Shane Reynolds is the founder of Color Earth and an Emmy-nominated cinematographer who has worked in 65 countries for Discovery Channel, Nat Geo Wild and Travel Channel. He's best known today for his viral camera drops showing tiger sharks, Goliath grouper and redfish under Florida piers. On this episode he tells Tom why three-sixty cameras are changing underwater filmmaking, and the disastrous Nat Geo Wild expedition in the Guyana jungle where his crew lost their cash and had to hike out.
Press play above to watch, or scroll down to listen to the full conversation.
Shane Reynolds uses Insta360 three-sixty cameras in invisible underwater housings for his viral camera drops under Florida piers, a technology that only became possible about a year ago. He goes through two or three housings a month from shark bites and pilings.
Shane started in production in the late nineties with a local show called Destination Soundcheck where he shot, hosted, and edited everything himself. Travel Channel noticed around 2005 and built a one-man-band production model around him, which eventually led to his own show, Shane Untamed, on Nat Geo Wild.
During a Nat Geo Wild expedition to an unexplored sinkhole in the Guyana jungle, the crew's fixer renegotiated prices every night until all $20,000 in cash was gone by day four. The porters left, forcing the crew to abandon gear and hike out over six or seven days.
Shane explains that social media audiences are forgiving about image quality and prefer authentic, simple content over high-end production. A quick three-sixty drop showing what lives under a pier creates curiosity that resonates more than technically perfect cinema footage.
Color Earth is Shane's production company focused on specialty camera work including underwater, drone, and 360 camera technology, based out of Destin, Florida.
I'd been following Shane on Instagram for his camera drops, and I figured we'd just talk about what lives under piers. Then I started researching him and found out about the network television career underneath all of it — that combination of high-end production experience and dead-simple viral content is exactly the kind of contrast I wanted to dig into.
Shane refused to specialize when the industry demanded it in the late nineties — he wanted to shoot, edit, host and score his own projects. His local show Destination Soundcheck caught Travel Channel's attention around 2005, years before everyone had tiny cameras in their pockets, and it led him to his own show at Nat Geo Wild. The path wasn't smooth — a network buyout killed his second season just as it was greenlit.
Shane calls his camera drops something a nutless monkey could do, and that's exactly why they work. After decades of high-end production with cinema cameras, he found that social media doesn't care about technical perfection. Invisible underwater housings, which only launched about a year ago, unlocked a whole new kind of storytelling in the process.
Shane calls it his Everest. Planning an expedition to an unexplored sinkhole atop a Guyana Tepui for Nat Geo Wild, his crew's fixer burned through $20,000 in cash by renegotiating porter prices every night. By day four every porter had left, forcing the crew to abandon gear at a waterfall and hike out over six or seven days. Worth hearing him tell the whole story.
Shane Reynolds is one of those rare talents who can operate at the highest level of production but isn't afraid to embrace simplicity when it tells a better story. He's not bitter that decades of high-end production skills get less engagement than a simple camera drop — he's leaned into it.
The Guyana story is wild, the kind of expedition disaster that makes you wonder how anyone makes it out. This conversation covers a ton of ground on technology, storytelling, and what actually works in content today. Worth your full attention.
Shane Reynolds · Color Earth · Tom Rowland
Shane Reynolds is the founder of Color Earth, a production company specializing in underwater, drone, and 360 camera technology. He has worked in 65 countries producing content for Discovery Channel, Nat Geo Wild, and Travel Channel, including hosting his own shows Destination Soundcheck and Shane Untamed. Reynolds started in production in the late nineties and has been based in Destin, Florida since 2002, and is known today for his viral underwater camera drops showing marine life under Florida piers and bridges.
Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 993: Shane Reynolds
In this episode: viral 360 camera drops under Florida piers, the Guyana expedition that became his Everest, fifty years after Jaws and whether there are more sharks, and cracking the code of social media — in the exact words spoken.
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Shane Reynolds: What's up? Shane Reynolds here. This is the Tom Roland podcast. Color Earth time.
Tom Rowland: Okay. Shane, what's up, man?
Shane Reynolds: Not much, man. What's up with you?
Tom Rowland: I am, really happy to have you here. I'm I was following you on Instagram, and you do these camera drops on Instagram, and they're really cool. I like I I really like it. And I actually wanted to talk about that, which we will, of course. But then I started researching you, and you are really interesting guy, man. You've done a tremendous amount of production on the Discovery Channel, on Nat Geo, Travel Channel, worked in 65 countries. Like, what is going on with all that? I didn't know I didn't know that from your Instagram. I thought we were just gonna talk about what lives under peers.
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. I mean, it's it it the the Internet appreciates simplicity and that then the the camera drops are, you know, as I've said many times before that it's something a nutless monkey could do when it comes to just dropping a three sixty camera to see what's down there, but it's something I enjoy doing and it's something that resonates with with the audience out there because it's, you know, it's just interesting. It has context, and people are interested in what's under their local peers and bridges. You know, and I think his
Tom Rowland: the monsters that you're she you're showing down there.
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. Right?
Tom Rowland: Tiger shark and Goliaths and all kinds of stuff. Like Yeah.
Shane Reynolds: And I mean, there's there is, you know, just an endless amount of of just big fish especially in my backyard which is kind of what instigated it and we'll get into that but I mean as you as you were asking it's just I think historically the Internet is just, you know, not doesn't really care as much about really high end production and things like that. So it's you know, with my my life in production started in the nineties, and we've been at it for years and years. And I've done my own shows on Travel Channel and had my own show on Nat Geo Wild and, you know, and I I I still to this day get more recognized for a local show I did here twenty years ago and for, you know, camera drops that I do around peers. So
Tom Rowland: Wow. Well, how did the how did the big production start? The the national, or the Nat Geo and the Discovery Channel shows and the travel shows and, and your own show. You've been on both sides of the camera on these. Right?
