Graduation and beyond

So today I walk across the stage at the University of Denver in the commencement ceremony for my Master's of Arts degree in Digital Media. It's been a quick two years and at times difficult, but a pretty rewarding experience. I'm not really sure what the future holds in store yet. It's been so busy finishing my schoolwork and degree that I've had little time to focus on job searching. I feel pretty confident about my skill set and the possibilities, it's just a matter of finding an employer that understands what I can offer and they have a position. It'll all work out, soon.

So now with a bit more free time and living in a playground called Colorado, I think I'll be doing some fun stuff for a change...for a few weeks anyway. Fun stuff like this!!

The Thesis Project

Well, it has been a difficult last few months.

But now I can say my thesis project is nearly complete and been launched on the web. http://cyclorado.us/
 

Weeks of collecting content, be it video, audio, photos or information, to editing said content to then constructing a complete interactive multiple-media website – all of it very time consuming and stressful. But I feel like I have learned a great deal about how to go about the process of building a unique project. One of the greatest lessons being that doing this as a one-man-band is not ideal. It takes a village. Thankfully I was able to benefit from the help of several very kind folks to complete this proof of concept.

That has been a rather difficult notion to get a grip on as well. Knowing that I intended to build a very interactive portal that was complete enough to support my argument yet maintain a manageable level of expectation. There were so many potential distractions or tangents pulling the project away from the main theme of siloed presentations of content impairs the storytelling, I was struggling to keep the train on the tracks. When a publication or organization proposes to generate a similar concept, there would be much more planning and many more resources implemented over a longer period of time to create a polished piece. I had no such luxury. I knew of several issues going into the development of the portal that would be better served using a few different technologies, but I had already invested hundreds of dollars and dozens of hours into understanding Flash and ActionScript 3 more effectively. I know that if I were to run with the idea and continue with the project I would have to learn some new tools and invest an enormous amount of time creating a much more sustainable portal.

After using several weeks up trying to focus on an entirely different topic for my project and then resetting on the topic of cycling, there was very little room for error or fine tuning, regrettably. Having to learn on the fly with my hair on fire was a challenge in and of itself. Doing constant searches for tutorials online on how to fix or do something while peppering people willing to help with emails at all hours of the day just to squish one little bug - only to inflict another bug in another area of the project. All of this while attempting to maintain classwork in a full class load and adapting to a challenging schedule in my personal life as well as fiance's long distance work schedule. The entire project and process has been a big learning experience...but a very difficult one.

I'm nearly done with my program at DU. Assuming my thesis is approved and I pass my last two classes, graduation is June 4. It's kind of odd to think it's been nearly two years since I started and left the newspaper. I left the paper to learn how to be a better storyteller using new ways of storytelling. I won't say I got exactly what I intended to get out of my program. But I will not say that I have not benefited from it either.

I feel that my video editing skills have truly grown and developed more in the last year. Shooting has always been fairly easy, be it stills or video. Assembling them in a structure or sequence of effectiveness has taken some time. I can develop standard to simple websites and design, but some of the higher level syntax still is very challenging. I will admit that I wish I had learned much more through my classes on a technical front, but I am also realizing that the technology changes so rapidly I wouldn't necessarily benefit from being an expert at one programming language. My perception and understanding of media literacy is vastly different from when I entered the program. That is a fact. In many ways it makes me worry about the future of media-for-profit. How technology is developed and how we adopt new technology has a great impact on what the future of media holds.

As for what my future holds, I honestly haven't the slightest idea. My background and skill set is so wide and varied, there have been but three job postings that really match up with what I can do and what I would like to do as a media creator. I may have to just go out there and make people aware of my abilities in an effort to basically create a position for me. But first I think I should see what I can do about finishing the written component of my thesis. Considering it's due tomorrow.

So have a look at the site and feel free to let me know what you think about it. Be sure to read the About page to get a better understanding of what the general argument is, as I'm sure I haven't been very clear here.

Until next time - which hopefully will be something visual rather than a ramble on the random thoughts of a post thesis stress fest.

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.

VJ trip

Had to put together three VJ sets for a class prject in my Digital Cinema class for the end of the quarter. The only limitation was that the audio was to be a single element. That was stipulated because we will be projecting three different sets at the same time on three "screens" (a wall projection on a DU building outside) and funnel all the audio into one output. The result...don't know yet. It happens on Monday, June 1 after 8pm next to the Schwader Art Building on the DU campus at 2121 E. Asbury Ave. Bring a blanket or lawn chair and something to sip on for the show.



Here's what I think is the best of the three that I put together. Trying to get better about driving the audio and the video at the same time. It's difficult to mix audio while not letting the visuals get stale. I think once I learn how to use the program a bit more effectively I'll make some better compositions. I tend to get too wrapped up in making music and sound and leave the visuals unattended.

