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Erin Ranney is a wildlife cinematographer based in Alaska, Washington State and the Falkland Islands. With a variety of remote field experience, both on boats and land, she’s set up and run remote field camps in Alaska. As a cinematographer, she’s captured footage for companies such as BBC, PBS, Smithsonian, Disney+ and National Geographic. One of her most recent series includes the National Geographic/Disney+ series ‘Queens’, which recently premiered in March 2024.
While experienced in filming wildlife on land, Erin is also a deep- sea video engineer and she’s a trained guide and naturalist in bear country. Additionally, she’s a third generation commercial fisherwoman in the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. She runs a commercial set net fishing operation in Bristol Bay Alaska and has spent time at remote fishing camps since she was a toddler.
In this episode, Erin and Mark talk about how in the world at her young age, she's done all this amazing work and what fishing and fighting for Bristol Bay have taught her, her incredible work on Queens from Nat Geo and Disney Plus mentorship and passing it on, and what that means to her and creating healing and understanding in a divided country.
Save What You Love with Mark Titus:
Produced: Emilie Firn
Edited: Patrick Troll
Music: Whiskey Class
Instagram: @savewhatyoulovepodcast
Website: savewhatyoulove.evaswild.com
Support wild salmon at evaswild.com
Creators & Guests
Host
Mark Titus
Mark Titus is the creator of Eva’s Wild and director of the award winning films, The Breach and The Wild. He’s currently working on a third film in his salmon trilogy, The Turn. In early 2021, Mark launched his podcast, Save What You Love, interviewing exceptional people devoting their lives in ways big and small to the protection of things they love. Through his storytelling, Mark Titus carries the message that humanity has an inherent need for wilderness and to fulfill that need we have a calling to protect wild places and wild things.
Guest
Erin Ranney
Erin Ranney is a wildlife cinematographer based in Alaska, Washington State and the Falkland Islands. As a cinematographer, she’s captured footage for companies such as BBC, PBS, Smithsonian, Disney+ and National Geographic. One of her most recent series includes the National Geographic/Disney+ series ‘Queens’, which recently premiered in March 2024. While experienced in filming wildlife on land, Erin is also a deep- sea video engineer and she’s a trained guide and naturalist in bear country. Additionally, she’s a third generation commercial fisherwoman in the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. She runs a commercial set net fishing operation in Bristol Bay Alaska and has spent time at remote fishing camps since she was a toddler.
What is Save What You Love with Mark Titus?
Wild salmon give their very lives so that life itself can continue. They are the inspiration for each episode asking change-makers in this world what they are doing to save the things they love most. Join filmmaker, Mark Titus as we connect with extraordinary humans saving what they love through radical compassion and meaningful action. Visit evaswild.com for more information.
00;00;00;19 - 00;00;26;20
Mark Titus
Welcome to the Save What You Love Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Titus. Today we welcome Erin Ranney to the show. Erin is a freelance wildlife cinematographer based in Alaska, Washington and the Falkland Islands. She's also a trained guide in bear country. An FAA certified drone pilot, a certified Wilderness First responder, and a third generation commercial fisherwoman in Bristol Bay, Alaska.
00;00;26;22 - 00;00;50;08
Mark Titus
As you know, we talk a lot about Bristol Bay on this show. Erin holds a Bachelor of Science in wildlife ecology at Washington State University and started her career working as a field technician in the rainforests of Madagascar. Once she completed her Master's in Wildlife documentary production in England, Erin began interning with Mark Emery Films, an assistant cameraman in the field.
00;00;50;10 - 00;01;20;25
Mark Titus
She's now working as a cinematographer. Companies like I Don't Know, BBC, PBS and Smithsonian. Most recently, Erin's work was featured in National Geographic and Disney Plus's series Queens, which recently premiered in March 2024. It's incredible. You guys should all check it out. In this episode, Erin and I talk about how in the world at her young age, she's done all this amazing work and what fishing and fighting for Bristol Bay have taught her.
00;01;20;27 - 00;01;44;27
Mark Titus
Her incredible work on Queens from Nat Geo and Disney Plus mentorship and passing it on, and what that means to her and creating healing and understanding in a divided country. It was an inspiring conversation for me. I hope you find it so too. I hope you enjoy the show. And now here's Erin Ranney. Onward.
00;01;44;29 - 00;02;21;15
Music
How do you save what you love?
When the world is burning down?
How do you save what you love?
When pushes come to shove.
How do you say what you love?
When things are upside down.
How do you say what you love?
When times are getting tough.
00;02;21;17 - 00;02;26;01
Mark Titus
Erin Ranney, welcome to the Save What You Love podcast. It's so good to see you again. How are you doing?
00;02;26;05 - 00;02;27;24
Erin Ranney
You too. I'm good. Yeah. Good.
00;02;27;24 - 00;02;38;07
Mark Titus
Well, good. Here we are in the new studio, aka my living room. And it's, It's been some time, and you've been on a lot of adventures.
00;02;38;13 - 00;02;39;17
Erin Ranney
Yeah, it's been busy.
00;02;39;19 - 00;02;50;24
Mark Titus
Yeah. So we were just talking about your. It's kind of split world. Yeah. You've got family here in Washington State, but you also have, husband. Congratulations!
00;02;50;24 - 00;02;51;15
Erin Ranney
Thank You.
00;02;51;17 - 00;02;56;25
Mark Titus
In the Falkland Islands. Tell me about how that. Yeah, those two worlds make sense for you.
00;02;56;26 - 00;03;17;12
Erin Ranney
Yeah. So I was recently married. I guess it's almost two years now. That's a little less recent. Wow. Yeah. No. he's from the Falkland Islands. Born and raised. He grew up on a farm there. we met when I was working on a sailboat down in the South Atlantic. I was working for my friend Kirsten Joy Schaefer, who recently won the Golden Globe race.
00;03;17;12 - 00;03;19;04
Erin Ranney
Have to give her a bit of a plug there.
00;03;19;06 - 00;03;20;00
Mark Titus
Wow.
00;03;20;03 - 00;03;39;02
Erin Ranney
She's incredible. She was a great person to work for. but we met there, and we've been kind of going back and forth between the Falklands, Washington state. My family has a tree farm here. And then up in Alaska, Bristol Bay area, you know, Cordova, Kodiak, visiting family and stuff.
00;03;39;04 - 00;03;40;11
Mark Titus
Are you still fishing?
00;03;40;13 - 00;03;41;14
Erin Ranney
I am still fishing.
00;03;41;15 - 00;03;42;11
Mark Titus
Are you on a fishing season?
00;03;42;12 - 00;03;45;27
Erin Ranney
Yeah, I am. Wow. I had a fin about a month, I guess. Yeah.
00;03;45;28 - 00;03;59;07
Mark Titus
Wow. So let's talk. Let's let's hover on Bristol Bay for a minute. you've done well. First of all, tell me about your. How did you grow up there? What was it like growing up in a fishing family? Working the bay every summer.
00;03;59;11 - 00;04;06;24
Erin Ranney
So my dad basically started fishing on his own there when he was 13. He was one of the first people to buy a permit at, like, 13 years old.