Shane Reynolds: Through throughout? I essentially, I'm I'm a severe ADHD kid and, just hyperactive and just couldn't you know, I have to kinda bounce around with different things. And, you know, when I started in the world of production in the in the late nineties, it was it was one of those situations where you back then, you had to pick something or else you wouldn't be considered, you know, they wouldn't take you seriously with any of it. And I wanted to host and I wanted to edit and I wanted to shoot and I wanted to, you know, do a little bit of everything and, you know, my ADHD kinda let me I could focus on all those things and sometimes kinda juggle them. And and I got good at doing it. And I think when the world caught up with with one man bands and, you know, people wearing multiple hats in the world of production, that was some sometime around 2005 and or so is when Travel Channel kinda stepped in when I was making my own local show, called Destination Soundcheck and and, you know, I was shooting it, hosting it, editing it, the whole deal, and they came up with this revolutionary production model where they were gonna, you know, with one guy and a PA, they're gonna go around making a travel show that this host is gonna kind of shoot with a PA and shoot themselves and, you know, and a lot of it was selfie style things which we had to do on, like, you know, heavier rigs because we didn't have those tiny little cameras back then. And it was grueling and, you know, but it was a dream come true because we were just flying all over the world and doing these travel shows and and and I was able to edit it and, you know, do pretty much most of the production work. So it it it allowed me to kinda hone in that those skills of of, like I said, like like a one man band production model and being able to produce Mhmm. Mobily. And so that you know? And if you live in the world of production, then you know once executives kind of get they they only live at certain networks for three to five years, and then they clean house, get bought out, and then these producers move on to other networks and then you end up, you know, having more connections at different networks because it just it's just this sprawling network. And, so an an executive producer that I worked with that I still get a lot you know, I still speak with today and we're still looking for other projects. He went to Nat Geo Wild and, you know, that connected me up there to which led to my own show, Shane Untamed, which was just a bigger production and similar scope of, you know, I'm a cinematographer looking for the biggest animals kind of thing in weird places. And, you know, and then that kind of we were slated for a second season with that show and that pretty much same deal. Everybody got it got bought out. Everybody got fired. My second season got taken off the slate and, you know, but it it was, it was a long journey of network shows like that because I ended up going back to Travel Channel, did a couple more shows. A lot of it was on travelchannel.com and then started working with other people's shows and doing more specialty cam where I was, you know, doing underwater cinematography for the Cousteaus and their show for, the Caribbean pirate treasure and, you know, just different started really getting into the technology of March and drones and, you know, just weird little cameras and, and focusing in on that because I was you know, one, it was more interesting to me, and also it was, you know, just more creative and less shouldering up with these giant cameras as I'm getting older, you know, not wanting to do these one man band things. And, and then, you know, growing up here in Florida, you know, I I I was born and raised here, and, you know, I left for Nashville just for a number of years and came back. So I've been back in Florida doing my own thing production wise since 2002. And Yeah. And as I've said from I tell people it's an amazing place to grow up and an amazing place to end up. And but it's a it's a terrible place to be in the summer, especially here in Destin because it's it's just so hot and crowded and and such a mess. But over the last, like, five years, there has been so many new developments in the marine life and new discoveries with with these aggregations of sharks and, you know, all the the redfish that live under the bridge and the, you know, all these cool things that I spend more time out in the water than I do in the traffic during the summers. And it's just endless amounts of things to explore, it seems. And it's so it's it's kinda reinvigorated me for the summers here where I used to, you know, travel to get away from it and just try to spend the shoulder seasons here. Now this is my favorite time of year.
Tom Rowland: Really? That's cool. Yeah. It's really cool when something like that happens. So when and and now you're kinda leaning into social media or you have other other projects that you're working on?
Shane Reynolds: I still keep up with the specific clients. I still do a lot of work with the Cousteaus and, you know, reef restoration, coral reef restoration projects and, you know, things like that. I've got a cup a few local clients that I deal with. I try to keep my plate as clean as I can for the summers here and, just so I can go out to the pier. And when there's a chance to dive with them, when there's just you know, I'd like to go out and kinda check the blacktip and spinner shark aggregation every morning if I can and go out to the pier as often as I can and monitor what's you know, how many sharks are there, if they're the same one. Like, I named one three years ago, and we've seen that shark every year. Go if if a bridge dive kinda opens itself up, you know, you can only do that certain times when the conditions are perfect. And, so there's just a lot of you know, summer's full of just pivots and opportunities. And by leaning into all the the social media aspects, I've got people constantly kinda going, hey, man. You you wanna hop on my boat? I've got a cool reef I Yeah. You need to come check out. So it's it's awesome because I'm just trying to stay open to whatever's gonna happen from June till August.
Tom Rowland: That's great, man. What do you think, that your favorite like, you mentioned, like, all these little specialty cameras and stuff like that, and they're coming out with some really cool stuff. And I see that you're doing a lot of your stuff with the with the three sixty camera that you're dropping. But do you have a favorite, like, little camera that I mean, I I know that there's one that I don't wanna put any words in your mouth, but I'm gonna do you have a favorite little camera that you like to shoot on? Like, a specialty camera?
Shane Reynolds: I would say I mean, it it's all everything's for a different different use. You know, I've got big rigs from the FX three to the g h six that I like both of those cameras quite a bit. And, you know, then you get down like, I'm I'm less and less impressed with GoPros and, you know, things like that. I think Insta three sixty has really kind of brought a lot to the table in terms of, you know, the flexibility of three sixty cameras is insane. The way you can kinda tell a story with those and tell multiple stories as opposed to dropping an action cam or a GoPro down and just whatever you catch on frame, that's that's what you got. Yeah. And but the, but even the the Ace two Pro that the action cam that Insta three sixty just came out with, like, the the colors that thing gets underwater is insane. Like, it's it's been a battle with GoPros from the beginning, and it just and that stuff just comes right out of the camera looking. I mean, I've never seen a camera understand underwater white balance as well as it does for such a little package of a camera.
Tom Rowland: They're getting better and better. I I I was really surprised at at the trouble that GoPro has been having financially. I didn't know about that. I read a story about it, about the the drone that they came out with about killed them, apparently. But,
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. And they just focus The go
Tom Rowland: the cameras just keep getting smaller and smaller and smaller and better and better and better. I like that little Osmo thing. That do you ever use those? I mean, it's like this little it's just like a spy camera. Like, we would have we would have thought that was a spy camera when we were kids. And it just does incredible things. Like, I don't know. I I mean, I like that three sixty though that you're doing it. Obviously, other people like it too because you're getting insane views on your on your camera drops and the other stuff that you're doing with that camera too. It's really cool.
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. And it's it's, you know, a year ago, I would have told you that three sixties are are just toys, and they're they're fun toys because you can get amazing things with them and and and perspectives from them. But the housings I think it's only been a little over a year that they started making the invisible underwater housings where you can't see the the housing in the frame. So it's And even still, I mean, I think that the image quality from a GoPro or an Ace two Pro or especially all the other, you know, FX three and all those things are are far superior to the image quality you're gonna get out of a three sixty, but you're not gonna get the flexibility and the, you know, being able to tell the story that you can with a three sixty. So Right. And and and online social media is so much more forgiving in in that respect. You know? I I can put all the bells and whistles together with the my Nauticam housing and go do something, you know, NatGeo quality, and it will do it'll do a fraction of what a quick camera drop's gonna do for me on social media. Crazy? It's wild.
Tom Rowland: It's not just you. It's
Shane Reynolds: not just you. It's not
Tom Rowland: just you. It's the same thing. We have It's always We have all our big cameras in a crew, and you put that on social, and and it's not as good as a phone video. I don't I don't know why that is, but it it it is a 100% the case. Where do you think we're going with, like, the three sixty cameras? Do you see you do you do you see a a world where you could shoot a whole project on the three sixty camera, or or is it still kind of a toy? Or or Yeah. Will it I don't know. Where are we going?
Shane Reynolds: I mean, I think it's somewhere in between a toy and and a useful aspect of production these days. I think the fact that you can frame a, you know, a native four k frame out of your three sixty video is is the first step. It was up until last year, you could only frame an HD clip out of out of these the littler ones that everyone the prosumer ones that everyone's using. And, but, I mean, it's still it's got a ways to go, but I feel like it's the future. You know? I think I think in five years, three sixty cameras are gonna have image quality that we're seeing with, you know, DSLRs at this point. Right. And I think they'll just as as people kinda progress and we make better housings for, you know, everything right now is plastic, and I'm I go through I go through two or three underwater housings a month because it's once you get a and, yeah, once you get a scratch on them, they just you're gonna see that scratch in every shot, and and they scratch really easily whether you hit a piling, whether shark bites them, whether, you know, they're just they're just flimsy. They're not they're cheaply made. They're cheap to buy, thankfully. But, you know, I think I think being able to just put a camera on a stick and go run around and and experience something, you know, really organically. I mean, there's times when I'll go do a dive, I'll just put a three sixty on a pole, and that allows me to be 100% present in that dive as opposed to thumb thumbing around with all the bells and whistles on my housing, which I I love that too. It's just a different kind of dive like but if you're just holding a a three sixty on a stick and you're diving like you can just let all that go because it's just it's rolling, you know. It's it's it's hitting everything So you can deal with it later.
