(train tracks clanging) (slow orchestral music) - [Jeff] A life of travel will one day play back as an endless stream of images.

Some you make in camera, others forever captured with your eyes and mind.

(slow orchestral music continues) Certain places you visit will inspire more than others, and call you back to practice a lifelong journey of photography.

(bell clanging) - You got the light going on right there with shadows.

- [Jeff] We knew we would see this place again, but didn't know when.

And as fate would have it, our return to Switzerland would be brief.

A stopover on our way to film in the village mountains of France.

We made it to Basel and we're a little tired right now, but we're gonna get this party started.

But 36 hours in Basel is just enough time to remind us why we love filming in Europe's urban settings.

- We're just getting our gear ready to go for this morning.

It's a nice crisp 50-degree morning here in Basel, Switzerland.

And we're getting up early before the sunrise because we're gonna go take about, I think it's like a 10-minute walk down to the bridge, to the Rhine River.

- [Jeff] And opens our eyes to another world of image appreciation from some of the masters of bringing paint and canvas and light to life.

The streets of this town where France and Germany and Switzerland all meet, becomes a backdrop to tell the story of this place through images.

(city crowd chattering) But the vibrance of life here is what brings color to the frame beyond the lens, and why Switzerland is so much more than green valleys and snow-covered peaks.

Four cameras, four different ways of seeing the world, and styles of photography, combine into one look of one day in Basel, Switzerland.

- You know, I'm just letting you know there's a killer sunrise lining up, kind of in the general direction over there.

- I'm panning to it right now.

(Jeff laughs) (vibrant music) - [Jeff] When you travel, the world becomes a smaller place.

- [Masked photographer] Pretty incredible stuff.

- [Jeff] When you explore with friends like mine that are outdoor cinematographers, destinations definitely come to life.

(thunder and lightening striking) - Okay, that was loud.

- [Jeff] We share our love of travel with our cameras, telling the stories of earth's most amazing places in every frame, but on every adventure... (crocodile growling) - [Man By River] Oh shoot, Dave.

- [Jeff] The unplanned moments are the ones we remember the most.

I did bring a bag of raw chicken.

Hang on, I'll be right back.

(group laughing) Here we go, to Lake Como.

I'm Jeff Aiello, co-bridge.

(Jeff groans) And this is, "Outside Beyond The Lens."

It's not always about the obvious big to you behind you, sometimes the prettiest things are right below your feet.

(vibrant music fades) - [Announcer] Production funding for "Outside Beyond The Lens," provided by visit Fresno County, nature, diversity, found in the heart of California Central Valley.

From Fresno and Clovis, you can drive to three nearby national parks.

By Hedrick Chevrolet.

- Hedrick Chevrolet is proud to support the spirit of travel in each of us.

Every journey has a first step.

Adventures start here.

- [Announcer] By Advanced Beverage Company, serving Bakersfield and Kern County for over 50 years, from our family to yours.

Supporting Valley PBS in the wonders of travel.

By the Penstar Group, promoting opportunity and growth for collaboration and partnerships for the future.

By Hodges Inc.

Battery Storage Systems, would you rather invest in the power company's infrastructure or your own?

And by visit Yosemite Madera County, California's gateway to Yosemite National Park.

Explore the outdoor magic of Madera County and be inspired to discover more.

(soothing piano music) (airplane passengers faintly chattering) - [Jeff] Another long, overnight flight comes to an end over Europe, as the new day begins in a place we've been eager to come back to.

(soothing piano music continues) Below the green rolling hills of Eastern France and the Vosges Mountains.

A place we would come to know well later on this trip.

As the hills give way to the Rhine River Valley and Germany beyond, the inevitable message from the pilot that we've begun our descent seems a little too loud this morning as we prepare to land in Zurich, Switzerland.

(airplane wheels screeching) I distinctly remember a feeling of sadness when we lifted off from this same airport three years prior headed home, not knowing if or when we'd come back.

But, now, as we move through this modern and beautifully laid out airport, feelings of excitement fight their way past jet lag and bloodshot eyes as we begin another adventure.

(suitcases rustling) This one is taking us to France by way of Switzerland to film the World War II history documentary, "Unbroken Honor."

We decide to spend one day in the town of Basel, about a two-hour drive from Zurich on our way to the Vosges Mountains.