00;04;06;24 - 00;04;08;09
Mark Titus
Oh my God. Yeah.
00;04;08;11 - 00;04;33;06
Erin Ranney
And we now have three permits just between my dad and my sister and I on that same beach. But my dad went between drifting when family went between drifting and set netting. and we also had sites on the Catholic River. So that's more, that would be more east then Bristol Bay. and so and my family also had set nets out of Yakutat.
00;04;33;06 - 00;04;52;09
Erin Ranney
So my grandma and stuff did. So fishing has always been a big part of my family. My grandma and uncle had a business called fishing and flying out of Yakutat. Wow. my uncle has a lodge now. An adventure lodge that does fishing two called Orca Adventure Lodge out of Cordova. Cordova at that? Yeah. So there's there's lots of fishing all around.
00;04;52;11 - 00;05;08;22
Erin Ranney
I did go to fish camp when I was really little. and I think some of my best memories. My grandpa and dad were there, and we dig pig holes in the sand. Basically, my brother and I. Mom. They were there, busy working, and we'd pick the weeds from the net. And if end of the season, we'd get to pick a toy.
00;05;08;24 - 00;05;27;28
Erin Ranney
I ended up back in Bristol Bay when I was either 11 or 12. My aunt, who is a year older than me, had a site and she needed someone to work with her so I switched to Bristol Bay, at that age. And then I haven't missed a season since there. And I had my own permit, I think, when I was 18.
00;05;28;00 - 00;05;51;23
Mark Titus
You know, you hear from folks that are multigenerational and even even people that are, you know, just coming into it in their own life, in their own lifetime, that there's just something ethereal about being there. They can't quite put their finger on it. What's your best guess at that? That magical time. It's obviously super hard work. Yeah, you're working your ass off the whole time.
00;05;51;23 - 00;05;59;13
Mark Titus
But inside of that, though, there's something that is. It keeps people coming back generation after generation. Do you want to take a stab at that?
00;05;59;15 - 00;06;25;06
Erin Ranney
That's a hard one to cover, but I do think there is something about it. I mean, up until recently, my grandfather was still fishing there. so my dad's dad, my step grandma, still fishes there. She'll be here this season and my aunt still fish. My dad still fish is my sister's fish. So I think it's just the idea of it's six around six weeks of just hard work when we don't have any Wi-Fi, we don't have any service.
00;06;25;09 - 00;06;44;21
Erin Ranney
we spend a lot of time together as a family just working. And I think there's just something really nice about that. And in the evenings, sometimes you have bonfires, you don't have any running water. Like, it's all very it's just a really nice place to disconnect and get back to, you know, just hard work and spending time together.
00;06;44;23 - 00;07;14;21
Mark Titus
You have a you have an integrated life now, like, I see pictures of you at Fashion Week in New York. And we'll get to that in a second. And you're you're in the wilderness for disconnect, for time, a good deal of time in, you know, the summertime and with your, your fishing, but also with your, your main career as an incredible, DP and, how do you find a balance in all that?
00;07;14;21 - 00;07;23;18
Mark Titus
Like, do you feel like you miss being connected when you're away, or do you feel more comfortable in one world than another?
00;07;23;20 - 00;07;48;24
Erin Ranney
I think I definitely feel more comfortable in the disconnected, off the grid world. That being said, I don't have great balance when I'm back. I have a hard time, stepping away from work and just relaxing a bit. something I'm working on. But I do find that, you know, Bristol, where I say wood and the farm, the tree farm would probably be the two places where I definitely feel most myself.
00;07;48;25 - 00;08;13;25
Erin Ranney
Yeah, most. Most comfortable. Yeah. Filming two. I really love it. I love being outside. I love just focusing on, you know, what's going on in front of me. Yeah. new York fashion week. That was definitely a different world. It was really fun. I got to experience it with pretty incredible people, some of my teammates, and I'm glad to have done it, but it is always nice to go back.
00;08;13;26 - 00;08;30;16
Erin Ranney
I think I went, it was a bit of whiplash. I went New York Fashion Week back down to the Falklands and we were doing Sports Week, which is a it's a farming celebration, and then went to DC to the white House. So it was a some pretty flash.
00;08;30;18 - 00;08;51;10
Mark Titus
Wow, wow wow. That is a lot. yeah I've I've experienced a little bit of that, but that's that takes the cake. I'm going to get to why you were at Fashion week here in just, just in just a minute, we're going to talk about this incredible experience you've had in the last 18 months. but first, I'd love to go back in time again and kind of pick up.
00;08;51;16 - 00;09;08;02
Mark Titus
So you, you grew up as a kid fishing in Bristol Bay, having this incredible experience and upbringing in the wilderness. How how did you start on your trajectory toward becoming, an incredible camera person and a and a director of photography?
00;09;08;04 - 00;09;24;14
Erin Ranney
my, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I grew up in a place where no one worked in TV, so I didn't even really consider that an option. and I wanted to work with animals. That's like the thing I knew I wanted to do, so I was. I was going to be a veterinarian. That was my career.
00;09;24;17 - 00;09;30;07
Erin Ranney
and so, like, everything was around that I ended up getting a full ride scholarship to Washington State University.
00;09;30;08 - 00;09;30;13
Mark Titus
Go.
00;09;30;13 - 00;09;52;00
Erin Ranney
Could go Cougs. and they have an amazing vet school, and I was pre-vet for two years, and then I was hating it. And I met someone. Actually, he's a he was he was studying Lynx and he was in his masters for wildlife ecology. and we were in a fly fishing class. It was a one credit fly fishing class.
00;09;52;02 - 00;09;52;20
Mark Titus
cool.
00;09;52;23 - 00;10;11;19
Erin Ranney
Yeah. And he was like, you're in the wrong, major. This is what you should be doing. And I actually switched that day. Wow. Yeah. And I was like, that's exactly what I want to do. And I dropped. I dropped, I think chemistry that day. No physics. I was like, I'm out. I'm so tired of lab sciences. This is what I want to do.
00;10;11;19 - 00;10;34;03
Erin Ranney
And I absolutely loved the program there. I finished up with that degree. Ended up taking a year to work in the field. I went to Madagascar. I picked up a camera. if it was blue, Pentax camera, it was in a Costco pack. Perfect. I took it to Madagascar, and I just fell in love with photographing animals and taking pictures of animals.
00;10;34;05 - 00;10;54;18
Erin Ranney
And I was really lucky. The person I was working for was a grad student, and she had a long lens, and she let me borrow it for my Pentax. And yeah, just completely fell in love. Brought those pictures back to my mom's classroom. she's an elementary teacher. And talk to the kids about Madagascar lemurs, the work we were doing.
00;10;54;25 - 00;11;21;16
Erin Ranney
And she's a librarian. And every single book even remotely related to Madagascar, was checked out that day. And that was kind of my moment of you can use, imagery to talk about conservation, talk about science, make people fall in love with animals. And I looked for master's courses and applied to one in England, to two in England.
00;11;21;18 - 00;11;26;27
Erin Ranney
I was rejected from one, got in the other, and I moved to England shortly after that.
