Adventure Is Out There

Shane Reynolds is a true Floridian. He was born in Pensacola, raised in Fort Walton, and lives in Destin. As a kid, Reynolds didn’t stray too far from home. “My dad liked to be home, and that was his thing,” he says. “My mom, on the other hand, loves to travel, and she kind of put that bug into me.”

That bug has led Reynolds to a career as the owner of Color Earth, a video production company that specializes in adventure travel. He operates as something of a one-man band—hosting, producing, and editing—for the likes of the Travel Channel and National Geographic Wild. He leaves still photography to his wife, Romona Robbins Reynolds, who works as a freelance photographer, and most recently has focused his energy on specialty camera operations like underwater cinematography and drone piloting.

“It’s reinvigorated my passion for this area that I live in,” Reynolds says. “Living in Florida, the summers started to become really problematic for me. It’s too hot. It’s too crowded.”

Escape was his coping mechanism, and he spent his summers exploring other places. His first adventures were to the mountains in western North Carolina, a place he went to every year from about age 10 until he was 26 years old. His mother volunteered at a conference for teens at a YMCA property that Reynolds and his brother explored and eventually participated in—an experience he says set the tone for his life and has taken him to the far corners of the globe. Though his appetite for adventure hasn’t quelled, his ability to find it closer to home has grown.

“There’s been a shift in my attention,” Reynolds says. He attributes part of it to growing up—he celebrated his fiftieth birthday in December—and being a father to a 12-year-old daughter, Ellsyan, who learned to dive two years ago and who visited the same YMCA conference last summer that Reynolds grew up attending.

“I’m focusing on the marine life in this area,” he explains. “For the last three or four years, we’ve had an unusual amount of whale sharks coming into our area. Last summer, we had a new aggregation of tiger sharks at our local pier and all these redfish that live under the bridge.”

Reynolds describes the spectacular species in nooks and crannies, as well as the local wildlife officials and university-based researchers who are studying them. “It gives me all this artillery to go out and drop a camera off a fishing pier or throw a tank on and go for a short dive or jump in and help the county tag devil rays. There’s so much fun stuff happening here that’s not happening anywhere else in the world.”

These new interests are also something of a full-circle moment. Reynolds studied broadcast journalism at the University of Florida. His graduation gift was airfare to New Zealand, where he stayed with a friend and let a thirst for adventure be his guide. With dreams of a career in music—he’s a vocalist who plays guitar—he headed to Iowa for a few months to sleep on the couch of a friend who had a recording studio in his home. On his way back to Florida, Nashville’s Music Row and another friend’s couch beckoned.

“I very quickly learned that musicians were a dime a dozen there,” recalls Reynolds, who found work at a video production company. “With video, I found something I could actually excel with.”

Photos by Romona Robbins Photography

After a few years, he headed back home to Florida, where he shot commercials and a local television show called Destination Sound Check. “That provided me enough content to put together a reel to sell to the Travel Channel,” Reynolds says.

In 2006, he got to work on Not Your Average Tour Guide as a host, producer, and editor. When the show’s executive producer switched networks, Reynolds went along to National Geographic Wild, launching Shane Untamed. The solo show gave him the chance to take some of the most exciting trips of his life—including one where he and his crew were stranded in the rainforest of Guyana after a local tour operator scammed them out of money intended to pay porters. The group filmed their 12-day struggle to find their way back to civilization. “It wasn’t what Nat Geo wanted or what we expected to shoot,” says Reynolds. “But, it ended up being their favorite episode because it was real.”

The show ended after a season when the executive producer who brought him the opportunity moved on, but Reynolds’ adventures continued. His highlights include traveling with the Bellamy Brothers across Europe for their twenty-fifth anniversary tour, touring with Charlie Daniels through Japan and North Korea, and filming Travis Tritt underwater in the Cayman Islands.

These days, the proliferation of social media is keeping Reynolds creating. “Ever since [Instagram] reels came out and you could use whatever music that you want, it’s become really fun for me to put together these little edits,” he explains. “It reminds me of that local show I used to do. [It] brings me back to my days as a musician and allows me to promote what I love to do with specialty cams.”

Does that mean Reynolds’ travel adventure days are behind him? Not likely.

“This isn’t something to get out of my system,” he says, though what future adventures will look like is anyone’s guess. “The excitement of a new project in a new country is something we love. But these days, we are just as excited to come home.

Pro Tips

“Danger exists everywhere, even in your own backyard,” says Reynolds. To avoid pitfalls, he suggests:

» Knowing where you’re going when you get off the plane. That can mean having a hotel reservation or connecting with a travel outfitter and tourism office before leaving home.

» Dressing to blend in with the local culture and leaving jewelry behind.

» Sticking to the safety precautions you follow at home, like avoiding unfamiliar or crime-prone areas alone after dark.

» Immersing yourself in the local culture. Don’t look like a tourist. Research customs before you travel somewhere new.

» Finding out where the locals go, especially if you’re traveling without a spelled-out itinerary. “The bartender at the local dive bar will give you a lot better information than the [concierge] at a high-end hotel,” Reynolds says. 

Photos by Romona Robbins Photography

Highlight Reel

Reynolds’ goal as a travel show producer is to bring “light into the darker corners of the Earth.” He says he loves to focus on destinations “that get a bad rap and show the beautiful side of things.”

El Salvador is known as the “murder capital of the world,” Reynolds says of the spot that tops his list of favorites because “they have really good surf, beautiful landscapes, and a lot to offer in terms of adventure and culture.” He’s never encountered danger there but has fallen victim to pickpocketing and petty theft in other areas considered to be safer for American travelers. 

Road tripping in Ireland is an adventure that’s easily accessible, not overly populated, and offers both open spaces and inviting cities. “Often, the weather is kind of gloomy, but when the sun comes out, it’s so green you can barely believe it,” he says.

Reynolds loves places like Norway, New Zealand, and the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa, all of which he calls “big sky” places. But his favorite destination is Egypt. “It offers everything,” he explains. “You can experience history like never before. You can surf right behind the Library of Alexandria, have convoy access to take you deep into the Sahara and scuba dive at an oasis, and go sledding and sandboarding on the dunes of the Great Sand Sea.”

Photos by Romona Robbins Photography