The Town of Orangeville is launching free aquatic certification training programs for 2023. Participants can enroll in courses on the path to becoming a lifeguard and swimming instructor with their certifications completely free. (Exam and Course material fees apply). Courses are suitable for individuals a minimum of 15 years of age and having completed Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross.
To film with the team, we used underwater sports housing from Aquatech. Unlike a dive-housing a sport-housing is designed to withstand more rough handling and it’s how we’ve made many stories in and around the water come to life with truly immersive camera work.
We use a 24mm lens at f1.4 in an Aquatech water housing for wide shots with a relatively shallow depth of field to create motion sequences with beautifully blurred backgrounds. Selective focus is an awesome tool for storytelling because it lets us direct attention deliberately to a particular part of the image.
The Canon EOS 1DX Mk iii camera is an awesome tool for this kind of work because the autofocus is fast and accurate. Notice how we are sharp on the things that really matter – our subject’s smiling eyes and his little fingers resting on a trusted swimming instructor… while blurring the words “recycling” on the blue box in the background. To do this with video at a rate of 60 frames a second while subjects move around in the swirling water is truly a remarkable feat. It makes our work truly a joy to produce!
Full video transcript:
Hi, I’m Jamie Rowntree, Aquatics Programmer with the Town of Orangeville. Being a lifeguard is an extremely important job. You have to come to the pool ready and alert. Ready to respond to an emergency. Ensuring swimmers are safe and following the rules, but also making it fun for everyone. I became a lifeguard and a swimming instructor with the town at 16 when I saw the important role that swimming instructors played in teaching the community about water safety, I wanted to do the same. And now ten years later, I am proud to say that this is my career. Seeing the smallest of children overcome their fear of the water and really love swimming is so rewarding. I’ve built lifelong leadership skills and seeing our participants achieve their swimming goals has become so important and is one of the driving factors when planning new programs and activities. The Town of Orangeville has a great aquatic leadership program and we make it easy and fun. The National Lifeguard and Lifesaving Instructor courses are the two final courses you will need to join our team. Reach out to us. We would love to have you join us. Live and play the Orangeville way.