge that during the day and then charge your camera batteries from that car battery during the night.
If you have the battery grip on your 5D or 7D… you can also get the battery tray that slides in (and takes a bunch of AA batteries)… almost anywhere you go you’ll be able to find some of those nearby and you can always bring as many as you want.
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