While enjoying my morning read of the internet, I saw something that worried me, a photo I shot. It was of Captain Sig Hansen from the Deadliest Catch, and the last time I saw this was when it was when we lost Phil.
Sure enough, Sig had a heart attack while out on the Bering Sea filming another season of Deadliest Catch. However, this time was a bit brighter for they were able to stop everything and get him to medical attention immediately. He is currently in the hospital with his family and I have yet to hear any other updates about his condition.
I want to take this time to wish him a smooth recovery….. and to tell a funny behind the scenes story.
Sig was the first person I ever photographed on the Deadliest Catch. He is a fun guy that often is portrayed as a complete asshole on the show, but in real life is actually very nice. In front of the camera he is slightly nervous, but also very real, not having to act the part, because he lives it. Having now shot with him on four different occasions, getting the shots needed are not tough… even in extenuating circumstances.
The last day we shot together is indeed the image that a lot of large networks currently have as their story leader (see below):
What people don’t know is how hard it was to get this image. You see, this image was taken the day that I was to fly out of Dutch Harbor. On pretty much every other shoot this wouldn’t be an issue, however, The Deadliest Catch is a bit different. Maybe it’s the geography, maybe it’s the thought that on any day a ship can leave, never to return. Leaving Dutch Harbor is something that I will always remember because it is leaving a family that may have existed only for a week, but existed nonetheless. This makes bonds that don’t normally form when photographing a CEO that has his next board meeting on his mind while trying to think through a forced smile. Bonds that will always equal drinks when one of us happens to be in the same town.
So at this point you’re probably asking yourself where the promised humor of this story is…
Well, that final shoot with Sig in the wheelhouse of the Northwestern came the morning after our goodbye night out. A night where I sat with Captain Phil and joked about his son’s dancing, and proceeded to have Captain Jonathan and Andy educate me about how a “Duck Fart” was the best drink alive. It was a hell of a good time and the crews and creatives were one family seeing each other off until we met again. However, for Sig and I, we would meet again the next morning for the quick shot we needed. While the image looks candid and the lighting looks clean, the people behind and in front of the camera wanted nothing more than Tylenol and sleep, for we were completely hungover.
Sig, we both know you’re going to pull through and that your days of screaming at Norman and Edgar have many highlights still to come. Until then, get well and stay crazy.