Black Diamond

Ted produced, directed and shot this story-driven campaign film for Black diamond.

Unbeknownst to his millions of fans, BD Ambassador Chris Burkard—the prolific adventure photographer and filmmaker—has a crack addiction. To make matters worse (at least for his knees and elbows), Burkard’s obsession is not your standard affair. Oh no. He’s into the darkest, gnarliest, most destructive type of crack there is … the infamous offwidth. In this film, Burkard, armed with a rope, rack and the shirt on his back, explains why climbing offwidths is the closest you’ll ever get to “making love” with the stone while facing off with Yosemite’s famed Hardman Offwidth Circuit.

High Altitude Reel

Ted’s high-altitude reel, with footage across a range of expeditions. Featuring Karl Egloff, the man the myth, the legend.

Adidas The Only Way Out is Through

Ted produced, shot, and directed a short brand film about Ben Rueck struggling with his identity as a professional climber. Ben needed surgery on his shoulder after a climbing injury, which extensively tested his sense of self. He faced his fears and came back more vital than ever.

Hold my Beer and Watch this

A feature film for Warren Miller Entertainment. Shot, produced, and directed in partnership with Intrepid Media.

Ted worked with Erich Roepke, and Warren Miller to create this film on the first adaptive ski descent of Denali. With Vasu Sojitra and Pete McAfee.

Arcteryx

Ted worked with Sam Crossley to produce and shoot this award-winning film. When Jordan Cannon, a young climber infatuated with climbing history, meets climbing legend Mark Hudon, a Yosemite big wall free-climbing pioneer, they form an unlikely partnership around a common goal. While Cannon wants to complete an all-free ascent Freerider on El Capitan in a day, Hudon hopes to free the route in as many days as possible, becoming the oldest guy to free climb El Capitan.

Chains of Habit

Chosen as a Vimeo Staff Pick.

When you see a beautiful picture of a person standing on top of a big mountain, it's easy to assume their life, one of adventure, must be bliss. It's simple, right? No screens, no deadlines, just the awe of nature and moving your body in places most of us only dream of. You’re at the top of the world–you should feel it, right?

But the reality is: When you live with depression, it doesn't care where you are, how high you've climbed, or how many peaks you've bagged. 

Chains of Habit brings to light Ted Hesser's struggle with depression, in hopes of destigmatizing the conversation around mental health and encouraging everyone to get outside and get well.

Ted produced this film for Mountain Hardwear, providing archive footage from prior shoots, and hiring a team to help shoot him on the WURL.

Behind the Lens with Chris Burkard

Ted shot, produced, and directed this short branded piece on Chris Burkard. The goal was to show Chris’s creative process on a photo shoot in Iceland. It was a fantastic shoot with great friends, hiking around beautiful landscapes in Iceland.

From Kurils with Love

Working alongside Renan Ozturk, Taylor Reese, and Chris Burkard, Ted Hesser joined the trip of a lifetime to the most remote part of the Pacific Ocean, the Kuril Islands. Working as AC, DIT, and second shooter to Renan, Ted played a small part in helping to produce this stunning documentary film.

PolarPro

What is talent — and why follow your passions? This short film dives deep into the realities of being an artist and media producer in the modern world.

Ted produced this short branded film, with Sam Crossley helping to shoot.

Antarctica

We’ve been fortunate to work with some of the greatest mountain sports athletes in the world over the years, and that was no exception on our expedition to Antarctica. Ted shot a short brand piece for Marmot, on Roxanne Vogel completing the seven summits. And then assisted Jimmy Chin on an expedition to the most remote peak in the world, Mount Tyree.

Sony First Take Series

Chris Burkard hired Ted to shoot a 7 part youtube mini-series in Iceland. Each shoot was a half day, promoting stop-over tourism via Iceland Air. The series went to Youtube via Sony’s channels and plays on Iceland Air’s in-flight entertainment. Ted was the sole shooter, DP, AC, and DIT.

The trailer is shown here. Episodes can be found on youtube.

Travel Alberta

Travel Alberta hired us to produce a photo and video project promoting the regions world class ice climbing. In partnership with legendary athlete Will Gadd, we were given a grand tour of the best ice climbing the Canmore.

Columbia Sportswear

Ted was hired to create marketing buzz around the Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017. The images were created went completely viral, receiving tens of millions views. You could say it was a success.

This video shares the true story of our assignment.

Vanlife with Elise Sterck

Jack Wolfskin hired Ted to create a vanlife adventure video with Elise Sterck for their GoBackPack global campaign. The video was a hit on youtube, with hundreds of thousands of views.

Elise Sterck is known for her passion for travel, and photography, and, most of all Elise has a huge passion for adventure. With her favorite travel buddy Ryan, for whom the outdoors even means a kind of therapy, we joined Elise on her latest adventure.

Adidas Ben Rueck Welcome to the Team

We produced a highlight reel for Adidas Five Ten, about Ben Rueck joining their global athlete team. Ben made quick work of our testpiece desert climb, while we aid climbed alongside with Red Komodo in tow to capture a collection of high angle shots.

Highlight Reel

Our work has taken us across the world, from the most remote places on earth to destinations any traveler would dare to explore. We’d love to help you tell your story and bring your brand to life in a way that no other crew quite can. Reach out and contact us.

Voluntariosa

Voluntariosa is the Spanish word for ‘willful’, precisely the word Sara’s family uses to describe her.

Follow Sara’s journey through chronic injury, amputation of her leg, and into the mountains, all while fighting for her own mobility every step of the way. Sara now works full time for the Range of Motion Project (ROMP) in their Quito clinic helping other Ecuadorian amputees get access to prosthetic care and changing their vision of what’s possible post-amputation.

Director/ Director of Photography: Ted Hesser
Editor & Colorist: Taylor Morgan
Executive Producer: Lauren ‘LP’ Panasewicz
Assistant Camera: Sebastian Andrei
Illustrations by: Leo Latti Additional Cinematography: This film is sponsored by Hydro Flask, Osprey Packs, Eddie Bauer, Royal Bank of Canada, and ROAM Media.

Outwild

For our good friends at Outwild, Ted jumped in to shoot stills and video to help promote the new venture focused on helping people achieve a more outdoor oriented lifestyle and career. Partners Sanni, Jeremy and Courtney pour their heart into the mission, and it was a joy to help cover it.

Squamish Exposed

Ted competed in the Squamish Exposed climbing photographer competition, having two days to shoot and edit a short photo montage of the region’s legendary rock climbing and winning an Audience Choice award.

Fujifilm GFX 100

When our good friend Michael Clark shot photos for the Fujifilm GFX 100 launch campaign, he reached out asking for an assistant. We played a small part on this project, but helped out as assistant and second shooter for the campaign video.