Lines of Hope - A Day on the Water
Photography by Annabel Long (Images 1-4) and Jim Langman (Images 5-8).
Coming into my role as a CXG intern for summer 2025, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I knew there would be storytelling, I knew that there would be marketing, and I knew that we were making a docuseries. But I had no idea that in my first two weeks, I was going to be wading in a river in giant fishing gear holding an audio recorder in one hand and a camera in the other.
Let me back up for a second and tell you how this whole thing got started. About a year ago, Brett, my boss and the owner of CXG, and his friend Andy got an idea to make a docuseries detailing veterans’ journeys to healing through fly fishing. But this wasn’t just a nature film - it would be a story about unconventional paths to healing and the importance of nature to mental health. It would also be fully filmed and based in Central Ohio, showing a big story taking place in a small community and the intersection of city and natural beauty. Securing the grand prize grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council sealed the deal, and the story was waiting to be told. We just had to find it.
Andy Stiebler, owner of his own fly rod company, was big in the Central Ohio fly fishing community, so he was a natural partner for the film. He then introduced Brett and the CXG team to Jarod Klucho, veteran and avid fly fisher. Jarod was the founder of Veteran Recreation Ohio, a Columbus-based nonprofit allocating funds towards different recreational activities for local veterans. Jarod quickly became our voice for the film, and with his team of veterans ready to help tell their story, we were ready to get rolling (literally).
I, a new and eager intern, was lucky to be there one of the first days on the water. This time, we were just getting some B-roll and audio, so the whole team of veterans wasn’t there. Andy was on the water fishing, and me, Brett, and cameraman Nick were there to capture it. Let me walk you through my day on the water, my amazing fishing getup, and everything I learned along the way.
11:00 am
I would say our day started bright and early, but I actually didn’t have to get to the shoot until 11:00. It was a 40 minute drive from downtown Columbus to the place where we were fishing, a park in Delaware, Ohio on the Olentangy River. As soon as I got there, Brett greeted me with his dog, Stormy, and a trunk full of fishing gear. I wasn’t expecting my own outfit the first day on the job, but I got lucky!
I’d never been fly fishing in my life, so after Brett finished explaining all the gear to me, I slid on my waders and strapped my suspenders. With my raincoat, CXG hat, and wayyyy too big fishing vest, I was ready to go!
11:30 am
It was time for Brett and I to go down to the river! Andy and Nick were already there, so we found a spot to set our things down on the bank and got to work.
My first job was to capture all the sounds of the forest. Basically, I had a tape recorder (technically it was a Zoom H6essential) in hand, and I held it by the water and by the ground while we were walking. I got sounds of rushing water, sticks breaking, birds chirping, leaves rustling, and rocks beneath our feet. It felt a little silly to stomp extra hard when I walked just to get a better recording, but after a while, I got the hang of it and started practically jumping anywhere I could.
12:00 pm
Once we’d walked far enough along the bank and found Andy fishing, It was time to put my waders to use. I followed Brett, watching Andy and Nick from afar. I recorded the sounds of rushing water, and Brett took behind-the-scenes footage on his DJI Osmo 3 pocket camera. Andy fished, and Nick moved all around him, bending down from afar to get wide shots and holding the lens against the rod to get close ones.
While Nick and Andy kept shooting in the river, Brett and I made our way back up the riverbank, stomping on some more rocks and leaves so I could record it. We laughed a LOT, so I’m not sure how much of that footage is actually usable, but we had a great time.
12:30 pm
Drone time!! This is what I’d been waiting for. Brett and I took off the waders and then pulled out the big guns. We could do all this work from the comfort of the parking lot.
Brett showed me how the remote control for his drone showed the drone’s camera, then showed me how to fly it smoothly and land it safely. After a quick test flight around the parking lot, we took it out over the river. (Well, Brett did – I was just watching the camera anxiously over his shoulder.)
It wasn’t the easiest process – there were definitely some curse words and missed tree branches and powerlines. But we got some really cool shots. Brett flew the drone up and down the river, capturing the rushing water, and then around Andy in a smooth circle as he fished.
I was amazed at how Brett was able to get both the river and the skyline in the same frame. The shot really captured our mission of showing how near to the city beautiful nature and fishing was.
This is when I started getting really excited to get our veterans out on the water. We loved seeing Andy fish, but we wanted more. We wanted veterans fishing together, helping each other out and laughing and creating community. And that’s what we would have.
1:00 pm
That was a wrap! It was a short but productive day on the Olentangy, and after Brett declared my waders my official uniform for the project, we said our goodbyes and headed home. But not before shooting some footage of Brett’s dog, Stormy, for the CXG Instagram, of course.
Now that we’re further along in the project and the fishing retreat is coming up in less than a month, I could not be more excited to see where this project takes us.
Make sure to check out Lines of Hope, our new documentary coming next year, at www.linesofhope.com. You can be involved in any way you want, from a title sponsor to a friend of the film to a friendly face to support us and share our message.
It was a great first day on the water, and I loved how many new adventures I was having as a CXG intern.