Over the years, Jerry has photographed many inspirational landscapes for the Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy (NCLC). From working farms to verdant forests, his assignments have taken him across a threatened corridor of land that connects the Northeast with the Mid-Atlantic. Due to it’s proximity to New York City, this region is under constant development pressure, and as a result, NCLC is accelerating the pace of its land protection initiatives because once land is lost, it is lost forever.

In summer 2022, NCLC approached Reel Quest Films with an idea to create an inspirational video to show at their Annual Midsummer Meeting Event in August. This fundraiser helps the organization to raise important funds to support ongoing and future land protection projects, and they believed a video would help tell the story of the urgency to act better than a keynote speaker could.

Over three days, Reel Quest Films conducted interviews with landowners and filmed compelling footage at multiple NCLC properties. Having decades of experience working with land trusts in communications, Jerry and Ryan were able to hit the ground quickly with this project, assisting NCLC staff write a compelling script, scouting filming locations and scheduling models for film sessions, and collaborating with interviewees on telling a story that speaks to NCLC’s mission.

Working under a tight deadline, Jerry recorded the voiceover in early August and produced rough cuts of the video for NCLC to review. The video was approved on time and premiered at the Midsummer Meeting, which helped NCLC raise more than $580,000 to support land conservation.

These projects help reinforce the importance of impactful storytelling during a time when video messaging can appear watered down. The way Reel Quest Films employs an authentic working style to create films helps organizations tell a genuine story that is cut from the same cloth as its mission. We’re honored to tell these stories of people and place and we are enlivened by the passion of the staff and volunteers that we get to work with.

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As wildlife migrate north from Connecticut, they rely on the unfragmented lands of Vermont to breed and forage for food in. This region includes Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve, a property Reel Quest Films produced a film about for the Northeast Wilderness Trust.