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Style Magazine

Get to Know...Todd Stanley

Aug 30, 2010 05:00PM ● By Style

Photo by Dante Fontana

It’s autumn in Coloma, and leaves outnumber rafts now drifting down the river there. It is peaceful, a time to wind down. But not for everyone.

Every fall for the past six years, Coloma resident Todd Stanley has said goodbye to this idyllic season – not to mention his wife and two children – and headed north (along with brother Doug), to spend winter documenting what is simply one of the world’s most raw, brutal jobs: crab fishing in Alaska’s Bering Sea. You may have seen his work on Discovery Channel. It’s called Deadliest Catch.

Andy and Jonathan. Keith. The Hansen Brothers. Josh and the two Jakes. Phil Harris. Thanks to Stanley and his crew, we viewers have gotten to know these guys well enough to want to have a beer with them, even as we realize we’d crumble like rotten ice if we ever actually had to work for them.

Captain Phil’s passing last season made DC one of the most-watched cable shows ever, and it was Stanley’s understated camera work that told his friend’s heart-wrenching story with dignity and restraint – two words rarely associated with reality TV.

So for a few more weeks Stanley will hang with his family and work on an outdoor adventure show he’s producing called Experience California (experiencecalifornia.tv), which he’s developing in partnership with the California Department of Tourism. And he’ll try to enjoy what he can of another Gold Country autumn...because winter isn’t far away.


For more about Todd Stanley, and other local happenings and information, be sure to pick up this month's copy of Style – El Dorado County Foothills edition. Click on the Get Your Copy link on this Web site for some of our newsstand locations; click on the Subscribe link on this Web site to become a regular subscriber, or to order a copy of this issue or one of our back issues, please email  [email protected], or call 916-988-9888.