View Finders

- [Announcer] Voyage Charters shares the blue waters of the British Virgin Islands and offers private sailing vacations aboard ships like the Summer Breez, a six cabin, all electric catamaran.

It's your voyage.

Make the best of it.

(calm music) - [Announcer] Sigma is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world, and we believe creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

(calm music concludes) - [Announcer] Every explorer seeks their own path and the promise of what's to come.

(compelling music) The truth lies west.

- [Announcer] Georgia College & State University provides over 40 graduate program offerings, including doctorates in nursing and education.

Learn more at gcsu.edu.

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(birds sing) ("La Belle Fleur Sauvage" begins) ("La Belle Fleur Sauvage" continues) ♪ What you're looking for won't be found easily ♪ ♪ It grows upon the mountain, in a sacred place ♪ ♪ Up beyond the clouds an ancient ground, so they say ♪ ♪ And many men have died trekking up that way ♪ ("La Belle Fleur Sauvage" continues) ("La Belle Fleur Sauvage" continues) - This property contains over 2,000 miles of roads.

- Over 550,000 acres in size.

- Featuring a population of over 7,000 elk and 1,400 bison.

- This is Vermejo.

I'm Paul.

- I'm Chris.

- [Both] And we're the "View Finders."

(upbeat Western music) (upbeat Western music continues) (upbeat Western music concludes) (upbeat country folk music) (upbeat country folk music continues) - Well, Paul, three hour flight, four hour drive, and we're finally arriving.

- Yeah.

- And it's still a ways, even though we're on the property.

- But I like what I've seen so far.

- It is extremely remote.

I've never been to this area of New Mexico before, but- - I've never been to New Mexico, period, so.

(laughs) - [Chris] It's beautiful though.

I mean, and I wasn't thinking colors.

That just wasn't on my radar, but there's actually some nice color right now.

- [Paul] Yep, very saturated, very bright.

- [Chris] Yeah, and it's hard to even imagine to wrap your brain around the scale, the size of this place, and how many cars have we seen?

since we left the interstate.

- Zero.

Maybe one.

(laughs) - Like 30 something miles ago.

Like, no, we haven't seen a house?

- No.

- We haven't seen a gas station, which has been a bit of a concern for me - Yeah.

(laughs) - Because I am approaching the quarter of a tank, and we do have to get back outta here, but we're just gonna figure that out, you know?

- I'm letting you know, I'm not a good pusher of vehicles.

(Chris laughs) ♪ On the road going nowhere ♪ ♪ With nothing on my mind ♪ ♪ Mmm, I'm acting like I don't care ♪ ♪ With nothing on my mind ♪ - You know, Bermejo is certainly the crown jewel in the collection of Ted's properties.

Vermejo is 558,000 acres, and so that's really, really big.

Often when we try to describe how big it is, we reference it to different national parks.

Vermejo is actually about the same size as Canyon Lands National Park, the Redwoods National Park, and Zion National Park combined.

This is a really big place.

♪ When the wind blows, God knows ♪ ♪ Baby, I'll be your refuge from the storm ♪ - So we haven't even reached the spot where we check in, and we're already seeing, I mean, just really, really beautiful scenery.

We have this snow capped mountain.

We have these colorful trees.

We've got a very blue sky, which normally is not ideal, but I think it actually kind of works for this particular composition.

And we have the leading line of this gravel road.

It's just absolutely beautiful.

One thing, here's a photography tip.

I know Paul agrees.

Don't always assume you can come back and get the shot again.

Things change, weather changes, conditions change.

This could be the only time this is a pretty good shot.

It could be completely socked in by clouds later.

So anyway, we're stopping and we're getting it, - Get it while the getting's good.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So, if this is just a tiny hint of what's to come, I'm already a little bit giddy.

(camera clicks) ♪ I'll be your wildflower ♪ ♪ You'll be my rain or shine ♪ (camera clicks) - Yeah, so Captain Planet is 33-years-old.

It was inspired, and it grew out of "Captain Planet and the Planeteers," which was the number one Saturday morning cartoon back in the early '90s.

And it activated young people all over the United States and around the globe who wanted to become planeteers.

The characters are five young people from five different continents who combine their powers to solve environmental problems, and the power of their collaboration creates Captain Planet.

And so young people loved that message.

They could see themselves in the cartoon, and they wanted to to do that good work.

And so for 33 years, the foundation has been supporting them in those efforts.

- We're here today to share our Planetary Alliance Bootcamp, which is a foundational bootcamp for young people to talk about climate environment so they have a base understanding and then to look at how they can affect change within their respective communities, understanding what the problems are, how those problems show up within our community, and what the root causes of those problems are so they can create solutions.

Being here at Vermejo, we've got the beautiful ranch right behind us, right all around us, quite honestly.

