{"id":4432,"date":"2018-12-26T20:43:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T20:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/?p=4432"},"modified":"2023-05-24T17:56:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:56:14","slug":"alex-rinks-06-adventure-by-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/2018\/12\/26\/alex-rinks-06-adventure-by-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Rinks \u201906: Adventure by Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freelance producer and photographer\u00a0Alex Rinks \u201906 is best known for his work on Discovery Channel and History and on shows such as\u00a0Wicked Tuna, Dude Perfect, Ax Men,<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Mountain Men.<\/em><\/p>\n

He was the senior producer for National Geographic Channel\u2019s\u00a0Life Below Zero\u00a0<\/em>for both seasons the show won Emmys for cinematography and editing.<\/p>\n

He can tell you stories about filming in the Alaskan wilderness at 50 below zero, so cold that the LCD monitors on his cameras wouldn\u2019t work, and having to use old-school skills to get the best shots he could while sustaining nerve damage to his fingers.<\/p>\n

For another project he was deep in the pine and fir forests of Washington state, following a logger with his camera, knowing that if he took a wrong step he\u2019d either break an ankle or fall hallway down the mountain.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s that shoot on the boat in the middle of the Atlantic as he filmed the crew chasing down a 500-pound tuna.<\/p>\n

His shows leave you wondering,\u00a0How in the hell did they get that shot?<\/em><\/p>\n

Rinks\u2019 work takes him around the world, but he\u2019s based in Los Angeles. Today he meets us at Evidence Film Studios, built where Keystone Studios\u2014the world\u2019s first fully enclosed film stage\u2014once stood. Charlie Chaplin rose to fame there, and Rinks greets us dressed not unlike the Tramp himself: fedora, black jeans, black print shirt with the sleeves rolled up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn no way, shape, or form did I think my niche would become outdoor\u2014it kind of manifested itself a bit,\u201d Rinks begins, setting down his camera bag. \u201cI realized that I could become a producer. I can get into this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The religion major began paving his way into the business long before he graduated from Wabash. He loved basketball and played for Beech Grove High School and at Wabash. He also liked movies and remembers filming things all the time; he just had no idea how films were made.<\/p>\n

So during Wabash summer breaks he followed a few older high-school friends out to LA, establishing a network of contacts and proving his worth. Soon he was serving as a production assistant on an ultimate-fighter production in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

He was open to almost anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell people all the time that the turnover rate is really high here,\u201d he says. \u201cFirst week, first month, first year, if someone says, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m going to this improv show in Santa Monica; you should come,\u2019 say yes because even if the improv is terrible, you might meet someone there who can help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rinks never stopped soaking things up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea what the business was. My eyes, literally, were bright. You want me to hold that light? I\u2019ll do that and I\u2019ll bring it over here for you. I\u2019ll pick that up; I\u2019ll drive you. Coffee? I got it. I figured out that if I got behind the camera, got into production and the creative side, I could choose my destination.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, most often, Rinks chose the outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of it\u2014my competitive nature translated into getting the best shot there, telling the best story.\u201d He smiles. \u201cI\u2019d hang off the side of the boat, where someone might not be as willing.\u201d<\/p>\n

While those conditions are tough, Rinks\u2019 leadership style is not. He calls it a \u201chippie philosophy.\u201d He won\u2019t point fingers and bark\u2014he trusts his team to get the shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my team is in Alaska, I will play off what they are doing and find an interesting shot in the corner,\u201d he says. \u201cOur job is to tell the story. If it doesn\u2019t happen, as the producer, it\u2019s all on me. I have to deliver every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Rinks has delivered, whether in the Alaskan wilderness, the emotional jungles of Jersey Shore Family Vacation, or the man-cave playgrounds of The Dude Perfect Show, for which he has been field producer for 14 episodes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this long enough now that the phone stays busy. I get enough calls and emails that things are in the pipeline, so I can always stay afloat. The idea is that someday I won\u2019t have to take those work-for-hire gigs and can just produce my own content across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the work, whatever the setting, people and their stories are front and center for Rinks\u2014the adventure behind the adventure.<\/p>\n

\u201cStories are all we have. Making a person comfortable enough so that they will tell you their whole life story is…\u201d He pauses, then smiles. \u201cSomeone is going to be telling me a story. There is nothing I love more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Richard Paige<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more about Rinks path to producer in LA here,<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and about the grandfather who inspired him to be a storyteller here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freelance producer and photographer\u00a0Alex Rinks \u201906 is best known for his work on Discovery Channel and History and on shows such as\u00a0Wicked Tuna, Dude Perfect, Ax Men,\u00a0and\u00a0Mountain Men. He was the senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":4435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,8,11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-class-notes","category-features","category-featured-videos","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/12\/alex-2b-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4432"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4609,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions\/4609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}