Andy Best grew up with art in his blood; his grandmother was a successful oil painter, and he followed in her creative footsteps, sketching and drawing. His love for sharing emotion through visual mediums expanded into filmmaking and eventually photography, both of which led him to his outdoor adventure lifestyle. We caught up with Andy and his family on the road to learn more about what inspires him and how he decides where his next adventure lies.
I grew up playing outdoors all the time, and I kept finding moments that would stop me in my tracks. I always found that a pretty compelling reason to stop and take a photo. But then there’s the challenge of using your tools the best you can to share a 2D image of what you’re seeing that can evoke the same emotion that made you stop. If you’re able to keep your radar up and witness those moments, really feel them, then capture them in stills or in motion, you’re kind of a wizard in a way — a magician.
The greatest picture I didn’t take is always the one when I first get to a location. Instead of jumping right in to getting my gear ready, I tell myself I’ll ease into it the next day. For the initial day or evening, the “image” is only for my own eyes. I take a moment to enjoy the setting for myself without worrying about capturing it for anybody else. You know the film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, when Sean Penn is sitting up on the cliff edge getting a photo of a snow leopard? Ben Stiller asks him why he didn’t take the shot he was waiting for, and Penn basically says, “This one’s for me.” Those are probably the images that mean the most to me.
I have a friend I reached out to once for advice and he said, “I don’t really know if I can give you any advice but this: Just remember to put your camera down from time to time, and enjoy where you are.” I’ve taken that with me everywhere.
My career in adventure-lifestyle photography was a complete accident. I love filmmaking, and I love telling a visual story through images. I’ve also always felt very protective of landscapes. It wasn’t until a commercial-video client saw my side work that they approached me and asked me to do some fly-fishing photography work. I tried explaining that that wasn’t what I did, and I didn’t even own a good still camera. But he challenged me. Told me to try it. Next thing you know, I was shooting all these brochures. Then, more people started calling me a photographer because I was building a stills portfolio simply to start conversations with brands like Patagonia. I really wanted to wow them, start a conversation with photos, and then mention, “Hey, I do video work as my specialty. I’d love to do any video work you might have.” But next thing you know, everyone wanted my photo work.
We live on the road in our camper van nearly 100% of the time, and I really like the discovery aspect of going to a new place: it’s fresh, and you see things in a new way. When you’re constantly moving, you’re constantly challenging your senses to see something new, fresh, and different. I’m about to head somewhere more tropical, which is totally different from what I normally do. Getting out into the grasslands, like Nebraska, is so different to me because I grew up in the mountains. When I get to these places that are so different to me, all my senses are firing, and I’m super excited. If you grew up somewhere, you might get complacent. So I think the process of roaming around invigorates creativity and creates a sense of wonder that helps me feel and capture a frame.
When we get a location or a direction in mind, I’m usually using a lot of different apps to plan for everything I can. One of the apps, Windy, has a lot of layers and filters you can put on a map so you can watch what the weather is doing — because that’s huge when you’re living on the road full time. It allows me to plan a route based on smoke, fog, temperatures, or anything else to ensure the trip works not just for the shoot but for us as a whole family. We’re mapping out where water is, groceries, gas, propane, things like that. Also, depending on what I’m shooting — such as stars — I’m also looking for what features are in the landscape. So geography is also important. And other apps help me track moon phases, the Milky Way’s visibility, sunset/sunrise times, and things like that. All that gives us a clear map of when we’re supposed to be at a location and how quickly we need to travel.
Each shoot offers me a different challenge, and that’s why I select them: to help open myself up as a storyteller, a craftsman, and a creator. But there are a lot of times you set out with a specific goal. You feel like you learned so much from previous shoots that you’re going to go into a project and do it the best you’ve ever done it. But then circumstances change — like weather or talent — and the expectations you set for yourself can go awry. You get back from the shoot and you wish you coulda, woulda, shoulda. But you can’t let that stop you. You plan one movie, and you end up shooting a whole other one. Then, when you get to the editing process, you create a whole different one still. When you make a movie or build a shot, you really end up creating three, and you’ve got to roll with it, especially in the outdoor space.
For this particular lifestyle, I have really stout backup drives, a very capable but size-efficient laptop, multiple battery sources with solar, multiple tripods, a wide range of variable lenses, a whole bag of prime lenses for video and for when I want faster glass for a certain shot, a gimbal, and a few different drones. I also have a time-lapse system that I take with me everywhere just in case. As well as a really good audio setup so I can go full production mode and kind of do it all. There’s a lot of time if I’m doing personal projects — so as long as I have a tight kit — I can replicate a lot of cinema. But a good camera pack allows me to stay organized. If you’re not organized, you’re never ready for the shot.
You have to have a checklist. I always keep the same routines no matter what I’m doing, whether it’s a billion-dollar commercial film project or my own. It’s important to continually use those best practices or else you’ll find yourself in rookie positions like, “Oh, I forgot to charge the battery,” or the SD card’s full up.
I like to talk about motivated design: principles of visual communication by way of controlling the eye. It’s really big when you’re sketching or painting, and a frame is the same way. It takes 30 frames to create one second of video — or a single frame — so you better get it right. I’ve always been taught to look for elements — be it a value or features in the shot — that lead the eye because you want to control the eye to stay on the image. It’s important to think about those things, because that’s the way you can manipulate the viewer to get lost in an image and feel intrigued by it. In motivated design, you’re designing with motivation, rather than just snapping a photo because it looks pretty. If it looks pretty, then you start getting into those principles and looking for those obstacles and values in light, dark, and color theory so you can craft a nice image.
We’re all in the height range of about four and a half feet to six and a half feet. That’s where we all walk around. The easiest way to get creative is to get yourself away from that perspective. Get a ladder. Lie on the ground. Get high. Get low. Get away from that standard perspective and instantly, no matter what you’re doing, you’re going to capture something that’s a little bit different.
Photography is a lot of sacrifice and a lot of hard work. If you’re not willing to do either of those, and you’re looking for instant gratification, I don’t feel like this industry is cut out for that. There’s a lot of romance in a nomadic filmmaker/photographer lifestyle in general. Now more than ever, young people are getting inspired by a movement that took place via social media, and it looks a certain way. But it’s a highlight reel. I’ve seen a lot of people fail because they leave high school or college, buy a van, and emulate what’s being done. They find they might not have all the tools to be doing it and get into really bad situations. You have to open one door at a time, and you never know where the next door will open, but you can never open the end door at the beginning.
Remember where you came from and why you got into this in the first place, whether it’s video or photo. I’ve seen people imprison themselves because they’ve done something that worked online, and then they’re in fear of doing anything else because it doesn’t get the likes. People then are afraid to share what they truly love to share, and what got them to success in the first place. Make sure you’re always comfortable and happy with what you’re shooting. Don’t shoot for any other reason.
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Find Andy online:
Portfolio
Flickr
Instagram
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