Pup and a pivot

Pup's Glide Shop from Joshua Lawton on Vimeo.

In my hunting for storylines for my thesis project I found this small shop in Breckenridge after roaming around for a few days. Pup and his circle of ski bums from the late 1970s and early 80s figured out a way to find work and ski as many days as possible every season all while trying not to get posted on the police blotter having as much fun as they can. I wish the richness of these characters was more evident in the video, but every time I pulled out the mic, the vibe wasn't as strong. I also did not get nearly enough photos. This was nearly a daily assignment approach. Go in and collect content for a few hours and produce it. Would have been much better had I had the opportunity to go back a few more times. But those are all typical excuses, and we all know about excuses.

The topic of skiing lifestyle for the thesis project has ultimately, been temporarily been abandoned in favor of another unique and rather fun sport lifestyle. I was struggling to find stories of interest and themes for the piece and burning up precious time. I still have to learn to build the interface and interactive aspect of the project, all while producing the content for the portal. With time passing me by faster than Pup skis the Horseshoe Bowl, I had to make a pivot. The new project will fundamentally be the same in my argument that a true interwoven multiple-media piece is better storytelling than the siloed approach of most traditional media portals. The topic of lifestyles is about the only change, other than collaborating with another photographer, with an excellent personal visio, who has lots of ground work already done to get everything going. It will be pretty fun and hopefully really good when the time comes for the launch sometime in late April. Until then, enjoy Pup and his crew.

Walk2Class

Here's a goofy little piece I put together from photos I have made over the past four semesters of teaching at Metro State. I created the music in Garageband and gathered some ambient sounds from a couple walks.

Something a little different and fun. Gotta have some fun once in a while or it's all work.

Rush rush all day long, rush rush while I make this song...

Was given the assignment to shoot stills and video of a "walking school bus." What's a walking school bus you ask? It's where several elementary school children and their parents gather up in a group as they walk to school in the morning. But looking back on the day, I wonder if it wasn't the opening of Pandora's evil little box.

The route was barely a mile. I knew it wasn't going to take long to walk a mile in the cold and snow. One issue was that I forgot to grab a video camera in my dazed fog of editing a beast of a video for another story the night before the assignment. I was already a bit perturbed that I had to do double-duty, so I grabbed my audio kit and decided I would make an audio slide show.

After working on that vicious beast of a video, which was a two-camera video shot with only one camera, I learned that stills allow for a wider scope of wiggle room in the editing process. A still can be stretched out a bit longer or shortened as needed and the time viewed is not based on the action or for the most part the audio track. A video clip has a C-130 load more influence from the motion and the audio in most cases. So back to my bus project....

I was feeling that doing the audio and stills would lend to better maximization of the brief time given to gather content. Well, looking back on the morning and in the editing area –which is not the quietest environment to be in nor void of distraction– I decided that I may have been wrong in thinking that I was better off shooting stills and gathering audio. I've determined that in many respects I should have driven back to the office before the assignment and grabbed one of the Canon XH-A1 cameras and JUST shot video. Then pulled frame grabs for the paper to run through the VooDoo Tool. All the audio and visuals would have been gathered at the same time. I wouldn't have "missed" a shot or three. I wouldn't have "missed" a great sound bite. I wouldn't have been so damn stressed out and sent a pathetic and out of line text message to my boss.

Lessons learned. The hard way. Sometimes the best way really. The countless possibilities present in multimedia also present countless learning possibilities that can make a very structured and eager person feel humbled after a bit of rage. Not that I would apply the notion of shooting only video and pulling frames to every assignment, but it will be something I will take into consideration and appraise the final possible results given the situation.

Real People

Reporter Zak Brown told me a week or so ago that he was going to do a story about a rodeo event that used to take place in Boulder called the Boulder Pow Wow. He had a folder full of historical photos in tow and said he wanted to find some people to interview that took part in the 50 year event and gather audio to accompany the story. I thought it would make for a fun audio slide show.

