Tales From the TV Road

Editor’s Note: When the first national episode of the PBS series “View Finders” debuted at Imaging USA 2025, we asked hosts Chris Greer and Paul Daniel to share some of the stories behind images they had captured for the show. 

One thing that I have always enjoyed about landscape photography is the challenge of arriving at a new location and looking for a great composition, especially if it isn’t immediately obvious. I have spent hours walking around and experimenting with the interplay of light, angles, and camera settings to produce a creative image. That luxury of time and focus (pun intended) to get the perfect shot simply doesn’t exist when you’re also filming a television show. The additional layer of complexity and responsibility includes interviews, B-roll, navigating around the general public, and being on a somewhat tight schedule that doesn’t allow for a long wait in hopes of that perfect light.

“View Finders” is a one-of-a-kind TV show that blends the adventure of landscape photography with the voices of experts who educate the audience about the ecological significance of these locations and share best practices for conserving them for future generations. Each episode features a soundtrack from musicians like Hozier, Billy Strings, Lord Huron, and Van Morrison. The combination of these elements results in a visual love letter to our planet, and it has found a large audience on national television.

The show, sponsored by Sigma, airs on PBS stations across the country and showcases our adventures throughout the United States, including iconic locations in national parks. The content of this new season has become even more timely considering the recent focus on our parks and wilderness, places that millions of people escape to every year in search of beauty, fresh air, and a bit of solitude.

After filming three seasons of the show all over the U.S., Paul and I have become more efficient photographers. Though I love when I can take my time at a location and walk away with the perfect composition, filming an episode requires continuous travel, which means less time at each stop.

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

While filming in Grand Teton National Park, we arrived at the idyllic Jenny Lake about an hour before sunset. We had thought this would allow plenty of time to film as well as find some great compositions of the Cathedral Group towering above, but neither of us loved the way the light was falling across the scene or the access we had to the water.

We quickly pivoted and made our way over to the much-lesser-known String Lake as the magic hour neared its end. We came upon some rocks in the shallow water and immediately recognized the distinct foreground element they would offer, juxtaposed nicely against the massive mountains in the distance. A long shutter speed would serve to flatten out the ripples and create a smooth surface that contrasted with the jagged peaks of the Tetons. While it was a challenge, Paul and I surveyed the scene, set up our cameras, filmed content for the show, and captured our images as the sun rapidly set over the mountains and darkness descended. There is an immense feeling of satisfaction when it all comes together and you not only have a nice segment for the audience to enjoy, but also walk away with a solid photograph.

FALL IN NEW ENGLAND

It was October in New England, and we had covered several hundred miles since breakfast. The beautiful fall colors adorned the mountains around us, but the sun was high and bright in the sky with nary a cloud to be found.

Our next filming location, a waterfall, was less than a mile up the road, but the high-contrast conditions were far from ideal. Adding to the challenge was a group of people milling about this roadside pull-off with very little parking and limited access to the rushing water cascading  over the mountain. We did catch one lucky break: The angle of the sun was slightly behind the steep cliffs of the mountainside, which created just enough shade to give us some flat light on our subject.

This stop along a somewhat busy highway in Vermont proved to be fruitful, even with the crowds and mid-day sun. Paul and I positioned ourselves in a way that eliminated harsh light, avoided way-ward tourists, and included some of the colorful leaves that had recently fallen into the plunge pool at the base of the falls. I took several images at various shutter speeds and found the ideal length that allowed for the swirling leaves and the cascading water. Fall in New England should be on every photographer’s bucket list.
 

VERMEJO

Vermejo is another location featured in season three that will forever be in our hearts. With over 550,000 acres of contiguous land in the mountains of New Mexico, this Ted Turner Reserve felt like we had a national park all to ourselves. But there are over 2,000 miles of roads weaving through this supremely beautiful landscape, and time was of the essence. A herd of bison presented a fantastic opportunity for a sunset shoot, but it turns out bison can be remarkably uncooperative. When we came upon them, they were already moving away from where they had been grazing near a large pond, and what could have been a perfect composition was lost. Paul and I hustled to a different spot that would place these 2,000-pound mammals against a backdrop of snow-covered mountains. With our cameraman running behind us to document the action for the show, we captured several images of the herd as the sun raked across the landscape and fell behind the mountains. This dynamic light lasted only a few minutes, and we got our images just in time. 
 

VERMEJO PART TWO

Vermejo wasn’t done with us, though, and the following morning we were faced with one of the biggest challenges of landscape photography: capturing a sunrise at a location you’ve never seen before. Arriving when things are near pitch dark creates obvious problems for deciding on a composition. Fortunately, we had our headlamps with us, a must-have in every photographer’s camera bag. Walking around, we gravitated to an old barn with a towering pine tree next to it. The sky began to lighten, and the clouds began reflecting just a bit of pink, signaling some real potential with the rising sun. We set up our tripods and started taking long exposures at a variety of apertures. I settled on f/9, which gave a decent depth of field to make sure the subjects were sharp from front to back, but didn’t require raising my ISO and introducing noise to the image. These 20-second exposures also brought movement to the passing clouds, adding more depth to the scene. As the warm light spilled over the landscape, I captured my favorite image of the morning, a moment I won’t forget from Vermejo.

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Speaking of time, it amazes me how quickly the tide can change along the Atlantic Coast. While we were filming in Acadia National Park, we got a tip to check out a tucked-away bay with great sunset potential. We arrived to find the water level low, with seaweed covering boulders that were surrounded by small tide pools. I made my way out to a protruding group of rocks and set up my tripod just as the sun dropped below the heavy clouds, bringing a pink hue to the sky and warm light over the water. I wanted the clouds sharp and the water blurred, so I took two exposures at different shutter speeds to later blend together in Photoshop. Making quick decisions like this can be difficult, but I think about it like a puzzle. I was concentrating so much on my settings and composition that I never noticed the tide flowing back in. I turned around to find much more water between my perch and the shore than there had been before. The result was a pair of soggy shoes, but also an image that I quite like. 

There are many forms of photography that require quick thinking and split-second decisions that impact the resulting image. That can be a lot of fun and motivate you to become more familiar with your camera, the settings, your lens choice, and creating interesting compositions. While most photographers aren’t feeling the pressure of filming a TV show at the same time, we can all appreciate the investment of time and commitment that results in stronger images, a better portfolio, and the satisfaction of solving a complex puzzle that features plenty of variables beyond our control.  

Chris Greer is the creator and producer of the PBS series “View Finders.”