("Clockwork" begins) - [Paul] This is beautiful.

I got this 150 to 600 on there, kind of compressing the scene.

Got some trees in the background.

I got this buffalo I'm trying to focus in on in my foreground, and I got that snow covered mountain in the background.

Perfect composition if you ask me.

- So we found this incredibly beautiful spot.

There's tons of bison.

There's a lake, and the sun is setting behind the mountains there.

Unfortunately, we don't have any clouds.

I would love some clouds for the color, but the bison are kind of moving around here.

They are skittish.

We are obviously keeping a safe distance from 'em, but they're kind of shifting their position.

So we're having to shift our own position to figure out a composition that's gonna work.

- [Paul] And this is what we came here for.

This is great, this is great.

("Clockwork" continues) (camera clicks) (camera clicks) (camera clicks) - [Chris] That, that was a scramble.

- [Paul] Yes, it all happened quickly.

- Super quick.

- Yep.

- That's the thing about- - But it just goes to show you, yeah, just a few minutes in time - Oh man.

- Makes a difference in the photo.

- It worked out really well.

It was super pretty.

I mean, how peaceful is this?

- Yeah.

- [Chris] Literally there's no manmade sounds right now.

- Ted has a quote that I love to share.

It says, "When we spend time in nature, we heal ourselves.

When we protect nature, we heal the planet.

We have a genuine belief that when people spend time in nature, that it's reconnecting humanity with something that's really important that makes us better people.

- So I've been at the foundation since 2012.

Jade and the Turner Foundation and, you know, we call it the Turnerverse, we've been talking for years about how to connect the work of the foundation to the work of the properties.

And we've been looking for that sort of magic space.

And as the Planetary Alliance has developed and we have this opportunity to do a mini bootcamp, this is the first foray into that, and I can really see how there's a lot more opportunity for us to do more.

- The key activity that we did was that root cause analysis, again, really identifying what's the issue.

- Yeah, I've had a really good time.

I've learned a lot.

It was interesting to kind of meet with everyone and see their different opinions on, you know, kind of what Captain Planet's all about.

- We use the example of plants or trees, and a lot of the young people have experience with agriculture here.

And so they know what it is to grow and to plant.

- My family, we farm actually the southern part of our Vermejo down at the WS, which is really close to Cimarron.

And so a lot of what we do is trying to conserve water.

- And so when I ask them the question of, how do you know when a plant is sick, well, you recognize it in the leaves.

Those are the effects, right?

You identify what's the problem, what caused that, the leaf to turn colors, or it could be the sun.

It could be too much water, not enough water, but you have to identify what the problem is.

- Water is a big thing that was brought up today, kind of conservation and how we can help ourselves kind of use water in a better way, in a more efficient way.

I'll definitely be thinking about that in the future.

- And so using that analogy with something that they're already connected to helps them to better understand how they can address other types of issues.

♪ I met you over mountain moons ♪ ♪ Banjo riffs and fiddle tunes and ♪ ♪ Sugar River, stair creek first ♪ ♪ Once now, twice now, every weekend ♪ ♪ Lean in beloved friend ♪ - Jade is taking us to all of the great spots, and we came around the curve.

And when I saw this, this is my wheelhouse.

I'm a tree guy.

We have brilliant, brilliant cottonwood trees with this just rich, rich, yellow color.

Everything else, everything else is kind of much more monochrome either green or brown or tan, and then we just have these trees with these kind of sinewy branches running up towards the sky.

I mean, obviously I'd love some clouds here, but I'm not gonna complain because it's still a stunning scene.

("Wildfire" begins) (camera clicks) (camera clicks) ("Wildfire" continues) - Me and my group thought that campfires and lit cigarettes could be a huge part of what causes forest fires.

- We talked about how we could affect our communities and how it might affect the animals.

- [Chris] Tell me an idea that you had today.

Maybe an idea that you shared with everybody.

- When you go camping.

you have to sign a waiver saying basically if there is a forest fire and they can trace it back to wherever you were camping, you have to pay a fine.

♪ Brave men fall with a battlecry ♪ ♪ Tears fill the eyes of their loved ones ♪ ♪ And their brothers in arms ♪ ♪ And so it went for Joseph Warren ♪ - I think what a lot of people don't realize is that some fires, wildfires, can be really devastating and bad.

And other fires, forest fires are really healthy, and the forest needs those fires.

But Vermejo, as an example, had an area of 600,000 acres that was clear cut in the early 1900s.

And so once that happens, then there's some problems that come with the forest.

And so all the trees then try to grow up at the same time really dense together.

They're the same age, and that's not a healthy forest.

A healthy forest has really old trees, some really young trees, and different species of trees.

- These properties are a testament to what can be possible with vision.

