J.J. Kelley, BASC

Josh Thomas

Josh and JJ have a special passion for the outdoors and people. Over the course of their 8-year friendship they have developed an incomparable style of filmmaking. They first met at the age of 20, independently hiking the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail, which they finished together. Since then their enthusiasm for wild places has brought them on new adventures.

In 2006, they created their first film, PEDAL TO THE MIDNIGHT SUN where they document their 1,200-mile bicycle journey across Alaska to the Arctic Ocean. National Geographic Television would go on to air a portion of the film, firmly establishing the friends as a force in the filmmaking world. In 2008, they combined efforts again to undertake the hearty task of sea kayaking from Alaska to Seattle. PADDLE TO SEATTLE shows a filmmaking style that is full grown and defined. Paddler Magazine called it "the best sea kayaking feature film created in the past decade." It received top accolades at 15 major film festivals and has aired on PBS affiliates, Outside TV, and NBC’s Universal Sports.

Traveling and filming in a low impact, unobtrusive way they are able to continuously interact with their surroundings spontaneously, bringing the viewer into scenes and scenarios they have never before viewed. What makes their films interesting is not so much the enormity of the expeditions, but the people they meet along the way and the lessons they learn.

As filmmakers they have become renowned for their honest and witty observation. Their rapport with one another has a seamless rhythm that could only have been developed through years of suffering together in the wild.

JJ has honed his skills as a filmmaker as an associate producer for National Geographic Television in Washington, DC. Over the past few years Josh's curiosity for adventure and filmmaking have kept him based in Seward, Alaska where he currently works as a carpenter.