00;11;27;00 - 00;11;30;05
Mark Titus
Well, okay. And this is not that long ago.
00;11;30;06 - 00;11;34;21
Erin Ranney
You are about ten years ago, I guess. I did my master's. Wow. Yeah.
00;11;34;21 - 00;11;36;02
Mark Titus
So does fly.
00;11;36;04 - 00;11;52;08
Erin Ranney
Yeah. It has actually flown quite a bit, so I think I left. I would have left for my Masters in 2014. Okay. Graduated 2015 and then moved back to the States and started, interning with Mark Emery.
00;11;52;10 - 00;11;53;26
Mark Titus
Mark is a legend.
00;11;53;27 - 00;11;54;06
Erin Ranney
Yeah.
00;11;54;13 - 00;12;09;10
Mark Titus
And so let's let's let's pause there. How how does that happen? How do you just get involved with an incredible, world renowned photographer and filmmaker like Mark Emery? Did you just bump into each other or what happened?
00;12;09;12 - 00;12;34;08
Erin Ranney
So I was volunteering at Jackson Wild. It's a big wildlife film festival, of course, in Jackson, Wyoming, and I just got into a really casual conversation with this couple and the the woman's voice sounded really, really familiar. And I was like, I heard your voice and I don't know where it is. And we got to talking and it turns out that she gives the fish and game announcements for my district.
00;12;34;09 - 00;12;35;00
Mark Titus
No way.
00;12;35;01 - 00;12;58;08
Erin Ranney
So I've heard her voice over the radio during fishing for the last, you know, over many years. so yeah, that was a really small world. And Mark had actually seen my film, my student film for my master's, because it was on Bristol Bay, and he said, if you come down like, I can't pay you at this moment, but I'll come, I'll teach you how to film as much as I can.
00;12;58;08 - 00;13;17;17
Erin Ranney
I'll tell you everything I know. And I bought a ticket to Florida that day and, went and worked with him in Florida during the winters, in Alaska in the summers, because he goes back and forth. And my first paid job was in Katmai National Park with Mark about nine months later as a camera assistant for a bear show.
00;13;17;20 - 00;13;23;28
Mark Titus
I might well, I maybe some of your clips. I used and licensed some of Mark's work.
00;13;24;05 - 00;13;24;24
Erin Ranney
Oh, amazing.
00;13;24;24 - 00;13;38;15
Mark Titus
For the wild. Yeah. And, you know, some of the just incredible imagery that you see with the the salmon leaping into the bears mouths. Yeah. Yeah. So some of that is marks of maybe some of that was yours. Yeah.
00;13;38;15 - 00;13;59;09
Erin Ranney
We spent quite a few years, I 2 or 3 years working on and off with Mark. and I learned so much and he was always so supportive. And he ended up mentoring one of my friends after me, who is really successful now. So, she and I were just together doing a course, like a wilderness responder course, and we were reminiscing about our time with Mark.
00;13;59;11 - 00;14;22;08
Mark Titus
That's rad. You are a person that says yes. I mean, you said yes in college and changed your major and one day and you said yes and hopped on a plane to go down to Florida and be under Mark's tutelage and as, an intern. what's the latest thing you've said yes to?
00;14;22;10 - 00;14;27;15
Erin Ranney
I mean, there was one. I say, I'd say there's probably 1 or 2 other big yeses I had in my career.
00;14;27;20 - 00;14;27;29
Mark Titus
Let me.
00;14;27;29 - 00;14;50;23
Erin Ranney
Have them. so I had been saving. I had been saving for a vet school because that was my plan. So I had saved pretty much all my fishing money. and I was that wild screen, I think, the next year. So it was the year after I met Mark and I said I made the decision to buy a red camera within a couple of hours.
00;14;50;25 - 00;15;08;17
Erin Ranney
like I said, I'd been saving. I had a scholarship. So the money that I had planned to use for college ended up going towards this camera. Wow. because I didn't have a camera house around me, and I want. I knew I was going to be a cinematographer, so I decided that's what I was going to invest in.
00;15;08;19 - 00;15;23;02
Erin Ranney
And so I took out a loan from myself, and from our fishing business. And then I said, if I don't pay this off in two years, I'm going to sell the camera. And I paid it off in a year.
00;15;23;05 - 00;15;35;02
Mark Titus
So, for those in our audience who don't know what a red camera is and what a red camera costs, what are we talking about here? This is not pulling something off the shelf at Costco.
00;15;35;05 - 00;15;55;15
Erin Ranney
No. So, It would. So it was a $30,000 camera. but I put a deposit in for the camera that was below it, but something along the line had broken in their manufacturing, so they offered a $10,000 discount if I upgraded to the $30,000 one.
00;15;55;17 - 00;15;56;00
Mark Titus
Wow.
00;15;56;07 - 00;16;03;10
Erin Ranney
So I did, and then, you know, all the extra stuff I say it was around 30 or $40,000 for everything.
00;16;03;12 - 00;16;12;10
Mark Titus
That is that is a breathtaking moment, especially with me thinking about every one of those fish picked from the nets. Yeah, you know.
00;16;12;12 - 00;16;19;23
Erin Ranney
You remember back here like, when you're fishing, you're like, okay, that's a lot. That's a lot of fish that went into that.
00;16;19;25 - 00;16;51;06
Mark Titus
Speaking of fish, we are joined in our passion for Bristol Bay. And, I think it's fair to say it's a lifetime and beyond kind of passion. Yeah. what have you learned from the struggle to protect Bristol Bay over the last. Well, going on three decades, really? All told, that informs, first of all, the the sanctity of the place, but also your approach to your work and to life.
00;16;51;08 - 00;17;01;06
Mark Titus
Yeah, it it's a hard fight. Yeah. And it's not over. It's never going to be over really. What has that tenacity and that fight and that grit taught you?
00;17;01;09 - 00;17;28;28
Erin Ranney
I think the biggest things that it's taught me is one that these fights come down to local groups. Yes, that are, you know, paying for the lawyers that are going into their offices and doing all the really hard groundwork. I mean, the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, those groups are the ones that are really pushing for it, and individuals as well that have, you know, been really outspoken, have put in all their time and money into these things.
00;17;29;00 - 00;17;42;01
Erin Ranney
it's not the big people who post, you know, 1 or 2 photos that are really doing all the groundwork for it. Not saying that that's not helpful, right. But the people who are really getting it done are kind of the people that you don't hear about quite as much.
00;17;42;03 - 00;18;10;11
Mark Titus
Absolutely. I mean, that is just completely apparent when you come spend time there and you put your own sort of emotional roots down. And, I feel very fortunate to have dear friends and colleagues that, that live there year round. And, it puts a different shine on it when it's like, this is not a cause in air quotes up there.
00;18;10;13 - 00;18;36;27
Mark Titus
This is your backyard. This is this is beyond your backyard. It's it's it's your livelihood. It's your social construct. It's your spiritual continuity. It's everything. And to think about and a giant wound in the earth upstream of where you live and your, your parents and your grandparents and their great grandparents going back thousands of years, man, it's all of a sudden it's a life and death kind of feeling.
