In general, it was really just immersing myself in the kids' experiences. ... There's this immense excitement for the campers. It's really cool when you're filming like a fly on the wall. And after a while the kids didn't really seem to notice that I'd be there and wouldn't show off for the camera. But I was around all the time. So eventually they'd ignore me because there were more important things to do. And so when that would happen--I felt like I was really seeing the camp through their eyes.

I think in order to create a relationship within which you can get footage that feels real and natural, it's all about putting in the time, it's all about hanging around the kids and just being there so they get used to you. And I was also very aware that I didn't want to tread on these kids's experiences. I didn't want to make them uncomfortable at any point. ... It's making clear to them that I respect their time, and the time which they would prefer to be private, but also being around as much as possible for them to get used to me. ... And having an open line of communication with them so that they feel comfortable at any point saying "Hey Catharine, can you stop filming this for a second?" ... But then there are times when I see something awesome is about to happen, [and] I have to film it. So it's kind of like walking on a tightrope. But I think it's more important just in general to create this trusting relationship and to express interest in what they're doing and who they are--and that was easy because that came naturally. ... The kids were great. ... I was kind of shocked with the kids I met, and not just the kids I followed, but a lot of the kids at the camp were very introspective and very sincere and excited about what they were doing. Because they're teenagers I would expect some element of "oh we're too cool for this," but that was not the case. It was cool to be enthusiastic about camp. That was a surprise and that was pretty unique and awesome.

I was speaking with Roger in the spring [of 2014] through Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins; I had a lot of interest in coming to Sitka this summer and learning about Alaska and learning about Southeast Alaska. Then I thought that doing some video content for local non-profits would be a great way to learn about the community. So that's how I initially made contact with Roger. When I realized that Roger had a need for video content, I took a look at everything that had been produced for the camp in the past few years, and tried to get an idea of first was what the camp was about, but second, what could be a different direction for me to take. The video content that has been produced has been wonderful, but one thing I was interested in learning more about was the perspective of the kids, getting to know individuals on somewhat of a personal level. And through that understand the kind of impact that the camp has on the kids. Because clearly there's a lot going on--there are tons of classes, there are tons of kids, and sometimes that can be overwhelming so I wanted to distill it, distill the camp experience into a few personal experiences through the video.

I'm starting my final year at Stanford in their documentary film program, and before doing the program, I worked for a few years on a documentary in New York as an assistant editor on a few different projects. Then, this past year at school, I was finally able to make my own films. I made three films this past year--one has been doing pretty well and was a regional finalist for the Student Academy Awards.

A main reason I wanted to come to Alaska, in fact, was to find a potential subject to make my thesis film on this coming year. And I did find a subject but not in Southeast Alaska. It's about a former dog mushing champion George Atla who's a hero for a lot of Alaskans. Being in Alaska led me to that idea. I think the challenge with this video was that I'd never done promotional video work before. And I really wanted to do that this summer to kind of get a sense of what it could be like for the future once I graduate to see if that's something I want to go into. And so it was hard finding a balance between what I'm more drawn to and more familiar with, which is vérité scenes, and the promotional elements. And so I tried to fuse the two a little bit so there are some small vérité moments that I try to bring out. But I realized that I had to ground it with the interviews and really give it a set structure. So that was a challenge. ... I shot, I think, thirty-five hours--so I got to have fun finding really fun shots to pair with each other and make fun transitions. And so, in a lot of ways it was a fun experience for me to try new things with my editing.

Yes.

Most people would ask, "Why did you do that?" I didn't need to shoot thirty five hours, but for me--and normally I wouldn't because to me that means that I have a lack of focus, and the editing is going to be horrific because I'm going to have to go through all of it--but for me it was a chance to get into the filmmaking process, and I really wanted to get a lot of practice with filmmaking because that was something that I didn't have really any experience with before coming to the program that I'm in [currently] and so this was my chance just to try anything and everything.

Yes, definitely.

No, I was totally independent. The way I was able to support myself was in doing the video for SFAC because I was able to have housing and food, and then that was my base from which I explored ideas. ... Eventually I went back to Seattle and then went back to Alaska, but I wouldn't have been able to find that idea if I hadn't [gone back to Alaska]. Because I spent, I think, five or six weeks in Sitka...something like that. So I would say I was based definitely at the camp. ... I was pretty ingrained in the camp culture which I hadn't expected to be--and I hadn't expected that I would want to be invested in the camp so much--but it kind of...it was kind of addicting--especially when I started building relationships with some of the kids that I followed. It was hard to stay away from the camp.

I'm originally from Connecticut, and I went to school at Yale (undergrad), and Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins was a couple of years below me, and he played in the symphony orchestra with me. ... And whenever you spend time with Jonathan you quickly learn a lot about Alaska. So I learned a lot about Alaska from him.... But then I started following his career path after he graduated, and I've been really impressed with the work that he's been doing, particularly with language revitalization for native Alaskan languages. So I called him up in the spring just to check in--I hadn't spoken to him since Yale--and just to hear a little bit about what he'd been up to and what kind of what projects he was working on and he just sold Sitka to me in an instant. I [realized suddenly that] I needed to get there, and I needed to get there quickly. ... I was initially interested in making a film about efforts of language revitalization and I'm still really interested in doing that...the project that I've since found, though, has an urgency. So I'm going to be doing that now, and hopefully a project on language revitalization later.