One of the challenges that stood out to me in Kirsten Johnsons statement was when she said “I can and will leave a place I film ( a war, a refugee camp, etc.) when the people I film cannot.” This stood out to me because that is such a difficult position to be in and I cant even begin to imagine having to learn about people in these terrible situations and not have the resources to help. Although through documentary making itself, that would be helping the people. If I were in that position, I think the only thing that would get me through the emotional hardship of leaving when others cannot would be the fact that by making that documentary, I would be shedding light on that issue in hopes that whatever difficult situation I was filming could be helped.

Another one of her statements that stood out to me was “I know little about how the images I shoot will be used in the future and cannot control their distribution or use.” This is another one I worry with and resonate with. I think this is because whenever I imagine a documentary I would make, most revolve around issues that are near and dear to me. To think that what I shoot could be misconstrued or potentially used against my cause is incredibly worrisome and concerning.

While there is nothing that can truly be done to rectify these concerns with documentary making, it is still something that weighs on documentarians lives and is something to take into account when creating a documentary.

Of the Lehigh Valley stories proposed, I think those that I resonate most with are the environmental/wildlife related ones. Saving the Shad, Many Beliefs and What the frack is going on, are all stories relating to the Delaware River, which is something that connects the entire LV community. I have always been an advocate for the environment so the thought of participating in creating a documentary about these topics excites me. When I think of documentary making, I ideally would make it about something that I am passionate about.

Another one of my passions is animal and animal welfare. I am the president of the Promotion of Animal Welfare(PAW) club here at Lafayette and am involved in animal advocacy. Because of this I would also love to work on Bad to the Bone. I have had many experiences working in Animal Shelters in the Lehigh valley, both good and bad and would be interested in delving deeper into this topic. I think it would also be interested to compare different shelters in the different regions (Easton vs Allentown)

As a Biology major with an Environmental Science minor, a documentary story making class is definitely not typical script. Most things in biology are about structure and how things function together, which I feel, both connects and separates Biology and FAMS. There is much more of a creative aspect to this class which I would love to explore, but at the same time while a biological perspective often includes thinking how things function together that can directly be translated into documentary making. In documentary making you have to understand how things work together and connect, between filming, editing and capturing content.

I would love to create a documentary surrounding issues that I’m passionate about such as animal rights and environmental education. There is a huge gap between scientist and the general public that I would like to try to fix. Often scientist create great discoveries but it can be hard to convey the meaning to the general public which leads to misinformation and confusion of potentially vital information.

Beware of the Delaware

Budget cuts of the Environmental Protection Agency may be hitting closer to home for the residents of the Lehigh valley than they know.

In today’s political climate, controversies and arguments are not uncommon. Since the beginning weeks of our Presidents reign, the Environmental Protection Agency has been an agency that is on the chopping block fiscally. The current Administration claims that they wish to cut EPA spending by 30 percent (2.6 billion dollars). While these cuts would no doubt affect people across the United States, but it may hit closer to home than you think.

The Delaware River Basin has long been the center of a water restoration initiative. In the 1950s the Delaware river was one of the most polluted stretches of river but it is now clean enough to fish and swim in. Support by the EPA has made this possible by supporting cleaning efforts, holding polluters accountable and restoring the waterways. With the proposed cuts there is no doubt that local efforts to continue the restoration of the Delaware River Basin would be affected. I believe creating a documentary about the local effect these budget cuts would have and the potential risk for the Delaware River would bring awareness and new perspective to the people of the Lehigh Valley

Monday was my first time actually attending documentary story making. I of course had an idea of what the class would be like but didn’t imagine that I would be creating a documentary on the first day of class (for me at least). When I first heard the assignment it made me nervous. I don’t have a background in FAMS but I was comforted by having several other talented people in my group with all ranges of talents.

The nervousness quickly turned to excitement as I would part of creating a documentary for the very first time. Rather than feeling intimidated by the project I felt inspired and ready to share my ideas and visions for the project. I was surprised how quickly our group was able to come together and form a coherent idea for a film in such a short amount of time. Once we had set our base ideas, our project slowly came into focus and with our combined efforts and opinions, I was fairly proud of our final project. Being a biology major, I was unsure how helpful I would be in the creation process, but I found that having open, honest and cooperative team mates made this assignment much easier than it could’ve been.

In the end, I was proud of our documentary, how it was a different take on the theme “pets”. What amazed me at the end of class was how diverse and creative the other projects came to be. Even though several groups took on the idea of pets, the diversity between groups was enormous. Everyone had different themes, perspectives and editing techniques that made each documentary interesting and unique.

Shots, story and showing not telling

These images show the transformation of an agricultural landscape, not only through out different times in the day, but as the crops grow and transform the horizon.