Translations
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Some more thoughts.
Some of you have understandably misconstrued that when I said I would email you individually, that that meant the "mass" email that I sent out, which is almost exactly the same as I have posted here and also on rec.skydiving. This is not the case. I will email everyone who emailed me with a personal reply, though only God knows when!
Some thoughts on my motivation for this project, and some history. My first Bridge Day was in 1988. I have attended every single year since then. That's 13 years in a row. The last time I jumped the NRGB was in 1992. I have a total of 12 off of it.
I started skydiving, static line, in 1986. I had a friend shoot my first freefall/ripcord pull, jump #6, and that meant the WORLD to me. I probably showed that video to sixteen hundred million gazillion people. That was a huge deal to this student.
My first year at Bridge Day, 1988, (who remembers Jean Boenish organizing? Or Phil Smith? Or the Harrison brothers?) my first BASE jump (like so many of you), my group had a friend along shooting video. He got some adequate, if not spectacular, shots of our first BASE jumps. (This was back in the days of having to climb stairs and step over the rail. Very slow, and much more drama.) Oh, the fear that I had. I was fuckin* scared shitless. And that this all got recorded was, to put it very lightly, invaluable to me and my ego.
In 1992, I was doing a contract video project, and had someone else in my employ shooting video. That Saturday night, I thought it might be fun to bring it to the party and just run it. I must have had 70 million gazillion people approach me to ask how they could get a copy. My brain started churning…
What if I could give other people what was given to me, a video of their first jumps… I suggested to Andy Calistrat, the sole organizer at that time, that others might be interested in these videos, and he said please do it. Of course I make money on this project. But I can guarantee you, the money that's made is not enough to motivate someone who enjoys skydiving or BASE jumping to go do what it is that I do. The money by itself is not enough.
I realize that I'm making myself sound like God's gift to Bridge Day. That's not what I mean. Here's the deal: I know what it meant to me to have the video of my first ripcord pull, and my first Bridge Day jumps. That I have the opportunity to have given this back to SO MANY first timers over the years is, to me, invaluable. Having MY first time videos made a difference in MY life. Also, for my ego, one day a year everybody knows who I am. That's cool too. On that Saturday night of the only legal BASE boogie in the WORLD, having however many people looking at my work and being a major source of the entertainment is TOTALLY cool.
So I've been late this year in delivering. That sucks hard, and I feel awful about it.
I think that if anyone else were to tell me that they want to do the video, I would gladly relinquish the slot. Perhaps I've gotten stale. But here's the thing: before I did this, it wasn't getting done. I just want it to get done, the way I do it with regard to putting everyone's jump on a tape. I welcome anyone else to come forward and say they want to do it. Perhaps it needs some new energy and some new perspective. That person can have it with no argument from me. I have no monopoly on my slot. I've never asked Avery, Harry, or Dennis to keep anyone else out. Anybody's welcome. Indeed, Steve Sandstrom made a video for about 3 years overlapping me, but it was not a comprehensive tape like mine, ran well less than an hour, so we really weren't competing, but complimenting each other. My only request of whomever wants to take my slot is this: be willing to put in the energy it takes to get all of the jumps you can on a tape. And do it until someone else feels like they have the same energy and commitment to do it. If you're reading this, and feel like this is you, please email me. I'm not fishing for a replacement, but if you're burning to give back to the skydiving/BASE jumping community what you feel has been given to you, let's talk.
Until that time, to the best of my ability, I will produce this. If you feel like you've been ripped off or cheated, I'm sorry. And I welcome you to step up and do it as well or better than I have been. Maybe it's time. But let's just see that the documentary gets done, no matter who does it.