00;18;37;02 - 00;18;37;28
Mark Titus
Yeah, right.
00;18;38;03 - 00;19;01;08
Erin Ranney
Yeah. I mean, those communities there are literally facing the end of their culture, like salmon are such a key aspect to so many cultures up there. And I think that's that's it. It's just it's not just about fishing. but I think that also comes into the the other thing that I've learned about it is you have to learn to work with people that maybe you don't agree with.
00;19;01;08 - 00;19;21;21
Erin Ranney
And I think Pebble Mine showed that in a way that nothing else has ever shown me before. Yeah, they were groups that probably really hate each other, that have come together to, to work on Pebble Mine. I mean, there's people who I think I disagree on every other thing, but when it came to Pebble Mine, we had to work together because that's the bigger cause.
00;19;21;23 - 00;19;33;05
Mark Titus
Well, let's let's talk about that for a minute. you know, some of those groups being, sport fishers and commercial fishermen and tribes.
00;19;33;08 - 00;19;39;08
Erin Ranney
bear viewing guides, bear hunting guides. I mean, just you couldn't get more opposite in some aspects.
00;19;39;09 - 00;19;55;26
Mark Titus
Absolutely. And there's folks that are super left leaning Sierra Club. members as well as, folks that are, you know, Fox News watching and hosting. Yeah. and, you know, conservative anglers and Trump.
00;19;55;26 - 00;19;56;09
Erin Ranney
Sun.
00;19;56;10 - 00;20;16;16
Mark Titus
Trump's son, as we talked about in the wild. You know for sure. So what do you think we can learn certainly about moving forward with Bristol Bay. But also kind of in a greater sense, you know, tackling some of the the huge challenges we face as a country by the example in Bristol Bay that brought people together.
00;20;16;19 - 00;20;31;06
Erin Ranney
Yeah, I think it comes down to leadership. I think it comes down to looking at the bigger picture of things and recognizing that. I also think that people who have feet in both lots.
00;20;31;06 - 00;20;31;14
Mark Titus
Yeah.
00;20;31;20 - 00;21;00;21
Erin Ranney
Need to be vocal and need to be communicating between communities and, you know, showing that. So, you know, a lot of people are a bit wary about being called a conservationist in some of these communities. so if you're in the community of conservationists and the community that maybe dislikes that, that, label because of, you know, if you call yourself that, maybe you're kind of called out for it.
00;21;00;21 - 00;21;11;08
Erin Ranney
I don't exactly know how to explain it, but, I think the people who have their feet in both need to be vocal and need to be really working on connecting people.
00;21;11;10 - 00;21;41;03
Mark Titus
That that certainly, that's certainly the work that I've gravitated toward. Yeah. And, finding a balance between, you know, saying what needs to be said when it needs to be said. Yeah. And also, you know, not in an a sense of appeasement, but in a sense of like acceptance of, hey, anybody can have a seat at the table here to have a conversation or to listen or to, frankly, join in.
00;21;41;03 - 00;22;11;14
Mark Titus
If you are drawn by animals, by fishing, by food, which, by the way, is an inarguable thing we all have to eat. and I find a lot of hope in that, that sort of cross table reference or, you know, reverence for things that, that are a common language. Yeah. do you find that you're able to have a sense of that in the work that you do, like.
00;22;11;16 - 00;22;30;29
Erin Ranney
Yeah, I mean, I, I do think I remember when I got into the field and my mom being like, don't forget where you came from. She was very big on that. And I was like, oh, mom, you know, don't be silly. But I can see why she said it because I think there's a danger of joining Echo chambers.
00;22;31;01 - 00;22;32;01
Mark Titus
Absolutely.
00;22;32;04 - 00;22;56;00
Erin Ranney
and there's a danger of losing the ability to, you know, communicate with all different types of people if you're not careful. and I, I'm really glad that she said that because I, I do feel like I can go in and talk to people in different communities that are maybe into farming or maybe into fishing, because I can speak the language because that's what I grew up doing.
00;22;56;02 - 00;23;22;06
Erin Ranney
Whereas I think if you're not careful, you can go in with a lot of pre bias. You can go in thinking that maybe you know the best way and you don't know everything. When you come into other communities you you don't understand it. Yes I fish I don't understand how they fish. So going in with an open mind and having these conversations can just lead to some really good knowledge, some really good understanding, and it can lead to new ideas.
00;23;22;06 - 00;23;32;15
Erin Ranney
If you're talking as someone who's just genuinely interested and keen to learn more.
00;23;32;17 - 00;24;01;10
Mark Titus
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00;24;01;13 - 00;24;26;24
Mark Titus
You can have the exact same filets we deliver to them, shipped flash frozen to your door. What's more, Eva's Wild donates 10% of our profits to indigenous led efforts to protect Bristol Bay in perpetuity. That's the place we sourced the salmon from right now. That looks like supporting the Bristol Bay Foundation, granting Bristol Bay's indigenous young people scholarships to four year colleges, universities and trade schools.
00;24;26;26 - 00;24;44;19
Mark Titus
Visit Evaswild.com to join our growing community doing good by eating right. That's "save" spelled backwards. wild.com and eat wild to save wild.
00;24;44;21 - 00;25;06;28
Mark Titus
Hey friends, I just wanted to let you know about a very special collaboration that's coming up between our Save What You Love podcast and Conservation Connection, a really great show that's hosted by husband and wife team Chance and Sarah Catherine Ruder. Listen, I'm on their show on July 23rd, and then they're going to be on our show, Save What You Love on July 29th.
00;25;07;00 - 00;25;23;27
Mark Titus
You can find Conservation Connection on any of your pod catchers. They're all over the place. And of course, here on Save What You Love. And if you haven't subscribed to the show yet, give us a subscribe. And if you give us a shout out on Apple Podcasts with a review that really helps get us out into the world.
00;25;23;29 - 00;25;31;01
Mark Titus
Okay, so there it is. Keep doing good work. See you soon.
00;25;31;03 - 00;26;04;24
Mark Titus
Erin, you've had this incredible opportunity to go into different cultures, into different communities, different places around the world with the work that you are able to do. How do you keep that sense of, I don't know, wonder for sure, but also humility and, grace to to listen. Is that something that just comes naturally or is it a is it a product of actually doing the work itself and meeting all these different people and communities and cultures?
00;26;04;26 - 00;26;24;13
Erin Ranney
I'd say it's more of a product of the family I grew up in. I one of my biggest and one of my biggest heroes was my grandpa, who was a tree farmer and a logger. and that was his career was tree farming. He was in the Coast Guard and went to Antarctica briefly when he was 18.
00;26;24;15 - 00;26;26;01
Mark Titus
Runs in the family.
00;26;26;03 - 00;26;47;07
Erin Ranney
True, which is really cool. We have a we have his old letters to his parents. But the thing that I always admired about him was he his presence in a room, his ability to listen. And unfortunately, he was killed in a logging accident. And but the funeral house, this was about ten years ago when we had the funeral.
