Stop & Smell the Roses

   Remember that nightmare road trip to Akron, Ohio?

   That was one of the worst travel experiences of my career. The best was an all-expense paid trip to see the Badgers win the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in December 2000 on the cusp of “The New Millennium.”

   From 1964 through 1993, a span of 30 years, the Badgers earned a grand total of zero Rose Bowl appearances. They have made four Rose Bowl trips since.

   By December of 1999, when I traveled to Los Angeles, the Badgers were still feeling the afterglow of a Rose Bowl victory over heavily-favored UCLA the year before. The 86^th Rose Bowl Game was played on January 1^st, 2000, the day the “world was supposed to end.”

   Though I’d been to California once before, I’d never been to Southern California or Los Angeles. From the moment I exited the L.A. airport in a rental car I was overwhelmed by the scope of the sprawl and the unending sea of artificial lights. I had arranged to arrive two-and-a-half days ahead of the sports anchor so I could enjoy the opportunity to explore the area’s birdlife. Scooting north in the dark to , then rising before dawn the next morning, I explored my way down Highway from Santa Inez northwest of Santa Barbara to Ventura, Santa Monica, Palos Verdes Point, Huntington Beach and Upper Newport Bay. At about 7 PM, just as the daylight ran out, I got this misguided notion to drive across “town” to the desert on the other side, where I’d be spending the night. Until then I’d been smart enough to avoid the worst of traffic, but for the next two hours I experienced a surreal of topping seventy one minute and parking in six lanes of back-up automobiles the next.

   After another day of birding the San Bernardino National Forest and San Jacinto Mountains I returned to the airport to pick up the sports reporter and we both checked into our hotel in Century City, about thirty minutes from Pasadena.

   My job for the next two days was split almost literally into halves. The first half was taping the pre-game hype surrounding players, coaches, and fans –- including interviews with Ron Dayne and Barry Alvarez. We even shot the team portrait session.

   The second half was the post-game rush of celebratory interviews on the playing field and after that, “live shots” sent back to Wisconsin. In between I was expected to sit on my hands and simply watch the game from the press booth high atop the stadium.

   The final score was 17-9 Wisconsin, and Ron Dayne was the game’s MVP. The Badgers ended up 10-2 for the year, and it was the first time in history that a Big Ten team won back to back Rose Bowls.

   A terrorist plot targeted for New Year’s Day at the L.A. airport was thwarted by security, we returned safely to Wisconsin, and the world, as you have certainly deduced by now, kept right on pushing up roses.

Posted under Artist? Scientist? Philosopher? Camera Guy?

My Waterfall

   I was out and about one fine day when I got this idea for a big story project (this happens a lot…). Wisconsin and Minnesota have lots of pretty waterfalls, I thought… so… what if I did a year-long, four-season portrait of some of our prettiest falls?

   The concept had its drawbacks; it would mean traveling to four waterfalls in locales sometimes far from Eau Claire. Timing would be crucial and tricky. The four waterfalls I ended up choosing were 

1.    Gooseberry Falls along the North Shore of Minnesota (because I’d seen it once, thought it gorgeous, and stumbled upon someone who liked to take photographs there…)

2.    Amnicon Falls south of Superior (because I’d camped there many times…)

3.    Big Falls in Eau Claire County (because it’s one of those popular summer hotspots…) &

4.    High Falls of the Pigeon River, in Grand Portage State Park along the border of Minnesota and Canada (because it’s waaaayy up nort and kind of exotic…)

   Since each of the falls would be highlighted in a separate season it also meant four trips, and how would I justify that? In the end, it was not only the creative of the assignment that satisfied, but the economy.

   To save on time and gas I carefully “doubled up” efforts for each of the shoots — taping another more immediate story at the same time and (approximate) place.  Pretty clever, huh?

    But that was the easy part. First I had to line up the Minnesota photographer. Then arrange for two established Western Wisconsin poets to meet me at Amnicon Falls in chilly see-your-breath April. Then wade across the Eau Claire River and brave the slings and arrows of sunbathers who didn’t approve of a TV camera invading their “sanctum” (I did find four young men and four young women who granted me interviews though…). Then I had to line-up the park manager for Grand Portage State Park (Even then he was an hour-and-a-half late for the interview.) Ah well. Water over the damn…)

   High Falls is a fixture at Grand Portage State Park, which is actually part of an Indian reservation.  It’s bordered by Canada on the north and east. You can spy Lake Superior about a mile east off the east.

   The completed story was a videographer’s dream and one of the prettiest pieces ever to air on WQOW’s Northland Adventures. It won a first place national award from the Outdoor Writers of America, and –- because of the effort involved, the scale of the project, and the resultant imagery — it’s one of the most satisfying stories I’ve ever produced.

   Here are a few highlights selected from the full story (which is too long to embed here…)

 

  

Posted under Artist? Scientist? Philosopher? Camera Guy?

G With D

   In 2008 I was invited to join Chief Meteorologist Doug Michaels and Brian Hahn of Hahn’s Meat Market in producing a weekly summertime grilling series. For three years “Grillin’ With Doug” meant blending Doug and Brian’s acting talents with the back patio of WQOW News 18 and lunch on Brian.  Beginning with Memorial Day and wrapping up after Labor Day, “G With D” was a creative dream. It meant having your fun story and eating it too.

   It worked like this;

   Brian would settle on an idea for a weekly menu item. Then Doug and he and I would gather ahead of time to tape the cooking process. Sometimes I would even think of a “grillin’ motif” for the episode ahead of time. Sometimes we’d make it up as we went along.

   We ended up producing about 43 episodes in all. The following are a few of my all-time favorites…

Breakfast in Bed

   Brian starts out by pointing at his watch, which reads noon, and explaining that Doug is “sleeping in.” He then prepares ham and egg muffins and carries them in through the front door of Doug’s apartment to “Good Morning Starshine.”

Chow Bella

   Brian and Doug prepare pizza on the grill with their voices dubbed over in Italian. It’s hard to read Italian at speed, so I can hardly keep up with the action and must aggressively snip frames during the audio editing process to make my bad Italian sound “faster”, and to keep pace with what Doug and Brian are saying. I still don’t know how I got away with this one. Surreal TV… 

The Old Switcheroo

   Brian suggests that he’s tired of the same old routine, so Doug reaches over, grabs a hold of his head and “zaps” him with a bolt of high energy, thus swapping identities. I then have each of the guys read the others’ lines and overdub the voices –- until Doug – as Brian — switches things back to normal.

Reunited

   The first episode of season three has Doug and Brian returning to the WQOW TV 18 patio arms open wide –- only to embrace the “Holland Gas Grill” and the “Big Green Egg.”

Grillin’ With Doug the Musical

   Doug called upon a group of his buds to serve as musical backup as Brian ran down the menu for baby back ribs. “I…want to grill with Doug all night!”

   A few clips are embedded here for your viewing pleasure…

GWD Highlights

Posted under Artist? Scientist? Philosopher? Camera Guy?