I'm working to develop a better library of video clips to use in the productions and get away from using other VJ's clips. The theme was dreams and space, but I didn't really have a developed idea and I think it comes through in the composition. It isn't as cohesive without a backbone or storyline to drive the piece. Let me know what you really think. It's a bit outside of what I've been normally sharing, so let it fly.




Here's links to Dreamspace 1 and Dreamspace 2.

Trance trip

Had to build a VJ performance for my Digital Cinema class. By VJ I mean video jockey, but not the MTV VJ when they actually played music videos. Meaning mixing and mashing video clips in an artistic fashion using a computer program. I decided to use Resolume Avenue 3 instead of Max5. Just a bit more flexibility in Ave3, but since it is a demo version a text watermark and audio watermark are included in your output file.

After a bit of practicing and lots of video codec converting I happened to be reading a blog post about turning off a particular setting to make the program work faster. For some stupid reason I changed the setting right before I was to perform my set live in class, which was part of the assignment. I changed the setting back after seeing a few things change that I didn't like but it did not "undo" the change. As I was doing my performance everything was acting funny and several clips wouldn't play or work as designed. It was turning into an Amtrak route with the engineer texting while not driving. Despite all that, the class thought it was a pretty cool sequence of images and all. Luckily.

I actually spent too much of my time working on creating an audio track than I did on the video clipping and setup. I mixed together a handful of tracks from a couple trance artists to play outside of Ave3 as I didn't really get the sense I could play an entire audio track with the way I was running clips through the program. This was a recorded practice session before I screwed up the settings. So have a look and listen.



The concept was, just as the title of this blog, a Visual Journey based on the reflection of travel and transport in our bodies as much as our world.

Day old bread anyone?

Got a call to cover the University of Colorado's winter commencement the other day. Had the option of shooting stills or video with another shooter. I chose the video. Wanted to work on my "skills" with the video camera, considering I can shoot stills anytime. It's not the greatest of productions, as there were some serious problems in post that I won't get into.

I would love to get a video camera, but with the prospect of HD video in DSLRs pretty much here I want to wait until the summer at least to see what options are available. Hoping that the Scarlet will be a feasible option by that time. But until then, you get my hack jobs from whatever I can get my hands on.

Unsilent Night

Was hired to shoot a quick video of an event in Boulder called "Unsilent Night." A group of people bring out boomboxes and other music players with speakers pre-loaded with the same song and walk the streets and sidewalks of Downtown Boulder. It's presented more as a live piece of art. Nothing too fancy as far as the video, mostly because I was a tool and hit the record button once too many times on a really good shot and actually stopped recording. That's what I get for not practicing the craft for nearly four months.




Not a fan of the tiny Scripps player.

Long video, longer production night

Put together an interview video for our Colorado football camp preview last night. Lets just say I had a few issues during the export and wound up working until 4am to get it posted to go with the story. The paper has stopped using Brightcove for our video player and moved to the Scripps player that is built-in with our content management system. I'm not completely sold on it. There are a few things I like about it. It's easier to get videos into stories on the web and people can rate or comment on the productions. But one major hang up is the embed feature. This is as big as it gets, despite trying to hack the code. So click on the funky expand button on the bottom right corner. But not before you get some popcorn and a drink, this one is a bit long.

Shooting without a storyline adds difficulty

So I was sent up to Lyons with the task of shooting a video about RockyGrass. An annual bluegrass festival and workshop held on the grounds of a small complex along the banks of St. Vrain Creek.

While it was fairly easy shooting video of all the folks making, learning and playing the various instruments of bluegrass, I was completely unsure of what my storyline was. It was a transition period from the Planet Bluegrass Academy to the RockyGrass Music Festival. So that could have been one storyline, but it wasn't very interesting really. We had already sent a still photog the day before and there was another photog shooting again before I had arrived. That kind of drove me away from focusing too much on the academy participants. Then there's the campground of people attending one or both of the different aspects of the event. The only catch was that there were few people around sardine-like tents and vehicles to train my lens on.

There I went, roaming around shooting this and that with no concept in mind. The other issue with shooting music with a single camera is trying to figure out a way to shoot multiple angles of a situation but keeping the music and movements in sync. Lots and lots of details are needed to "Band-aid" all those camera movements while the tape is still rolling. After shooting nearly an hour of footage and talking with a few people, I happened upon Bryan Conley. He was practicing a couple songs in the middle of a small grove of trees away from most other players and obtrusive sounds. Looking at my remaining tape time and knowing I didn't have a storyline yet, I decided he was going to have to become the audio backbone for the production. Not as good of a piece as I would like it to be, but considering it's after midnight and I've been stressing out my MacBook Pro's processor for a few hours, it'll work and I'll learn from it.