00;26;47;14 - 00;27;05;27
Erin Ranney
It was filled with people from every single walk of life, like it was such an assortment of people. And every single person commented about how Johnny would always listen. Like you. He didn't matter what he was doing. It didn't matter. You know, if he was in a rush, he'd always take the time and just have a conversation and listen.
00;27;05;29 - 00;27;32;03
Erin Ranney
And I think that was something that I always wanted to be like with him. I, I really thought that I really admired that. And it was also I mean, he graduated high school and went straight into the Coast Guard for a few years, and then he went to tree farming, and that man knew more about the soil and trees and how to follow a tree, like he could do it to a centimeter.
00;27;32;03 - 00;27;54;07
Erin Ranney
It seemed one of these big, giant, big, giant 80 year old Douglas firs. he's one of the smartest people I've met. And he doesn't have, you know, a degree or a masters or a PhD. But I think it also gave me that understanding that people who were on the ground working experience, it gives you so much knowledge as well.
00;27;54;15 - 00;28;19;13
Erin Ranney
So there's different types of intelligence, there's different types of knowledge and there's different ways to gain it. And I think growing up, understanding that, has helped me go to other areas and, you know, my, my amazing drivers from the film cars, their drivers and technical drivers and guides, they know far more than I'll ever know about the area where filming, and they know far more about the animals that we're filming than I'll ever know.
00;28;19;16 - 00;28;39;26
Erin Ranney
And if I were to not listen, I would be missing out on so much information, so much knowledge. And why? Because I feel like I have a degree and I know more like there's there's absolutely no reason not to listen. You're you're missing out at the end of the day, if you don't have that humility.
00;28;39;29 - 00;29;09;06
Mark Titus
Perfect. Yeah. I, you you you walk the walk here and you, you bring humility with you. It is a very attractive, trait that makes people feel very at ease. And, I always like to ask folks in this podcast about, look, we're in this really divided, siloed time in our country. How do we start to fix that?
00;29;09;06 - 00;29;40;10
Mark Titus
And you just answered that in a just totally eloquent way about listening, respect, humility. I couldn't agree with you more. on on walking into a new place, a new situation. Not with what can I bring to this, but what what can I learn? How can I be? How can I assimilate into the world that you live in, that I'm blessed enough to have an opportunity to learn about?
00;29;40;12 - 00;30;10;20
Mark Titus
so I think, you know, on a on a bigger scale, can you speak to a little bit about sort of the, the, the worlds that you put, you know, bridge and you come from this, family that's got knowledge of the land in multiple places, in multiple ways. Fishing, logging, tree farm. but you also like, you're in this art art world as well, you know, as an artist.
00;30;10;20 - 00;30;29;10
Mark Titus
And because you are, you're a brilliant artist. Thank you. And, you know, do you find that you are constantly learning about that? You have a do you feel like you're you're kind of an ambassador to be able to bring some understanding between those two worlds? Do you even think about things that way?
00;30;29;14 - 00;30;48;04
Erin Ranney
I mean, I hope I am I don't I don't really, I guess, think about it in that way. But I do hope that the conversations that I have in the field, you know, maybe bring some insight to areas that people haven't thought about. I hope when someone has a shoot with me, they think about Bristol Bay a bit more.
00;30;48;04 - 00;31;12;07
Erin Ranney
If they think about Pebble Mine. and I think it's. Yeah, it's not being afraid to talk about where you're from to have these conversations and to sometimes be a bit uncomfortable. Cool. I think that's the other key is like, and I'm not saying that everyone needs to have these uncomfortable conversations. I mean, there's certain things if people don't believe you should exist, like, those aren't the conversations you need to be having.
00;31;12;07 - 00;31;14;23
Erin Ranney
That's a that's a whole different ballgame.
00;31;14;25 - 00;31;16;09
Mark Titus
Sure.
00;31;16;12 - 00;31;38;06
Erin Ranney
but in conversations like Rest Away, since we're using that as an example, I think having those conversations and, and also really understanding the fishery you're in is really important, because I want to be able to explain why I keep fishing. I want to be able to explain why Bristol Bay is such an amazing place, such a one of a kind place.
00;31;38;08 - 00;31;58;24
Erin Ranney
And if I don't have the basic understanding of why I'm there, then I can't share that with other people. So I think that's another really important aspect, and it's understanding why everyone else is there to like. Why is it important to the people who live there? Why is it important to, you know, the viewing guides? You know why?
00;31;58;24 - 00;32;22;07
Erin Ranney
Why are these places so intricate and balanced? And how can we throw it off? So I think yeah, I think it's having those hard conversations sometimes that are a bit uncomfortable, especially if you come from a place of privilege where you know you're able to have these conversations and yeah, you don't have these other things against you at the same time.
00;32;22;10 - 00;32;57;09
Mark Titus
Yeah. I remember conversations I had with, friends and, a mentor of mine in Southeast Alaska when I was a guide and who would get frustrated with folks coming from Ivy League schools and telling them how it is out in the Tongass, you know, with yes, spending no, no time living there. But just from book learning and, you know, whatever course curriculum they had, you know, are going to tell them how it's going to be and lay down the policy.
00;32;57;09 - 00;33;26;02
Mark Titus
And that's how it's going to be. And I just feel like what you're describing here is just such, a wise take on, listening to folks that have been on the land. because I think at the end of all of this, there is a commonality based on love, you know, like your grandpa, right. He, he clearly loved the land.
00;33;26;03 - 00;33;43;11
Erin Ranney
Oh, he did right. That was his favorite place ever. And you can tell he took care of it so well. And I think that's the other thing that you and I have actually talked about before is that because there's people in the world, we're going to have to extract resources like that end of the day, that's going to have to happen.
00;33;43;14 - 00;34;01;02
Erin Ranney
But how do we make that place better than we left it? How do we ensure that we're doing it in a sustainable way? How do we make sure that we're treating the land with care? And it's there's programs that can help. So like our tree farm is now a certified stewardship forest stewardship forest.
00;34;01;09 - 00;34;02;02
Mark Titus
Congrats.
00;34;02;04 - 00;34;25;08
Erin Ranney
yeah. No, my dad did. That was really cool. He went through classes. He created a plan that actually manages the tree farm. It's an ecosystem. And when you start to work with farmers like that, when you start to implement things like that, then yeah, it does make a huge difference because at the end of the day, we are going to have to extract from the environment like that.
00;34;25;10 - 00;34;54;03
Erin Ranney
We need to feed people, we need to house people, right. But how do we do it? And keep wildlife around keep. And it's so cool because like you get these little, little old tree farmers. My dad's some old, so not him. He's quite a young, young gun in the tree farming world. but you get these tree farmers who are just stoked because now they've got 20 pairs of, you know, wood ducks on their ponds because they did stuff to increase and enhance the habitat.
00;34;54;05 - 00;35;21;01
Erin Ranney
And, you know, we set camera traps on our tree farm. We've got cougars and bobcats and black bears and all sorts of birds. My dad's a much better birder than I am, and he's got lists of birds that he's seen around. And with everything he does, whether it's habitat piles or, you know, planting increased native vegetation in different areas or decreasing Scotch broom, which is an invasive species like all of these things help to ensure a better habitat.
