October 29, 2011

Filmmaker Dennis Burkhart Profile

As a filmmaker, Dennis Burkhart has visited such places as Nepal, Alaska, Easter Island, Kenya, India & Egypt to name a few. In each location, he has attempted to capture the extraordinary conditions that make a country`s culture or landscape unique.

Dennis lives in Oregon with his family and heads Encounter Video, which produces award winning national park videos, natural history documentaries, and travel programs. His teenage years were filled with mountaineering and white water rafting. While in college, Dennis spent summers as a wilderness ranger for the US Forest Service. His award-winning photographic images have appeared in scholastic publications and National Geographic Magazine.

Dennis has traveled to Kenya as a Peace Corps volunteer.  The National Museum of Kenya recruited him to lead an underwater excavation of a 17th century Portuguese galleon. Later, as a professional mountain guide, Dennis climbed Africa`s major peaks including Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Pursuing his love of wilderness areas has led Dennis to film in over eighty-five national parks often as a director of photography for The Travel Channel.
 

January 21, 2012

Join filmmakers Clint and Sue Denn as they journey through from Budapest, Hungary, to Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and on to Istanbul, Turkey. 

After experiencing the vibrant capital of Hungary, set alongside the historic Danube River, we will visit the rolling hills of Domony Village with a chance see the magnificent Puszta horses in action.  The medieval area of Pecs is charming and a visit to the Mosque Church, the largest structure surviving from the Ottoman period, is a reminder of the influence of the Turks throughout the area. 

This area of the Danube provides the boundary between Serbia and Croatia, facing each other along opposite sides of the river.    In Vukovar, Croatia we visit the Franciscan Monastery.    In Novi Sad, Serbia the 18th-century Petrovaradin Fortress, known as the “Gilbraltar of the Danube,” guarded the borderlands and offers us an exciting step back in time.  

 In Belgrade, capital of Serbia, we visit Kalemegdan Fortress.  Dating from the 1^st Century, it is perched high on a ridge overlooking the city and the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers.  Belgrade’s beautiful and historic pedestrian promenade is a delightful place to stop at a street side café.  This area of the Danube offers spectacular natural beauty and dramatic landscapes through the Iron Gates gorge that flows between Serbia and Romania.  In Vidin, Bulgaria the 14^th Century Baba Vida Fortress is surrounded by a lovely park and includes a historical costumed drama in its amphitheatre.

Bucharest, Romania is a bustling, vibrant city.  The Palace of Parliament, with over 3,100 rooms, claims to be the second largest administrative building in the world, after the Pentagon.  In sharp contrast, our trip to the Village Museum along the shores of Lake Herastrau is a time to experience the lifestyle and culture of the Romanians with over 300 structures, including churches, homes, barns and windmills from every region of the country.

In Veliko Tarnovo, the ancient capital of Bulgaria, it is delightful to tour Tsarevets Hill, the citadel of the city, and shop at the traditional street market.  While in Plovdiv, Bulgaria we are treated to a folkloric group with dances and vibrant music. 

Istanbul is a grand adventure with its old city area, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman monuments and blending of different peoples and cultures.  We visit the Palace of Topkapi, the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, the Basilica Underground Cistern, and the Grand Bazaar.  A Bosporus cruise is a leisurely way to have an overview of Istanbul as we travel the waterway linking the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. 

Filmmaker Clint Denn Profile

Clint Denn has been a movie actor, author, photographer, underwater explorer and teacher, as well as an award-winning filmmaker.

After serving in the U.S. Navy, he joined in partnership with Col. John D. Craig, famed for his daring television series, including I Search for Adventure and Of Lands and Seas. Together they wrote a nationally recognized text on scuba and skin diving, and produced several prize-winning films.

February 11, 2012

by Mary Lee & Sid Nolan  - Globescope adventures 

Mary Lee & Sid Nolan Profile

Sid and Mary Lee Nolan have informed and entertained audiences on three continents and on the high seas aboard cruise ships. Their experience with media production dates back to the 1960s when they created their first educational programs for use in schools. After careers as university professors and producers of educational videos they expanded their horizons to include the production of travel documentaries. The Nolans' academic backgrounds in geography, history, anthropology and journalism provide a rich foundation for their travel documentaries.

The Nolan's travels have taken them to all 50 U.S. states, eight Canadian provinces, and 98 countries. As digital filmmakers they have documented and interpreted landscapes and lifestyles on every continent except Antarctica. Their expertise as photographers is noteworthy. Their still photos have appeared in numerous periodical and books and several are part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Numerous travel companies, airlines, and television outlets, including the Discovery Channel and the History Channel, have used selections from their extensive collection of digital video footage. Their first feature length program, "Exploring French Wine Regions", was selected as one of the best in show in the Oregon's 2006 Mid-Willamette Valley Film Festival.
 