Tom Rowland: How many times have you had the experience of going back and looking at the footage and and realizing what was behind you that you had no idea was behind you when you have when you have the three sixty camera? I would imagine that that's happening more often than I don't I don't
Shane Reynolds: know. Yeah.
Tom Rowland: I would imagine it it does happen.
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. That definitely happens. I think a lot of times most of the time, you're looking at footage from that and going, man, the water looks a lot clearer on the video than it did when I was down there. And, you know, there's certain things that come into frame well before you realize they were there. And, you know, so it's it's it sees things in a way that we don't and, and the other issue with it is that it is I get constant, you know, for instance, you know, with with them they're essentially two really fisheye lenses back to back that they're stitching together. And if you understand how fisheye lenses work, then you know that, like, if your if your face is here, your face is enormous and whatever's over here is extremely small. So you have a you have a 12 foot shark right over here. It's gonna look like it's about six feet in the in the video, you know, and whether or not you put a tape measure up to it and prove to prove it, people on social media be like, there's no way that's a 12 foot shark and you're like, well, I mean, these things alter perception to a point in which that it it doesn't make sense to to normal people. But if you understand how fisheye lenses work, then that's just the way it is.
Tom Rowland: So we're having a little bit of a problem with the Internet and and you are kinda going in and out in my headphones, but I think I heard you correctly that that the the way that the three sixty camera is working right now or maybe the way it's gonna work in the future, this is what I didn't hear. I I didn't know if I heard it correctly. But you're pulling you can select certain things and pull out, and and choose that in the edit because I could see that if you could get a three sixty camera that had, the definition that you were looking for and you could zoom in and you could crop and you could choose to use the three sixty or you could choose to use a standard image, then that's all you would need. And Yeah. Do you think that we could get there with something small like that?
Shane Reynolds: For sure. For sure. I think I mean, there there's there's drones coming out now with a 100 megapixel photos and, like, once all that gets integrated and we get to a point in which, you know, even GoPros, you can shoot things in a in a flat space where in post you can kind of change it to whatever setting you want later Mhmm. You know, which which affects the frame rate but it, you know, gives you flexibility in terms of how you wanna frame something. So I think three sixties are right behind that. Once they get these once they get the the image quality high enough, you know, it's they're the prosumer ones are, like, eight k right now. Mhmm. I think I think once they get up to, I don't know, 12 k or 16 k, somewhere like that, and you're still framing up a four k image, like, that extra resolution, it'll get you to a point where where you're like, okay. Do you wanna really take the the fisheye out of this shot? Do you really wanna just, you know, make it more realistic, or do you wanna make it more cinematic, or do you wanna make it more just fantasy style? Like, I I think they're gonna get to a point at which you could probably create anything you want.
Tom Rowland: That's, and and then probably integrate AI into it where they take your your original image, and now you can use that image to create whatever. But For sure. It's interesting how all this technology, it it really kind of, like, in some ways, it kind of take it changes so many different things. Like, when you're telling me that, I'm thinking about all of these, you know, the lengths I've gone to to have certain cameramen work for me over the years because I know that that guy's got the eye. That guy shoots in a certain way that it's just beautiful. You could have three guys shooting together and one guy's stuff is just way better because of his framing, because of the settings in the camera, because of the way that he sees all of this happening. And then when we start moving into this world, it seems like that same person with those same skills, the eye, the look, what they're looking for, the way that they're setting this up is gonna be the editor. Like, that is a that's a big change. Because if we go to those kind of three sixty cameras or just a camera that's taking in everything, then the creativity comes in the edit.
Shane Reynolds: That's that's true. And I think two things about that. I think one, that's one of the reasons why I feel like I've been able to be successful over the long haul. Because from the beginning, my thought on that matter was that if you are shooting and editing, then you shoot as an editor. And you understand, like, I need these angles and you're telling the story in your head already as an editor while you're shooting it. Therefore, people that get it later are like, oh, man. They covered everything. They they got everything I needed. And then two, that obviously is kinda that storytelling ability is is honed in post where you really just, one, you understand how how to tell a story. So when you move to something like a three sixty camera then and you already know how to tell a story then you can kinda even get creative with the three sixty camera and how you're utilizing it. So, like, you know, if if you follow Insta three sixty, for example, they put up a lot of content where they're, you know, these 10 foot poles and these things which, you know, like like I've dove with them enough now to know that like if I if I dive with a three underwater three sixty cam I'm gonna put it on a pole that'll extend like 10 feet because there's certain species that I can send the camera to because they're not gonna get close enough to me and they'll actually get really interested in that lens because they can see themselves in the reflection or it looks like a little bit of a weird fish and or I can let the camera go and just float on its own and they'll inspect that or I'll make sure instead of just holding it up here and just getting the same shot throughout the whole dive, I'll try to put it underneath a shark and follow it or, you know, there there's just different ways you can utilize it to get a different angle on the three sixty itself. And then you bring it into post and you can kinda use all that content to to tell a story and you don't have to go back and get pickup shots and inserts and all these different things. So
Tom Rowland: It's incredible. That's how we started our show. I don't know if you've even seen our show, but it's called Saltwater Experience. We've been on the air for twenty years and we we started with one camera, one guy like you. Yeah. Very similar to you. I mean, like, when I'm talking to you, I'm like, man, this guy's a lot like Hop. And and and Hop, our our producer, he was also quite a musician. So he wrote and composed originally all the scores for the whole thing. So not only is he doing exactly what you're saying, he is he is watching us fish. He's saying, okay, I got it. This is how we're gonna tell the story. I need you to I need I need this shot. We would have to do I mean, we after a while, we just listen to him. We're like, whatever you need, man. And then then he's also he's composing the music in his head all while we're out there. It was incredible. It was really incredible to watch.
Shane Reynolds: I need to meet the that dude because, like, I've I've got, you know, we've we've got the all the instruments here. I got drums in there. I've been writing and recording music since I was 15. And, you know, and it's another product of ADHD and just, you know, trying to keep control of the story you're trying to tell.
Tom Rowland: And those are all elements. Best friends or you're gonna hate each other immediately. Like, you're I'll definitely hook you up. But, I mean, he's he, like, you know, has a, he he's had record contracts. He's and and he just, you know, he's just a really I I'm very I'm fascinated with people like you and and him because you just have so much talent, so many different areas. And that and and it's it's rare, I think, to see somebody that can bring it all together into one package, like a TV show or a a YouTube video or I don't know. Maybe it's becoming more common because, I guess, when we we all started this, all of these tools were so expensive that it was rare for one person to be able to have all these tools. Right. Like, to have all the music making stuff and to have all the the the camera. I mean, we were using a beta cam that was a $100,000, and you wouldn't drop the door open with the thing today. It's the worst camera ever. Your phone is better. Right. And, you know, but but he did have access to a lot of that stuff. And and anyway, when when we look at it, some of the early, shows like, man, that that show was amazing. It was great. And we shot that with one camera, No drum, no underwater. We shot it with one camera and we just made do with what we had and it was more like a documentary. And then over time, we've just added more and more cameras, more and more tools, more and more toys. And some in some cases, it's not better. Like, it's just more. Right. Right? No. It How did how did you first try that three sixty camera? What about that camera was interesting to you? With all of this other stuff that you've done, what makes you pick that thing up?
