By Jordan Massey
The Wintering Grounds follows the journey of a kayaking community that travels to Columbus, GA, and Phenix City, AL, during the winter months to develop their freestyle kayaking skills along the whitewater rapids of the Chattahoochee River. Shooting for the project began after producer Paige Swift enlisted the help of Emmy-nominated cinematographer Jeff Springer following a meeting in a Dollar Tree parking lot with former National Champion and unofficial “mayor” of this community, Stephen Wright.
“These people go all over the world,” said Swift. “And what he told me was that this was the only place on the entire planet where you can come to an urban area and train on a rapid of this size in the wintertime.”
Swift says that Springer was blown away when he arrived in Columbus. “Not just by the story, the people and the counter-culture of their community, but the footage,” she added. “Shooting 4K on that rapid when it’s up and watching people do Olympic-level gymnastic moves in a little boat was just gorgeous, gorgeous footage.”
Read more at FilmColumbusGA
