By Emily Stifler
Imagine you can fly. You soar over trees
vibrant with spring green, alongside
sheer cliffs and over rivers gushing
with runoff.
Nick Wolcott can take you there.
Through his new Bozeman-based aerial
video and photography company, Elevated
Productions, Wolcott is soaring
over the mountains of the West with
his Canon T2I and Canon 5D Mark III,
capturing images to fill your dreams.
Wolcott gains the perspective from
above by using a remote control
operated helicopter and a small single
engine plane.
“With the remote control heli, I can get
perspectives that no one’s ever gotten
before,” he says. That’s because he
can get closer to subjects with the RC
helicopter than a conventional aircraft
could.
Wolcott got his pilot’s license in 2010
with the idea of shooting out of an
airplane, and then found he wanted to
shoot lower to the ground, but doing so
wasn’t safe or legal.
So he built multi-engine RC helicopters
with four and six rotors, both from
the Columbia Falls-based company
Quadrocopter, and spent the last year
teaching himself how to operate them.
Since launching Elevated Productions
this winter, Wolcott has already landed
work shooting professional skier Scot
Schmidt at the Yellowstone Club, and
helped Bozeman architects with site
planning. Next he has a gig lined up
with Montana State University’s marketing
department.
Wolcott has a photojournalism degree
from University of Montana, and spent
five years as a newspaper photographer—
two at the Telluride Daily Planet
and three with the Bozeman Daily
Chronicle.
With Elevated Productions, he plans
to shoot outdoor sports like skiing,
rock climbing and mountain biking, as
well as real estate and business-related
footage.
Video is more in demand than photography,
so Wolcott has had to learn new
software and a new way of looking at
visual media, something he said was an
easy transition.
He’ll be at Mountainfilm in Telluride,
Colo., May 25-28, checking out the
cutting edge of adventure film.
“I’m excited to shoot things that are
more in line with what I’m passionate
about,” Wolcott says. “I’m excited
about the possibilities. I could be halfway
around the world next month.”
elevatedproductions.com