March 17, 2012

“Sea to Shining Sea in a Model T”
 by Don Van Polen

It was a hundred years ago that Henry Ford introduced the first Model T Ford. It was the car that changed America. No other product made in this country would have such a profound effect on the nation’s economy as Henry’s Old Car! Soon, one out of seven workers in America would be in the auto industry and half of all cars on the road would have the name FORD written on them. He would later build the largest factory in the world; the Rouge River Plant outside Detroit. Over 100,000 people would work there in one day.

For the next 20 years, Henry Ford would build more than 15 million Model T’s. Never were so many cars of one style built than that old car. It was the automobile that put America on wheels. Henry Ford claimed that his Model T would be the last car the country would ever need!

Join the Van Polens as they travel from the Puget Sound in Washington State to the Eastern most town and lighthouse in America. Along the way they describe the landscapes with delightful interludes of appropriate music as well as the fascinating story of Henry Ford’s Old Car.

We’ve had at least two generations of traveling in the fast lanes and freeways and it’s time to see the country from the slow lane. Slow roads have a sense of discovery; they tell us about the past and take us to places where real America lives. Driving that old car may not be the fastest way or the shortest; it may not be the easiest, but it certainly is the best way. Henry Ford’s old car was meant for those old roads.

Don Van Polen Profile

Don and Fran Van Polen grew up in the Dutch community of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Don graduated from Calvin College and later attended the University of Arizona.

Don always believed that if you can communicate with a teenager, you can converse with any other age group.  Don and Frans travels have taken them from the steaming jungles of New Guinea to the ancient streets of Jerusalem, the slums of Calcutta and across the American landscape.

April 21, 2012

“Along The Royal Inca Road”  
  National Geographic Explorer Karin Muller

The 3,200 mile Inca Road was built over five hundred years ago to link the outposts

of the Inca Empire. Join renowned adventurer Karin Muller as she travels this route, spinning it into a modern tapestry of faces and memories, while intertwining a chronicle of the Inca and how they lived, worshipped, and warred.  In this expedition she searches for remnants of the ancient road, while offering a rare glimpse into the descendants of the Inca. 

The ancient Inca lived in a region of exquisite natural beauty - from steamy Amazon jungle to the second-highest mountain range in the world to barren coastal desert - filled with a wealth of culture and history.  The conquest of the Inca empire is one of the most compelling tales in all of history: an obscure tribe that swept the Andes to become the greatest civilization in South America in less than a hundred years.  An empire - ten million strong - defeated by a band of 160 desperate Spaniards.  A ransom the likes of which the world has never seen.  Betrayal.  Death.  Rebellion.

Karin Muller Profile

Karin Muller is an acclaimed author, filmmaker , photographer and adventurer.  Supported by a National Geographic grant, Karin spent seven months traveling along the historic Inca Highway down the spine of the Andes and along the coast of Chile.  This 3,200 mile journey resulted in an international television documentary series, Along the Inca Road, on National Geographic, a book published by the Adventure Press, articles and photos for National Geographic and other publications. She frequently returns to Peru as an expert lecturer for National Geographic, the Smithsonian, and other organizations.

May 12, 2012

“Around The World: One Man's Journey” 
A Travel Film Memoir by Doug Jones 

As a boy growing up in Kansas City, veteran travelogue producer Doug Jones would have had little reason to expect to see much of the world. But because of his father’s job he had the opportunity to travel the globe from a young age. Harold Jones was an engine inspector for Trans World Airlines, the legendary airline of Howard Hughes, which traveled the world from its home base at Kansas City.

Highlights of the film include The Taj Mahal, The Kamakura Buddha, The Pyramids, The Treasures of Tutankhamen, The Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, The Berlin Wall, Iguazu Falls, Machu Picchu, Carnaval in Rio, The Great Wall of China, and The Glaciers of Alaska, Destinations as diverse as Hollywood to Hong Kong, Moscow to Brunei, Tokyo to the Amazon are featured in this very personal film. Doug Jones uses the film to show how our world has changed and exposes the viewer to an amazing assortment of different cultures and nations of the earth.

Doug Jones Profile

Doug Jones has been producing travel films since 1968. He was born and raised in Kansas City and was graduated from the University of Missouri at Kansas City with a degree in Radio and Television Broadcasting. Today he lives in Los Angeles.

Doug has produced eighteen feature-length travel films. He has appeared on virtually every important auditorium lecture series in the United States and Canada including the National Geographic Society series at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

In addition to his work in producing travel films, he is an avid pilot having made over 40 solo coast to coast flights in his twin Cessna airplane.