What type of world would we live in if there were no sagebrush steppe left for the antelope to roam, if our pine forests were felled before they could grow old, if streams never made it to the sea, if the “weekend getaway” was a revered story of the past? At this moment, many of these places are still ours, accessible for our enjoyment; to ride, to hike, to fish, to camp, to appreciate. Unfortunately, however, it is never completely guaranteed to stay that way.

Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films - Surfing - Jason Fitzgibbon
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films - Mountain Biking - Jason Fitzgibbon

Our Land - Traversing Oregon is a story of an overland journey across Oregon's highly varied public lands, to highlight the qualitative and quantitative value of such areas, in light of recent political developments that are threatening to take them away. From west to east, wildlife biologist and outdoor addict Jason Fitzgibbon, set out with cinematographer Octave Zangs to sample some of the state's most rugged coastlines, its finest trails, and its wildest rivers, in an effort to enjoy and share some of the ecological resources, recreational opportunities, and priceless experiences that can be found in our threatened federal lands.

To learn more about how you can contribute to protect our public lands, please visit Our Land Film’s website.

This piece was filmed over a period of two weeks, utilizing an original blend of terrestrial, underwater and aerial footage recorded with our RED Epic Dragon. Timelapse footage was obtained with our Syrp Genie. F-Stop backpacks allowed us to each rig up with more than 50 lbs of gear before hopping on our mountain bikes to access many of our remote filming locations.

To keep our load and our footprint as light as possible, we chose to forego using a gas generator to keep our equipment charged, and instead utilized Goal Zero's solar panels and Yeti Battery to keep us running comfortably on the power of the sun.

Ambient, wildlife, and various other sounds were recorded on location. The final cut includes songs and calls from more than 59 species of birds, and fully unique soundscapes from each location.

Our post-production workflow (editing/color grading/sound) was handled in 4K from beginning to delivery in our own production studio. An entirely original soundtrack was composed in-house as well.

Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films - BTS - Underwater RED Housing - Octave Zangs
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films - BTS - DJI Ronin with RED Epic Dragon - Octave Zangs
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films - BTS - RED Epic Dragon - Octave Zangs
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films - BTS - DJI Ronin and RED Epic Dragon in Backpack - Jason Fitzgibbon
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films - BTS - Underwater RED Housing - Octave Zangs
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films - BTS - DJI Ronin with RED Epic Dragon - Octave Zangs
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films
Our Land - Traversing Oregon - Zangs Films

Words and photos by our staff photographer and co-director of 'Our Land - Traversing Oregon', Jason Fitzgibbon.

Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

The Last Great Place is our latest fly fishing film sponsored by Orvis, Western Rise, Mpowerd and Topo Designs. We embarked on a week long, self-guided fly fishing trip to explore the unbelievably beautiful, natural landscapes that characterize the headwaters of the immense Clark Fork watershed, and documented the sights and sounds of the abundance of wildlife that inhabits this ever-shrinking expanse of western wilderness – an area that many have come to call, The Last Great Place.

Jason Fitzgibbon - Zangs Films - The Last Great Place - Montana
Jason Fitzgibbon - Zangs Films - The Last Great Place - MSR Tent Sunset

The massive Clark Fork watershed comprises an area of over 14 million acres, with its vast network of streams and rivers cascading and meandering for over 28,000 miles through the rugged, mountainous landscape of western Montana. This hard-working watershed supports an intricately woven ecosystem of plants and wildlife in its upper reaches; steep slopes of dense, mixed coniferous forest line the banks of cold, clear streams, with Montana’s native westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi), and wild brown and rainbow trout holding in almost every lie.

Unfortunately, this beautiful system is also heavily relied upon downstream by the agricultural industry in the region. Many cold water tributaries that would otherwise provide suitable spawning habitat, or adequate refuge for native and game fish species during warmer summer months, actually run dry prior to their confluence with the Clark Fork; their flows having been critically reduced by increasing irrigation demands. In an effort to learn more about some of the issues at hand, we connected with Andy Fischer, a Project Manager for the Clark Fork Coalition, to fish a recently restored headwaters stream and discuss some of his organization’s innovative and effective approaches toward conservation and cleanup within the Clark Fork watershed.

