Camp Chronicles - Issue #7

Hey everyone,

As you know we’ve been preparing for Base Camp all summer long. Now after two incredible weeks in Bend, Oregon - Base Camp is wrapping up and coming to a close.

After months behind a computer screen being here in person was much needed. For us, it served as a beautiful reminder of the community we’re hoping to build.

In celebration of Base Camp, this week’s newsletter is a special edition. We’ll be recapping some incredible moments and lessons from Base Camp and the latest news in the community.

Community Vlog #5 - just be patient

BASE CAMP RECAP 🌆

From Jeffrey Sun & Nate GL learning to ride bikes to Raymond Tisch cracking his first egg. Base Camp has been full of shared laughs and new experiences.

I have a theory that when you bring a group of like-hearted creative individuals together magic happens. There is so much creative synergy in the air, ideas and life paths all intersecting that it’s only a matter of time before connections form. These connections are often exponential. For example, one draft horse can pull 8,000 pounds. However, two horses together can pull 24,000 pounds.

When two or more people come together and collaborate or share ideas all of a sudden one plus one equals three. I’ve seen this countless times over the past two weeks.

Beyond the creative collaboration is the camaraderie and human connection that comes from being a part of a community. When you bring 40 strangers together and design a welcoming atmosphere you’ll notice how people step into a playful state.

People reinvent themselves, shed preconceived notions, and share things they wouldn’t normally share. It’s a heartwarming thing to witness and be a part of.

Make Stuff Even if it’s Bad 📍🍁

Ethan Tran’s trademark is “Mark Stuff Even if it’s Bad” and this week he hosted a creative challenge for the creators at Base Camp. The prompt was to create something, anything, in three hours or less.

It’s a similar framework to how we’ve been approaching the Creator Camp vlogs. We give ourselves a time limit and whatever we get done in that period is good enough. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to get done and share a message. Similarly, that’s what this exercise was focused on. It was a great way to train our creative muscles and simply create without the intimidation of perfection.

There were so many beautiful videos & creations that came out of this little challenge. They can be found on our Instagram.

Music Friends 🎵 

We had a number of incredible musicians stop by Base Camp including the infamous “OKPOP” - if you aren’t familiar OKPOP is a 6 person KPOP band that was founded by Anthony Po, Roberto Sul, Han Bon, Paige Nyguen, Yuuta, and Sameer.

What initially started off as a joke has now developed into something much larger. OKPOP has dropped 6 songs since the group’s formation. At Base Camp, we had the opportunity to hear their latest song in person and premiere their new music video. Even cooler is that this past Saturday they had their second live show ever in upstate NY with an audience of over 800 people!

Check out their music here & for more background info on how OKPOP came to be I’d recommend watching Anthony’s video: “Can A White Guy Make A KPOP Group”

In addition, a camp veteran Clint Marty Mickelson, released a brand new single this week. We’ve had the privilege to watch Clint grow as a musician and person over the past year and a half.

He’s started working with Kenny Artois, an incredible audio engineer who’s previously worked with artists like Logic. Clint himself has agreed that this is some of his best work to date and we’re excited to see where his musical journey will take him.

You can find Clint’s music on Spotify and if you’d want to use his music copyright-free in any of your videos just shoot him a DM on Instagram.

Last but not least is our good friend Christian Waite. We met Chris back in February of 2022. Now I’m not exaggerating when I say he’s one of the most talented videographers and photographers I’ve ever come across.

Their something special about Chris’ style. His taste is unique. Don’t believe me? Watch any of the videos on his Instagram.

One of Chris’ dreams is to go on tour with Jeremey Zucker. A few months ago he posted an Instagram Reel broadcasting this dream to the world. Fast Forward to today and we’re one week away from this dream becoming a reality. Yes, next week, Chris will be hitting the road for ~2 months with the one and only Jeremy Zucker.

If you’re reading this Chris - Congratulations! This is so well deserved. We‘ll be cheering you on the whole time :)

Artists on The Rise 🔥

Caleb Shaw is a creator based out of Corvallis, Oregon. We recently met Caleb Shaw at week 2 of Base Camp. Caleb is an aspiring filmmaker who is well on his way. He has a goal to create a full-length movie in the next 10 years. In fact, he has a series on his instagram titled “Becoming A Filmmaker” where he is documenting and sharing his journey & process.

I’m stealing this from Caleb’s YouTube video because he put it so nicely.

“create art, not content “

In many ways, that’s what we try to embody within the Creator Camp community. We aim to inspire our community & beyond to create things that contain depth and meaning.

We recommend checking out Caleb’s YouTube & Instagram.

Some Fun Extra Things & Opportunities 🙌

• Auzi Films a Base Camp attendee and close friend just crossed 40 episodes on his podcast, respectfully inspired, congratulations Auzi.

• Simon Sanjur recapped his Base Camp experience in a beautiful long-form YouTube video.

• Liv & Connor got spontaneously married at Base Camp

• JT’s Clemente Music Video for Kwudi went live and also premiered at Base Camp

• Rachel (Sunnrayy) posted a YouTube Video

• We’re also seeking additional support over at Creator Camp if anyone is interested in a 3-month internship. Feel free to fill out this form.

• We started a Creator Camp running club through Strava. Last week our winner was Zoe M. with 44.3 km - you can sign up and run with us here!

  Collectibles! We have ~15 extra hoodies from Camp 2.0 that we won’t be restocking. They’ve been sitting at my house for some time so we thought we’d put them out in the world along with a “more than content” poster featuring Needle Rock Lodge.

Thanks for the constant support & positive feedback around this blog.

Much love,
Chris & CC Team