@DailyShoot – #ds585 – Work the angles today. Make a photo that gives us a unique perspective on an otherwise ordinary scene

A tree I see from a distance most days on campus. So I got up close, personal and low to the ground.

My friend Linda is retiring from full-time teaching this year. To help celebrate, my friend Rachel and I made a digital story for Linda.

We were asked to create a video about Linda’s impact on the Australia/New Zealand Study Abroad program, which Linda and Rachel created as a result of their work with Digital Storytelling. Rachel and I realized the story could not just be about the international cultural exchange program, that it needed to encompass the power of storytelling as well. To get a look at the big picture, so we could distill it, we tried to map out, on a whiteboard, the entire series of events that culminated with an international exchange focused on indigenous culture. There were too many events, though, so we mapped what felt like the truly essential pieces.

We could easily have made an hour-long documentary film with all the material collected over the last ten years or so. Linda went on a sabbatical where she traveled the world interviewing storytellers. Linda and Rachel have taught Digital Storytelling classes for several years, impacting the lives of hundreds of students. They also teach the process to faculty, sometimes with my help. And the international exchange has been ongoing for the last four summers. We’ve also hosted at least four return visits. The metaphor of ripples helped us distill this material, and the impact of Linda in particular, to its utter essence, and into this 5-minute story.

We both felt it would be inappropriate to narrate, and instead we chose to let the stories do the talking. We excerpted them, but did not edit them, which means we left the voices and visuals intact. We added a bit of text, and some beautiful photos to accompany our words. We connected the dots of “aha” moments and experiences. We chose not to worry if anyone else “gets it.” This video is for Linda, and she gets it. If you feel it as a summation of years, instead of a linear narrative, you’ll get it.

When they exhibit their pieces later this semester, I’ll be sure and let you know, with video of course, so you can see what came out after the molds cooled.

Update: I found an article about last year’s pour in which Ted Uran describes the process. Check it out: Iron Pour turns scrap metal into art at SCC.

So this year, Ted gave me plenty of notice and I showed up an hour before they expected to have pourable iron. I brought the hubby and we both bought scratch blocks for $10, and t-shirts for $15, because they help the sculpture students raise money for cool stuff they want to do. Several local schools pool resources and talent to pull this off – it looked like we had people from Arizona State and Northern Arizona Universities in addition to Scottsdale Community College folks. A whole bunch of people show up to see the students pour their iron, and in the darkening evening it’s really quite a show, all flame and sparks and glowing molten metal.

Anticipation ran high, and the supportive crowd burst into applause when the first ladle was charged. But of course, the audience doesn’t always understand what’s really going on, as you’ll see.

1. I have shamelessly backdated this post to the date I shot it and would have published it except that when I got to the art gallery last night I found my partner had removed our internet connection temporarily – she needed to troubleshoot equipment at her home. So I’d have published from there, but couldn’t. Continuing the spirit of NaVloPoMo, it’s okay to backdate this post because I DID make this video on December 7.

2. This kind of continues my confrontation of fears thing. I made this video while I was really angry. Normally I wouldn’t do such a thing. And then I’d usually delete it because I don’t want to show that side of myself. Certainly wouldn’t post it. My reason is not wanting to put that negativity out there. But I’ve realized that means I’m not presenting myself as a whole person. So here is me angry, not raging angry, or over the top, but angry.

3. We really do have a state law that prohibits smoking within a reasonable distance from building entrances, and that distance is defined as 20 feet. After researching the law, it seems the place of employment is supposed to remove ashtrays from areas where smoking is illegal. But I realized from watching my footage that there is an ashtray here. So it’s probably not the employee’s fault, but the institution’s fault for providing an ashtray where there shouldn’t be one. I’ll be letting them know about it – I go to this area so regularly that I can’t let this one go. Someone’s always out there smoking when I walk by, and it nearly always triggers an asthma attack for me.

I’m sorry about the shaky camera work, but it’s my little Xacti zoomed all the way in telephoto, because I didn’t want to frighten my friend. The video is too long, but it needs to be for you to have any inkling of what it was like today to sit with this little fellow for awhile. Enjoy the connection.