Moving Along . . .

This short film was created for an video editing class at the Center For Documentary Studies, where I've been learning the language of Final Cut Pro for the past month. The assignment called for a meditation on the idea of home using "found sound" and still photographs.

In considering the idea of home, I headed off to a huge abandon tobacco factory in Durham that has been like a haunted home for me over the course of the the past three years as I worked on a photography project there. At the height of Big Tobacco, this factory complex was flush with thousands of toiling souls and it's impossible not to image their lives that playing out while walking through the corridors and wide open floors by yourself. Every sound carries an eerie echo, especially when you're navigating by flashlight in cowboy boots. There are lockers on every floor in the factory, some of them contain traces of their past occupants.

This film imagines a former employee returning for a lost memento.

Related Links
photographs from last days of operation inside the tobacco factory

Weird Science

Megafaun, Research Laboratory, Durham, NC

Mermaid Avenue

F Train to Coney Island, NYC, March 2009

Mainframe

Mr. Robinson on Autoharp, Durham, NC, March 2009

Livin' for the Cit-tay

Fast Money, NYC, March 2009

Street Whores, NYC, March 2009

So it's been said that 30% of the money that circulates throughout NYC originates from Wall Street bonuses, or at least it did before the hammer came down. It seemed like the public backlash related to the A.I.G. bonuses reached a fevered pitch while I was in the city visiting editors with a new portfolio book last week. I passed by a tabloid stand with headlines such as, "Not So Fast You Greedy Bastards!" and "A.I.G. - Awash In Greed."

This morning I read a letter of resignation written by a former A.I.G. executive and published in the NY Times that added some much needed nuance to my understanding of the situation. In New York, out on the street, signs of the crunch seemed to be everywhere. A chalkboard sign in a novelty shop window read, "You are my economic stimulus." My good friend Liz laughed when I asked her if there were any shoe sales that she knew about. "The whole city is 70% off these days." She might be right, I found some sweet Adidas kicks for a little more than the price of a marvelous creme brulee doughnut.

Creekside

Mr. Robinson, Durham, NC, 3.20.2009

Big Men on Horses

Megafaun, Hillsborough, NC, March, 2009

Tending to the Flame

Will Hackney, Durham, 2009

Buck's Trucks

Buck, Galva, Ill., 2007

Parade Halt

Mardi Gras Parade, Durham, NC 2009

Blitzed

Snowstorm, Durham, March, 2009

Monday was the first full day off from Independent Weekly work since January. Inspired by a late-season snowstorm, I spent several hours tromping around the old factory roof thinking linearly, experimenting with audio and wiggling my frozen toes. Much of my creative focus this month is for a course in video editing at the Center For Documentary Studies. The results will be posted on this here blog periodically. Stay tuned.