Watch­ing a short film about the out­doors is no sub­sti­tute for spend­ing time in nature, but there are some films that  inspire get you out there. Four in Four is one of those. The project is a col­lab­o­ra­tion of Julian Bialowas, Shara Esben­shade, and Wes Walk­er, of the pro­duc­tion com­pa­ny TRUE MVMNT, who set out for a long week­end with a sim­ple idea: To vis­it a hand­ful of nation­al parks in Cal­i­for­nia, Utah, Ari­zona, and Col­orado over the course of four days.

The scenes the film­mak­ers’ sen­si­tiv­i­ty to col­or, light, and com­po­si­tion through­out their pho­to­graph­ic jour­ney pro­vides an easy-on-the-eyes nat­ur­al respite from the work-a-day world that is noth­ing short of stun­ning. What’s also strik­ing is that all these nat­ur­al images are not devoid of humans. The lens wan­ders to the pho­tog­ra­phers them­selves and watch­es them expe­ri­ence the world through their cam­eras or phones. It’s as post mod­ern as a painter’s self por­trait in mir­ror, and the result is a land­scape, that even despite the vast dis­tances from a warm bed and hot show­er, feels homey, cozy, and all togeth­er personable. 

By Tim Gib­bins