We’ve been hard at work these past few months on an ambitious series about the 1910 forest fires that consumed huge swaths of the Inland Northwest. The series, titled Flame and Ruin: The fires of 1910, launched Sunday, and I encourage [...]]]>

We’ve been hard at work these past few months on an ambitious series about the 1910 forest fires that consumed huge swaths of the Inland Northwest. The series, titled Flame and Ruin: The fires of 1910, launched Sunday, and I encourage you to explore it. It’s a treat for history buffs and lovers of the outdoors.

My favorite parts of the online package are the above video scripted by Jim Kershner and produced by Colin Mulvany and a then-and-now presentation inspired by the New York Times featuring photographs by Christopher Anderson and a Django+jQuery app by Ryan Pitts and Mike Tigas.

But I certainly don’t want to overlook the reporting and writing that went into this package. I especially recommend Jim Kershner’s opening narrative and Becky Kramer’s story about Ed Pulaski, the tunnel in which he saved his fire crew, and that tunnel’s discovery in 1979. It runs Tuesday and will be found on the main page of the special series.

I pay for this server space, and I’ve [...]]]> If you’ve been checking this page or its RSS feed in the past few days, you’ve noticed a resurgence in posts and possibly the new appearance. An explanation of each follows, in that order.

I pay for this server space, and I’ve spent the time to populate this site with thoughts about my profession. It seems silly to let that all go to waste. I hope to continue spreading pearls of wisdom about online journalism. But I also reserve the right to post the occasional Tumblr-like post about whatever I’m thinking, reading, watching or doing. It could be completely unrelated to journalism. Consider yourself warned.

I hope you like the new layout. I’m no CSS pro like Ryan Pitts, but the Atahualpa theme in WordPress does let me pretend. I welcome suggestions about improvements to the appearance. Seriously. Font, line space, padding. Just post it in the comments.

What moved me about this story was the barely spoken relationship between Lucky the Belgian Malinois and his handlers. Just listen to the way Staff Sgt. Gerald Martinez [...]]]> It’s not my best video work, but it’s serviceable, and the talent was top-notch.

What moved me about this story was the barely spoken relationship between Lucky the Belgian Malinois and his handlers. Just listen to the way Staff Sgt. Gerald Martinez talks to Lucky as he’s running him through the obstacle course. The way Tech. Sgt. Levi Wilson wishes he could adopt Lucky. This dog has seen far scarier situations than I ever will, but he’s had good people taking care of him.

I received some nice compliments about this effort, but I know there’s room to improve. I let a TV cameraman into my shot. I could have asked better questions. I refrained from putting my wireless mike on Tech. Sgt. Wilson when he played target for Lucky. I had focus issues during my interviews. And I had to rush the edit because of other responsibilities and the daily deadline, so the audio is rough in spots. Those reporters from the TV stations? They could teach me a few lessons in turnaround.

Despite all that, I’ve got a good feeling about this story. It was prepackaged by the Air Force public affairs office, but Lucky made a sympathetic subject. He puts a different face on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And he’s a damn good-looking dog.

Today I watched the stories produced by our TV competitors. My favorite was KXLY’s. Jeff Humphrey leveraged his expertise in public safety reporting, focusing on the tactical aspects of Lucky’s service. (And I enjoyed watching him work; he’s got it down to a science.)

KHQ shot some great video (warning: popup). The script relied a bit much on superlatives for my taste, but Kaitlyn Bolduc and the cameraman impressed me with their take. I like how they brought in the details about how toys are Lucky’s reward and motivation for service.

And the third TV station…. well, I give props to the cameraman for his B roll and interview skills. He was more pro than me. But KREM was apparently too short-staffed to send a reporter to the dog show, and as a result their story contained a crucial error: Lucky isn’t assured retirement. His veterinarians and handlers are certainly recommending that outcome, but the decision is still months off. Really, though, good use of gas money to send that reporter to the base gates for the live standup.

And for the stones-in-glass-houses crowd, let me be clear: We print the occasional inaccuracy at the S-R, so I’m not claiming perfection in that arena. But you’ve got to get the essence of the story right.