With the challenge set forth to shoot an episode of this show, comprising of one day of filming in a classic European town, and capture the essence of this place in camera.

(bright music) But before any of this can begin, our trip gets off on the wrong foot, as trips sometimes do, this time at the car rental desk shortly after we arrive.

Well, we're trying to figure out a couple of things right now.

First, we haven't got a communication back from the owner of our VRBO up in Germany.

So we're trying to understand, I'm just checking my booking, I've got it verified.

It took the money, you got a spot, but we don't have the keys yet, or sometimes when you go on VRBO, they'll send you an access code key, we haven't gotten that yet.

So, waiting on that.

The owner, or the property manager, hasn't called or written me back yet.

And then we just landed in Zurich after a 10-hour flight from San Francisco, and- - All good things, all good things.

- All good things, just part of travel, just deal with it, but we rented a car from a large national brand and I apparently, when I did the booking, I put down for some reason that we would arrive at two o'clock, and we arrived at... - 10 o'clock.

- 10 o'clock in the morning, and our car is not here, and it's prepaid and it's a nice size minivan so we can accommodate all of us and our gear, but we have to sit here and wait for three hours now for our car.

(bright music) - Yeah, this, you know, this is travel.

- [Photographer] Classic.

- Classic.

- [Photographer] Classic Aiello.

- Classic Aiello, always prepared.

- [Photographer] Always (laughs) prepared, always prepared for nearly everything.

- At the last minute, always prepared.

Well, in his words, it would be, "pivot," the classic pivot.

- [Photographer] Pivot or punt.

- Pivot or punt, yep.

So we're pivoting.

Pivoting in a good way, and we will turn this into a positive and continue on.

(bright music) - [Jeff] Staying positive and cordial to the rental car folks leads to a quick solution that has us back on track and headed west towards Basel.

The folks from the vacation rental we had lined up in Germany, never called back.

So we pivot to a new plan that is now taking us to a hotel with rooms right in the heart of Basel.

instead of staying 30 minutes outside of town across the Rhine.

This adjustment to the plan is a perfect example of how sometimes rolling with punches leads to a better experience than what we had originally planned.

(vibrant music continues) With bags dropped in our new city center address for the night, we grabbed cameras and wade into the current of Basel as late afternoon light frames scenes of a classic Swiss town and as we soon find, is a hub for the arts in Europe.

(bright guitar music) (guitarist whistling) (water rustling) (train brakes squealing) (crowd chattering and applauding) (cymbal clanging) - [Guitarist] Thank you very much.

- All right, boys, we made it to Basel, and we're a little tired right now, but we're gonna get this party started.

- And for Dave, look at that beautiful drink, Dave.

(glasses clinking) - [Jeff] all right, Dave.

Good job.

Cheers.

(gentle piano music) After burgers and a couple of pints, we turn in early to try and balance the checkbook of sleep that is now seriously overdrawn.

Tomorrow will be a full day of street photography, wandering the town to tell the visual story of Basel Switzerland.

(train engines running) - [Photographer] What's going on here, Jeff?

We're just getting our gear ready to go for this morning.

It's a nice, crisp 50-degree morning here in Basel, Switzerland, and we're getting up early before the sunrise, 'cause we're gonna go take about, I think it's like a 10-minute walk down to the bridge, to the Rhine River, and hopefully Zack's got a good spot for us picked out for the sunrise, right, Zack?

- [Zack] Let's do it.

- [Jeff] All right, let's go.

(gentle music) (train wheels screeching) Basel is the third largest city in Switzerland, after Zurich and Geneva.

It's old-town section, where we're staying, sits across the Rhine River from Germany, and to the southwest, suburbs of Basel stretch into France.

(gentle music continues) We decide to shoot the sunrise on the grounds of the Basel Minster, a stunning late-Romanesque cathedral originally built in the 12th century.

(church bells ringing) On its grounds is the perfect place to set up and wait for the sun to rise on this cool October morning.

All right, we are up early on the Switzerland side of the Rhine River in the town of Basel, and Zack is working the drone right now.

- Zack is amazed at just the architecturally layout of this- - [Jeff] Yeah, it's beautiful.

You know, I'm just letting you know there's a killer sunrise lining up, (Zack laughs) kind of in the general direction over there.

- I'm panning to it right now.

