INTERVIEW: 10 QUESTIONS WITH IGW FOUNDER MIKE COOK

International GoPro Weekend Founder Mike Cook

Interview - IGW Founder Mike Cook

Today marks the release of Trailer #2 of the upcoming IGW2013 movie. International GoPro Weekend movies have become a great benchmark in adventure films and we here at Human Spirit of Adventure are fortunate enough to score an interview with IGW's founder Mike Cook.

Mike is an adventurer/filmmaker out of Colorado who we at HSA consider ourselves lucky enough to have developed a friendship with over the last several months... Read the interview and see the new trailer below...

1. Tell us, what is the IGW? In a nutshell, IGW is an annual 3-day event where GoPro fanatics from around the world capture something with their camera during this 72 hour window. They then submit their footage and I make a movie that shares our concurrent experiences from this one weekend… International GoPro Weekend. IGW is the most central event of our community, the GoWorld GoPro Project. Our community is here to have fun together, all while sharing our stories with the world using GoPro cameras. IGW is one of those avenues.

2. What inspired the IGW? In 1986 David Elliot Cohen made a book called “A Day in the Life of America.” The theme: photographers, professional and amateur, all take a photograph on the same day. He then complied the photos and made a book showing what was going on in America on this one day. It was a really simple premise, but it always struck me as powerful. That, and well, I’m actually in one of the pictures. My older sister submitted a photo that made the final cut. I decided to borrow this theme, only using GoPro cameras. As for this theme of sharing concurrent experiences during a specified duration of time, it has gone on for a while. In 2011 Ridley Scott, YouTube, and National Geographic made an online movie called, “Life in a Day”, that had this same theme, but using video. “Life in a Day”, hmmmmm, I wonder where they got that name and idea?

3. When is the IGW2013 film set to debut? July 15, 2103

 READ MORE AND SEE THE TRAILER AFTER THE JUMP

DESTINATION: ADVENTURE - Recap

Photo: HSA

HSA Expedition Recap

Our adventure to the Oklahoma outback was exciting, fun, beautiful, and at times, quite grueling.
We started off leaving our home in Corpus Christi at about 2:00PM on Friday June 14 and drove straight on through to our destination in the Arbuckle Mountains.

We arrived at approximately 1:00AM and slept for a few hours in the jeep waiting for first light to set up our camp. As the first signs of light began to glow, just before the yellow ball peeked it's head above the horizon, we sat up our base camp and prepared for a long hike to the waterfall.

After several hours of hiking we reached our destination. There we found a beautiful 77' waterfall with an inviting natural swimming hole. As it was extremely hot out, I took a dip in the hole while 2 of my companions waded in the shallow stream created by the overflow.

After the swim, we ate lunch and began the trek back to base camp... all the while capturing footage for the HSA documentary. The hike back to camp was equally grueling. Once we were back, we sparked the fire and began cooking our dinner before laying our weary heads to rest.

The following morning, I sat out on an extreme hike to find the source of the creek that eventually lead to the waterfall. It was an arduous journey, full of rugged and steep cliffs, rocky ledges, and thick overgrowth that I had to climb and bushwhack my way through. The end result was worth the 3 day round trip as I was left with a sense of accomplishment, blessed with beautiful scenery, and the euphoria that can only come with being at one with nature.

On the 5th day, it was time to restock supplies and recharge the electronics. Shooting footage for a documentary deep in the middle of nowhere poses certain challenges, like hiking certain areas 2 or 3 times in order to place cameras, get the proper footage and angles. Afterward a break was much needed With my Dad living in Oklahoma, it was a natural choice to rest at his house before embarking upon the second part of the adventure.

READ MORE (and see photos) AFTER THE JUMP...

DESTINATION: ADVENTURE... 5 DAYS AWAY

5 Days and Counting...

In five days, we here at HSA will set of on a week long adventure. An adventure that will encompass multiple adventure sports.

