Building the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway in the Arctic

Grizzly bears play on a frozen lake on the Arctic tundra just outside of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Photo: Ryan Jackson. June 10, 2013. Financial Post

Aerial shot of a collapsed pingo on the Arctic tundra. Pingoes are large mounds of earth that cover a core of ice. Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Photo: Ryan Jackson. June 10, 2013. Financial Post

Aerial shot of the houses in the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Photo: Ryan Jackson. June 10, 2013. Financial Post

An excavator pushes mounds of earth during the first phase of construction of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway. Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Photo: Ryan Jackson. June 10, 2013. Financial Post

The sun sits on the horizon during 24 hours of daylight over the Mackenzie River. Inuvik NWT. Photo: Ryan Jackson. June 11, 2013. Financial Post
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I went to Tuktoyaktuk with Financial Post reporter Jeff Lewis and Postmedia head of video Andeep Singh who was the producer.
In June I got the cool assignment of flying up to Inuvik in the North West Territories to film a story for the Financial Post (owned by the same company that owns the Edmonton Journal) about a new highway being built from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Coast.
You can read the story and see the videos I shot:? Northern Promise: Arctic road to prosperity paved with obstacles.
Basically the only way to get to Tuktoyaktuk is by ice road, airplane or arctic sea. Building a real road to the hamlet would help lower food prices and could also potentially bring new jobs from oil and gas development.
It’s the kind of story that seems boring (it’s just a gravel road) but it can have a tremendous benefit to the people that live there and Canada if it results in more oil and gas production.
I can’t embed the videos in my blog unfortunately so you’ll have to see them here.
Usually I work by myself or with one reporter which means I have to juggle a lot of things at once.? It was great shooting as a three-person team for this story because I could focus more on the visuals, sound and and quality while Andeep could focus on the logistics and shot list and Jeff could focus on the story and interviews. I wish it could always be this way!
One of the coolest things about this trip was that they have 24-hour sunlight in June. At 3-am the sun is still high in the sky!
Here are a few behind the scenes photos:

Here I am mounting suction cups in a helicopter for my DIY spinning gyro stabilizer.
![2013y06m10d13h39m17sss_photo[3]](http://punkoryan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2013y06m10d13h39m17sss_photo3.jpg)
Balancing my Panasonic GH3 on my DIY gyro stabilizer.

The hotels in Inuvik were sold out so we lodged in this floating work camp barge. When more workers are needed somewhere else, the whole thing can float away.

Inuvik has the world’s most northern greenhouse.
You can watch a cute video we did about it here.

I experimented with a new shooting rig for this trip.
I bought a DSLR cage on eBay and used it to keep my Canon 5D3, Beachtech audio mixer, accessories and 7″ Ikan monitor all together.
The rig is really heavy but that’s a good thing because it reduces shake. But now I need a bigger video tripod head!
I’ve since removed the 7″ monitor and replaced it with a bag to hold my wireless mics and I have my Panasonic GH3 on the rig now instead of my Canon 5D3.

Here’s our first interview. I used the nice green paining as a background. To keep travel weight down I just packed a magic arm to hold my LED lights instead of a flash stand. There’s always a chair somewhere.

This was the first of three interviews we did in the same room. We moved chairs around to give ourselves more room. This room was great because the walls were all painted different colours. This interview had a green background.

The 7″ monitor really helped with checking focus and framing.
Though I prefer just using focus peaking with the Magic Lantern firmware hack on my Canon 5D3 now.
Mr. Jackson, your website is wonderful. I get drawn right into your trips. Being from Ottawa, Ontario we have cool winters but not like where you have been.
Thank you very much for the posting about the Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk Highway story from 2013. I wonder how it is coming along this winter. More pics would be great.
I found I am much more interest in the Canadian North since my daughter’s friend went up to study at the YUKON SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS in Dawson City. My daughter will be visiting her in mid-march (2016). It seems the only way to get there is by plane or car from Whitehorse.
All the best