It's a commitment to conservation.

It's a commitment to regeneration.

You know, that's the thing that I think is so lovely about the work of the ranches is they're not just in conservation mode.

They're in that regenerative change mode.

- To return Vermejo's forest back to that healthy state, we do some treatment work every single year.

And what that treatment looks like is it's kind of like we go in and we thin the forest.

So we're gonna take out some of the small trees, some of the dead trees, some of the sick trees.

And now when you look at an area like this, this forest that we're walking in right now was treated about 20 years ago.

Once you've thinned that forest out, now something different can happen.

Now a healthy fire can start here.

And so, this forest was treated 20 years ago, and around 10 years ago, there was a fire here.

When a fire comes in, it's supposed to burn the grass.

It's supposed to burn these dead trees that are on the ground.

Some of the new little baby trees are gonna get burned away, but just a few trees, like the teenager trees are gonna start to age up above that point.

And so now we get this pattern of age diversity in the forest.

It stays thin like this, and this is actually what's supposed to happen.

♪ Wildfire ♪ ♪ Wildfire ♪ ("Wildfire" continues) ("Wildfire" continues) ("Wildfire" continues) ("Wildfire" continues) - How's it looking, Paul?

- It looks good.

That light is hitting that mountain right now.

- [Chris] Yeah, we saw this earlier this morning coming up this road and we're like, Here's our sunset spot.

- Gotta come back.

(Chris laughs) Gotta come back.

- [Chris] We know it's good when both of us are just like, yes.

- Yep.

- And that's how this was.

- That's when you know you hit a spot.

- It's kind of raking across.

It's changing quickly because of these mountains.

It's kind of dropping behind, but those are catching light.

(camera clicks) ♪ Wildfire ♪ (camera clicks) ♪ Wildfire ♪ - So we've pivoted from the road into the mountain shot, and now we're doing lake underneath the mountains, which is equally stunning.

And we're crossing our fingers we're gonna get some kind of afterglow pink sky with the clouds that are filtering in.

Paul, what are you seeing over there?

- I'm like super wide here because I like this little formation here with the shrubbery here and the rock formation leading right into the two mountains there.

- I see.

- And the way I have it set up, the way I'm gonna crop this thing that the other mountain over here is not even gonna be seen.

- Yes.

- [Paul] I'm not even gonna worry about that.

I'm worried about the two with the snow on top.

- I hear ya.

That's a good crop because that was my issue when I first came in.

The one over on the right is starting to kind of fall into this dark - Yeah, it is.

- Kinda lifeless mountain that isn't gonna really add any interest.

I'm actually shooting this portrait, and I'm doing a real simple composition, reflection, long exposure just this mountain peak that's dead in front of me.

So, this will be kind of cool.

This shows why photography is just such a neat hobby or passion.

Two experienced photographers can go to the same location and approach it in completely different ways.

We're gonna have two very different images from this shoot here.

(camera clicks) ("That Moon Song" begins) (camera clicks) ("That Moon Song" continues) (camera clicks) (camera clicks) ("That Moon Song" continues) ♪ The tail lights burn red ♪ ♪ They were hotter than hell ♪ ♪ And I've been long gone, couldn't you tell ♪ ("That Moon Song" continues) ♪ The smoke in the air ♪ ♪ Couldn't hide my shame ♪ ♪ Saw it lit up on that silver screen ♪ - [Chris] The sky is bright, much brighter than the foreground.

It's getting pink, and I want to capture that, but the shadows of the barn, it's hard to have any detail.

- Yeah, I'm gonna wait 'til a little bit more light comes up 'cause I want to get some light on that barn.

I think there's a lot of character in there.

- Oh yeah, totally.

- I was just playing around with different foreground elements, potential foreground elements out there.

So I got a couple of different compositions I worked out with this barn, and basically what I'm trying to do now is just get different compositions with different light values because I'm gonna have to compensate for the bright sky right now and the shadows on that barn.

So I'm gonna have to do a couple of different things to get that exposure just right for one shot.

So underexposing some shots, overexposing some shots, combine 'em all together on post, we should be okay.

(camera clicks) ♪ Oh and you came on strong ♪ ♪ Like some running wave ♪ (camera clicks) ("That Moon Song" continues) (camera clicks) ♪ Your beauty left me broke ♪ ♪ And hungry ♪ ("That Moon Song" continues) ♪ Left me begging to the birds for a bone or an offering ♪ - Vermejo is a Native American and Spanish word.

It means vermilion, and it is reflective of like the color of red.

And so the Vermejo River that runs through the middle of Vermejo starts up in the red rock area of the property.

And so it definitely has a red tint that runs down through it.

