Here on the blog we’ve talked about our friend Jason Beakes and his company, Active Nature, before. You might remember our photos from last year’s stand-up paddleboarding lesson, or the video we did for them to highlight their sponsorship of the 2013 Reel Water Film Festival. Well, we are excited to announce that Mark Leisher Productions has become the official media partner of Active Nature!
So what does that mean? As media partner, we’ll continue to work with Jason to film, photograph, and document Active Nature’s lessons, races, and events. We’ll be at SUP and kayak races to cheer on (and film) Active Nature’s paddlers as they compete. We’ll create short videos for their website, YouTube, and Facebook, and we’ll do photo sessions of the classes in action. Basically we’ll be doing what we’ve already been doing, but more, and in an official capacity.
Our partnership with Active Nature comes at a great time for MLP. Mark has years of experience in extreme sports filmmaking, and has worked with the paddle sports community across America. He first met Jason through Team River Runner, an organization devoted to helping veterans through paddling. Jason was an active volunteer for TRR and on their board, while Mark was working with them to create a documentary about their efforts. Since then Mark and Jason have collaborated on multiple projects, and that working relationship has turned into friendship. Now that both Mark and Jason have companies in the DC area, they realized they could and should work together in a more official capacity.
Active Nature believes that kayaking and paddleboarding help to develop skills, confidence, and fitness, while connecting you to nature and a community of positive, supportive people. This mission statement aligns closely with MLP’s own beliefs; we’re looking forward to helping Active Nature promote a healthy lifestyle and (of course) spending more time on the river!
We’ll be starting our own SUP classes with Active Nature in the next few weeks – if you see us on the river, be sure to say hello!