Posts Tagged ‘savanna’Finally HereWednesday, May 19th, 2010
Woodpeckers, Fire & Acorns from Rick Brown on Vimeo. I finally posted my first documentary to Vimeo. It’s been a long and at times trying experience. Furthermore, there’s the frustration that always comes from knowing that you could do better at the process now. Overall though I am very excited about posting this movie. Certainly video is a fun and challenging experience. Woodpeckers, Fire and Acorns – the TrailerTuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Woodpeckers, Fire and Acorns Trailer from Rick Brown on Vimeo. This is a very exciting thing for me. I am publishing the trailer of my first documentary short. This documentary was shot entirely on a 5dMkII and edited in Premiere Pro. Rough Cut DoneWednesday, December 16th, 2009Tonight has been a big deal for me. I just completed the first rough cut of my first documentary short. In the next couple of days, I will start writing the script for the voice over narration and adding the subtitles for telling the audience who certain people are. Then it’s on to sweetening the sound, mainly a matter of eliminating recording hiss. The audio system on the 5d MkIIincreases the gain level when there aren’t any loud sounds, this creates a lot of recording hiss. The 5d MkII is not a perfect solution for recording video, but does a very good job and serves its intended roles in video quite well. As I see it, the intended roles in video for the new video dSLRs are to introduce people to video and to allow for recording some clips for posting to the web without the photojournalist carrying additional cameras. I recommend following Vincent Laforet’s blog for cutting edge information about video capable dSLRs. Hopefully, this project will convince inhabitants of the Willamette Valley to help out with savanna restoration. Some of the invasive weeds project that the Friends of the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex furthers restoration. Just about anyone around here can help us pulling weeds. Savanna OriginsFriday, December 4th, 2009I had been thinking about trying some sort of story to use my Fender’s Blue Butterfly pictures together with my horse-logging images. Something about oak savanna restoration here in the Willamette Valley seemed like the perfect idea. Thus, when I went to the 2009 NANPA Summit in New Mexico, this concept was one that I pitched to my portfolio reviewers. Turns out one of them was very interested. So began a very rewarding year in my photography. I have learned a great deal, been motivated to create what I consider to be some of my best work and my career has taken new and exciting directions. For example, this project has been very influential in my decision to expand my career into video. I mentioned to the editor that I now had a 5d MkII and could film the interviews I would be conducting and asked if he would be interested. He was very excited about the idea and through following discussions with him this grew into me producing a documentary short on the subject. I was skeptical if video would be interesting to me at the time, but I now find it exhilirating. It is very exciting to work with the concept of “story” in a way that still photographers normally do not. So that you might experience this sort of growth in your photographic career, I recommend that you register for the 2010 NANPAsummit in Reno. Have a few reviews, or perhaps contact me and volunteer to help myself and my co-chair Diane Shapiro at the review desk (we always have a blast there). Most importantly, you’ll share a great time with people who hold the same passions. See my savanna work here. Conservation = Christmas Trees?Tuesday, December 1st, 2009One of the main things threatening oak savanna in the Willamette Valley is encroachment by Douglas Fir. Our local oaks are not shade tolerant and as Douglas Fir moves in the oaks can no longer sprout. Thus, a common method for restoring oak savanna land is to cut down the fir. Now with the holidays approaching, the staff of William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge thought that the smaller Douglas Fir they are cutting would be useful as Christmas trees. If you want one they are being placed outside the Wild Goose Nature Store at the office at William L. Finley NWR. Donations in exchange for the trees are appreciated but not required. The donations will go to the Friends of the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex and will aid in their mission to promote the refuges and conservation. So yes, conservation can equal Christmas Trees. Prescribed BurnTuesday, September 29th, 2009
Let me start this post by saying that I greatly appreciate the compliments I’m getting on the blog. I was hesitant to start a blog, but I’m now very glad that I have. On September 18, 2009 I accompanied a fire crew at William L. Finley NWR, near Corvallis Oregon, while they performed some prescribed burns on the refuge. Fire is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the prairie and savanna habitats there and mirrors the activities of the Kalapuya in their efforts to maintain their food sources before European colonization. I was critically interested in photographing and filming this process for the savanna restoration work that I am currently pursuing. Let me tell you, what I didn’t expect is that it was incredible fun. Not much in nature is more impressive than the power of fire. It both destroys and creates simultaneously. This combined with the dedicated efforts of the crew, provide for many opportunities for dramatic images. If I have the opportunity to both further the efforts to conserve places I love and create dramatic imagery at the same time, I am in heaven. There is perhaps nothing better in the world. If there is any negative to photographing prescribed burns, is that it happens so quickly. One really needs to think and move quickly to get the images that he wants/needs. To see more images from this shoot, I suggest you click on this link. http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/rick-a-brown/gallery/Conservation-Fire/G0000tNvCz33ANuc/ |