Don't try this at home

I was sorting through some DV tapes at the office, trying to get organized a bit, and found some footage I shot while driving to Denver for an assignment.

It was several months ago from when I was still familiarizing myself with the HV-20. While I was driving I decided to get stupid and shoot some footage to practice editing. Let's just say, it wasn't much to edit with. Good to know I've come a ways since then. As well as learned to pay attention to driving rather than using a camera while speeding down US 36 to the Mile High City.

Captive release

I've been sitting on this one for a while. I produced a music video from two different performances of the Boulder/Denver-based band Paper Bird. I was done with it about four weeks ago, but because the story isn't going to run until June 6, I haven't been able to share it. This is even a bit premature I'm sure.

It was a lot of fun but hard work to produce with one camera and the wrong audio equipment. I won't go into a ditch about all that. My only concern is that where do newspapers –soon to just be news outlets mind you– draw the line on the type of content they produce. I was asked to do a video of the performance by my editor, but this is basically a promotional video for the band. (Disclosure: I've fallen prey to their sound which is nothing like what I normally listen to. If you have the chance to see them live GO! They are great.)

So I ask, where is the line? In this constant push to remain viable and the convergence of the world in bits and bytes have those walls come down? Do viewers care or pay attention to that notion of watchdog and objectivity? Or does that depend on the age of the viewer? Lots of things to iron out. In the meantime let me know what you think of my chances of working for Spike Jonze.

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.

Where I come from

Had the opportunity to shoot a video of the Hogan family branding this winter's calves today. It's been 20 years since I left the smallness of Riverton, Wyo. We used to do this very same thing every spring before shuttling the herd out to the open spaces of the range.

The smell of hot irons on the calves sides is something that never is forgotten. The sounds of kids struggling to haul down calves in their own weight class brings back fun memories for me. I remember throwing a loop on a few calves that were more than happy to take me for a rough ride through the dirt and rocks of the pen. It was an all day affair of branding, castrating, de-horning and tagging in those dusty-rickety pens that were a patchwork of various types of wooden boards and logs.

A lot of memories came rushing back into my mind after putting this short piece together. Some are not the best memories, but there are several that I'm very fond of and am glad to have them back from the hidden corners of my busy mind. Cattle ranching is quite a simple life. But, ranching is a lifestyle much like journalism. There's not many "off" hours and it requires you to commit your life to maintaining the craft and the herd, or the story.

Some will cringe and worry about the welfare of the calves, but believe me, folks have been doing this for over a hundred years and there have been very few problems after the process. Besides, if you work on a ranch for even a few weeks you would learn that cattle are oblivious to just about everything. Except for an instant and for no reason whatsoever, spook and beat the snot out of you or a fence with utter disregard for their own wellbeing. I once watched as a heifer stared at a Chevy bow tie on a mid-1970s pickup broadsided her at about 25 mph. After picking herself up off the county road gave a slight glance at the sturdy grill and began walking away, as if nothing had happened. Beef, there's a reason it's what's for dinner.

Gateway to the soul

This last week I was handed two assignments that had to very different opportunities for photos. One was about a man who was thrown in Panamanian jail by a business partner for six months. He was in the office for an interview and it was after dark. The story was to run the next day, so I was asked to make a glorified mug shot.

N0118BOBBY05c.jpg, originally uploaded by ©JL.

As soon as I met Bobby Hammond I felt I needed to illustrate the story as best I could given the situation. I had already set up the studio to make a photo, but quickly decided that I needed to show this man's patient yet aching eyes. I tend not to look too much into people's eyes when I talk to them. I feel that it is intrusive at times and wouldn't want someone else peering into my soul with professionally trained eyes. But Bobby's eyes were so bright despite all that he had endured in what is regarded as one of the worst places to be put jail. He had his collarbone broken while detained and although it healed, he is now limited in his work as a landscaper. He waited as I fumbled and flailed to capture his gaze into the camera.

Portraits of people in their environment are fairly easy to create. All you have to do is carefully select aspects to keep in the photo, find a good location for the person to sit and literally throw some interesting light on it all. A straight up portrait is much harder to do in a photojournalistic sense. There is nothing to fill in the information other than a persons face and eyes. I don't know that I was able to show Bobby's story in his eyes, but I hope they are engaging enough to make you want to read the story.

N0121BRUCE51c.jpg, originally uploaded by ©JL.