- I think some of the, the activities or programs that they have on the reserve, it's the kind of strategy or kind of solutions that are what we're driving our young people to achieve or aim for at a much smaller level, if you will, more local level because they're fifth graders, you know, through 12th graders, but it allows them to see what the possibilities are and how they can, in their own way, affect change.

- The pinnacle conservation project that's happened on Vermejo is the restoration of the Rio Grande cutthroat trout.

And our team has done a little over 60 miles of rivers and streams that we've removed non-native fish and been able to bring back the Rio Grande cutthroat trout into those waters.

♪ Someway, baby, it's part of me, apart from me ♪ ("Holocene" continues) ♪ You're laying waste to Halloween ♪ - So this is just... To me it's perfection.

Our incredible tour guide, Jade, has brought us to a prime spot.

and right when we saw these distant mountains, Paul and I knew.

I mean- - This was the spot.

- This is the spot.

It feels like we're just sitting up looking out over Vermejo.

We have these distant snow capped mountains.

We're about 25 minutes from sunrise, so we're already getting a nice glow.

There's kind of wispy clouds above the mountains, and so that gives me some hope for color here in a little while.

But it's just so quiet.

It's so peaceful.

And we're just kind of looking, gazing out over who knows how many miles, 50, 100, 150 miles of beautiful mountain scenery.

- So, it's so hard to get a grasp of how big Vermejo is, but this site right here is one of those places where you can actually start to feel how big it is.

And so from where we are standing, you can literally see 80 miles across, and it's all Vermejo.

Everything the light's touching is all on the property right now.

It's unbelievable.

♪ And at once I knew I was not magnificent ♪ ("Holocene" continues) ♪ High above the highway aisle ♪ (camera clicks) ("Holocene" continues) (camera clicks) (camera clicks) ♪ Jagged vacance, thick with ice ♪ - We're always encouraging young people to find others that they can work with to form a campaign team, to form a project team, and then to execute against those ideas.

And we provide grants in order for them to buy the supplies, whatever it is that they need in order to do that project.

I believe that more companies, more communities, and more governments need to be really listening to the generation and investing with them directly in their ideas.

And then I think, you know, we've got a path forward.

- That was awesome.

- Definitely.

- I mean- - This whole place is awesome.

- Yeah, (laughs) it is literally.

I mean, if we retrace, it's been a whirlwind few days here, but if we retrace what we just came in the gates, hadn't barely even scratched the surface of this place, and we're already like, we gotta pull over and take a picture, and then fast forward to now, we just had some incredible sunrise with just- - Clouds, the light.

- Yeah.

- I mean, everything was just hitting this morning - [Chris] And I was just turning my camera, and I could go in and out, different compositions, different mountain peaks, different clouds.

- Sometimes those kind of situations are a little bit more confusing for me.

because it's like you don't know where to concentrate.

I mean, you probably can't go wrong, but it's just so much, you know?

- I know, it's like an overload.

It's like, where do I shoot?

It's all so good.

So the experience of the photography here on top of just learning about it, the significance of it, the conservation efforts that are underway, just how vast it is.

- Yeah.

- And then of course spending time with Captain Planet too and seeing the initiatives that they're doing, it was just a really meaningful couple of days of photography.

- Was a learning experience for me I would say.

- Yes, learned a lot.

Made me appreciate the planet even more.

All I wanna do is take beautiful photos of all of these locations, and this qualifies as an absolutely stunning location.

- Top notch.

I think this is probably one of the best places we've been.

- Yeah, from a photography standpoint and also just the sheer beauty of it, it surpassed my expectations.

- Found some views out here.

- Found some views.

And speaking of which, there's still more.

- Got that right.

- I guess it might be time.

I hate to leave, but there's more views awaiting us.

So, all right man, let's go find 'em.

♪ Hollows in the woods call out ♪ ♪ Trails up mountains climb ♪ ♪ Waves and sand keep beat and time ♪ ♪ Mossy blankets, swirling streams ♪ ♪ Over rocks and dirt ♪ ♪ Run at pace with all the earth ♪ ♪ Could we capture nature's wonder ♪ ♪ Find our way to get lost ♪ ♪ Freeze a frame to save forever ♪ - [Announcer] Voyage Charters shares the blue waters of the British Virgin Islands and offers private sailing vacations aboard ships like the Summer Breez, a six cabin, all electric catamaran.

It's your voyage.

Make the best of it.

(calm music) - [Announcer] Sigma is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world, and we believe creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

(calm music concludes) - [Announcer] Every explorer seeks their own path and the promise of what's to come.

(compelling music) The truth lies west.

- [Announcer] Georgia College & State University provides over 40 graduate program offerings, including doctorates in nursing and education.

Learn more at gcsu.edu.

- [Announcer] Troncalli Subaru is a proud sponsor of "View Finders."

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