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The River Artists series

For several years now I’ve been working on a series of video profiles featuring artists from Asheville’s River Arts District. This work has been a departure from the marketing-oriented camp videography I do during the summer. It’s given me an opportunity to try new things stylistically, and through the work I’ve developed many valuable friendships in the local creative community. This video is one example of my recent work in The River Artists series, a look at the work of artist Sean Pace. I hope you enjoy the video, and if you do, go over to theriverartists.com to see more episodes in the series.

Thanks,

Chris G.

Adventure Film Night + Kayak Giveaway = February 16th

Here’s a short list of things that I really enjoy: adventure, films about adventure, craft beer, and kayaking. On February 16th (Thursday) we’re going to have an opportunity to throw all of those things together for a night at the Southern Appalachian Brewery (S.A.B.) in Hendersonville. And we’re going to give away a kayak to boot!

Now that all you boaters have perked up, let me fill in the details of the event and we’ll get to the boat giveaway a little further down the page.

This evening will feature four short films from a variety of outdoor experiences (surf kayaking, longboarding, backpacking, and river running). We’ll be showing a re-cap of the World Championships of Surf Kayaking (held at the Outerbanks last fall), a Longboard Asheville short, “The Grand Canyon in Winter” (a segment from Coming Home), and the evening will conclude with “The Smokies: Punished into Ecstasy,” a story about backpacking the A.T. through the Smokies in winter. Most of these films were produced in Western North Carolina with the support of Outdoor Sports Marketing, a great local business that has its offices a few doors down from the Southern App. Brewery. O.S.M. represents leading gear manufacturers in the outdoor industry, from Chaco to Osprey to Cascade Designs.

There will be a $6 cover at the door with door prizes provided by S.A.B. and Diamond Brand Outdoors. All proceeds from the evening will go to benefit Our Voice and RiverLink, two organizations doing important work in WNC. So you can know that you’re money is going to a good cause. The films will start around 7:30, and the bar has limited seating; so get there early to secure your spot.

The mighty Stomper from Liquidlogic

Now for the kayak giveaway. As most local river people know, Liquidlogic Kayaks and their parent company Legacy Paddlesports recently moved their base of operations back into Henderson County, home of the beautiful Green River. This is great news for the local economy, great news for local paddlers, and great news for the Southern Appalachian Brewery where the Legacy folks often go to unwind after a long day of building kayaks. On one visit to the S.A.B. tasting room the Legacy crew learned that Rapid Transit is partnering with the brewery to host this event to benefit RiverLink and Our Voice. Knowing the quality of these two organizations, the Legacy folks offered to support the effort by raffling off a kayak from their lineup. So, in the days leading up to the Adventure Film Night at S.A.B. we will be selling raffle tickets ($10 each) to win a kayak from the Legacy Lineup (this includes any boat from the Liquidlogic and Native Watercraft lines EXCEPT the Mariner and Ultimate Multisport models). That means you could win a new Stomper if you’re a whitewater junky, a Manta Ray if you’re a kayak angler, or a Versa Board if you’re into the recreational side of things. This is a fantastic opportunity and a great way to support local non-profits. Tickets will be available for pre-sale after February 3rd at the Southern Appalachian Brewery tasting room in Hendersonville (note their hours of operation below), the RiverLink offices in Asheville, Diamond Brand Outdoors in Arden, and Our Voice offices in Asheville. Entrants need not be present at the film night to win.

We hope you’ll get your name in the running for a new boat and also support our local community. And we hope you’ll come out to join us for a night of films on Thursday the 16th at Southern Appalachian Brewery in Hendersonville. This is one of the few occasions when drinking beer and extreme sports go well together.

Here’s a trailer for the Smokies story. Enjoy:

The Raffle Details:

Enter to win 1 kayak from the Liquidlogic and Native line of boats (excluding the Mariner and Ultimate Multisport series). Raffle tickets are $10 each, and entrants need not be present at the film night to win. Raffle tickets will be available for sale at two locations after February 3rd:

1. The Southern Appalachian Brewery Tasting Room, 822 Locust Street, Hendersonville, NC 28792. Open Wednesday thru Friday, 4pm to close, and Saturday thru Sunday, 2pm to close.