(Jeff laughs) (rain pattering) - It's awesome, it's a beautiful crisp morning.

It's early October, we're on the Rhine River in Switzerland, across the river is Germany, and Basel is a great, beautiful, historic and culturally important city in Switzerland and Europe, for that matter.

It's known for its museums.

It's known for a young, vibrant, friendly population.

There's about 178,000 people that call Basel home on both sides of the river, and we're just having a wonderful early start to the day.

This is our first time breaking cameras out here and I just love mornings, if you watch the show enough, you know I like sunrises and we got a good one lining up right behind me.

(gentle music continues) This is another shoot where we're excited to have Jon Neely back on the crew.

(leaves crunching) Jon has just wrapped up a sailing adventure in the Caribbean for the past year and was available to help out on this one.

I know, Johnny, so you're back on the crew for this shoot after a long hiatus.

- Yeah.

- [Jeff] I think you picked a pretty good one.

- Pretty good one, I didn't want to come back for.

(Jeff laughs) What a beautiful day, we're getting great weather, too, and geeze, the sunrises does not suck, I mean.

(Jeff laughs) - [Jeff] It does not suck.

- [Jon] Wow, yeah, look at the fog way out in the distance.

- [Jeff] I know.

- [Jon] The sun.

- [Jeff] That's beautiful.

Some of the industrial steam coming off the vents and stuff.

Yeah, this is a good one.

This is why you get up early, folks.

(gentle music continues) (towns people faintly chattering) With the sun up and the day officially off to a good start, we lock into a mode of photography that is one of our favorites.

No plan, no schedule and not even a clear idea of where we are or where to go.

This is what urban photo adventures are all about.

Sometimes we stay together, sometimes we split up.

If someone wants to follow a random alley by themselves, it's all good.

Each of us capturing the images that speaks to us individually, slowly getting to know Basel with every step and release of the shutter.

(towns people faintly chattering) (train rushing) After crossing the iconic middle bridge over the Rhine into Germany, heavy packs and tripods are beginning to take their toll.

Our hotel gave us each a free public transportation card as part of our check-in, so it's time to put the electronic train system in Basel to work.

(bells chiming) The public transportation here, the little electric train that runs all over Basel, so you just jump on and jump off.

We have a city card that allows us to ride all this stuff for free.

And so we, we just figured out that we don't have to walk as much.

(Jeff laughs) They're quiet, they're efficient, they're fast, and kind of like a built-in folly shot for our cameras.

(soothing music) (bells chiming) (train car rustling) The train here is the absolute best way to get around and cover the ground needed to get a good feel for Basel.

(train bell ringing) (soothing music continues) We make our way back into Old Town on the Swiss side before hopping out on foot again.

- Hit it hard, and walk up that street.

- [Photographer] Yeah, that's what I thought.

- The Market Brunnen also known as Marketplace Nine in Basel, is a great place to grab images that resonate the heartbeat of life here every day.

(soothing music continues) The striking red stone building is Basel's City Hall called the Rathaus.

It was rebuilt after the great earthquake of 1356 and is the centerpiece of this busy town market.

(soothing music continues) Alright, so, you've got a great selection of different mushrooms here.

- Yes, sir.

- [Jeff] All from the local area?

- Yeah, all from Basel.

So, these ones in the bottom, these are actually purpose-grown, so like greenhouse mushrooms, but everything on the top here and everything here is all wild and locally sourced.

So there's people who go out, they collect for us, we collect ourselves, or in some way, shape or form, we import them.

- [Jeff] And you've gotta know what you're doing, right?

We were talking about that.

- Yeah, yeah, with people who bring them in, you have to have a keen eye because some, for example, these ones they're like witches, I guess, like, witches mushrooms, you could call them.

The problem is there's two variants of them.

There's one which is safe to eat and really good.

There's another one which is full of ethanol with pure alcohol and, yeah, you'll have bad day.

- [Jeff] That could be what you're looking for.

- Yes.

(both laughing) (soothing music continues) (soothing music fades) (bright music) (train car rustling) - [Jeff] With the day clicking away, we decide to do something that is counterintuitive for us.

this show is called "Outside Beyond the Lens," but right now with one of the world's best art museums directly in front of us, the Kunst Museum, we're going inside.

(soothing music) The museum allowed us to bring our cameras in to spend the afternoon in the world's oldest public collection of art.