On the agenda is miles and miles of rugged backpacking,  hiking, climbing, cave exploration, and freshwater snorkeling... topped off with rivers, waterfalls and spectacular views.

This adventure will be filmed on GoPro cameras as part of HSA's upcoming documentary tentatively titled "Life: Reclaimed"

We are gearing up and beginning the final week of preparation for this adventure. We will try to post some photo's along the way on our Facebook page and have a full blown recap right here on the blog upon our return.

See you then!

HSA FOUNDER HONORED...

HSA Founder Honored in Feature...

Human Spirit of Adventure's founder and managing partner, Joe Vulgamore, was honored this week when he (and HSA) was chosen as the "Featured Participant" by The GoWorld GoPro Project. 

"I first ran across The GoWorld GoPro Project on Facebook. They were releasing trailers from a past movie as promotion for their upcoming movie, IGW2013. I thought their concept was so cool... they were uniting people from across the world using a common theme, which is exactly what we at HSA wanted to do as a 'community blog'. One thing led to another and we became fast friends and I'm honored that they chose me for the feature, and even more proud to say that their ideas have been a huge influence on HSA... Thanks Mike, for everything!" 

We ask all of our readers to check out The GoWorld GoPro Project at: http://thegoworldgoproproject.com

Also check out their Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-GoWorld-GoPro-Project

Visit them often...

As the time draws closer for the IGW2013 movie premier, we will have an interview with Mike and you can get to know them better by reading the story as Mike sees it.

We can't wait...

COAST TO COAST - Adventures of Everyday People

Photo: Michael (Mick) Lord

 Coast to Coast - Adventures of Everyday People

Editor Note:
We welcome one of our readers, Michael (Mick) Lord, as he shares his upcoming adventure with the world...This is what HSA is all about... Everyday people sharing their adventures with the world... Welcome Mick, and thanks for sharing your fun with us!

STORY BY: MICHAEL (Mick) LORD

This Friday the 3rd May myself (Mick) and my wife Julie will be setting off to cycle the 170 mile Way of the Roses route that goes from Morecambe to Bridlington, crossing from the West coast of Lancashire to the East coast of Yorkshire.
We are not regular cyclists, we were just looking for a bit of adventure over the Bank Holiday weekend, so the plan is to cycle it over 4 days from Friday to Monday staying in Bed & Breakfasts and a friends house on night.

The plan is to have a long first day around 50 miles from Morecambe through Lancaster, Settle to Malham on the first day, coming out of Settle there is a large hill that will almost definitely see us pushing the bikes up.

Second day onto York to stay with a friend and then to see how our legs, saddle sores are holding out as to how far we go for next two days. We are hoping to be going slow enough to enjoy it and take in the sights along the way and staying in B& B's has enabled us to keep the bikes as light as possible.

I will try up date as we progress if possible if not I will send my blog at the end of the trip.

International GoPro Weekend 2013 Trailer...

Image courtesy of The GoWorldGoPro Project

It's finally here...

The guys at The GoWorld GoPro Project and Negative4 Productions have released the first trailer from the upcoming International GoPro Weekend 2013 movie.

HSA is stoked to have made friends with these guys and were lucky enough to get a sneak peek. Now the wait is over... The first trailer dropped today and we're happy to give it to you here.

Can't wait for the full-length movie to drop this summer!

Check it out below!





IGW2013 - Official Trailer from Negative4Productions on Vimeo.

Happy New Year Adventurers!!!

My fellow Adventurers,

As we bring to close another year in the history of our lives, let us not look back and wonder what could have been... but look forward to what will be. We will have plenty of time for looking back when we are old, gray, and reminiscing with grandchildren.

The Human Spirit of Adventure has always been about moving forward and meeting challenges... from the early days when Columbus sailed the Atlantic in search of a new world, to the first moon landing, to Felix Baumgartner's super-sonic Base-jump from the edge of space, adventurers have always followed the road less traveled.

Robert Frost said it best... (READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP)