Balls

Two preserved Union 76 ball signs seen through the window of a Metrolink train traveling westbound near Claremont, Calif., on Thursday, February 9, 2012.

Ambient Sound: Quarters Dropping

Returning from Utah, we had a few flight delays. While waiting in McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Mrs. Documentary Photography suggested we play a small amount of money on a slot machine.

Back in NY

Returned to the city yesterday from two weeks in California. Rainy, cold, grey California.

New Posts at Inkaland

Profluence member Maya and CFoA (Certified Friend of Actualities) Chris have continued writing on their documentary trip to Peru at Inkaland.

What I Did With My Summer Vacation, Part Two

Well, the 12-week run of the Frugal Traveler's trip from New York to Seattle has come to an end. Here are the Frugal Traveler episodes I edited this summer.

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 1: Maryland and North Carolina) 3:07
May 23, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 2: Armuchee, Georgia) 4:14
May 30, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 3: Nashville, Tennessee) 4:39
June 6, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 4: Columbus, Indiana) 4:28
June 13, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 5: West Lima, Wisconsin) 4:36
June 20, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 6: South Dakota & Nebraska) 5:04
June 27, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 7: Greensburg, Kansas) 5:26
July 4, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 8: Austin, Texas) 5:05
July 11, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 9: Columbus, New Mexico) 4:29
July 18, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 10: Fort Collins, Colorado) 4:57
July 25, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 11: Wyoming & Montana) 5:05
August 1, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 12: Newport, Oregon) 5:28
August 8, 2007

New Episode of Frugal Traveler

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 11: Wyoming & Montana) 5:05
August 1, 2007

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip, Week 10

I've really enjoyed editing the Frugal Traveler episodes this summer.

This was week 10 of 12. Each short piece, so far, has offered a different editing challenge, stretching my abilities and my understanding. And all have been done under time pressure. It's been a really great class in real-world documentary production.

So what have I learned? Well, a lot about pacing. When I started this series, my tendency was to strip the edit down as much as possible -- to get from here to there without "wasting" time. The first discovery, for me, was that loosening the pace just a bit as one action completes and another starts may give the audience a chance to experience and feel -- and is usually worthwhile time.

This week's episode forced me to think about that further, and you'll notice several moments that read as a chance for the main character to reflect on his situation. By extension, we (as audience) may experience this reflection as well, if we choose to....

Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip
(Week 10: Fort Collins, Colorado) 4:57
July 25, 2007

Live From Peru

Profluence Productions member Maya is posting about her documentary filmmaking trip to Peru over at Inkaland.

"with 2 tapes of good material and 2 stomachs full of papas and cuy, we headed back to the highway to find a collectivo to take us home. many other people were there to do the same thing and there was nothing in sight. there's a lot of dust in this country. there's a fine layer of it on everything. it lines your nose and coats your mouth. it gets kicked up by buses and so we sat there gathering dust and the sun began toasting the tops of our heads and still nothing was coming along the road."

Inkaland

CFoA (Certified Friend of Actualities) Chris has posted an account of his ongoing documentary trip to Peru at Inkaland.

"There´s been some turmoil here the last few days. There´s a teachers´ strike, which doesn´t sound very intimidating, but these maestros mean business. The taxis and public transport struck in solidarity with them on Wed, so when we flew into Cusco, there was no taxi-to-the-bus-to-OTT like we planned - we had to just stay in Cusco for the night and hope the next day was better. We sat in our rooms mostly, cause we´d just climbed up to 12,000 feet and our heads were light."

Working Vacation

I found I could get wireless right up to the edge of the lake.