Shane Reynolds: I think it was the I try to keep up with with technology as as, you know, in the last, like, ten years, I've I've really marketed myself more as a specialty cam operator than I would say as a director of photography or as a, you know, like, it's just more of a package in terms of, you know, we're gonna use VR, we're gonna use three sixty and drones and underwater and all these different technologies to kinda rig them up in fun and creative ways. And so, one, when three sixties came out, it was just a a natural progression to be like, okay, what's this all about? I probably should get familiarize myself with it and see if it's of use. And in the beginning, it was more of an interesting toy, like I said, that I didn't really feel like was of any real benefit, but I saw the potential in it. And knowing how these kind of cameras progress, it's like, dude, in in five years, this this shit's gonna be, like, part of every production package. And it's one of those two where, like, I mean, it's it the same GoPro rigs for car scenes have been they've been doing for god, no. I can't even keep up anymore and it's the same setup. It's almost a formula how they do it and now you can kind of just say, Hey, just rig up one three sixty right here and then we can kind of do something different with this interior car scene, you know, or at least add it to the mix and give just a different feel and change this all up so it doesn't all feel like the same reality TV show because, really, if you're if you're gonna utilize all this new technology, do it in a way that makes people go, oh, I haven't seen that before. Right. Because because like you said, if it's you can add all you want to it but the the core of it is storytelling. So if you're telling good stories, it doesn't matter how many how much technology you bring to the to the table. But if you bring the new technology, then utilize that to at least make people feel like they're seeing something different.
Tom Rowland: Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. I have always I mean, I remember even the days when kinda GoPros were first coming out and and, like, I'm thinking this is gonna be part of every package, but, you know, there are still people that are like, that little thing, no way. Like, there's no way that that's gonna that you're gonna use GoPro footage on the Discovery Channel.
Shane Reynolds: Oh, dude. I I we we did a we did an expedition in Egypt, and I heard I had one of the GoPro SD versions. I still have it. And and I heard they were putting out a, they were putting out an HD version and everybody was shooting HD back then. This was in 2009, I think. Yeah. And, and so I called GoPro at the office and there were three people at the office at the GoPro office and they answered and I talked to them directly, told them we were doing this expedition. I was like, dude, I hear you're coming out with HD stuff. We're gonna be diving and doing all this crazy shit in the desert and on in in the Mediterranean and, like, these would be amazing as a part of this production package. And they said, cool, man. And they packaged, like, three beta versions of their HD cameras and sent it with a bunch of rigs and setups and and, like, and it was it was that simple and we took them over there because, like, to me, it was obvious that, like, all this all that has to happen is you guys have to be able to make HD quality video that could be inter spersed with these these other things, you know. So it was the same with three sixty cameras. If this if you just get to a point where you're shooting where I can frame a four k shot out of this and it's not just crazy crude, if it looks somewhat decent then you can use it. And so we're there now and we're we're making, like, underwater footage that people are kind of like, oh, wow. That's that's really interesting. I haven't seen anything like that. But they're gonna have to move faster now because I think a lot of people are faster now because I think a lot of people are I think a lot of people are gonna be like, okay. I've I've seen that now. You know? Like, it it all that stuff's starting to look the same, so they're gonna have to, you know, up the technology.
Tom Rowland: Talking about before, though, is if they up the technology just to the resolution, then then you can do different things in the edit Right. Note that people have never seen before. Right. Right. That's that's pretty interesting. Yeah. Very cool. So when I was doing this research on you, going from the the most technology to May of of the conversation we're having right now of all this different technology to maybe the least technology, I run across a story about you and Guiana. And I don't know if you've talked about this in a while, but that sounded like a wild trip, man. What happened there?
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. That one that one was my Everest. It was that was for my show, Shane Untamed, and we were we had, we wanted to do a jungle themed episode and more of an adventure based thing that that wasn't kinda centered around, big animals, which was most of the series, but we wanna do a big adventure. And and there was a Tepui, which is a flat topped mountain that is located deep in the Guyana jungle. And on the top of this Tepui is a sinkhole. And while the people have summited this Tepui, they have never they've never, been into the sinkhole. So it was an unexplored space on Earth. So so we decided, okay, I'm gonna get some a couple climbing guides and we're gonna do an expedition into the jungle. We're gonna climb this Tepui and we're gonna rappel down into this sinkhole. And, and what had and and this was all intel through a National Geographic explorer who had who had attempted to do it and they weren't able to finish the expedition and it was set up through this fixer that was with us in the in the jungle, but he was a shady, shady, shady character. And, you know, he he estimated he gave us a budget of, let's say, $10,000. And I so I got $20,000 and, you know, and and had to essentially, had to have a porter carry that money and so we could pay the porters, all the porters that it took to go into the jungle and do this. And by and this was a, I wanna say, it's five day hike to get into where we needed to go. And by day three, the the fixer had renegotiated each night to the point in which and we had to pay porters each morning to the point in which day four we woke up and all the money was gone. Oh, no. So it was, so at that point, all the porters left and we essentially had to leave, like, $20,000 worth of gear sitting at this waterfall that we were kind of that we had made it to. Thankfully, that was a a beautiful area that we could make a a destination out of and we and then all show all of a sudden the show turned into a survival episode and we were we just took what we could carry on our back. So we we went from just carrying minimal things to and making a show to, you know, me, two climbing guides, another a shooter, and one other guy actually, like, putting as much weight as we could on our back of our gear and hauling out. So and it took from what took four days to get in. It took, like, six or seven days to get out. And, like, I lost, like, 20 pounds that I can't afford to lose. Like, I'm only a buck 50 anyway, and I came back at, like, a 100 and thirty pounds and, you know, like, just it was absolutely brutal. And, like, my climbing guide was this world renowned, this world renowned climbing guide, and he's been through the craziest shit you could ever imagine. And, like, and just the most positive dude, and and even he broke. I remember seeing him on the sat phone and they were supposed to send a helicopter. The government had a helicopter set up and then that turned out that was never even an option and they weren't ever gonna send it. And so we were we might have been stranded up on top of this Tapui anyway and, like, got I just watched him lose it and everybody just freaking the hell out. And so it was it was crazy and it was like this huge debacle because I'm trying to make a really good show and, you know, a couple of the guys are like, we need to just bail all this gear and get out of here with you know? And I'm just like, dude, I'm not I'm not walking out of this jungle without something. You know? Like, I'm Right. That ain't gonna happen. And, so we got when we got out, we made a show with what we had and it ended up being the network's favorite show even though it wasn't it wasn't the one that they agreed for me to have.