Final note: TV reporters and shooters do these kinds of stories every day, and I’m sure it’s all very standard for them. But my duties are pretty varied. When I get to go shoot a video like this, it’s a welcome exception to the norm. And there’s always something to learn.

My latest video was a collaboration with our summer intern, Asia Hege. She was interested in learning some multimedia, and when I asked her whether she had any story ideas, she pulled out a gem passed along by our environment and [...]]]>

My latest video was a collaboration with our summer intern, Asia Hege. She was interested in learning some multimedia, and when I asked her whether she had any story ideas, she pulled out a gem passed along by our environment and natural resources reporter. The video tells the story well, I think, but you can read the version that ran in the paper too.

It was a real treat of an assignment because it involved hiking in the Colville National Forest. It was a good three miles with about 1,200 feet of elevation gain.

This was a hard story to tackle for a first video, and Asia didn’t get to attend one of Colin Mulvany‘s training seminars. So after the briefest of introductions to shooting, I used this as a chance for her to practice with the camera. I incorporated a lot of her B roll in the final edit (you can tell which parts are hers because the colors are, puzzingly, richer). I also asked her help on the script, which she read well for the voiceover. And we did some of the editing together; it’s helpful to have feedback from another person, and she saw things I didn’t.

I was shooting an instructional video about the proper installation of a rear-facing infant car seat to go along with a story Rebecca Nappi was writing for the Sunday Spokesman-Review. Officer Teresa Fuller of the Spokane [...]]]> I played director the other day.

I was shooting an instructional video about the proper installation of a rear-facing infant car seat to go along with a story Rebecca Nappi was writing for the Sunday Spokesman-Review. Officer Teresa Fuller of the Spokane Police Department was our expert, and Rebecca’s niece and her baby boy, Rocco, provided the talent.  Watch the finished video below, then click through for my post-mortem.

I don’t think I’ve entered any video project with as much preparation as I did this one. We met a week before the shoot, deciding on a place and going over the plan. When we arrived at the destination parking lot Friday morning, I briefed everyone with my vision for how we’d proceed.

The role of director took some getting used to. Rather than capture unfolding action, I prompted the unfolding. I called for repeat takes on several shots and had Fuller repeat some lines while I shot the A roll to make the instructions more direct or emphatic.

I was a little rusty with the equipment. I forgot to bring headphones, so I was relying on my audio meters to make sure I was getting sound. Classic novice error. Moreover, I somehow bumped the receiver onto a different frequency from the transmitter. All my audio came through my camera’s shotgun mic, resulting in some unpleasant white noise beneath the narrative.

Finally, I wish I’d thought about the light. Even though it was sunny, we shot several sequences in the back of a patrol car. (I’d thought we were going to be working in a minivan with dual sliding doors, but that didn’t happen.) I’m sure there are a couple lighting tools out there that could have helped. At the least, I could have turned the dome light on.

All things considered, I’m happy with how this video turned out. It’s not high journalism by any means, but I hope a few new parents out there might find it useful. At a colleague’s suggestion, I’m getting in touch with representatives from Spokane’s hospitals to see if they might have a use for it.

Brothers Cody and Kyle Ives travel the world performing a motorbike stunt known alternately as the Globe of Steel, Globe of Thunder and Globe of Death. They performed in Spokane at the Inland Northwest Motorcycle Show and Sale on [...]]]>
Description from spokesman.com:

Brothers Cody and Kyle Ives travel the world performing a motorbike stunt known alternately as the Globe of Steel, Globe of Thunder and Globe of Death. They performed in Spokane at the Inland Northwest Motorcycle Show and Sale on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010.

I shot and edited this Friday night at the Inland Northwest Motorcycle Show and Sale in Spokane. It was definitely a Plan B effort. I’d intended to get footage of Spokesman-Review columnist Doug Clark standing in the middle of this globe with rider Cody Ives buzzing around him. Let’s just say technical difficulties changed that.

At least I managed to salvage a little eye candy for speed geeks.