To learn more about how you can contribute to much-needed and ongoing conservation efforts in this alluring slice of western Montana, feel free to visit the Clark Fork Coalition’s website.

Words and photos above by our photographer Jason Fitzgibbon.

We shot this piece over a week exclusively on a RED Epic Dragon equipped with Canon L series lenses, and a DJI Phantom 3 Professional was utilized for all aerial footage. The opening shot was obtained with the DJI Ronin 3-axis stabilizer. Our beloved Syrp Genie assisted with all timelapse footage.

Our post-production workflow (editing/color grading/sound) was handled in 4K from beginning to delivery in our own production studio. An entirely original soundtrack was composed in-house as well.

Jason Fitzgibbon - RED Epic Dragon - DJI Ronin
Jason Fitzgibbon - RED Epic Dragon - Montana
Jason Fitzgibbon - Zangs Films - DJI Phantom 3 Professional
Zangs Films - The Last Great Place - Frame Grab
Zangs Films - The Last Great Place - Frame Grab
Zangs Films - The Last Great Place - Frame Grab
Zangs Films - The Last Great Place - Frame Grab
Zangs Films - The Last Great Place - Frame Grab
Zangs Films - The Last Great Place - Frame Grab

Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

The Deepest Valley is the first fly fishing short film produced by Zangs Films. This short piece invites you to follow the journey of Jason Fitzgibbon and Tyler Graff through the Owens River in California. We worked on every aspect of the production and post-production, including the composition of an original score.

We have always had a passion for fly fishing and its inseparable relationship with the fragile environment we live in and think that filmmaking is a great way to raise awareness.

Jason Fitzgibbon - Zangs Films - Owens River
Jason Fitzgibbon - Zangs Films - Fly Rods

The Owens River flows for over 180 miles through the arid reaches of eastern California, gathering water from alpine peaks that reach above 14,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada and White mountains, as it meanders and cuts its way through one of the deepest valleys in the contiguous United States. Its cold, clear, spring-fed waters support innumerable plant and wildlife species as it courses through portions of the Great Basin desert, as well as incredibly robust populations of wild rainbow and brown trout.

In addition to its undeniable ecological importance, the river also doubles as a lifeline for the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, and regularly provides up to half of the growing region’s water supply. Needless to say, the question of how to properly manage the beautiful, surreal landscape created by this river and the towering, snow-covered peaks that feed it, is a constant subject of controversy, particularly while in the midst of California’s ongoing exceptional drought.

In the face of oncoming water shortages, and in an effort to help address this dilemma for ourselves – both as parties dependent on the water the river provides, and stewards of the land it traverses — we set out to experience and document just a slice of what this charismatic watercourse has to offer.

Words and photos above by our photographer Jason Fitzgibbon.

We shot this piece over two days exclusively on RED Epic Dragon, and GoPro Hero 4 for aerial footages. We were then able to finalize our project at a 4k resolution for future screenings. Thanks to Fstop we could fit all our setup into our Satori EXP backpacks allowing us to access the Owens Gorge fairly easily. This project was a great opportunity to try our new Trost M-Series sliders on the field as well. These sliders are the sturdiest that we found which also means heaviest but they deliver extremely smooth movements even when using long focal lenses. We utilized the Syrp Genie, which is, by far, the most compact and easy-to-use motion control device that we have used.

Zangs Films - RED Epic Dragon - Trost M-Series Slider - Owens River
Zangs Films Crew - Owens River
Zangs Films Crew - Owens River
Zangs Films Crew - Owens River
Zangs Films Crew - Aerial Cinematography
Zangs Films - RED Epic Dragon - Trost M-Series Slider
Zangs Films - RED Epic Dragon - Fstop Satori EXP
Jason Fitzgibbon - Zangs Films - RED Epic Dragon - Owens River
Zangs Films - Ford F-150 Eastern Sierra

Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.