Jan capturing a Mommy/Canaan moment while everyone else warms up in the background.

My writing focus these days has been mostly on the Creating a Cragbaby series, so I’ve been a little slack on the trip reports…but a couple of  weekends ago we enjoyed yet another wonderful weather weekend bouldering (and I’m glad we were able to squeeze that in before all the cold and rain set in…)  It was the usual suspects – me, Steve, Canaan, Christie…but this time there was a twist.  Enter Jan Balster, a professional photographer / cinematographer. 

Canaan working on his own crag projects!

We’d worked with Jan before a few years ago as guinea pigs for a promo-shoot at Pilot Mountain.  Well, about a month ago he contacted me with another proposition – evidently my Cragbaby blog series had sparked his interest, and he was interested in filming us for a lifestyle piece.  So fast forward to our day at the boulderfield.  Jan showed up at our doorstep bright and early around 7 am, camera in hand, ready to film all of the organized chaos that is involved in getting up and out of the house in the morning. 

"I'm too cool for school..."

On the way to the boulderfield, Jan explained his vision for this film project.  It will be short (less than 5 minutes) and tell a “day in the life” type story of a family that continued their active lifestyle after having a baby.  Jan intends to use the climbing footage as background interspersed with us talking about our experiences/challenges/rewards/etc. of climbing with Canaan in tow.  Pretty cool, huh?!?

Tryin' to get my crimp on

Jan filmed pretty much the whole day – the approach, nursing, naptime, some good laughs, and of course some great climbing.  It was actually pretty fun to feel like we had the paparazzi around all day!  Canaan was on his best behavior, and was of course adorable.  One of the funniest parts of the day was seeing Jan with his camera inches away from sweet, slumbering Canaan, filming him for about 15 minutes at a time, patiently waiting to catch his hand moving (which he finally did…)

Daddy and Canaan having fun together!

At one point there was a mix-up with the camera battery, and for about an hour Jan took only still shots until he got the video camera working again.  I love how artsy the photos look.  I also love how sweet my two favorite boys look.  And I can’t WAIT to see the final project.  What a fun way to preserve so many family memories from this time in our lives!  We are planning “part two” of the video next weekend.  Jan will be informally interviewing  us about our experiences.  Then of course comes the long, arduous task of editing the footage…so I’m assuming we’re still a good ways away from any finished product.  But for now you can enjoy a few of Jan’s still shots (the first couple are our inferior ones, the rest are his, not that you needed any help figuring that out…).  And if you like what you see, be sure to check out his website!  (don’t forget to thumb through the adventure gallery…you might recognize one of the climbers… 🙂