What I see from behind the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board interviews.

Every year the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board conducts election related interviews to provide recommendations to the public.  Even though this is a relatively closed process, the YH-R actively pursues ways to make the editorial boards more transparent and available to the public.

One way the YH-R provides greater access to this process is through shooting video of the editorial board interviews and publishing the videos online. The quickest way to watch the videos is by going to yakimaherald.com’s election page.

The setup:

The goal is to record the candidates or initiative spokesperson’s responses and post them online.  It’s not the most active video because, well, it’s an interview process, not theatre.

Challenges: lighting, audio, streaming software and consistency.

1. Lighting — The room lights are dim so they must be augmented with additional lights, stands and power cords.
2. Audio — We currently use an on-camera microphone. If someone is talking quietly they are barely heard.
3. Software — We use two different services depending on the use. One has consistent quality and annoying ads.  The other has fewer annoying ads, however it has inconsistent quality and sometimes crashes.
4. Consistency — The recording area is a multiple use meeting room and the setup has subtle variations day-to-day. There are no set places for the lights, camera or computer. Also, if the software fails, portions may go unrecorded.

What I see when recording the editorial board interviews on the computer screen.

Very very cool video a friend shared. If you happen to have some extra gear lying around…

Juanitz Gonzalez pays little attention to the media and Washington state gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee as Inslee declares his candidacy June 27, 2011 in Parker, Wash. (GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Rep. Jay Inslee stopped in Yakima to announce his candidacy for Washington governor. The event was predictable – Inslee arrives dressed in jeans, blazer and no tie (appropriately casual as befits central Washington), chats up supporters, stands with his wife Trudy as he’s introduced by old friends, makes a speech, mingles with supporters a little while longer and finally meets with the media afterwards.

The photos were equally predictable. Candidate arriving (dressed in jeans), mingling with supporters (hugging a few), standing with his wife, making a speech, more mingling and finally, talking to the media. Not bad photos, just predictable photos.

I had photographed Juanitz Gonzalez earlier, when Inslee introduced himself to the elderly woman.

Having taken a couple of meaningless photos of Inslee talking to the media I noticed Ms. Gonzalez sitting quietly, paying no attention to the hubbub just behind her.

I was struck by her seeming indifference to the media gathering just behind her and by the contrast of her silence to the sounds of the media and the candidate.

This photo did not run in the newspaper or on our website because it’s not relevant to the story of Inslee’s candidacy. Still, I think it was the best photo I shot that day.

–Gordon King

I used this for the introduction of the video. I thought it was representative of what the audio interview conveyed -- of passing on the tribe's history and legacy to its youth.

On Thursday I was tasked with shooting video of the Yakama Treaty Days parade in Toppenish, Wash.  Even though I was responsible for shooting moving pictures, I am a firm believer that using still photos to help tell a video story can be done.

That day, I shot a few tribal members wearing customary headdresses as video and still photo elements.  Once I started editing the video I decided to incorporate the still photo moments showing the faces and headdresses of tribe members lit by the late morning sunlight instead of the similarly shot video.

Going through photos of each person, each face, it was tough to decide which I would use in the video.  Here is of the variations that I edited.

Variation 1

I really enjoyed the horse and how animated it was. Both Gordon and I thought this was the stronger of the variations shot for the gallery.

Variation 2

I love the color his expression and the background in this shot, but it wasn't enough to beat out the silhouette.

And here’s the quick turnaround video.

A rainbow in Selah, Wash., on June 8, 2011.

Nothing like shooting from your front lawn when interesting things happen.

Yesterday was one of those days when something big showed up at (or around) home.

A rainbow.

Note: there’s a lot about shooting rainbows on the web, here’s my first pick if you want to learn more: Camera Techniques for Photographing Rainbows

-TJ Mullinax

Simply put; what people hear in your video can deeply impact the viewer, so it must not be disregarded.  To this day I remember my reaction after watching some spot news raw video of the Atlas aluminum foundry explosion in Tacoma a few years back.

The scene went like this — 1 OK someone is shooting video down a long street at a column of smoke.  2 Hmm, fire and debris shoot up into the sky. 3 I jump back in my seat as the sudden sound of explosion at 12+ db on the computer speakers hits me in the chest unexpectedly.  I watch intently as the cameraman quakes and exclaims ‘whoa!’ 4 photographer darts next to a neighboring building and video ends.

Why it sticks out is that for me, in that moment, I was physically (or emotionally) captivated by the sounds within a video.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that shocking, unexpected or frightful moments make for the best video.  Certainly not. My point is that audio can add another dimension that helps the viewer identify, be captivated by, or draws a person into your story.  It takes effort to pay attention to the audio when working hard to capture video and still moments.

And that’s where this helps me out on assignments when I cannot risk missing an audio moment.

Rode powered shotgun mic with an Olympus digital voice recorder strapped to it's back, atop a Joby mini tripod.

What is this?  Well it’s an audio recorder on steroids.  Normally the audio recorder does a great job for simple interviews or meetings.  Simply press record and let it run, and run, and run, and run… you get the point.  It’s easy, can record for a very long time without fear of it running out of space or battery power.

I usually don’t go crazy with the audio recorder unless of special circumstances.  Yesterday was one of those special gear up days for me when covering the community of White Swan as they buried a young Marine who was killed in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device.

When covering funerals and other sacred events, you only get one shot yet you usually need to be far back from where things happen.  If you are too far back, you won’t get decent audio.

So I put together a quick mic stand from an available Joby mini tripod.  Put the Rode powered shotgun mic on top, then strapped the audio recorder to it’s back.  Before the ceremony I put it about 15 feet away from the podium, discreetly hidden in some grass and behind a tombstone.  I pointed it in the direction of the podium, rifle team and the trumpet player for taps to capture the primary military sounds.  I hit record and walked away, only checking on it periodically.

To it’s credit, I used it for nearly the entire sound track of the Marine’s funeral because my camera audio was going in and out depending on where I was pointing the camera and whether I had it recording or not.

It also avoided the occasional “clackety-clack” sounds of still photographers, Ted Warren from the AP and YH-R’s Andy Sawyer, who were near me and my video camera.  (In the video below, you may hear some audio variances, because at one point someone near the audio recorder started making noise so I had to switch to my on camera microphone)

When I reviewed my audio recorder track, then the video clips, I wasn’t surprised that many audio moments in the raw video were not as clear, truncated or simply missed because I was focusing more on the visual elements.

I was able to tell a more complete account of the funeral because I prepared a second audio recording device.

Thank you weird looking little audio recorder.

Saw this guy at an assignment today. Too pretty not to photograph. Really, Kate and William have nothing on him.

This month’s food column focused on the delights of cookbooks and print publications for culinary wandering. I didn’t have much to add to the topic photographically, so I thought I’d share some online publications that, for me, capture what I love about flipping through the pages of cooking magazines. Unlike a recipe search site, which I’ve found myself using more and more, these are sites that include beautiful photography and narrative writing. They are sites that, like a magazine, encourage a viewer to slow down, explore and savor.