If you love Yosemite, its likely you’ll enjoy the work of Steve Bumgardner (aka Yosemite Steve), a videographer/filmmaker who, to this writer's eyes, has assembled the preeminent library of interpretive park videos in the National Park System.

Bumgardner’s artistic flair has gained more prominence with each new production for the Yosemite Nature Notes collection. What began in 2007 as fairly traditional interpretive videos have evolved into handsome short films—less Marlin Perkins/Mutual of Omaha, more Ansel Adams.

His latest project is One Day in Yosemite, a nearly 15-minute composite of footage captured throughout the park by 30 photographers on a single day, June 26, 2012. Enjoy the finished product, and read our exclusive Q&A with Yosemite Steve below:

The REI Blog: What prompted the idea? When and how did you arrive at the concept for this project?

Yosemite Steve: This entire project started as a Twitter conversation last February between a handful of timelapse photographers who were planning to get together for a night of shooting. I suggested that instead of all of us going to one place, why don't we scatter throughout a region and create a portrait of that one night? After some bold ambitions (One Day in California, anyone?) we finally settled on Yosemite as the subject of our portrait. 

Even though we fully understand object permanence by the age of 2, it's still hard for one person to fully grasp what is going on everywhere else at the same time. Yosemite National Park, with 1200 square miles, thousands of employee and millions of annual visitors, seemed like the perfect subject for such a study.

REI: In past YNN productions, how many times have you used multiple photographers/videographers? 

YS: Yosemite Nature Notes is usually a simple affair. I do most of the shooting and editing, and I often have help in the field with my friend and assistant Josh Helling. When we shot the Moonbows episode, there were a couple of nights were I had brought 4 or 5 other folks in to help capture the timelapse shots that would take all night. But I never worked with so many folks prior to this project.

REI: Who are these people?

YS: I’m friends with about half of the crew, and the rest were usually recommendations made by others. Some were dedicated timelapse artists, others were wedding and corporate shooters. A handful of us were natural history and documentary filmmakers. Three of the 30 shooters were women, and I was probably the oldest member of the team. Several of the timelapse guys are rockstars: Shawn Reeder, Josh Owens, Ryan Killackey, Colin Delehanty and Sheldon Neill all have millions of viral views between them.

REI: Did you see yourself as the Spielberg of this operation?  What was that like directing other photographers?

YS: In this case, it was less traditional directing and more just trying to put the pieces in place. Producing was the tricky part, and all the days leading up to June 26 were work, while the day of the shoot went pretty smoothly and was the most enjoyable. Since I was shooting in Yosemite Valley, I was focused on my task at hand for nearly 20 hours straight, and there's nothing I love more than shooting.

Surprisingly, there was very little direction given on the day of the shoot, just a few phone calls when I learned that the helicopter was going to fly. Everyone had the standing order that if they saw a helicopter, shoot it, but I wanted to give folks a heads up, especially the guys up on Half Dome and Glacier Point.

REI: You’ve got some nice stories in here: kids interacting with a ranger’s horse, hang gliders, PCT thru-hiker, the dad and son climbing together. Did you assign people to cover specific aspects of the park experience?

REI: How challenging was this compared to your customary projects? 

YS: This project was the most complicated single-day production that I've ever been involved in—weeks of brainstorming and planning before the shoot (all while busy on other projects) and months of editing afterwards. The trickiest thing was the edit.

We generated so much footage (over 3 terabytes) that it was a hurdle just to watch it all. Then we had to figure out what sort of story or narrative should we follow. Do we move forward in time, or start at the end and flashback? Should each vignette stand on its own, or should we meet characters off and on throughout their day? How much verbal vs. non-verbal communication? And finally, how long would people watch this?

Originally, we thought we might get a 40-minute film from this shoot, but afterwards we realized that there just wasn't enough story to hold a viewer’s attention that long.

REI: What’s your satisfaction level with the final result?

YS: Honestly, when I released the film I was actually nervous about it. I just didn't know how it would be received, since it's so different than most of my other work. I had set out to make a documentary, but I think we ended up creating an art film that is more open to the interpretations of the viewer instead of the filmmaker.

I'm so happy to read comments on YouTube and elsewhere that say this film made them choke up. People are saying that watching the film, like the visiting the park, is a spiritual experience. Folks who have spent time in Yosemite have been moved to tears while watching as they recall their own Yosemite experiences, and those that have never been are planning their first trip.

These types of responses are why I do this work. I love to inspire others to get out there and explore the world around them. This film reminds you of the possibilities.

REI: How does one guy pull all this off?

YS: Beside all the shooters, I get help from my funders, the Yosemite Conservancy and National Park Service, and on this project I also got support from Borrowlenses.com and Kessler Crane.