Tom Rowland: How did you keep all these guys together? Like, it sounds like people are breaking. You don't have any food. Like, do you take charge here? Or I mean
Shane Reynolds: did you all come together and kind of I definitely was I definitely was, was easing tensions between the shooter and one of the climbing guides because the shooter was on my side about, yeah, dude. We're not we're not walking out of here without making a show. And and he was on the one of the mountain guides was was the climbing guides was definitely like, no, dude. We need to we need to get out of here and we need to just put your shit down and let's go. And, and I was kind of, well, leaning more towards the getting a show because, you know, I didn't feel like we were in survival mode yet. And I was like, dude, when we get into survival mode, then we'll we'll drop it all and go. But right now, we've taken enough food to get us out. We've, you know, like, we're big boys. We'll figure it out. You know? So it was it was a lot of that and, you know, and and my other climbing guide who I was talking about before, like like I said, just a solid dude and he was just like, let's just do what we gotta do. You know? So I think every thankfully, I had a a tough enough team and and regardless of any issues or anger that that arose in that throughout that experience, I think all everybody involved was just on board with, like, doing what we had to do. So we didn't there was no, like, real breakdowns or any kind of things that we had to deal with like that. Team back together again? No. However, the the the that climbing guide that I was telling you about ended up flying back, like, six months later and because he just had to climb this Tepui, and he did it on his own and he was like so he he hired the porters, went in and we paid him to pick up all the gear we left at the at the, Wow. Waterfall. So he ended up bringing back most of it because it was just sitting in, you know, 12 miles deep into the jungle. Like so it was, yeah, it was kind of a wild full circle.
Tom Rowland: Wow. That's that's a hell of a story, man. That is I I mean, you're in you're in such a primitive place that there it doesn't leave much room for error. No. Like No.
Shane Reynolds: There it it was an environment where if you took the wrong step, you could impale your foot. If you took, you know, if you tripped on the wrong thing and sprained an ankle, like, what what will we have done? Like, there there were so many things that could have gone wrong that that the fact that we got out of there the way we did with the show in hand was was a miracle.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. So I definitely wanted to ask you about that, but I I still have to get back to your social media. When did you start embracing social media?
Shane Reynolds: I've been throwing darts at the wall with social media for a number of years now. And Mhmm. I think I think what happened with my social media, obviously, like, the the camera drops have really resonated and, you know, I think but one of the things that changed for me was was kinda moving from that aspect of just, like, what kind of content can I make that's gonna get views and get likes and all that shit? And and instead, just making content I I enjoy making. Mhmm. And and a lot of that, I think, came along with the with the advent of being able to use whatever music you want. Mhmm. Yeah. For sure. I think it I don't know when that I forget when that changed in the last few years, but up to that point it was like, you get flagged for using anything. You know, you put an a like an ACDC song would be insane on this clip, but I'm gonna get flagged and then it's gonna be a problem and whatever. And so I gotta use this awful music track that I don't wanna use and it just made me feel like, you're just not proud of the the the content you're making. So when that kind of allowed me to do that, then I it felt like I was making that that local show twenty years ago again because we could do that back then. We you put whatever you want and just it's on least access channel, but now we can kind of pick from anything we want that's gonna fit this thing and and and as a musician, that's a big part of it for me. Like, I wanna pick the right music track to really set set the mood. So being able to do that reinvigorated my my desire to do it and my creativity in doing it and and then, you know, and the luck of being where I am, being in a destination that that people wanna be, and having all these opportunities with with marine life and and, and traveling the way I do, the way I do work and, you know, so it it's it's constantly changing and it constantly gives me an opportunity to to keep my content fresh and keep my desire to do it fresh.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. What do you with all these camera drops and different things, you've had some that have really, really taken off. Others maybe didn't do maybe as well as as you might have wanted or but they're still interesting to you. What do you think the craziest thing that you've seen on one of those drops is or that surprised you?
Shane Reynolds: That's a good question. I think one of one of them was, like, it's weird how they can how each one If you went out on the pier every day and you just saw the same tiger sharks circling around and around and around and you just do these drops, you'd think that all of them would eventually just start looking exactly the same. But the weird thing is you'd the more you do it it's it's rare I don't come back with something that I'm like, oh, man. I'm I'm definitely gonna post that. Because just their behavior changes so much and the things that are following them and, like and there was one time I remember, like, one of the crazy ones was when, a shark came, kinda bit the camera a little bit, and then kinda moved on, and then it and then it had a a hook and leader stuck to its dorsal fin. And that hook and leader hooked on to my camera and then and then they it just we went for a ride and I'm sitting there fighting this tiger shark with my camera and I'm like, why won't this shark let it go? You know, like, they always let it go because it's not I mean, they they know immediately it's not food when they bite it and they spit it out. And this one was taking it. And I'm like, jeez. And finally, it just broke free and I thought I might have broke the line and I'm like, gee, well there goes my first camera and I reel it up and all of a sudden it catches and it's still there and when I reel it up the whole leader and hook is attached to it and then you have this on the video so it's like, oh, this thing had a had a hook and leader stuck to it and my camera actually ripped it off of them. And it and it created this whole another this whole another story to to how this drop played out, you know, and then
Tom Rowland: and something you could never recreate.
Shane Reynolds: Right. Right. The odds answer doing that. The odds of that happening. And then and then there's other drops where I do, like, I did one off the Destin Bridge and I'd happen to get snagged up on a little thing that looked like an anchor or a a segue or something weird, but it wasn't anything that, like, you know, seemed that interesting to me. And, you know, eventually, I just kinda put it aside. I have a ton of these just sitting on deck in case I need to just post something and, like and I pulled that one up and I'm like, yeah, I'll post that one and say, oh, this is what I got hung up on. And there was a big school of redfish over next to it, but I've I've I've posted a bunch of those and I and for whatever reason, like, that got, like, I mean, that went super viral and people were like, oh, that it just got interested in, like, guessing what this thing is that I got hung up on. And it's like, I never imagined, like, that one would do anything.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. So Yeah. But the interesting thing about that is, like, what we've been talking about before was, like, the the the way you tell a story and the way that that, like, you make a great TV show or something. And it seems like the way that you make a great social clip is oftentimes a story is told in a way that you never expected. Like it's happening on its own. Like that thing. Right. That story you just told, the viewer is like, Oh, what is this? And that gets them to watch. Right. But but you couldn't it's almost like you couldn't, like, come up with that on your own. It had to kinda happen Right. Organically, naturally. Yeah. Which I don't know. That seems to be the the ones that really do take off. Whether it's somebody, you know, having an accident falling down or or, like, getting stuck like that. Those are the ones that we're running through. Exactly. It's crazy. So, let's see here. What and so the, the camera drops. Do you think that, the technology will improve to where you can do different ones? Will it be with a three sixty camera always, or do you see it kind of changing anytime?
Shane Reynolds: I think I mean, I think there's potentially a future, and I think that I get so many people asking about, you know, my rig and and they wanna go out and do it at their pier or their, you know, bridge or see what's underneath and how do how do I do this? So I I I don't know if it's enough of a of a market to to to for the technology to steer itself in that direction, but I feel like if there was then there's room for them to kinda make a line that would like feed a live feed of the video back to you, if you're gonna drop it. Yeah. And I think there's line. Yep.
Tom Rowland: That yeah. That that you that was feeding back, like electric fishing line. Yeah. So Sounds super cool.
