Woodward Video Production Camp 2009

I'm waiting patiently for more barbecues, outdoor screenings and friends out at Woodward, PA. The barbecue next to the megaramp is especially cool. I think it's the only place in the world where you can grill up some red peppers at the top a giant inflatable snowboard jump. Friday nights are rad due to the outdoor film fest. I put this event on every week for the Video Production campers, right behind The Lodge. Outdoor screenings are great because you get the breeze coming in,  everybody finds a place to sit and the music is blaring. We even have animals come by to watch. So far so good for the Woodward Video Production Camp (AKA: Woodward Academy of Digital Media).

Woodward Video Production Camp instructors: Myself, Ty and Dave post up for Pennsylvania sunset photo in '08. Mmmm, sunsets.

Transmission accomplished,

Andrew

Oaks Bottom Mural, update

After being commissioned by the Urban Greenspaces Institute to document the historic painting in October, we're starting to shoot again now that the Summer weather has arrived.  

Yes, even if you weren't thinking it: 50,000 square-feet is a kinda large for a painting. While most large murals are being made using printed vinyl sheets, the mural at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is being hand-painted. Much of the artwork is created using broad brushstrokes, but you  can't tell this while looking across the Bottoms. A couple surprises are included for avid birdwatchers, like the red tail hawk near the center. The giant bird is completed in fine detail down to the feather. 

Hauling and hanging aluminum scaffolding isn't in most artists' vocabulary. And judging from the Portland cafes I drop into, the closest most artists come to this is in carrying around their MacBooks. Artists Dan Cohen and Shane Bennet spending time with aluminum, below. 

If the ground looks funny, that's because it's the roof of Portland Memorial. Photos from the 8th floor coming soon. We set up a few cameras around the roof; this one has just been set up to capture a time-lapse of the West Wall being completed.

-Andrew

Oaks Bottom, Up Close

More than a month ago I started hanging out on the roof of an 8-story building. It looks condemned to most passers-by, who see it from the Springwater Corridor commuter path in Portland, Oregon. The building and the commuter path sandwich one of the best urban wildlife areas in the Pacific Northwest, called the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. I started out spending my free time walking in and around Oaks Bottom. Which is how I ended up on the roof.

The roof of the Portland Memorial Mausoleum is the staging area for ArtFX Murals, a mural painting company from Portland which has started hand-painting the largest mural in North America. Shane and the team at ArtFX will be adding to the stories-tall Great Blue Heron that his father painted in the 1990's.

-Andrew Burke

Woodward Video Production Camp

Pennsylvania is done. Nine weeks working 72-hours-a-week is done. Camp Woodward now officially has a summer of Video Production Camp in the can. And to snag a quote from Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". It was the best because... are you kidding me? It's Woodward! And it's still the "most elite sports camp in the world". Where else can you find an Amish farmer, 500 skateboarders, and Olympic Gold Medalist Dominique Moceanu on the same street? It was the worst, well, mainly because the place seems to run on styrofoam and processed hamburgers. It's a gnarly sight to see 800 campers each week, double-fisting a cheese burger in one hand and a cup of soda in the other. Maybe I'm too eco-conscious for The Keystone State?

Bolivian Threads Spotting

Pick up this month's Decline mountain bike magazine and spot the garb straight from La Paz. My buddy Zach and I have been working on a fun side project, which profiles bike riders who do much for their scenes and bike communities. So far we've gone through hobo camps in L.A., beaches in Santa Cruz and on up to the grit in Portland, Oregon. Oddly, Zach and I may have become the subjects too, as we're profiled in an upcoming issue of the mag.