Toledo-area natives Paul Fuzinski and Seth Geib recently won the top three Excellence in Craft Awards from the Texas Outdoor Writers Association (TOWA) for their work on wildlife conservation documentaries.
Their film “Finding Hope in Yellowstone,” which earned first place, highlights the Higher Calling Wildlife expeditions, which provide outdoor experiences for children facing challenges. Their film “Discovering Bighorns”, which earned second place, showcases the conservation efforts of the National Bighorn Sheep Center. Both films were produced, written, narrated and hosted by Texas-based wildlife journalist Chester Moore, while Fuzinski and Geib served as cinematographers. Fuzinski also handled directing and editing duties.
Fuzinski and Geib also received third place for their documentary, “The Hunt Within”, which explores the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the role of ethical hunting in sustainable wildlife management.
This documentary reflected a personal journey for Fuzinski, who grew up in Ida, Michigan and now lives in Swanton. When Fuzinski through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2015, he did a lot of reading and became interested in wildlife conservation and how hunting and fishing could contribute to it. He founded the Aptitude Outdoors podcast in 2016, about backpacking which later expanded to include a variety of topics, including conservation and hunting.
A quest for understanding
With a long-standing interest in caring for the environment, Fuzinski had previously viewed hunting and conservation as opposed, and it was through his own quest to understand it that he started making documentaries.
Geib, who grew up in Fremont and now lives in Perrysburg, said “being out- doors was always kind of my escape”. When he moved to Bowling Green for college, he would visit several of Toledo’s Metroparks. While studying photography he began doing landscapes on film, and later moved into wildlife photography with digital cameras.
When the COVID pandemic hit, “that really got everyone outside,” Geib recalls. His Instagram account grew in popularity and around that time Geib and Fuzinski connected and began creating videos and documentaries together.
A conversation on conservation
Geib relates that “The Hunt Within” was his favorite project to work on because of how it integrated different perspectives, from people who had hunted their whole life to people who had been morally opposed to it and only recently began hunting. “What we try to do in all of our documentaries is attract people who are interested in hunting or interested in a certain species and loop that conversation back to conservation and what hunting does for preservation of species and habitat,” he said. “I think this is an interesting and unique approach to conservation and preservation that is reaching a different audience.”
In recent years, Fuzinski has had the opportunity to travel to Yellowstone, Colorado, Texas, Florida and Massachusetts to work on wildlife documentaries and he wants local aspiring wildlife filmmakers to know they can do it, too. “This is stuff I dreamed of as a kid,” said Fuzinski. “…I just want people to know that you can do that being from Northwest Ohio.”
Geib noted the Oak Openings region’s large biodiversity as a great place to get started. “I love this area,” said Geib. “Specifically the Metroparks which make this a great place to live if you are really interested in getting outdoors and learning about things…There is so much to do in this region and that is where my love for wildlife photography and videography started.”
To view the documentaries, visit aptitudeoutdoors.com.