00;35;21;01 - 00;35;49;10
Erin Ranney
And it's looking at how we log. We do it on a different scale. We do it in a different way. We leave different snags for birds, for nesting habitat. and it's when you start to have those conversations instead of like forest implementation without, you know, having it be being aware that we still do need to extract, then that's where you start to get issues is you just have one one side versus another.
00;35;49;11 - 00;35;54;13
Erin Ranney
Right? But if you're able to work together, that's when good change happens environmentally.
00;35;54;21 - 00;36;13;29
Mark Titus
Absolutely. I mean, look for you know, not everybody knows this, but hunters are behind some of the best wetland preservation there is out there. fishermen obviously want to keep the the ground sustainable. Bristol Bay is a prime example of that.
00;36;13;29 - 00;36;16;02
Erin Ranney
You can't fish if there's no fish.
00;36;16;04 - 00;36;31;27
Mark Titus
No you can't. And the you know, the management system there of escapement letting millions of salmon go up into the system before they let a single net in the water. That's what would the landscape of look like if we implemented that down here.
00;36;31;27 - 00;37;03;26
Erin Ranney
And by saying that that doesn't mean every fisherman or hunter is great and has great conservation practices, of course, but I think it's recognizing the fact that you can be both. Yep. It doesn't mean everyone's great, but you can be both. And there are people who genuinely care and want what's best for the habitat. And yeah, if we do gain new scientific knowledge from these scientists who are going out and doing studying, and if we're able to work together, then we can bring that scientific knowledge into farms and increase habitat and increase wildlife ecosystem.
00;37;03;29 - 00;37;28;23
Mark Titus
Yeah. It looks there's a level of human fallibility in anything we do. Right? Yeah. And we do. We are a being. We're a creature that needs to consume like everything in the universe needs to consume. Stars need to consume. Everything needs to consume. But we are at a place now where we can inform ourselves about better ways to do that.
00;37;28;24 - 00;37;41;06
Mark Titus
Yeah. Than happened 100 years ago. Yeah, 150 years ago. Speaking of change, I have been following over the years your career. It's incredible.
00;37;41;06 - 00;37;42;03
Erin Ranney
Thank you.
00;37;42;05 - 00;38;16;01
Mark Titus
And the landscape about who is, who who are the players in in terms of content? I hate that word. Content creators, who are artists, filmmakers and camera people has is shifted. It's shifting, I believe. Sincerely, you are at the forefront of that wave of these, for sure. And so with with that sentiment in mind, in that backdrop, what is Queen's and can you tell me about this experience?
00;38;16;01 - 00;38;27;04
Mark Titus
I know this is a huge thing in your career. I am my heart pitter patter when I think about it. Tell me about what is it? How did it come to be? What are some of the incredible experiences you had with it?
00;38;27;09 - 00;38;53;18
Erin Ranney
So Queen's is a new series on Disney Plus and National Geographic. It's on matriarchs in the wildlife animal societies. I started working on this project. I was hired back in 2019, and I started filming in 2020. An unfortunate time. Yeah. which did make it rough. I was part of a huge team, but a really incredible team.
00;38;53;21 - 00;39;24;00
Erin Ranney
and I spent almost three years filming on different episodes, so I worked on the Elephant episode, the bear episode, and a little bit on the hyena and Lion episode, just a tiny bit. And on the Behind the Queens episode, you'll see. You might see me in it. Yes. So, it was just a really great project. I made some lifelong friends, Faith in me, who actually produced the Behind the Queens episode is an incredible filmmaker, incredible artist.
00;39;24;02 - 00;39;44;04
Erin Ranney
she produced that episode. One of the first black Kenyan women to ever produce a National Geographic blue chip wild life shows. And, you know, she did an incredible job like of this, like of this caliber. It was amazing. it's not because there aren't talented people out there. I really like to hit that hammer on the head.
00;39;44;04 - 00;40;02;26
Erin Ranney
And not because there are other people skilled and talented like Faith don't exist in these areas, but it's because, you know, those stories haven't really been open. It's been kind of a bit of a it's been hard for people to break in. There's been additional barriers. and Queens was able to knock some of those barriers down and give people the opportunity.
00;40;02;26 - 00;40;04;25
Erin Ranney
Who deserve the opportunity.
00;40;04;27 - 00;40;12;00
Mark Titus
And that primarily correct me if I'm wrong, but primarily involved female artists. Yeah.
00;40;12;03 - 00;40;36;28
Erin Ranney
Yeah. So there there were I would say there were definitely female artists. All the producers were women. there were women behind the camera. It wasn't all women. Okay. we did have mentorship from our male counterparts. There were a lot of great male allies who stepped up. I learned shot over and yes, from two very talented cameramen, Tom Walker and Johnny Rogers.
00;40;37;01 - 00;40;57;10
Erin Ranney
So it was really a community effort to kind of shift shift how things have been. And I'd say I think it did a lot of really amazing things. A lot of the producers were able to have kids and keep doing their job because of how it was set up. but I think there's still a lot of work to go.
00;40;57;10 - 00;41;04;25
Erin Ranney
And I think that's pushing for Queens, too, because I think it's still we still got a ways to go, but it has made a big shift.
00;41;04;27 - 00;41;12;09
Mark Titus
How do we how do we get to a place of knocking those barriers down even further? And what are those? I mean, I.
00;41;12;09 - 00;41;40;19
Erin Ranney
Think it takes time. I think that's the main thing. I don't think it just happens in a year or two. I think you need to build from down and build up and create a place where those barriers aren't quite the same issue. and Wild Star has done a great job. We have a, we have a camera woman community group where we do free masterclasses, free mentorship, free workshops and wild Stars is the production company that made Queens.
00;41;40;19 - 00;42;02;03
Erin Ranney
Their Academy has funded some of that, and made it more accessible for women in our group to actually attend some of these things. we've had other people who have stepped in other, other production companies. Sound Off Films has helped. cool. The brand has donated stuff to us and, I don't want to forget anyone. Oh, Red.
00;42;02;09 - 00;42;24;27
Erin Ranney
Red has been a supporter. They're like one of our biggest supporters. Yeah, they've donated cameras for our things. Brian Henderson has been like our absolute rock star hero. He's helped us so much, get all of this, all this going. So I think the key is creating an environment where, you know, you have a sense of community. There isn't that there's only room for one woman.
00;42;25;00 - 00;42;42;05
Erin Ranney
It's sharing knowledge. It's all about sharing knowledge between different members. It's all about lifting each other up and seeing each other's names in in rooms. And like I said, we have some great male allies who really want to see this happen as well. And yeah, I think it's just going to take time.
00;42;42;08 - 00;43;06;25
Mark Titus
Well, and that's fundamentally I think balance is what it's all about, right? I mean, like, but do we go down a path of exclusion if injustice has has been created and, you know. Been hanging around here for for decades, if not centuries, or do we shift toward a more of a balance towards what it actually should have been all along?
