In the opening scene, Old West music plays as a massive waterfall pours down a rock cliff into the winding river below. The next shot is of the most significant feature in the worlds first national park Old Faithful geyser spouting boiling water more than 100 feet into the air.
Cortez filmmaker David Bowyer started shooting footage for his documentary Exploring Yellowstone Country in 1995. Its only been in the past five years, however, that he started making more journeys to the national park that boasts more than 2 million acres of pristine wilderness.
I made a lot of trips to get the right light, Bowyer said. It might be cloudy for a few days and somehow it didnt look right, especially the Yellowstone geysers. Youve got to get the right light on them you know.
Exploring Yellowstone Country is the 56th film Bowyer has shot and produced.
He grew up in England and moved to California in 1978 to meet his dad for the first time. He began working with his father in a swimming pool cleaning business until the camera viewfinder was beckoning too much for him to ignore.
It was a hobby at first using old Super 8 film and from there it grew to where I just couldnt clean swimming pools anymore. I wanted to get out there and make movies, Bowyer said of his former career.
Bowyer hesitates when thinking about his favorite place to shoot footage.
Theres a lot of beautiful places around the Four Corners; you fall in love when you do a project on them, he said. You fall in love with (areas) everywhere, each one, so its hard to say Yellowstones been the best place. I went to Monument Valley and fell in love with that place, and the Grand Canyon. Its hard to pick. Theyre all beautiful places.
Bowyers other films include subjects such as freight trains; the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad; Silverton; Mesa Verde; Monument Valley; and Skinwalkers, a Native American legend about shapeshifters.
Four years ago, I did a film called Skinwalkers: Witches of Navajo Country, and it was such a big hit on the reservation that everybody kept pressing me to do a part two, Bowyer said. Well, I did part two and that was just as successful. And now everybodys asking me to do a part three, so thats in the works.
Bowyer shoots films where there is a market for the story. Most of his documentaries are available in tourist gift shops in the park or town where the film was shot. There are trading posts around the Four Corners that carry them, and a few titles are available on Amazon.com.
His two sons, 15 and 17, have also started going out on shoots, learning how to use the camera and finding the right lighting in hopes that they might carry on the family business.
We sit down and critique each others footage and get some different light lights important and I try to teach them that, Bowyer said.
His next project is going to feature Sedona, Ariz., another area with interesting landscapes and legends.
As far as the Yellowstone film, Bowyer said he was never bored there because the terrain was so different and there was so much variety.
Every day you can set out and look at different things, Bowyer said. Its fun driving around and looking for bears and wolves. (Yellowstone) is a great park. I think everyone should see it.
For more information on David Bowyers films, email davidbowyerprod@q.com or call him at 565-3971.
Reach Paula Bostrom at paulab@cortezjournal.com.