The following day I was sent to make some photos of Bruce Randolph Jr. He has a barbecue restaurant in Boulder and was present for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington D.C. in 1968. He also cut the reverend's hair in a Denver barbershop during the civil rights movement. Once again, how to illustrate an event that took place in another city at another time? I made several photos of Daddy Bruce Jr. working and serving up his beef or chicken plates. But I didn't feel it would hold water for the story about MLK. As Bruce sat near a window to talk with another man I couldn't help but watch his eyes as he talked. He is a very carefree man and told me to go about my business as soon as I walked into his world. I just made photos of him as he talked. He showed an entire range of emotion as he talked about an issue with family and church members. After he finished he went about his work and I asked if he would let me get some audio of him while he worked. I might not have stated it clearly, but it seemed that he would rather sit and talk than just speak as he worked. So I clipped the mic and barely hit the microscopic red button to start recording when he began to talk about the trip to Washington D.C.

For this story the audio was the key to conveying the message. His eyes were a an integral part, but to hear his voice and the feeling behind it is completely different. To hear the tone and richness of his voice about the civil rights movement and how it effected him struck me hard. The problem was all the photos I had made had nothing really to do with his interactions with Martin Luther King Jr. Just random portions of time in a place so far removed from those difficult times. So here's a video that may be a bit different, but hopefully the message still comes through it all. Thankfully our society has changed. Not nearly enough, but maybe it will continue to change for the better.

Thanks Santa!

Well, Santa came through on my Christmas wish for fresh snow to play on and in. Spent the day at Beaver Creek with a couple other journalists and a photog.



That makes two Christmases in-a-row that I've been able to play with lots of fresh powder. Can't wait until next year!

UPDATE:
Thanks Rick!

Creativity lives and breathes...

So I was asked if I wanted to do a video on Tom's Tavern as part of an advancer for the burger-joint's closing. I was sent a link to a new audio slide show site that had a cool idea (see the Santiago show) of shooting in one direction for a long period of time and having the audio reflect the different aspects.

Well, there really wasn't any room for me to plop down my camera and scope out one booth for an hour. Plus the owner's son wasn't real sure he wanted me to be around at the busiest time of the day. So I decided to take a bit different approach for the video. I wasn't so worried about following a certain person or thing through an arc of time. I basically shot some video, and some stills, of what I thought looked cool. Then I was just trying to grab some audio that reflected the news of the place closing a little, but not so worried about who was saying it.

You see, there's a lot of folks that don't want the place to close, but the family has decided that since the owner, Tom Eldridge, passed away earlier this year from brain cancer that it was time to shut the pub down. It was his pride and joy of nearly 48 years and they wanted it to end that way. Not under someone else, even family. So I wanted it to be more about what the place stood for an not about the people going there. Not sure I pulled that off, but nonetheless...

It was a lot of fun and some interesting learning experience working in post production. I can't wait to take my next step in finding new edges to blur.

A Call To Duty

The last week has been a video project on University of Colorado veterans. There are more veterans than you would think and for the most part are younger than you think. Sometimes I forget that we live in war time.

This was a ton of work, but not nearly enough compared to these four individuals that gave years of their lives. One plans to return to the Marines after graduation.

Take time to thank a veteran for their honor, their duty and their commitment.

Read the story

Hunting with a camera

It's been a while since I've been able to shoot some video for a very wide range of reasons. I was asked to go up to Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park to shoot some video and stills of the elk or wapiti for a story on the fall rut. Only problem was I didn't get up there early enough. I was busy using a fire extinguisher on some good sized office fires and didn't get to leave on time.

Despite all that I was able to put together a little ditty. The best part of the deal was getting to use a real program to produce the video. Wow! What a difference. Now I guess I'll have to get back on the wagon and see if I can start making some real magic.

Pinky and the Cheeseburger

It's still fair time in Boulder County. So I was given time to go to the fair and do a video on a hog show. I arrived a little while before the show to get some footage of the preparation and get some audio. While observing the wash bay I decided to follow a young lady by the name of Jacquelin Rigali, 13 of Firestone. She has two hogs named Pinky and Cheeseburger. Jacquelin is a serious and well spoken 4-H member. I wasn't able to stick around long enough to see if she collected any ribbons, but she definitely knows how to work Pinky for the judge.

It's not a feature video

Embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill was dismissed today by the Board of Regents. I was told to shoot video of the events with fellow staffer Mark Leffingwell.

We tried not to step on each other too much while roaming about with hundreds of other media members. But I feel like it adds a little layer of difficulty to produce a video with someone else. You don't know what they are getting for footage and their style of shooting may be vastly different from yours. Then each one has different thoughts on how to assemble the story in editing.

It was a long wait for the decision to finally be made on Churchill's future and then all the typical media frenzies ensued, as is always the case with this story. So here's the end result of my first news video.

All this video work is a ton of work. I'm actually really wishing for a couple still assignments just to get to be a photographer again and not a videographer, video editor, web master and IT support member all at the same time. I'm missing the clicks....