Archive
Ed Stasium and Forty Years of Loudness
This is a story I did for the BBC on Ed Stasium, one of great rock producers of our time. This was my final edit before it received some changes for the final that was posted on the BBC’s website. The music was cleared by the BBC.
US scientists track what’s killing golden eagles
Here is a link to my last BBC story. This is the final edit. I hope you all enjoy.
Water Wars: US states fight over Rio Grande
Water Wars: US states fight over Rio Grande was a story that I worked on for the BBC. I did the camera work. I learned a lot about the subject of the complexity of the use of water for agriculture on the lower Rio Grande river in New Mexico and Texas. I hope you all enjoy the story. The link below will send you to the BBC’s website so you can watch the piece.
Up Close and cuddly with Colorado’s black bears
Here is the last BBC story I worked on. I help produce the story and did the filming. Working with the Colorado Parks and Recreation team was a treat. Also is was fun to have to BBC staff here in Durango to work with and show them our beautiful area.
Rocky Flats:Life in the shadow of a nuclear bomb factory
It was nice to get this story finally out in the public. After a few rounds of editing the story got into good shape. I knew that editing Kristen’s interview would be hard because she gave me so much good information. Below is more information about the story and Rocky Flats. It was nice to see the story hit number two in the most viewed on the BBC’s website.
Full Body Burden is a historical and personal memoir of Kristen Iversen growing up next to one of the world’s most notorious nuclear bomb factory, Rocky Flats. From 1953 to 1990, Rocky Flats built over 70 thousand plutonium bomb triggers for high capacity nuclear hydrogen bombs. Plutonium bomb triggers are in itself nuclear bombs that contain more deadly force than Fat Man, the plutonium bomb that the US dropped on Nagasaki.
Kristen Iversen weaves a haunting story of suburban life next to one of the most dangerous places on earth as if it were a Spielberg summer blockbuster. Unfortunately, Full Body Burden is not fiction; the book is a true life account of Cold War secrecy. Rocky Flats was run by Dow Chemical Corporation and many of the residents that lived near the plant in Arvada, Golden, and Boulder, Colorado thought the factory was making household cleaning supplies. But why would a house hold chemical factory need guard towers and rows of barbed wire fence being patrolled with tanks? Slowly the secret came that Rocky Flats was dealing with plutonium due to a fire that broke out in the plant in 1957 and once again in 1969. Iversen goes into details of her families personal secrets along with the clandestine operations of Rocky Flats.
Low levels and high amounts of plutonium have been found in the ground and water ways that feed the towns of Arvada, Broomfield and Westminster. Full Body Burden goes into detail of farmers’ mutated livestock and young girls dying of large malignant tumors while the government denies that Rocky Flats has anything to do with these increasingly large numbers or illnesses.
In 1989, Rocky Flats was the only US government plant that was raided by the FBI and the EPA for gross negligence of environmental contamination. The Cold War may have ended-but not in Colorado. The earth around Rocky Flats is still contaminated; there are still large amounts of strange cancers that are killing people, but the US government is fighting tooth and nail to keep full accountability closed.
Gail Harris BBC story
I did this story on Gail Harris back in the spring 0f 2012. Gail is a fantastic person, with a great story.
Too High To Fail… My next BBC story out in mid August
I just got the green light to produce a new story for the BBC. I will be interviewing Doug Fine, the author of “Too High To Fail.” Fine, excellent and entertaining journalism looks at the fail drug war on marijuana and how ‘weed’ can become a billion dollar industry in the US. The story will be out sometime around the later half of August, 2012. Check out Doug Fine’s website. http://www.dougfine.com
The Dying Art Of Navajo Sheep Shearing
Here is another BBC story I did.
With in the remote center of the Navajo Reservation, of the United States. Arnold Clifford keeps cultural tradition alive by raising Navajo Churro Sheep. Churro sheep were introduced to the Americas by Spanish settlers along the Rio Grande Valley during their colonization northward from Mexico. While Churro sheep are a domesticated livestock they almost became extinct in the US. Navajo’s for centuries have counted on the Churro’s for their wool and meat for food.
Clifford was taught by his elders how to continue the art of hand shearing their sheep and not depending on modern electric shears. Clifford’s grandmother was a master weaver, to honor her, he donates the wool to different weaving families through out the reservation. Clifford, hopes to see the Churro sheep industry grow through out the Navajo Reservation and to create an economy where people are not dependent on welfare or the government. Besides being a sheep herder, Clifford also is a expert botanist, geologist and teacher.
The American Who Quit Money To Live In A Cave
Another story I did for the BBC. Please share and support all those have contributed to this story.
Mark Sundeen, the author of book, ‘The Man Who Quit Money’ is a soulful journey into the spirit of Daniel Suelo. Suelo, gave up on money in 2000. He walked into a phone booth, pulled out 30 dollars and left it. Twelve years later, Suelo still does not have a personal i.d. bank accounts, a modern home, does not take money, or live off of federal welfare. Suelo, lives in caves in the canyon lands outside of Moab, UT. Suelo, harvests wild foods, eats roadkill, and dumpster dives. Suelo, is not an isolationist, he still is very active in the Moab community SE Utah politics and he is an active blogger.
Sundeen, knew Suelo from Moab, UT when they both worked together as cooks. But years later Sundeen came across Suelo in a market and payed him no attention. After Sundeen gave thought to the current economy and Suelo’s philosophy he was inspired to write about Suelo. Sundeen’s book focuses on one man, but the message of the book captures the American zeitgeist of a changing economy.
Music: Alfa Kay not this track is a rough sketch of a tune that Mr Alfa Kay is writing for our feature documentary Lasso The Sun. I love this tune.
myspace.com/mralfa
For further reading check out Daniel Suelo’s blog:
zerocurrency.blogspot.com/
Edited on Fianl Cut Pro 7 with Apple Pro Res then down converted to H264. My Panasonic GH2 and HVX 200 were used for the shooting. I used Driftwood’s Mysterium setting on the GH2 in HBR mode.
The Art of Boxing
This a piece that I did for the BBC. Thaddine Swift Eagle Johnson dances between the worlds of boxing and art. Johnson, a Blackfoot Native American who hails from Queens, New York now paints and trains in the mountain town of Durango, Colorado. This championship featherweight boxer looks to her athletics and painting to spread a positive message to communities through out the US.
From the urban landscape of Queens, Johnson witnessed a world which at times were very ugly. Athletics gave Johnson an outlet from the neighborhood violence and substance abuse. Originally, kickboxing was Johnson’s first widely successful sport. After winning several AAU Karate Championships, she transferred her sport to boxing because kickboxing was not approved as an Olympic sport for women. As a boxer, Johnson has won three amateur Golden Gloves championships. Now as a professional, she holds titles with the WIBU International, WIBA International, NABC, WIBC International, WPBA International, and GBU Intercontinental. Through the fog of boxing bureaucracy and promoters, Johnson is eagerly waiting to have a bout that will clearly define her as the women’s world champion.
While Johnson trains with iconic boxers such as Roger Mayweather for a future date to contend for the world championship, in her off time from sport, Johnson a self taught artist works on her paintings that are Picasso-esque. Her themes regularly deal with gender, race and politics. In addition, Johnson works with teenagers at risk in the gym to try and steer them away from violence and drugs.
Shot on the Panasonic GH2 and Panasonic HVX 200
Aquamotion 2 and Quantum 100 were used for the patches.
ouzel motion pictures 