2. The RiverLink offices, 170 Lyman Street, Asheville, NC 28801. Open Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.

3. Diamond Brand Outdoors, 2623 Hendersonville Rd., Arden, NC 28704. Open Monday thru Saturday, 10am to 7pm, Sunday 12pm to 6pm

4. Our Voice offices, 44 Merrimon Ave. Suite 1, Asheville, NC 28801. Open Monday thru Friday, 8:30am to 4pm.

A huge thanks to our business partners who are making this event possible:

Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH

Coming Home: the new kayak DVD from Rapid Transit!

This December my good friend Spencer Cooke and I released a DVD of kayak stories entitled Coming Home. The project incorporates four short films that Spencer and I produced over the years under the badge of Rapid Transit. We had a blast premiering three of the films to a local audience of friends and boaters at the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company on December 22nd. We ran a raffle at the event to raise money in support of Our Voice and RiverLink, two organizations doing important work in and around Asheville. Check out the premiere ad below as well as the official trailer for Coming Home, and if you’ve got extra cents left after the holiday glut, maybe purchase yourself a copy of the DVD and enjoy some adventures in kayaking. Thanks, and happy New Year!

bloopers reel & premiere announcement:

Coming Home trailer:

2011 in Photos

It seems that the photo bug got started in my family with my great-grandfather, Charles Rudolph Luder. He opened a photography studio in Washington Indiana in 1907, when photography was still a fairly new technology, and he passed his love of capturing images down to his son, Carl, and so to my mother and to me. My first camera was a hand-me-down Nikon N8008 that originally belonged to my Grandpa Carl. Ever since I got that camera I’ve been playing with photography and trying to capture unique and engaging images. I don’t take a highly technical approach to shooting. The most important part of taking pictures for me is to plan a remarkable experience and then to take a photographic approach that does not get in the way. I love to capture people in their element, when they’re not distracted by a lens or posing for posterity. And so a lot of my images feature people walking away from me. I guess I’m just shy when it comes down to it.

This past year I’ve taken a lot of pictures and I’ve been on a lot of good adventures. Here is a selection of my favorite images from the year. Please take a look, and let me know what you think!

(all photos by Chris Gallaway, except where noted)

A January hike near Shining Rock Wilderness with my friends Anne and James.

Back to Shining Rock in February where I ran into some rabbit hunters.

Last of the fall garden produce: carrot tracks.

The Smokies: Punished into Ecstacy

In early 2011 my older brother Ben invited me to go on a multi-day backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail through the Smokies. Ben was new to backpacking (had just bought his tent and backpack and was testing them out on weekend trips outside his native Austin, Texas). I had done very little backpacking myself, but I’d done enough to know that we were biting off a lot with the 5-day, 45-mile trek we planned for the first week in April.

Ben drove from up from Austin on April 2nd along with his friends Jason and Casey, who were even greener than Ben in backpacking experience. We met up in Cherokee, North Carolina and bought provisions for the adventure ahead. We talked and joked about how challenging the trek was going to be and how we would feel ourselves tested. No one in our group was prepared for the challenges we would actually face.

This is the story of that trip. I want to thank my partners in producing this project: Outdoor Sports Marketing (O.S.M.), Osprey Packs, Smartwool, Platypus, Vasque, and Therm-A-Rest. Visit the O.S.M. website to learn more about these great outdoor brands and to see more stories like this one.

Platypus Gravity Works Filter

Another instructional video produced under the direction of Outdoor Sports Marketing, this short piece shows how to use the new Gravity Works system for backwoods water filtration. It also shows some of the cool tricks the filter can perform.

Trick #1: hands-free water filtering–>

The Therm-A-Rest All Season Mattress

The NeoAir All Season is the newest outdoor sleep technology from Therm-A-Rest–a really neat tool for snagging a good nights sleep under the chilliest of conditions. Horizonline Pictures produced this short product video for Therm-A-Rest under the direction of Outdoor Sports Marketing.

The Clayspace Co-op

This is the second installment in the River Artists Series (see below for the first video with Heinz Kossler). It took me much longer than expected to finish this short video, and you can tell it in the interviews (hairstyles on the change significantly between scenes).

The Three Brothers Cabin

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