1. “Surf Town Canada” from CBC is a bit long, but it uses ambient sound well. Awesome action shots and lot of variety in perspective. It keeps me interested the whole way through.
2. I remember this one from the LA Times after seeing it in another class. It moves a little slow but that also fits perfectly with the subject — waiting to die. The photography is beautiful.
3. From The New York Times and their “One in 8 Million” series: a story about an “urban taxidermist.” For me, the story is unusual, creepy and interesting, and the black and white photos work great.
My main goal in turning my interview with Wes Miles into a soundslide was to see if I could take a music-related story and make it somewhat compelling. I found cutting the interview down easy — I also found that it flowed pretty nicely. The photography was much more difficult. I had to use a few courtesy photos and I have some shots that are just ‘okay’ to me. So I decided to get creative. The middle section of the soundslide is filled with rotating CDs that took a ton of time to shoot and put together in the soundslide program. As for any music I wanted to use, well, I decided against it — too messy legally, even if my project would probably count towards “fair use.”
This is my third soundslide I’ve made in the past year and a half and I have to say, I think I’m the happiest with this one. Looking back, my first was awful (no surprise) and my second was mostly boring. This is at least interesting, to me at least. If I could go back in time, I would have taken more photos at the concert. I would have maybe gone to Capitol Hill and went for the Block Party angle a bit more. Lots of little things. But not so bad overall.
Ra Ra Riot — a Syracuse-based band from Syracuse, NY and signed to Seattle-based label Barsuk — released their sophomore album, “The Orchard,” last August. Following in the footsteps of their acclaimed debut, “The Rhumb Line,” the album features string arrangements, terrific songwriting and soaring vocals provided by frontman Wes Miles. While the album was just released in Europe, Ra Ra Riot was recently announced as a headliner at this year’s Capitol Hill Block Party in July. In this interview, Miles discusses songwriting for “The Orchard” and his side-project, Discovery.
Watch the soundslide (1:42)
Coming soon: Ra Ra Riot — a Syracuse-based band from Syracuse, NY and signed to Seattle-based label Barsuk — released their sophomore album, “The Orchard,” last August. Following in the footsteps of their acclaimed debut, “The Rhumb Line,” the album features string arrangements, terrific songwriting and soaring vocals provided by frontman Wes Miles. While the album was just released in Europe, Ra Ra Riot was today announced as a headliner at this year’s Capitol Hill Block Party in July. In this interview, Miles discusses songwriting for “The Orchard” and his side-project, Discovery.
Courtesy of erieyohoho.com
Direct link to mp3
On Wednesday, a panel including myself and two other members of the greater Seattle community appeared on “Voices of Diversity” — a show on local radio station KBCS 91.3 FM in Bellevue — discussing Osama bin Laden’s death. It was truly a fascinating conversation. I was invited on after my opinion column entitled “What bin Laden’s death means to our generation.” Here’s the description from the station’s website:
President Obama told the nation a small team of NAVY Seals killed Osama bin Laden at a compound in Pakistan. The president’s dramatic announcement brought cheering crowds into the streets in cities and on campuses across the country. Some media pundits criticized the celebratory mood. Others felt the reaction was appropriate. What do you think? How did you react to the news of Osama’s death? Today on Voices of Diversity we talk to local residents from a variety of backgrounds, all with strong feelings about the killing of Osama bin Laden and its aftermath.
Host
Sonya Green
Guests
Lynn Fitz-Hugh is clerk of the Eastside Friends Meeting. The Friends are also known as the Quakers and Lynn has been one all her life. She is also a practicing psychotherapist, a wife and a mother.
Tarek Dawoud is a member of the Downtown Muslim Association and speaker on Islam. Tarek is also President of the Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a native of Egypt.
Bryden McGrath is a University of Washington student and journalist for the University of Washington Daily newspaper.
1. @TheNewsChick (local) Linda Thomas – Twitter enthusiast, lots of great links and, of course, the anchor in the mornings on KIRO FM.
2. @sona23 (local) Sona Patel – Associate producer for social media at The Seattle Times.
3. @pdebarros (local) Paul de Barros – Great music writer at The Seattle Times.
4. @barlowkm (local) Katrina Barlow – News producer at The Seattle Times, enough said!
5. @jontalton (local) Jon Talton – Lots of great economic/business tweets.
In trying to tell a visual story of a small town hit by the economic downturn, I clearly wanted to focus on how the town has changed. I tried to do this through the order of the photos I chose — an introduction to the town (first photo), a comparison to some history (second photo), and then getting into some obvious visuals that could be associated with an economic recession. I’d say my biggest challenge was just covering the town. It may be small but it’s still a town with plenty of areas and neighborhoods. Choosing where to go and what to shoot in a limited amount of time (about two hours) was the toughest part of it all.
