Getting to Know Each Other
Any time I am asked for a picture of myself I realize I have almost none. I never find it useful to “feature” myself in pictures. I don’t take “selfies”. This one is from a hilltop viewing platform in Valparaiso, Chile. This stray dog was belly up, motionless. I thought it was dead. I approached very carefully, verified that it was breathing. After a few tense moments (aware that I may end up missing a few fingers), it turned out that all this “beast” wanted is a belly rub. We spent a few very precious moments together…
Who Am I?
- My name is Cristian Coban. I am informally known (and may pop in searches) as “Cris Coban”.
- I studied music, acquiring undergraduate degrees in Composition, Piano and Music Education, topping it off with a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Michigan State University. I taught and was Director of the Contemporary Music Ensemble at MSU for a while.
- I dedicated a few years of my life to serving in the US Navy.
- After Navy, I continued the musical career with freelance composing, teaching and found my niche as a business owner (I created CVC Productions), providing video and audio services. A very successful spin-off was the Audio Restoration service. I created a proprietary technique for restoring the sound of old, deteriorated music and voice recordings, to the way they sounded many years ago, when they were originally recorded. I completed over 22,000 projects for about 3,000 clients, including universities, libraries, radio stations and many private collectors.
- After 25 great years, that business is now behind me.
Wait a minute, but why this website?
- What you don’t know yet about me is that I always lived a “triple life”. In addition to the “musical me”, my entire life I was a “closet” photographer and mountaineer.
- My second life, as a photographer, has a sweet story: after using a simple camera when I was between 7 and 12 years of age, at 13 my father gave me his own “fancy” camera. Yes, I still remember that day. As I was a “big boy” now, I gave myself a technical upgrade (I moved to color photography) and started studying angles, light, composition in order to transition away from snapshot photography. This created a monster – a passion that never left me.
- In my third life, I am a mountaineer. There is a sweet story about this, as well: my first “mountain” was at age 3. I got tired before reaching “the summit”. My father, rather unceremoniously, lifted me under his armpit (like you’d carry a log) and carried me to the top (yes, I remember that day with fondness, too).
- From that age on, up until the college years, I climbed everything I had access to, up to about 2,600 m high (8,500 ft). After graduation and after Navy I started going bigger. I went to mountaineering, ice and rock climbing school in the Cascades, trained a lot in the Great Smoky Mountains and climbed mountains in Europe, Africa, Indonesia, China, Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and a few more, up to almost 8,000 m (25,000 ft). Maybe some day I’ll add a few blog posts and some videos and pictures about those climbs.
- Real Life for me was a continuous juggling act with five objects in the air (business, wife, kids, photography, mountaineering). There were times when I managed to keep all five in the air (the “happy”, though stressful, days), other times something either dropped to the ground or I had to put down to juggle fewer objects in the air.
- Real Life is sometimes harsh and takes away things from us without asking permission. It suddenly and almost simultaneously made three of my juggling objects disappear. After about two years of reflection, I realized that, having been left with only two objects, I can hold one in each hand and continue life without juggling.
- Thus the decision to “come out of the closet” as a photographer and a mountaineer and start a new life: this website and the YouTube channel you see in the top nav bar. My photography passion always included video production; my passion for mountaineering was complemented by SCUBA diving. Both involve Exploration and Travel, one of the themes of this website.
Plans for the future?
- Travel, record my experiences in video and photography, edit, publish, and keep turning this “wheel of life” for as long as I can. I strive to make you, my viewership, “Be there before you get there”, by sharing the wonder I find in my experiences, by producing immersive videos that are true to what I actually saw and felt (and are fun to watch, as well) and by providing useful bits of background and practical information.
- Getting this done is a new juggling act, with three elements: 1. production time; 2. travel and equipment finances; 3. viewership response. Will this site be useful (or fun) and make some sort of contribution? Will the production effort generate financial resources needed to keep the wheel turning? The answers to these questions (“yes-yes”, “no-no” or “maybe”) will shape the future.
- Many viewers do not get this far to read this line. Their contribution will be measured in “site metrics”, I am grateful for their contribution. However, the few viewers who read this line can make a larger contribution. Enjoy this site and what it has to offer. Afterwards, if you have anything to say, make “human contact” with me by clicking the Contact button below. I am eager to listen. Send feedback and ideas on how I can make this site better. If you have any ideas on how I can help the piggybank and make this endeavor self-sustaining, great. My intention is to be self-sufficient and to not load the site up with advertising and affiliate links and to not push hotels, trips, equipment or such.
- Thanks for visiting and reading this. Please enjoy the site and the videos!
Who Are You?
- Now that you got to know me, I’d like to know more about you: what are your interests that brought you to this website? Did you find what you were looking for? If not, can I add something to the website you will find useful? Click the Contact button below. Thanks!