Smoking On The Job

I recently had the pleasure of shooting a travel/hunting documentary in Turkey for Cabela’s Ultimate Adventures and the trip was nothing short of epic.  The food, different cultures and  challenging topography all contributed to the experience, but i definitely enjoyed getting to know some of the locals above all.  Mohammed was one of them.

He’s 41, drives a little moped up in the mountains and knows as much English as i know Turkish.  During the majority of the year he’s a goat herder, but on our trip he was enlisted by our outfitter as a game spotter.  Who better than to have someone help us out than someone who lives with the elusive Bezoar Ibex year round?  Hunting Ibex in their native habitat is really difficult, much less getting them on camera before they scamper off, so I was happy for all the help we could get spotting these goats.

I also need to mention Mohammed is made out of beef jerky and shoe leather.  Typically our days involved hiking down extremely steep and jagged ravines to get close enough for a cross canyon shot, but what hikes down must hike back up.  That is when Mohammed is in his element.  The absolute funny part is just about the time we were going to embark on our 2 hour climb out of the deep canyons with our camera gear and dreading it, he would spark up a hand-rolled cigarette (not hashish, I checked).  On our last day he even did it with three-quarters of an ibex on his shoulders!  For someone that does an occasional triathlon or road race, I was blown away.  Typically he will hotbox another at the top as sort of a celebratory ritual (most people go for water), that’s when he let me rattle off a few frames.