00;43;07;02 - 00;43;32;26
Mark Titus
And what I'm hearing from you is that male allies, folks that, you know, pretty much kind of the MLK philosophy of like, it doesn't matter the color of your skin, but the character of the person. Right. does that kind of feel like the world that you're you're in right now and you're you're entering and shifting more into like that?
00;43;33;04 - 00;43;42;02
Mark Titus
There's one of balance here, or does it feel more like there is a surge of women in the industry, women behind the camera?
00;43;42;04 - 00;43;49;00
Erin Ranney
You know, I wouldn't say there's a surge of women behind the camera because the average is still about 5%, but holy smokes. Yeah.
00;43;49;00 - 00;43;50;11
Mark Titus
So you are at the front of this.
00;43;50;16 - 00;44;10;05
Erin Ranney
There is as well. We've I've been really lucky. Justine Evans, Sophie Darlington who just a couple of the women who, you know, broke through in the beginning. Yeah. And they were both mentors on Queens. so they've really been lifting up other women. and Queens was was a big part of that. That's what they were doing.
00;44;10;07 - 00;44;36;13
Erin Ranney
So I don't think it's been a surge quite, quite yet. But I think what's happening is that there is a big push. to just get support and, opportunity to women who are interested and working hard towards a career in this field. and I think that's the key is you'd never want to put someone who's not ready for a job in a job, right?
00;44;36;13 - 00;44;38;29
Erin Ranney
Because that is completely counterproductive.
00;44;38;29 - 00;44;39;09
Mark Titus
Right?
00;44;39;12 - 00;45;00;08
Erin Ranney
So you want to prepare people and give them the tools and give them, the opportunities in the right, right time as it, as it goes. kind of thing. The best way. And I think a lot of that too, comes down to with camera gear is expensive total. So how do you create access to professional kit so people can learn?
00;45;00;10 - 00;45;02;08
Erin Ranney
I think money is a huge part of it.
00;45;02;12 - 00;45;02;26
Mark Titus
Oh for sure.
00;45;02;26 - 00;45;28;10
Erin Ranney
I think that's a barrier. A massive barrier is what incomes do people come from? What backgrounds. And also recognizing you can't help which background you came from. So if you did come from a background where you did have a lot of extra privilege, maybe just help someone else out, that's kind of the philosophy we have to like. No one's judging anyone else in the group for what their background is, but if you do have that privilege, extend it.
00;45;28;12 - 00;45;33;11
Erin Ranney
It's that simple. It's recognizing you have it and extending it to other people.
00;45;33;13 - 00;45;38;13
Mark Titus
And so Wild Star is the org that you kind of center this work around. Yeah.
00;45;38;13 - 00;45;54;21
Erin Ranney
So Wild Star was the production company that made Queen's. Roger. and they've just they're, they have an academy who helps uplift cinematographers and other filmmakers from different backgrounds. So they're just one of the many companies who's supported our camera woman group.
00;45;54;23 - 00;46;27;05
Mark Titus
Got it. and do you have kind of a, centralized mentorship group? I noticed you post about this frequently. Like, this is something that I'm super interested in and. Yeah, yeah. And it feels like this very full circle kind of nod for you. Yeah. Coming into the world through guys like Mark Emery and others. do you feel drawn to being a mentor for other young women in particular?
00;46;27;07 - 00;46;29;27
Mark Titus
And how does that manifest itself in the world?
00;46;30;00 - 00;46;51;29
Erin Ranney
I think it's it's more I recognize the fact that I have a lot of privilege, and I recognize the fact that I did work really, really hard. But I also had the incredible opportunity to work with people like Mark, to work with people like John H. Johnson. He's an incredible cinematographer. and they were nothing but kind.
00;46;51;29 - 00;47;17;11
Erin Ranney
They were nothing but supportive. And they had so much knowledge to pass down. And they did it very willingly, like there was never a question. So I think it's just I feel like it's just what needs to happen, isn't it? You just need to keep uplifting people around you. And that's the way to actually make change, is by being supportive and by, you know, giving what you can.
00;47;17;13 - 00;47;25;19
Erin Ranney
And sometimes I can't give as much some days and other days I can. And it's recognizing that, and just doing it when you can.
00;47;25;22 - 00;47;38;19
Mark Titus
You sound like a very wise old soul. It's true. You can't. You have to put the oxygen mask on first, right? Yeah. Before you help other people. Are you are you actively mentoring other young people right now?
00;47;38;25 - 00;47;55;16
Erin Ranney
Yeah. So I actively mentor through Girls who Cook great. It's a nonprofit that supports wildlife, aspiring wildlife photographers and cinematographers, young girls. And we do free workshops and we get paired with the mentee every year. So I'm on my third mentee through that.
00;47;55;18 - 00;47;56;02
Mark Titus
Congrats.
00;47;56;02 - 00;48;11;06
Erin Ranney
So that's been really fun. I will be having a free workshop for the program in May. so if you have a girl, I think it's between ages 16. I think it starts at 16. Sign up for daughters.
00;48;11;08 - 00;48;12;17
Mark Titus
And what are the dates on that?
00;48;12;20 - 00;48;19;27
Erin Ranney
I don't remember off the top of my head, but girls who click if you go to their website, they have all of their workshops listed.
00;48;19;29 - 00;48;22;25
Mark Titus
Excellent girls who click. Great title as.
00;48;22;25 - 00;48;34;24
Erin Ranney
Well. Yeah, yeah. Susie Susie started that. She's an incredible wildlife photographer. yeah. And she's been amazing getting this team of mentors together and really going for it.
00;48;34;27 - 00;48;56;20
Mark Titus
So, Erin, what you got a big, full life. You got a rich family life. You've got a, husband that comes here and also has a home down in Falkland Islands. What's what's next for you? What's the the next? I know there's some stuff you can talk about and some stuff you can't talk about. Probably. But what what can you talk about that you're excited about?
00;48;56;22 - 00;49;12;26
Erin Ranney
I'm taking a little bit of a break, so I'll go fishing. and then taking about a month off, my husband's family's visiting, so that's pretty exciting. And then I'll get right back into it. Jason Ching and I are doing a photography workshop together, which I'm really excited about. Now to eliminate.
00;49;12;28 - 00;49;17;18
Mark Titus
Wow. are there spots left for that? Are.
00;49;17;18 - 00;49;17;29
Erin Ranney
Yeah, I.
00;49;17;29 - 00;49;20;04
Mark Titus
Like to be a student.
00;49;20;06 - 00;49;30;05
Erin Ranney
So we're doing that, end of August, early September, and then I'll be back on the Nautilus doing some deep sea stuff in Palo, so I'm pretty excited about that.
00;49;30;12 - 00;49;32;04
Mark Titus
What's that all about?
00;49;32;06 - 00;49;51;12
Erin Ranney
we're just, looking at the different ecosystems and I just control the cameras on the ROVs. There's ROV pilots that actually drive them. so that's what I'm allowed to talk about. Other things I can't talk about. But my other shoots. Yeah, but as the things I can talk about. Go follow along. Nautilus live.
