Meet Glenn Louis Evans | Adventure Cinematographer and Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Glenn Louis Evans and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Glenn Louis, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I grew up on a small blueberry farm in Oregon in a town called Hillsboro. I would work my family’s farm as well as other neighbors farms. I was constantly around animals and agriculture and I really liked it. My father was a college English professor who then became a Vice President of a toy company called View Master. I used to hang out with the photographers that would shoot all the 3D Stereo images for the reels and often times my Dad and the photographers would get to fly down to Hollywood to be on the set of big features. That was very exciting to me as a kid so when my father bought a VHS camera I immediately started making movies with my friends in the forests around where I lived. I think this upbringing made me tough. I think it taught me to work hard and be physical which is why I gravitated to traveling the world filming endangered animals, ancient architecture and people looking for treasure. I enjoyed being outside and climbing trees and hiking and crawling into caves so growing up this way helped me.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m first an adventurer that learned that if I wanted to explore the world that it would be best to learn a skill where people would pay money and want to bring you on adventures. I became a cinematographer to create a way for me to be included on many incredible journeys capturing passionate people excited about saving exotic animals, exploring ancient lands and architecture as well as solving old mysteries and legends and searching for hidden treasure. I went to college at University of Oregon but then my Junior year I transferred and graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara with a Bachelor arts in Motion Picture studies and Underwater Photography. I spent a lot of time filming sea creatures in school which led to my footage being used in a short presentation about the Channel Islands which included famous people like Dr. Sylvia Earl and the film was narrated by Ted Danson.
Having this underwater camera niche got me behind the camera professionally very early in my life. It led to big things like filming commercials underwater for Nike and Lincoln cars. I was flown to Vegas to film Aerosmith performing their song Pink for the 1996 Billboard Awards with the American Synchronized Swimming Team.
After I had a few of these credits along with getting work at a camera rental house which kept me busy and current with up to date cameras I was asked to Direct a TV series for Animal Planet called the Aquanauts for Endemol Entertainment.
This ultimately led me to Jeff Corwin the Animal Planet Presenter in 2001. We became friends and I started filming all of his shows all over the world. We mostly filmed and explored the scientists working to protect the worlds endangered animals. We worked with Polar Bears, Rhinos, Lions, reptiles and birds all over the world. This taught me a lot about being outside, being patient and I became a very adept traveller. All the work I did with Jeff opened a lot of doors and it wasn’t long until I found myself in places like Antarctica working with Sea Shepherd filming them defend whales against the illegal harvesting by the Japanese Whaling industry or being invited to search for Pirate treasure in the Caribbean with the Cousteau family or filming ancient ruins of the Great Pyramids, the Great Wall of China or all the Mayan and Incan Ruins in Central and South America.
It wasn’t easy. It was a lot about listening to people and anticipating where to be with the camera. My success also is a lot about outside of work and getting a long with people and being easy which wasn’t hard because I constantly was surrounded by and having dinner with experts in archeology or hunting for treasure or biologists saving animals so I absorbed a lot of what they would say simply because I was extremely interested.
Along the way it’s helped to know your craft and to be good at what your job is but beyond that it’s good to learn how to talk to people, how to laugh, how to be interesting and fun outside of work with the people you’re working with. It’s not all F-stops, lenses and lighting…sometimes it’s wine, card tricks, a few tunes on the piano and plain comradeship that can lead to other opportunities because people like to work with people who enjoy each other. So this all led to searching for the Lost Dutchmen’s Mine in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona and exploring an abandoned copper mine in the Wrangell Mountains in Alaska. One of the things I’m most proud of would be that I filmed an amazing documentary for History Channel called The Jesus Strand – a Search for DNA. This was incredible because it was pure Indiana Jones where we worked with Oxford University to get a scrap of the Shroud of Turin frozen in a Cryogenic chamber. With this frozen blood scientists could trace the blood on the shroud to its original origin! So we worked all over Bulgaria where we filmed the bones of John the Baptist uncovered from the ice beneath an 8th century monastery as well as to Jerusalem where bones of crucified individuals are studied and to film the Sudarium of Oviedo Spain…..the cloth that covered Christ’s face as he was buried. All while having incredible wine and cheese in ancient cities. I can’t get enough.
I love my work. I love lenses and lighting….but that is not all. I love adventure and mystery and this is what gets me excited and gives me strength to do good work when it’s difficult, it’s because of the adventure. I’m a farm kid who worked hard that learned a craft in school that led me to 70 countries and 3 Emmy nominations and I’m still going.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In LA…..I would first take them to the Greek Observatory and Griffith Park for a hike and then eat a delicious meal at Little Dom’s if you can get a reservation. I would also go to the top of Mount Wilson up the 2 freeway into the Angeles Crest mountains where you can see all the old telescopes where Einstein himself would study the Universe. Then I would eat French Cuisine at Parle in Pasadena. It earned a Michelin Star.
I would then do a studio tour of Hollywood and explore Sunset and Beverly Hills.
I’d take them to Disneyland.
I’d take them to the Gamble House. A beautiful old Arts and Craft Mansion built by Architects Green and Green. This house also served as Doc Brown’s house in the film Back to the Future.
I’d go to Huntington Pier for a day at the beach.
I’d eat a lot of Sushi in little Tokyo and Korean BBQ in Korea Town.
I’d go take them to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl or the Greek Theater.
I’d go see a lakers game and I’d go to So Fi stadium for a Rams or Chargers game too! What a vacation!!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My father Gary Louis Evans Jeff Corwin – PHD and Animal show host

Website: Www.glennlouisevans.com

Instagram: Cdog297

Facebook: Glenn Louis Evans

Other: IMDB – Glenn Evans