On Assignment
Memoir of a National Geographic Filmmaker
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Jim and Elaine Larison spent years studying, exploring, and living in wild places, making more than thirty environmental films, most for the National Geographic Society. These films won more than forty international awards from leading environmental and broadcast organizations. This memoir tells the story behind the adventure and describes the rather substantial personal costs of this career. While shooting film in Alaska, Jim Larison narrowly survived a devastating airplane crash in the Bering Sea. Later, while filming on the Great Barrier Reef, the Larisons fought off an aggressive twelve-foot tiger shark. Midway through their careers, the Larisons were nearly swept to their deaths by an icefall while filming on Mount Robson. A thrilling adventure story, full of risk and personal conflict, On Assignment is also a touching look at the tender bonds that held the married couple together while they struggled to complete their many film assignments. The Larisons were changed by what they saw and what they captured on film: the destruction of forests, the death of coral reefs, and global warming. In the beginning, the Larisons wanted nothing more than to spend time in the wilderness. By the end, they were fighting for its very survival.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Larison reflects on his decades-long career producing nature documentaries for National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, and PBS in his exhilarating debut. He describes his explorations, sometimes working solo, other times alongside his wife, Elaine, and their two young children: "We went to these places and we did these things because we wanted to share our love of wilderness with others." Larison recalls the extremes he went to in order to capture the right footage, withstanding intense cold and going on glider flights, as well as frightening and exciting encounters with snakes in Manitoba ("thousands of them... carpeted the cave floor"); heavy snow near Banff, Alberta, ("we were, by this time, in a near whiteout"); and run-ins with octopi and sharks in the Great Barrier Reef. Later sections focus on the Larisons' environmental advocacy and film projects dealing with "the biological health of planet Earth." Along the way, the author expresses his gratitude for the life he and his wife have led, from the early days of their marriage, when they were "just two eighteen-year-old kids with vivid dreams and insufficient experience." Fans of the great outdoors will appreciate this introspective and sentimental outing.