Shane Reynolds: So I think I think live feeding is is part of the next step. I think, being able to maybe maneuver it out of certain situations or something. I mean but to me, the simplicity of just dropping the line and looking at it later to see what I got, it just feels it it's like Christmas morning a lot of times. Like, you just don't really know. Like, I did one at the Pensacola Bridge, just because I've had a lot of people talk to me about how much stuff is down there and the visibility was literally like that. I mean, it was chocolate water and I was like, well, I came all this way. I'm gonna go do it anyway. And I dropped them in a couple of different places and thankfully I saw some dolphins playing at at one piling and I was like, oh, if there's dolphins here, you know, and that's probably a good indicator of something going on here, we'll drop another one here. And almost every drop had like a shark going by it, some gars going by it, had caught, cow nose rays going by, like, in invisibility like that. So, like, I went home thinking, yeah, I'm sure I didn't get anything there. And then when I'm going through the footage, I'm like, oh my god. There's a there's a bull shark coming out and checking out the camera. Okay. Cool. Cool.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. So I'll tell you what. Well, it's the fiftieth anniversary of Jaws. Yeah. This this summer, that movie came out fifty years ago. I'm sure you're as surprised about that as I am because I seem to remember going to that movie in the theater. And but it created this, you know, this, like, panic about getting in the water. Right. And then you're telling me that every drop in Pensacola, you're seeing sharks. Like, that's what's happening when you're getting in the water too, by the way. Yeah. You just don't see it. Yeah. Yeah. And you you can't see behind you, and you can't see three sixty. And but I don't know. I mean, oftentimes, they just come check it out and then move on. They're probably doing the same thing to you.
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. Yeah. No. There's there's sharks everywhere out here. I mean, we What?
Tom Rowland: Yeah. There are sharks everywhere. And one of the things that I've I've asked a lot of people that have been on the water for a long time is what do you think about, how how has the shark population changed, I don't know, in the last fifteen or twenty years for you and where you are and what you've seen on the water?
Shane Reynolds: This one's an interesting subject because it it I I have this conversation with a lot with, with fishermen, with people in the you know, marine biologists. They they all have very varying opinions on the matter. My my take on it is just respecting who whatever people are seeing within their own universe. You know what I mean? Like, I think, for me, like I said, the shark shark activity's changed quite a bit over just the last five years. You know? We we started noticing tiger sharks aggregating at the Okaloosa Island Pier, just four or five years ago, and that was five to 10 on any given day. And now it's grown to, like, there's days where there's more than 30. Wow. They're just circling around the pier. And, you know, same with noticing the the black tip and spinner shark aggregation, off the West Jetty. That's grown. Actually, that aggregation's kinda gotten smaller over the last couple of years. It's it when I first started tracking that, it was more like 500 or so.
Tom Rowland: And then Tracking that with a drone or Drone mostly.
Shane Reynolds: A drone. We've been we've been working on ways to get underwater footage of them. They're just so skittish. It's it's hard to triangulate how to do it properly. We're getting there, but, you know, so so you have that aggregation and I think a lot of people, especially on social media, you see a shot of an of a shark aggregation and you're like, okay, there's too many sharks. And say, yeah, but if you observe this aggregation over time the aggregation's actually gotten smaller. So like you're, you know, you could consider that more of like that's not evidence of too many sharks or any kind of indicator of what the population of sharks are out there. That's just like a like a concert that people would go to. Right? Right. So you have to watch that over time and see, okay, if the aggregation is 200 and it used to be 500, does that mean there's less sharks? You know, I think there's a lot of mistaken identity. I think there, you know, a lot of people when we show footage of the tiger sharks, they're like, oh, man. Those are the ones that steal my steal my catch all the time and I'm like, okay, that's not really a tiger shark behavior. They tend to just pick up dead stuff off the bottom and if they were stealing catches then I think people at the pier would have a lot of problems bringing in their catch and I've never seen anyone on the pier get their catch stolen from a tiger. So that's more of a of a bull shark behavior. Things like that. And then, you know, and then when we get into the sensitive subjects of it because I I I understand fishermen's frustration with losing their catches and and seeing more and more sharks, but I also understand that, like, you know, I respect what they're seeing because they're on the water every day. Right? Mhmm. However, they're they're within the confines typically of a 100 square miles that they're fishing and that's not an indicator of The Gulf as a whole. It wouldn't be the indicator of The Atlantic as a whole And so you have to understand that, like, look, you know, yes. I'm seeing more sharks where I'm fishing, but does that mean there's more sharks or does that mean they're moving from other areas where they used to feed, we're protecting certain species more than others, we're, you know, which is throwing things out of balance. We're, you know, so what's the answer? Is it to kill more things? Is it to protect other things? Is it, you know, I don't think anyone really knows but what I what I do know is that they the fishermen think the the scientists are biased and the scientists think the fishermen are biased and in my mind I think they're arguing for two different things. Like, their fish fishermen are trying to rebalance the fisheries so they can catch more fish again, and scientists are just trying to rebalance the ecosystem. And those two those two things are very different things, and they're treating them like the same issue.
Tom Rowland: Right. Yeah. I mean, that's those are good observations and and observations certainly from somebody that like like yourself, you've obviously spent a lot of time on the water. There are fishermen that, you know, travel for these tournaments or Yeah. Constantly are moving, and and they're not fishing a 100 square miles. They're fishing from in Texas and then in Louisiana and then in Maryland and then in South Carolina and then in Key West. And and we're seeing the same the same Same thing. Kind of behavior happening in all of these places. Right. But they are a certain distance off the coast. Right. And and that's that's what's remaining uniform. Right. So I think that it could be said that a certain distance off of our coast, there are a lot more sharks. Now I had Chris Fisher on the show, and we were talking about sharks, and he obviously knows a lot about sharks. Right. The o search guy, and he's tagged all these sharks, and and he is a reluctant shark fisherman. I mean, he didn't he didn't start tagging sharks because he loves catching sharks. It's the other way around. He loves catching billfish. And Yeah. Shark fishing was like, who wants to do that? Right. But he started tagging them, and it became a science project. It's not he doesn't do it because he loves sharks, but he's seen a lot of these things. And I was very interested in his his perspective, and his perspective was that the ocean is rebounding, and you would not have this many sharks if you didn't have enough things for the sharks to be eating. So he sees it as an overall win for everybody that there are more fish, more sharks, more predators, more bait, more more of everything. Yeah. And I I do tend to agree with that, that it's a that it's a positive thing. I don't like it when when when, you know, you're you catch a a beautiful mutton snapper that comes up half, You know? Or or even like a an undersized fish that you would have released and it comes up half. Right? Like, that dead fish. Yep. And for for reason, that would have been released. But it's a it's a very, interesting topic that seems to I don't know. For a while, I would have people on that just would not and and oftentimes, they didn't come from the state of Florida, but they would not even consider that in some places in the world, you could have a shark, kind of explosion in the population. And then you but but maybe the overall population of the worldwide shark population was declining right now. Right. But there's a lot of different fishing methods. There's a lot of different things going on. The ocean's a very, very big place. Yeah. And I think that it is extremely possible that you can have populations abounding in certain areas, and and and there aren't any in other areas. Yeah. And I try to keep an open mind to that, and I also realize that the ocean is such a big place that I absolutely do not know what's going on in areas that I don't know to.
