Imagine spending two and a half years in the Arctic and Antarctic, braving -25 degree weather, filming penguins, polar bears and lesser known creatures like woolly bear caterpillars, as series producer of “Frozen Planet” on the Discovery Channel.
Vanessa Berlowitz has been there and done that, and she spent a fascinating 30 minutes in The Motherhood today answering questions and sharing her experiences.
“It really matters to me that moms like you engage with the kind of work that I do, because I absolutely believe that if we’re going to look after our planet, it will come down to women and mothers engaging their children with the natural world,” Vanessa told the group.
Read on for a brief Q&A based on our conversation with Vanessa.
Q: How long did it take to shoot this series? And how did you come to think, I should go to the North and South Poles to film whales, and penguins and polar bears? (Deborah)
VB: It took us 4 years to produce Frozen Planet, and 2 and 1/2 years of that was filming in the field. We tried to plan to do shoots all over the Arctic and Antarctic. We worked with lots of scientists to capture the best footage. We wanted to bring you penguins and polar bears but we also wanted to bring you really strange animals like woolly bear caterpillars so people could get a sense of how amazing the wilderness is.
Q: How could you survive that weather. . . pregnant??! (Amy, Teach Mama)
VB: I was 5 months pregnant when I went to the Norwegian Arctic. We were trying to film mother polar bears with really tiny cubs. I went to the doctor to make sure I was fit and healthy to go. Moms would say, is that a bit dangerous, are you putting your unborn baby at risk? But I really understood the risks involved and knew how to protect myself. When I was there, the guys made sure I didn’t carry anything, but I did have to spend days and days in a helicopter and I got a bit grumpy at times, but it was all worthwhile when we got to film polar bears. A new mom polar bear was struggling with the same thing we deal with – she had two naughty cubs … at one point she gently knocked one of her cubs in the snow to give him a time out. I was laughing so much because I thought this is what I’ve got to come, and I definitely picked up some tips from her.
Q: Which animal did you most enjoy watching and filming? (Liz, A Nut in a Nutshell)
VB: I most enjoyed filming orcas in Antarctica. I worked with a director who was filming them from the ice, and I was filming them in the air. There were pods of orcas trying to navigate their way through the ice. They would disappear and pop their heads up. And the penguins would run away from them. I knew these orcas weren’t trying to kill the penguins, they were hunting for fish, but clearly the penguins weren’t staying around to check that out.
It was really fun being with the penguins on the blue carpet for the Frozen Planet premiere in NYC. They reminded me of the penguins in Antarctica. The difference was, these penguins were really clean and they didn’t smell. Whereas, the penguins that I got to know in the Antarctic really smell – they stink of fish and prawns.
Q: Are you impervious to the cold, or really well outfitted?! (Emily)
VB: The clothes that you wear are really, really important. One of the key tips for staying warm in the cold is wearing loads and loads of layers. I used to average 10 different layers – 2 layers of silk close to the skin, then different weights of marino wool, then fleeces, then down, then GORE-TEX. When you get hot, you don’t allow yourself to sweat, you must take your layers off, to avoid hypothermia.
Q: So what was “re-entry” like for you, Vanessa? (Ilina, Dirt and Noise)
VB: One of the things that people underestimate is how tough it is to come back to the normal world. It’s tough for people like us who have been in the polar world, but also for our families. We had one team who was away for 5 months and the guy found it really tricky for him and his wife. Similarly, when I came home and tried to fit back into my family life, I found that my husband and my son had a new relationship. They didn’t really need me at first. It was quite difficult.
You know how as moms, you get so used to rituals and it helps you cope, because you think, OK, I need to do everything in a certain order? When I left my son for 2 1/2 months, I wrote an instruction manual that was something like 100 pages thick for my husband. And it analyzed every look that my son would make so my husband would know what to do. I put sticker notes all over the house saying “Stop! Does Cameron have his hat and gloves on? Stop! Why are you getting wine in the cellar, where is Cameron?” I came back and the house was an absolute mess, it looked like a bomb had gone off. But they had found a new routine. You realize that kids can survive perfectly well; they’re so adaptable, and they can cope with all kinds of change.
Q: My sons reminded me at breakfast to ask you their burning question: Did you see Santa? (Ilina, Dirt and Noise)
VB: I think we just missed Santa! We were out filming caribou at the time. Santa had gone off to do what he needed to do.
Q: What’s your NEXT project, Vanessa? Maybe somewhere tropical? (Kasey, All Things Mamma)
VB: I would love to make a series on the Seychelles, but instead, I’m already working on a special on grizzly bears in Alaska. I’m going to be spending lots of the summer out there on foot with these amazing animals.
“Frozen Planet,” a follow-up to the beloved “Planet Earth,” airs March 18 on the Discovery Channel. Check out this segment from the series:
http://youtu.be/QDpt9zVwKU0
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