In a episode of serendipity a freelance history columnist for the Camera, Silvia Pettem, was waiting for her daughter near a restaurant I was to shoot an assignment later that day. I told her about the story and asked if she knew of anyone who would be willing to talk about the Pow Wow. She told me about an 80-year-old man named Stan Johnson. She said he was an announcer for the rodeo and she had just talked with him recently.

Zak was able to contact and set up a time to meet Mr. Johnson at the Boulder County Fairgrounds. We decided that considering the former Pow Wow grounds are littered with retail stores the fairgrounds would make for a better background to make a portrait of Mr. Johnson. Upon arrival I learned that another gentleman, Lee Peters, would be there to talk with also.

What ensued was one of the most enjoyable story sessions I had been able to listen to in a very long time. I don't know what it is, but older generations have a knack for talking and telling stories much better than anyone. I still wish I had been able to record just one of the hundreds of stories that my grandfather, Bob Campbell, would tell every day when I visited. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Peters stood for a couple photos and then with seamless ease the pair slid into their role as audible historians. I hit the record button an tried to hang on for the next 20 minutes of journeys through Boulder's history.

Growing up in a small Wyoming town you take for granted the richness and trueness of rodeo people. Sure, everyone knows everyone and everyone's business, but those folks are real. Rodeo folks don't have to put on an act. They celebrate the rodeo family and each other. Now living in a metropolitan landscape with people trying to be things they are not to fit in and be trendy, I have missed talking with genuine people. This was a fun project, despite having to franticly finish on deadline because of this whole deal.

I also put a much longer clip together of the interview that explains the event in detail. But the link is broken on the Camera's website, so if you want to listen go here.

Catch up time

It's been a while. How've you been?

Needless to say, I've been busy. But you've heard that before so I'll just leave it at that. This might be a bit longer than some of the other posts. I have a few things to share.

First off is an audio slide show I did on former CU quarterback John Hessler for a story about his progress.

I also worked on my second video production this week on Robb's Music in Boulder. Robb Candler is selling his business of 29 years. You can read about it and see stills from other photogs here.

I worked on those this week on top of running the Photo Dept. while my boss was on vacation. So when that happens other than being an e-mail wrangler you get to shoot quick hit assignments and breaking news.

Like University of Colorado researcher Hans Seelig who developed a chip that monitors the water stress of plants. It's always good to make use of a reporter that's just standing around. They make great light stands sometimes.

Then there's Mara Abbott. She's a local high school graduate that turned training for swimming on a bike into a possible full fledged career. She's tearing up the college ranks and finished second in a pro race in Canada. Since she's a swimmer, she's not a snobby roadie. I'm a roadie, but I'll be the first to admit there are several snobby cyclists out there. Speaking of, I sure need to get a few rides in considering I'm supposed to do the Triple Bypass in just a few weeks. It'll be grueling and torturous, maybe even evil but I still love that ride. This will be my fourth ride. Every one has been a journey of some sort. I can't wait for the 2007 edition. Alright, back to photos....

While sitting there wrangling e-mails, phone calls, reporters, editors, interns and trying to to get too distracted by my RSS feed the scanner sits right next to my computer. I usually hear most of the calls, but I was out shooting a really bad portrait. I won't even share it because I'm ashamed to put my name on it. One of those three minutes late and they don't really have the time to sit for you anyway deals. Anyway, there was a report of a "Code Black" in Boulder Creek. I get the phone call from the desk and race over there. Apparently three guys were tubing down the creek and one of them bumped into the body and they called 911. The police still haven't determined the cause of death, but he was identified. Not a fun way to try and beat the heat.

Then I was the camera in the courtroom goon again. This time for Ronald Swerlein. He's the guy in Longmont that has been accused of having enough chemicals to blow up his entire block. He says he's just making model rockets. If I keep up the pace I'm on I'll get on a first name basis with every sheriff and prisoner in Boulder County.

So that's what the last week's been like. Busy as usual. I've got a few more multimedia and videos in the works, so stay tuned......