Shane Reynolds: That's that's exactly where I'm at is is I feel like we all should be on this this level of we don't really know because Right. The the ocean is a very unexplored place. And and and just to say that your opinion on this matter is definitive is is ignorant in my mind because you can only know.
Tom Rowland: Exactly what it is when you use ignorant in a in in the right frame. You don't know. That is ignorance. Right? Yeah. And sometimes ignorance is a really derogatory way. But it is that way.
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. These are my guesses. Right? These are things that You do
Tom Rowland: have people that absolutely do know that where they fish and what they do and where they go on a daily basis, this is their experience. Yep. Yep. More more aggressive, and it's happening faster and faster, like, on the first drop. Like, it used to happen after you caught 20 fish. Yeah. You would maybe get one attached.
Shane Reynolds: It's it's the same with diving. Immediate. It's the same with diving. The diving here, ten years ago, you might see a bull shark or something like that once in a blue moon. Now you almost see them every dive. So, yeah, it's it's there. It's happening and it's a noticeable increase. I feel like there's something to do with, like you said, like an inshore kind of issue, like what's bringing them in. And I think, one, like I said, I don't know, but I think where we should all be is just asking more questions about it in terms of, you know, it's not it it's never just as simple as, like, there's too many sharks, so let's go start killing sharks and that will fix the problem. What it is is like, okay. Well, we've we've sure built a lot more artificial reefs in shore here in the Gulf. We've sure done like, you know, how are we what are the fisheries like for commercial fishing and how is that associated with the food sources that they were happy with offshore? Is that does that have anything to do with it? So let's let's all kinda keep asking questions instead of just coming to conclusions.
Tom Rowland: Right. And certainly in fighting amongst it seems like the people that are fighting are the people that are interested in the ocean, like fishermen, divers, commercial fishermen, people who love sharks, people who love fish, people who would never hurt anything, all of these people, it's all the same thing. We're all interested in the same thing, a healthy ocean. Right? We all want the same thing. Right. But and and we're all the people that actually should be united, but we're the ones that are infighting when the rest of the world that doesn't really care I mean, healthy ocean, too many sharks, what they don't care. They're never gonna go to the ocean. Yeah. And there's a there's a whole bunch of those people.
Shane Reynolds: And they and those are the people that need to understand that, like, a healthy ocean is is is important for them too. You know? And and I think a lot of that infighting that you speak of is is a product of the fact that we can't none of us could admit our own bias in the situation. So all of these people that you mentioned are people that love the ocean. Like, I dive. I fish. I do all these I surf, I do all these things. So I have multi interests in how the the ocean is utilized. But when it comes down to it, it's like I'm gonna say if I have an opinion on the matter, then I'm gonna admit that I'm a little biased as a diver that I wanna see, you know, certain water quality. I wanna see certain, you know, reef a fisherman needs to admit that they're biased to the fact that they wanna catch more fish, and they wanna, you know, like, and everyone's pretending like I'm I don't have bias. I think they have bias, and they have an agenda. We all have agendas when it comes to the ocean. There's a reason why we love it, and that creates a bias within us. So if we all accept that and all just have conversations about, okay, well, then how do we all come together and make it better, then that's the only way it's gonna happen. I mean, hell, I've worked with with big name convert, I can't think of the word. Conservationists. I was converse I was thinking conversationalist. Like Jacques Cousteau. Yeah. Like like big big conservationists, and and there's infighting amongst conservationists. You know what I mean? Because Yeah. They don't because the way they are trying to achieve conservation, they don't agree with how this other guy does it. And and to me and and they'll and I hear this these complaints in jumping around working with these different big names in the in the conservation field and they're like and like, dude, how I mean, you're all working for the same goal, you know, and there's different ways to get to that goal. So, you know, the intention should be really the the issue here not the how you're getting it just gets really convoluted.
Tom Rowland: It it does get that way, but the it's the intention, I think, that everybody can agree with. Yeah. It's the execution of that that all of a sudden, it's like, well, yeah. I want, I mean, you could take the same thing between, five fishermen and, you know, people that wanna wanna bait fish or or whatever. And it's like, okay. Well, we all want more fish. We all want these fish to be protected. For this and then you realize, oh, this is gonna be an all fly fishing place. And now this other group can't fish there. So they're upset that they put their their support towards this agenda and it cut them out of it. So now they can't do what they wanted to do even though the end result is maybe the protection of that that area. For sure. I don't know that we're ever gonna get around that. I don't know that Yeah.
Shane Reynolds: I don't know. I just can't
Tom Rowland: it's just really hard to exclude certain groups that obviously care about the resource and and care about the the area. And it it's happened between inshore guys and offshore guys. It's happened between commercial fishermen and recreational fishermen. It's happened between divers and and fishermen. It's happened between divers and people that feed sharks. Like, there's a big Yeah.
Shane Reynolds: It happens with here. It happens with surfers and boogie boarders, and it like, it doesn't matter how you utilize the ocean. Everyone feels like their way is the only way.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. But how do you think that we get around that and and and and somehow figure out that the the best way is is to for everybody to use it. But I don't know. I mean, I guess there's some ways that you use the ocean or any resource that that makes it impossible for somebody else to do what they're they're doing. Like, if you like to surf by a pier and there are 500 fishing lines off of that pier, then you can't surf there. Right? Like, if that's the only break, you can either fish or you can surf because you can't do both in that one little area. Maybe that's I mean, I'm another great surfer, but maybe that's not the best analogy. But there are certain things that, you know, if you're trying to tarpon fish with a fly rod, but at the same time, there's 7,000 jet skis that are coming through that same area. That is not the jet skiers are fine with it. Right. But the fishermen are not. Right? So it one activity makes the other activity impossible. Yeah. Now that's a bad I don't know that we're ever gonna get around that because there's so many different activities Right. That people like to do. Is yeah. Eventually, one is going to make another one impossible to do. Right.
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. I think that yeah. They you you definitely can't have it all. And and this is this is Destin is definitely a good example of a destination in that respect. It it's it's loaded with pontoon rentals and wave runner rentals and and, parasailing. It's loaded with charter boat fishing from inshore to back bay to you know, to all over the reefs and there's scuba boats that are hitting those same reefs. They're you know, you can't do those two things at the same time. There there's just I mean, and that's why people come down here because there's so many different things to do. Now if you move over to somewhere like, I don't know, a quieter area like Saint Joe Bay or somewhere like that, you know, that's more of, like, you know, you can it it's not as overrun. You know? There's not the infrastructure doesn't exist for that to be a a problem or as big of a problem. But, I mean, even there, like, scalloping season's gonna be open pretty soon. And, that that has become a complete shit show whereas I, you know, I grew up doing that and it was like the easiest, quietest, coolest thing you could do. Now you go out on opening weekend and share it with with 5,000 of your closest friends on on their boats. And the and the scallops are gone in two weeks. So it's it it it's, you know Same thing
Tom Rowland: with lobstering in the keys, you know. Yeah. Yeah. We went from something that was calm, just like you say, to literally a a circus. Yes. And and watch out, by the way. Because you can get run over very easily. Yeah. But I don't know what the answer is, and I don't know if there is I don't know if there is an answer. But, what what I hope is that people don't lose lose track of the of the most important thing, and that is that you continue to push for water quality, continue to push for, environmental quality in the seagrass, in the reef, in the in the basic foundations of what make a healthy ocean. Because without those things, you don't have bait. Without bait, you don't have fish. And without fish, you don't have sharks. And without shark, you don't have I mean, it it goes on and on. And it starts with, you know, basically, the water quality, I think. Yeah.
