First Time Film Making

I was assigned a project in my english class a couple weeks ago where I was told that I had no guide lines but needed to show the class something they did not know about me. I knew immediately that I wanted to compose something that revolved around being outdoors. I've always had an interest in outdoor film videos and had the privilege of attending the Banff Mountain Film Festival when it came to Las Vegas a few months ago. I figured i'd take a few of my friends out to Red Rock with me and we'd mess around shooting some bouldering and a little of what we do on our hikes. I borrowed my boyfriends camera, the Olympus TG-1, since I don't own a camera, and we set out to film. Let me start off by saying that I was very impressed by the camera and plan on buying the Olympus TG-3 when it releases next month. Zach dropped it a few times while taking pictures of my best friend and I and it had no scratches at all! I wish I had the money to invest in a better film camera but for an extremely mediocre, beginning film maker, this camera will do just fine. I had so much fun editing and filming this video and I thought it would be fun to share it with you guys. It's not much, but it landed me an A in my AP english class, which was nice! Hope you guys enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StM7M-WiIJw 

PS: The view walking into Pine Creek Canyon was phenomenal so I thought I would share

Review: La Sportiva Nago Rock Shoes- Women

After two months of using the worn out climbing shoes at my local gym, I finally bought my very own! I was nervous at first since I did not want to commit $100 dollars towards a pair of shoes that I could end up resenting, but after hours of researching, I found the perfect pair. Since these were my first pair of rock shoes, I avoided going all in and purchasing a pair that was way out of my price range. Being a new climber and spending $200 on a shoe did not seem practical. I spent hours comparing the differences between La Sportiva's Nago and La Sportiva's Tarantula. I hate to say it but my "inner-girl" was making me bias towards that pretty teal color instead of the grungy green. I went with the Nago and got to use my REI dividend towards them so that brought the cost down a little. (Cost is a big factor when you're only in high school).

Anyway, my first time trying them out was about a month ago in the gym. I don't know if it was the confidence boost or what but i could immediately climb almost a 5.9 when before i was struggling on a 5.7. The shoes gave me a great feel for the holds and I felt like I was really sticking to the rock. Since I'm 5'11" i am cursed with big feet, making it almost impossible to find women's shoes that fit me. Luckly I squeezed into the size 41 pretty easily, though it was a tight fit. After about a week the leather/rubber stretched about a half size larger and now they fit PERFECTLY. I normally wear a 10 in women's shoes, but remember that the rock shoes should fit pretty snug in order to get a good feel for the rock. Last weekend I tried them out at a crag near my house and they worked excellent on the rock. I highly recommend these to any beginner climber. Also, my boyfriend has the same shoes in men's and loves them as well.

PS: A nice tip to clean off the dust or dirt from the rubber to make them stick to the rock better is to put soap and water on a toothbrush and scrub the bottoms until they're good as new.