One hundred and seventy- five hours spent filming. Countless more editing. Two years and just two cameras. Ultimately, Louis Lee’s making of his documentary Outdoor Chattanooga came down to three important life events: whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River, surviving the blizzard of ’93 and meeting Ruth Thompson.
But let’s rewind and start at the beginning.
“I grew up a city kid,” says Louis, a New Orleans native. “In Louisiana you didn’t go camping much because the woods were so thick with undergrowth. Hiking was no fun because of the bushwhacking.”
Louis Lee’s making of his documentary Outdoor Chattanooga came down to three important life events: whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River, surviving the blizzard of ’93 and meeting Ruth Thompson.The outlying swamps didn’t provide much opportunity for outdoor recreation either. So Louis never knew he was a nature-lover until 1991, when he relocated to Chattanooga after landing a photojournalism job at Channel 12. “Suddenly, the outdoors were much more user-friendly,” he says.
Shortly thereafter, a friend invited him on a whitewater rafting excursion down the Ocoee River. “It was my first experience doing anything like that. You could drive down Highway 64 all day and look down at the pretty water, but it is a completely different vantage point to be on the water and looking up at the mountains. It was awe-inspiring,” he says. “And it set me off.”