00;49;51;14 - 00;50;13;23
Mark Titus
Wonderful. So much stuff to follow along with. Lastly, for today, I wanted to ask you about your passion project and we talked. We've talked about this together many times about what it takes to put something out in the world in terms of the time and the energy and the resources. And what was that experience like for you and where is where is that now?
00;50;13;26 - 00;50;35;28
Erin Ranney
It was I mean, the six months in the field that I spent filming it were probably like my favorite six months possibly of my life. Right? They were amazing. I got to just go shoot every day. I got to make mistakes. I got to learn from it. I was shooting with a really incredible group of people who believed in me, which was really cool and wanted to see Alaska.
00;50;35;28 - 00;50;56;29
Erin Ranney
I got to share Alaska with people. and I got to tell family stories that I heard growing up and kind of explore those stories in those areas. So it was a really amazing experience. The editing process I'm not as big of a fan of, I heard I well, I worked together with an editor, Jack Johnston. He we co-produced the film together.
00;50;57;05 - 00;51;11;02
Erin Ranney
He edited it, and he actually came out to Kayak Island, the first location we filmed at. He's amazing. He normally edits for BBC for all those big companies, just an incredibly kind human, but also an incredibly talented person as well.
00;51;11;04 - 00;51;13;15
Mark Titus
What's the title of the film and where can folks see it?
00;51;13;17 - 00;51;29;10
Erin Ranney
my Alaskan journey, it's doing the film festival circuit at the moment, right? We filmed it five years ago, so it's premiered this last summer. You have been. It would have been June of last summer was its first film festival entry yet?
00;51;29;10 - 00;51;33;18
Mark Titus
That's right. So how long do you reckon you're going to keep on the circuit?
00;51;33;20 - 00;51;35;29
Erin Ranney
I think we'll finish up hopefully by the end of the year.
00;51;36;02 - 00;51;39;21
Mark Titus
Okay. Yeah. Good. And it's been fun. Have you been able to get it? It's been.
00;51;39;21 - 00;52;00;24
Erin Ranney
Really fun. Yeah. And we've done some screenings too. We did screenings up in Cordova and we did screenings in Washington. And what was really cool is all the money was donated to United Tribes have passed away, and it's going to go to defend Yakutat as well. Wonderful. so I haven't made a dollar off the film. That's quite a bit of money off the film, but it's really.
00;52;00;24 - 00;52;26;00
Erin Ranney
What's that like? It's it was worth it, I think. Yeah. And yeah, I got to work with an incredibly talented group of people who I'm still really good friends with today. So I think, yeah, we've had a really fun time going to different festivals and talking about the film, talking about the stories. And, I think the thing the film did that I was proud of, too, is we didn't shy away from fishing.
00;52;26;00 - 00;52;50;09
Erin Ranney
We talked about fishing, we talked about climate change. We hit all those different things. So how is climate change affecting fishing? It was filmed in 2019. That was a horribly hot year. It was for dying in the rivers right. and it is a good look at that to like, you know, when things go wrong climate wise, it affects farms, it affects fishing pretty bad.
00;52;50;11 - 00;53;14;23
Erin Ranney
Right? So as a community in those areas, we really need to work on this too. Like we should be very concerned, like our tree farm, our our trees are on 80 year rotations, 1680 year rotations. We're trying to decide how my my dad and my mom and my sisters who work on the farm and stuff, trying to decide how do we plant for the future because we don't know what the future is going to look like at the right.
00;53;14;25 - 00;53;22;04
Erin Ranney
So I think that's something also maybe treat climate change, but like Pebble Mine because we all have a stake in it.
00;53;22;06 - 00;53;39;29
Mark Titus
We do. Erin, you I hope that we can work on something together someday because it's you're changing the world. You inspire me every time I get to see a post or, a write up about you, I take you seriously. I just, I do a little victory dance.
00;53;40;01 - 00;53;43;11
Erin Ranney
You know, I love your work, too. I've loved your ears. Films you've put.
00;53;43;11 - 00;53;54;02
Mark Titus
Out. Oh. Thank you. well, so how do folks follow along with what you're doing? Is that the best way to to follow you on Instagram or.
00;53;54;02 - 00;54;08;03
Erin Ranney
Yeah, I'd say the most active place to follow me would be Instagram. it's E period or a and an e y. and then I have a website too. Erin Ranney.com. So wonderful. You can follow either of those.
00;54;08;05 - 00;54;12;16
Mark Titus
Wonderful. Well, you don't get to leave without doing the bonus round here.
00;54;12;16 - 00;54;13;18
Erin Ranney
Okay.
00;54;13;20 - 00;54;33;27
Mark Titus
Filming for the show. We have my little stick at the end. Here is, to really kind of hone in on those things. Those things that you love. If you, if you were in the path of, torrent of a flood and you had a tent in the path of it and you could only grab one physical thing, one physical thing you could take with you, what would that thing be?
00;54;33;29 - 00;54;36;14
Erin Ranney
My arm, my camping gear and anything.
00;54;36;16 - 00;54;38;26
Mark Titus
We're just kind of in a euphemistic world.
00;54;38;27 - 00;54;40;11
Erin Ranney
You can do anything and.
00;54;40;13 - 00;54;44;04
Mark Titus
Anything in your life physically that you could take. What would it be?
00;54;44;07 - 00;54;50;08
Erin Ranney
I would take, the letters from my husband.
00;54;50;11 - 00;55;04;04
Mark Titus
Legit. now, if it was one metaphysical thing, one like emotional trait, spiritual trait, anything about you that makes Erin. Erin, what would that be?
00;55;04;06 - 00;55;07;28
Erin Ranney
that's a hard one. I think my optimism.
00;55;07;28 - 00;55;15;14
Mark Titus
I need, I guess I agree you are. You're making this place light up with your optimism.
00;55;15;14 - 00;55;16;10
Erin Ranney
Thank you.
00;55;16;12 - 00;55;25;02
Mark Titus
Erin Ranney. Thank you for being on the big show here and can't wait to see more of your work out in the world, and we will see you down the trail.
00;55;25;09 - 00;55;27;25
Erin Ranney
Oh thank you. So good to see you.
00;55;27;28 - 00;55;59;06
Music
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?
00;55;59;08 - 00;56;23;10
Mark Titus
Thank you for listening to Save What You Love. If you like what you're hearing, you can help keep these conversations coming your way by giving us a rating on whatever platform you're listening from and leaving a comment on Apple Podcasts. It really helps get the word out. Check out photos on our Instagram feed. We're at Save What You Love podcast, and you can get links from today's featured guest in the show notes of this episode.
00;56;23;12 - 00;56;52;07
Mark Titus
Join our growing community by subscribing to our newsletter at Evaswild.com, and then clicking on connect in the upper corner. You'll get exclusive offers on wild salmon shipped to your door, and notifications about upcoming guests and more great content on the way. That's at Evaswild.com. The word "save" spelled backwards, wild.com. This episode was produced by Emilie Firn and edited by Patrick Troll.
00;56;52;10 - 00;56;58;06
Mark Titus
Original music was created by Whiskey Class. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you all down the trail.