Overall, I think I met a lot of my goals. For the most part, it turned out how I envisioned besides the fact that I’m not some professional photographer. In terms of learning, this project just continued my education in photography. There are a few shots I’m pretty proud of (specifically some of the color and composition in a few photos), but considering I took around 100 photos or so, I obviously still have tons to learn. And I feel like that comes with experience. If I had a chance to redo this assignment, I’d want to at least give myself some more time and explore areas I wasn’t able to get to (or park and get out of my car at the time). There are at least a couple specific places and images in my mind that I wish I could have gotten to. Furthermore, I’d try to get more people in my photos. People, at least to me, are far more compelling than most photos of buildings.
The “Great Recession” of the late-2000s hit the United States hard, having a particularly visible impact on many small towns throughout the country. Here, Shelton, Wash. is examined.
Presentation Transcript
- Visitors are welcomed to the small town of Shelton, Wash. (population 8,442 according to the 2000 census) from atop the Hillcrest neighborhood. Shelton resides on the western side of Puget Sound, about a 30 minute drive north of Olympia.
- This view above Oakland Bay shows the Simpson Timber Company, which dominated the economy of Shelton, Wash. for several decades. Along with many other logging towns, both Shelton and the Simpson Timber Company have seen better days. The “Great Recession” of the late-2000s hasn’t helped.
- A logging truck passes by houses in downtown Shelton, Wash. near Loop Field and Evergreen Elementary School. Apart from main drags, the roads in Shelton – particularly downtown – have been increasingly less maintained in recent years.
- “No Biomass Incinerators,” reads a sign taped to the back window of a car in downtown Shelton, Wash. Plans from Adage called for a 55-megawatt wood-fired power plant to be built four miles from downtown, creating jobs in the process. In March, Adage cancelled their plans due to a heavy backlash from the community.
- Wal-Mart moved into Shelton, Wash. in the 1990s, providing employment and low prices to residents of Mason County. It has since been turned into a “Supercenter” that provides a full grocery selection (Shelton High School’s Mini-Dome sits in the background). Wal-Mart’s presence has driven business to “uptown” Shelton, but away from downtown and stores like Safeway and Red Apple.
- A closed tavern in downtown Shelton, Wash. on the busy North 1st Street has been vacant for several years. In the window is a reflection of a Dairy Queen that is currently being remodeled.
- Mill Creek Motel has long been a vacant lot on Olympic Highway South, just outside of Shelton, Wash. All that remains is its rotting sign.
- Above is all that remains of the popular Timber Bowl bowling alley in downtown Shelton, Wash., which burned down in November 2008. Shelton High School’s powerhouse women’s bowling team now has to travel to Olympia to bowl.
- The First Baptist Church in downtown Shelton, Wash. has faced declining attendance and membership in recent years. The town’s Catholic, Lutheran and Mormon churches also have large memberships.
- An old apartment building in downtown Shelton, Wash. is boarded up and overrun by weeds, a common scene in its neighborhood.
- Credits
Bryden McGrath
Twitter: @Bryden13
Email: brydenmcgrath@yahoo.com
1. @BillPlaschke (national) Bill Plaschke – Outstanding L.A. Times columnist. I read his insight every chance I get.
2. @woodypaige (national) Woody Paige – Hilarious Denver Post columnist. Most entertaining Around the Horn panelist.
3. @masonkelley (local) Mason Kelley – Tons of great local sports updates on Twitter account.
4. @RealMikeWilbon (national) Mike Wilbon – Co-host of Pardon the Interruption on ESPN, and also a great sports journalist.
5. @sportsguy33 (national) Bill Simmons – Author and ESPN columnist. Lots of great humor.
Things I learned from the photo-a-day project:
- Take a lot of photos. When I would get back and upload the shots onto my computer, the more photos there were, the better chance I’d have one I was proud of.
- Perspective. Shots are far more interesting when I moved around — up, down, to the side, etc. When I was at the beach in downtown Edmonds, I never would have gotten my favorite shots if I hadn’t decided to stay out in the cold a few minutes longer and change my perspective to another part of the park.
- Get close, too. Not just with zoom, get close with the camera.
- I learned a ton about composition. I’m not as fond of my last couple photos (took them with my cell phone because I’ve been sick and out of energy the past couple days), but with the others it was a lot of fun to play around with the rule of thirds and the cropping tool.
- Learn about whatever camera you’re using. I had a lot of fun photographing the Seattle skyline one night and playing around with settings in trying to get the ‘streaking’ effect of the traffic on I-5.
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