About the Parks Project

I was greeted by a friend the other day who hollered down the street, “So what in the world are you guys up to now?” As we chatted for a few moments she explained she had heard through the grapevine that the crazy people over at Tempest were producing a Glacier Park Blu-ray DVD. She was well aware of our passion for Glacier National Park and had spent some time viewing our high-def footage over the years so she was really curious about the project.

I gave her a quick overview of The Parks Project and realized that we also needed to share that information with all of our friends, fans and families out there. So with that in mind, here ya go…

In case you’ve stumbled upon this site and you’re unfamiliar with our work… Lisa and I started Tempest Technologies about ten and half years ago.

Our core business is web development but we also offer a variety of network/vpn services and we were one of the very first Montana companies to start shooting in high definition. Our original camera was a Sony HDW-700a camera but today we shoot most everything on our Red One camera (which by the way is undoubtedly the coolest camera on the face of the planet).

Our offices are located in Helena and Missoula, Montana which means that we are blessed to live extremely close to Glacier National Park which as far as we are concerned is one of most beautiful and marvelous places in the world. Lisa and I try to spend at least one week every summer with our family in the park so our kids have had the opportunity to “grow up in Glacier”. Many of our staff share that same love of Glacier so as you can imagine we all spend a lot of time in the Park.

At this point you can probably see where this is all headed… Coolest Camera on the planet + one of the most Beautiful Places in the world = one sweet Blu-ray DVD.

I have to admit that when I talk to friends and family living far away from Montana I start to feel a bit guilty. We are extremely spoiled to be surrounded by Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, the Bob Marshall Wilderness and tens of thousands of acres of National Forest and other public lands.

About a month ago we started talking about the upcoming 2010 Glacier Centennial celebration (Glacier was designated as our nation’s 10th national park on May 11, 1910 which means this year is the 100 year anniversary). As often is the case, our conversation turned to how lucky we were to be living here and how it would be nice if everyone could experience what we so often take for granted.

It was about at that point in the conversation that one of the gang said, “You know we actually do have all the tools we need to share the Glacier that we know and love. Why don’t we create a non-traditional Blu-ray disk that would highlight the beauty and grandeur of Glacier National Park?”

I don’t want to bore you with the details so suffice it to say that our initial brainstorming that day started us down the path of this project we’ve dubbed, “The Parks Project”.

Our goal is simple. Film, produce and distribute a Glacier Blu-ray DVD which will inspire and touch your hearts the way Glacier does for us.

Our vision is to use high definition footage to highlight the beauty and wonder of Glacier National Park. There’s no doubt that we will be pulling some fall and summer footage out of our library but we really want to focus on the scenic wonder of winter and spring in Glacier.

If you’re looking for a traditional National Park video packed full of historic facts and figures – this probably isn’t for you. On the other hand if you love Glacier and you’ve been looking for the right subject matter to show your friends what that new flat panel tv and Blu-ray player can really do… we think you’ll like what we have in mind.

While producing an amazing Blu-ray is our end-goal, we know from experience that what happens between now and then will probably be the most interesting (and challenging) part of this adventure so we want to make sure that we share all of that with you.

As I’m writing this, Mike Dreesman (our fabulous videographer) is packing up to head to Glacier.

Over the upcoming months he’ll be keeping all of us updated via this website with frequent blog posts, video updates and hopefully a nice selection of frame grabs that should make great wallpapers for your computer.

Please check back often and let us know if you have ideas or suggestions for the Blu-ray or the website.

Thanks!

Shawn