Shane Reynolds: And I think and I think part of the I think part of that answer is also just being able to like, you can accept you can think that someone else is wrong in how in their approach and how to achieve that goal, but you have to accept the fact that you might not be right either.
Tom Rowland: Right. You know what a great example of that is as we bring it full circle back to kind of technology is there are certain, there are certain, like, technologies where, you know, I was a flats guide for a long time. And I would go to these flats and I would know them like the back of my hand, literally. And you're on the pot platform and you're pulling around. And I was a 100% sure, 100% sure that if there was a fish in that area, I would see it. Right? Yeah. I mean, it's over white sand. You could see anything there, right? Yep. And and then we started fishing these bay boats where we get up on the tower and I'm actually standing up on the tower. So now I'm another 10 feet higher than I was on the platform. I can see everything, right? Like, I can, I'm now so high up. And then drones come along, and we're filming the show, and we're filming a show with with drones. And I'm watching this footage, and I'm watching a school of bonefish go right by us Yep. Within testing range that no one on the boat saw. And Yep. I am 100% sure that I mean, before that, like, if there's a fish here, I'm seeing it. I mean, the water's crystal clear. This there's not a cloud in the sky. And I'm a 100% sure that if there's a fish out there, I'm seeing it. That I mean, because you do see most of them, but you don't see all of them. Right. And when you have another technology that shows you, oh, you well, you didn't see these 30 over here, and you didn't in fact, you didn't see another school of 30 all day long. You saw singles. Right? But the school of 30 swam right by you, and you have two professional fishing guides on the boat that are both looking in different directions, and no one saw those fish. Yeah. Yeah. That's when you go, Maybe I don't know everything.
Shane Reynolds: And and I'll I'll take it a step further. If I if I had the three sixty camera there to cast and threw one out there, I bet you I almost guarantee you I would see something on that camera that the drone and nothing else saw because because it's at just this other angle and there's ways fish can camouflage themselves and there's all this. So it just creates this you you finally realize that, like, dude, there there are so many different ways to look at this and see it in in different perspectives. Like, it it's insane.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. I mean or or it could be as simple as no technology and you're fishing someplace and you're a 100% sure that the fish are behind you and there's someone standing on a bridge that's gone, no. They're over there, man. They're they're right there, and you're looking and going, no. You obviously that guy obviously doesn't know what he's looking at because there's nothing right there. Right. Right. He's up on a bridge looking down. Yeah. He sees He sees the eyeballs.
Shane Reynolds: Right it's right there. Trust trust him. Yeah. Like, you might not
Tom Rowland: be right. It's never happened like that before. But just thinking you might not be right. I don't know. Is that something that you just kind of develop as as you get more experience and more more life experience is you'd kinda realize, maybe, you know, I've been wrong before. Maybe I'm wrong again. I'm willing to accept that I'm wrong. Where when you're younger or not that young people can't have that perspective, but it seems like peep maybe somebody doesn't have to be younger just with less experience.
Shane Reynolds: I think I think it I think it comes down to to exposure. I think a lot of that has to do with how you you get older and if you're if you've only if you've never left the county and you've fished one one fishing spot your whole life, there is not one person that's going to come in and tell you any different than what you already know. But if you've traveled the world and you've seen things and like you said, if you'd be all of a sudden you tried these different ways to see things and all of a sudden and you and there's things there that you didn't think were there, then you start realizing, wow, I I wasn't right. I thought that it was this. And, you know, since I started diving with tiger sharks at the pier and, you know, dropping the cameras, it's been I've learned so much in terms of their behavior and why they're here and what what to expect when they, you know, when when is a good time for me to dive with them. A lot of these things I could have claimed that I I understood five years ago, but but I didn't. I mean, it took me doing these things and and learning about them to go, okay. Yeah. Like, what I knew five years ago was was very, very little. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: So Yeah. And that gets sped up with technology and and everything. There's a there's a a whole population of fishermen that this is happening to now and has been for the last five or six years. And that's that's the bass fisherman with this forward facing sonar where they can literally like a video game, they can see the fish that are in front of them. And all of a sudden, they're not fishing in the way that they've been fishing for the last twenty years. They're fishing out in the middle of the lake because Right. That's where the they can see clearly that the fish are are right there. But before, it was kinda like, no. I know where they are. They're right over there where I've always fished for them. And if they're out in the middle of the lake, then, you know, how how would you ever find them where I don't think they're out there? And now they're realizing, no. That's where most of them are. Right. Right. Other ones were just a few of the ones. Yeah. I don't know. It's it's it's a interesting world with the technology and and, I don't know, so many different groups doing so many different things. But, I'll tell you what, I really, like following your Instagram, and I'm gonna continue to. I hope you do some more of those camera drops and some other cool stuff. It's really cool. So it's Color Earth Pro. And, if anybody wants to follow there, do you do any other social media platforms, TikTok or anything else?
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. TikTok. I'd I do TikTok. It's color earth two o. So it's, so it's kinda like color earth h h two o on the end. So, so that's my handle over there or or just search Shane Reynolds. And, and my YouTube is, you youtube.com/shanereynolds. Right. And and Facebook has been kinda reignited over the last six months. So Really? But that's typically just the Instagram stuff moving over to there.
Tom Rowland: Oh, I gotcha. Do you do special edits for for Facebook?
Shane Reynolds: I might rehash older content that I have. You know, they they they started we were able to kinda monetize that a little bit, so it's it's become relevant again. It was something that was just dead in the water for me for many, many years, and then Mhmm. It's grown like like 20,000 followers in the last few months and, you know, and and so I can kinda pick up some of those older some of that older content that I can kinda rehash, and a lot of that stuff that does well over there is more local stuff here. So Interesting. That's what you're trying to keep it to there.
Tom Rowland: Very cool. Well, I'm gonna make an introduction to, to my producer for you. I I like I say, you're either gonna Yeah, dude. Or you're gonna hate you're gonna eat each other immediately. Like, two two alphas getting together. It's either gonna be it's gonna be like stepbrothers.
Shane Reynolds: Yeah. How how how are we gonna stay in our how are either of us gonna stay in our lane?
Tom Rowland: I don't know. I don't know. But, I think I actually think you're gonna you're gonna get along great. Yeah. But listen, man. I really appreciate you coming on the show. I enjoyed it. I learned a lot. And, you've you've really led a really cool life, man. So I
Shane Reynolds: appreciate it, dude. Thanks for having me. This is it it's my pleasure, man. It's an honor.
Tom Rowland: We'll do it again. Alright? Awesome. Alright. Thanks. Everybody go follow him and, check out all of the stuff that he's doing. It's really cool. If you're not following color color earth pro on Instagram, that's where I follow him. But like you said, he's got Facebook, TikTok, all the others. So go follow him there. And we'll be back with another awesome guest just like Shane Reynolds next week. Not just like Shane Reynolds. He's a one and only. But, we'll have another awesome guest. Alright. We'll see you.
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