Saturday, May 31, 2008

Parkersburg Tornado




The Parkersburg tornado that caused so much destruction this past Sunday was a little too close to home.  River Run's Marc  Reifenrath and his wife and dog were in the basement of their Parkersburg home when the tornado went directly through there house. Just 45 seconds they were looking at the sky. 

Shaken, with a few less belongings, but glad to be alive.

I went out yesterday to shoot footage for Farm Bureau Insurance and couldn't believe the destruction from the tornado. I've been through a major California earthquake and a Florida hurricane but they don't compare to the force the first EF5 rated tornado to hit Iowa in 30 years..




  

Monday, May 19, 2008

What Happens in Postville...



What happens in Iowa is apparently broadcast to the rest of the world.

Most people in Iowa have never been to Postville, Iowa and would have trouble placing it on a map. But one week ago today it became a little more well known as it became the place of the largest immigration raid in US history. We received a call from Univision Network in Miami to shoot some interviews and b-roll in Postville.



Postville is about an hour and a half north east of Cedar Falls. It's an interesting place with a mix of the original settlers of German and Norwegian decent mixed with those from Mexico, Guatemala and the Ukraine who work in a meet packing planet run by Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn.

It's an interesting enough place for Univ. of Iowa professor Stephen Bloom to write a book on the town. In "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America" Bloom writes, “I look at Postville as a social laboratory to test the limits of diversity, tolerance, and acceptance.”


The families of those arrested in Postville found refuge at Saint Bridget's Church and awaited news on what was going to happen next. Meanwhile I used an ABC satellite truck to do an uplink with Univision so the footage I shot could find its way on their news broadcast later that night.

Is there any doubt that immigration will play a roll in the Presidential elections at the end of the year?



Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Sign of the Times



We had a white winter and a rainy April but the signs of spring are finally here; Warm weather and blue skies.

Speaking of signs, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare has a new billboard up in Cedar Falls featuring a photo we took. The photograph was originally used for a commercial and print ad, so it was a nice surprise to see it up on the billboard.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Planets: A Multi-Media Presentation


Tomorrow night (April 23,2008)  at The Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center there will be an event called Visual Art, the Big Screen, and Orchestral Performance featuring a video we produced of Gary Kelley's artwork and featuring the music from Holst's "The Planets." The music was performed by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony under the direction of conductor Jason Weinberger from the original full concert last November. 

That concert received a triple standing ovation by the over 1,000 people in attendance as well as a fine review by the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. It was an honor to work with with such a talented group of artists and nice to see it be so well appreciated.

Gary Gute from the University of Northern Iowa will be leading a discussion and Q&A on the creative process of bringing together all of the various elements of the multi-media presentation.


Friday, April 11, 2008

Video with Nobel Peace Prize Winner




















It's not every day that you get to meet and work with a Nobel Peace Prize winner. In fact, it's only happened once in my life. A couple months ago we received a call to video tape an interview with Dr. Norman Borlaug for Self-Help International.

Dr. Borlaug was a farm boy from Cresco, Iowa who grew-up during the depression and would go on to become one of only five people in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Honor.

His work in increasing agricultural production has been credited with saving billions from starvation in Mexico, Pakistan, and India. His 1970 Nobel Peace Prize was "in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply."

His work in the 1940's and 1950's is considered to be the spark of the beginning of the Green Revolution. In 1986 he started The World Food Prize which recognizes work being done for the world food supply.

Dr. Borlaug was 95-years-old at the time of the interview and when we took the above photo in Des Moines. His life represents a life lived to the full. This evening the video will be shown as part of a fundraiser for Self-Help International.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Winter in Spring




There were snow flurries as I drove to work today. No April Fools there. That's what I saw and I'm sticking to my story. Last week I had my first white Easter and from the first day of winter to the last day there was snow on the ground here in Cedar Falls.

Having moved to Iowa from Florida almost five years ago it was the first real winter of my life and in the top five winters, snowfall-wise, for the Cedar Valley.


So I guess it makes sense that I would get a call from Lost Island Waterpark in January to shoot an idea they had. They wanted to shoot the water park in all its winter glory for a tongue-in-cheek commercial. It was nine degrees when we shot and with the windchill it had to be below zero.


It gave us a chance to shoot with the Panasonic HVX 200 camera in extreme conditions. We shot HD footage onto a digital P2 card so we didn't have to worry about the tape freezing.


Here's the :30 spot that aired in the tri-state (Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois) area earlier this month as an ice-breaker as we moved from winter to spring and looked forward to the waterpark opening in May when things warm up a bit.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Addy Awards


River Run Productions picked up two Addy Awards at the recent MAC Addy Awards. One for a black and white photography for Covenant Hospital and the other for a video produced for the website of Beam Central Vacuum Systems - International.

The elegant and dynamic website for Beam/Electrolux International, and the Beam U.S.A site as well, were designed by Spinutech.