Tristan Bayer

In 2008, Bayer Bayer was hired to direct, produce, and shoot a short documentary about ocean acidification for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The result was a 22-minute HD movie entitled ACID TEST: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification narrated by actress Sigourney Weaver which premiered on Discovery Communication's Planet Green channel and was made available online in its entirety at http://www.acidtestmovie.com to create public awareness and lobby Capitol Hill for urgent climate legislation leading towards the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009.

Bayer co-directed, wrote, edited, narrated, and starred in a feature-length film, Earthling. Earthling won the EarthWatch Institute "Film of the Year" award in association with National Geographic and had a pre-screening of the film at the National Geographic Grosvenor Theater in Washington, D.C. Earthling had its world premiere at the 2005 Seattle International Film Festival, and won the 'Audience Choice Award' for best documentary and the Chrystal Heart award at the Heartland Film Festival. Earthling went on to win multiple awards including two 'Audience Choice Awards', 'Best Cinematography', 'Best Feature Documentary','Best Docudrama', 'Best Feature Film', 'Best Children's Film', 'Best Achievement in Sound', and nominated for 'Best Editing' and 'Best Writing.

In 1999 Bayer was awarded the BBC / Time-Life Natural History Innovation Grant of $100,000 for the most innovative idea of a new television series. Bayer and his crew went on to shoot a pilot episode for his idea of a series entitled Tripping on location in Borneo, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Yellowstone National Park.

Bayer moved to Los Angeles in 1997 where he began working as a cinematographer and host of television shows which aired on TBS, FOX Family Channel, BBC, National Geographic Channel, and Discovery Networks.