(soothing music continues) The museum is separated into different eras from some of the world's top artists.

Important pieces from the Renaissance period, and the largest collection of art from the Holbein family.

(soothing music continues) 17th and 18th century works by Rubens and Rembrandt, key pieces from the 19th century by Monet, Van Gogh and Ferdinand Hodler.

(soothing music continues) The scale of this place is something none of us expected.

If you come here, plan on two to three hours to see it all.

And if you really love art, plan on more.

Once we settled into and grasped what the Kunst Museum was, how important a collection it holds, our time here left a lasting impression.

Seeing original works by Picasso and more contemporary pieces by names like Andy Warhol and Brice Marden definitely left our minds expanded even though we didn't fully get some of the exhibits in the contemporary art section.

(soothing music continues) With evening approaching, and after some time back at the hotel to recharge from the day, we lean on Basel's reliable train system to transport us outside of the town center to experience outlying areas of town.

(bright music) A street side cafe, cold beer and hot fondue, remind us of why we love travel to Switzerland so much.

(restaurant diners chattering) Good, Johnny?

- [Johnny] Yeah.

(bright music continues) (bright music continues) - How you approach photography to your travels can make a big difference in how you enjoy places like Basel.

(bright music continues) Most of the cities in Europe lend themselves well to street-style photography, and when you push yourself beyond the typical snapshots in front of popular stops and attractions, you build a uniquely personal photo diary of your entire adventure.

(bright music continues) Take pictures of everything, the random alley, the strange fountain, life on a nondescript side street.

It doesn't matter, if you see it, if you experience it, capture it in camera.

When you look back on these images later in life, trust me, it will mean so much more than the shots everyone else seems to grab.

(bright music continues) Allow these pictures to tell your story of travel in the universal language that is photography.

(bright music continues) For us, Basel was a stop on a larger adventure, a place on our way to something else, but taking the time to get to know it, with photography as the introduction, unlocked discoveries, expanded our appreciation and etched memories on screen and into our minds that none of us will forget.

(bright music fades) (energetic music) ♪ Lost track of the forest through the trees ♪ ♪ Forget what I was chasing ♪ ♪ Spent so many nights living out at sea ♪ ♪ That my heart has gone vacant ♪ ♪ Vacant ♪ ♪ And everybody who was close to me ♪ ♪ All stayed on dry land ♪ ♪ So now I'm driving back on Interstate West ♪ ♪ I just gotta feel something ♪ ♪ Not gonna wait 'til the morning ♪ ♪ Because something's gonna change my mind ♪ ♪ I don't wanna change my mind ♪ ♪ Change my mind ♪ ♪ Oh, I wanna stay right here ♪ ♪ Right here ♪ ♪ Chilling with my friends for another year ♪ ♪ I would walk away from the spotlight for the good life ♪ ♪ Oh, come on, turn your hate into poetry ♪ ♪ Fame into power, enemies to friends ♪ ♪ And your minutes into hours ♪ ♪ I would walk away from the spotlight, for the good life ♪ ♪ For the good life ♪ ♪ Send my best friend an apologetic text ♪ ♪ He says to come over ♪ ♪ Well, the whole damn town has been waiting for the day ♪ ♪ When you would come back here.

♪ ♪ Back here ♪ ♪ There was dancing and talking ♪ ♪ And stakes on the grilling ♪ ♪ I think that I will be alright ♪ - [Announcer] Production funding for "Outside Beyond The Lens" provided by Visit Fresno County, nature, diversity, found in the heart of California Central Valley.

From Fresno and Clovis, you can drive to three nearby national parks.

By Hedrick Chevrolet.

- Hedrick Chevrolet is proud to support the spirit of travel in each of us.

Every journey has a first step.

Adventures start here.

- [Announcer] By Advance Beverage Company, serving Bakersfield and Kern County for over 50 years.

From our family to yours, supporting Valley PBS in the wonders of travel.

By the Penstar Group, promoting opportunity and growth for collaboration and partnerships for the future.

By Hodges Inc.

Battery Storage Systems.

Would you rather invest in the power company's infrastructure or your own?

And by visit Yosemite Madera County, California's gateway to Yosemite National Park.

Explore the outdoor magic of Madera County and be inspired to discover more.

(vibrant music)