Beyond Alaska Photo
Multimedia journalism in the Last Frontier

I drove past this sign today on my way back from covering a Palin-related press conference called by Dianne Keller, the current mayor of Wasilla.

More Gov. Palin news from the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News.

I used my full compliment of multimedia gear while covering the Xterra Hammerman Triathlon this morning:

Nikon D200: 9 picture online gallery + three picture print package.

Canon HV20 with Sennheiser ew100 wireless mic: Video and ambient sound

M-Audio 24/96 with Beyerdynamic M58 mic: Interview recording.

I ended up spending too much time on the finished project trying to balance the audio levels between the tape and the M-Audio but I prefer that to shooting a lame stand up (probably a habit I should break — but not yet!).

Here’s the final video:

photo by MARC LESTER / Anchorage Daily News

Photographer Marc Lester, reporter Julia O’Malley and the Anchorage Daily News won the 2008 BOP News Audio Slide Show (Under) for Marc and Julia’s “Crystal Becker says Goodbye.”

The University of Alaska Anchorage is hosting the Division II NCAA West Regional tournament this weekend and for the first game I decided to continue my G9 experiment, this time adding video. The game itself was a bit of disappointment (UAA won 80-60, very few students on hand due to spring break) and I didn’t get much of a story but I am pleased with the results from the camera.

I collected stand-alone audio with an M-Audio 24/96 (which is the dominant sound in the piece) but left the camera’s audio track in place under the video.

I may look like an over-eager parent but this small, light set-up seems promising.

Thomas Dworzak, the youngest member of Magnum, stopped by UAA on Friday to give a quick presentation to the journalism students (he was invited by his friend Julius Strauss, the current Atwood Chair).

It was an impressive collection of work and a valuable look into global photojournalism, especially for those of us laboring in a small market. Every day we’re obsessed with local stories, mug shots, reader-submitted content. Dworzak is primarily a combat photographer, spending months at a time in Iraq on contract for Time, and while he described himself as cynical and hard-hearted out of necessity, he did express the hope that the pictures he makes might change policy.

Access is not an issue in Iraq: “The bigger problem is that nobody publishes the pictures.”

And when a recent graduate asked what advice he had for students, he suggested embedding in Iraq with the US military for a 16 month tour. “What are you going to do? Get a stupid job, photographing stupid things?”

I think I understand the mindset — at least I understand that I don’t have it and don’t want it — and I think there’s a fair criticism in his words. Covering local news is not stupid — after all, a war is somebody’s local news — but (and I’m speaking only for myself here) I think I allow myself to photograph things stupidly. Not by making bad pictures necessarily, but by not asking questions, not following the story to its logical conclusion, not making a difference.

And if I’m not making a difference in my community I do have a stupid job. But that’s on me.