Check out this video I made from footage my girlfriend and I collected during our trip to Wyoming. Her mother likes classical music, so I decided to set the footage _ mostly shots from a car window _ to the London Phiharmonic Orchestra's rendition of Bedrich Smetana's "My Fatherland."
The other day a friend commented on a picture I posted on Facebook of a cemetery in Wyoming. It got me thinking that in the past few years I, like many people out there, have gravitated to cemeteries in my travels.
Cemeteries are fascinating, often time capsules, often little history lessons on a peoples or community. Their traditions or beliefs on display for people to see. It's a special feeling to walk among the tombs that hold the remains of people who lived their lives hundreds of years before us, or see the love or neglect for those who have died recently.
Here are some pictures of my visits, through travel or work, where people lay their dead.
Oaxaca, Mexico:
During a visit to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2010 we stumbled upon a small cemetery when we stayed in the small town of Mazunte on the Pacific Coast of the state.
The cemetery was tiny, but in a weird way, charming.
After watching the sun set from the beach, we walked back to the cemetery. It was pitch black and quiet. Perfect setting to paint it with light. The result is the picture below.
Oaxaca, Mexico
The cemetery is on the way to a popular beach.
Arapaho Indian Reservation, Wyoming, USA:
While visiting Wyoming in December we stopped by a Catholic cemetery in the Arapaho Indian Reservation. The most striking thing from the start was a large statue of a crucified Jesus. It was large too, the cemetery, with hundreds of crosses as far as the eye could see. Some were military style headstones.
Our guide was Erika's father, a nearly life long resident of Wyoming, and he said that tradition on the rez calls for people to leave the wooden statues until they decay. Once they decay the family of the deceased can stop mourning.
Wyoming, USA
Wyoming, USA
White Eagle Memorial Preserve, Goldendale, Washington, USA:
For an assignment this past year, I filmed a man's "green" burial. The small but growing industry features burials that have little to none artificial materials or methods. No embalming, no elaborate coffins or 6-feet deep, concrete holes.
The burial grounds, located near Goldendale, Wash., had more than a dozen people. Some mounds were disappearing into the surroundings. Another -- the founder's -- is kept up by his widow, adorned with wild flowers and animal bones.
The man I filmed was buried in a hole 3 feet deep to hurry decomposition.
Washington State, USA
The man's son saying one last good bye after burial.
Here's a few seconds of b-roll from the project that shows two wilderness burial spots.
Havana, Cuba:
Shot with my trusty but now dead Olympus point-and-shoot in 2009.
Havana's main cemetery - ®the Necropolis Cristobal Colon - is massive. Many Cuban historical figures are here. Many mausoleums are luxurious, time capsules when there were many wealthy families in Cuba. (Yes, there's classes in Cuba. High government officials live in posh neighborhoods.)
The pictures, though, are of the tomb of "La Milagrosa." This woman, Amelia, was said to have died in 1901 during child birth. When she was buried, her baby's body was put at her feet. Legend has it that when her tomb was later opened, the baby was in her arms. Many people come and pray. They leave these engraved messages on the tomb. People leave dolls as well. Women who are having trouble conceiving come and pray. Many people credit the Miraculous one for miracles.
Granada, Nicaragua:
Shot with my trusty but now dead Olympus point-and-shoot in 2007.
The elegant and ancient cemetery in Granada, Nicargua is purported to be the oldest in Central America. Located in the beautiful and colorful colonial city of Granada, I could have spent a couple of days here. The tombs were old and intricate - a history of a city's once proud past.
The other day I accidentally recorded myself working while making a video about minihorses, so figured I'd post it here. It shows me as I try to take pictures while doing a video. And yes, it's poor form not to look through the camera's view finder :)
Recently visited Wyoming to finally see where my girlfriend was born and raised. I shot guns for the first time; tried moose and elk meat for the first time as well and got to see a part of the country I had not seen before - and it was pretty. The high desert light sunbathed our trip. And made for great pictures.
Outside Riverton, Wyoming. I wish I would have gotten his full figure, from the feet up, but oh well.
Outside Riverton, Wyoming.
Life in the hot springs at Thermopolis, Wyoming.
Gotta keep warm in the Wyoming winter. Firewood.
A large crucified Jesus statue at the Arapaho Indian Reservation.
One of the coolest things about working for the AP is that we serve members in a handful of different languages, including Spanish.
Because many of my stories revolve around the immigration issue, they get picked up by the Latin America desk and are translated in New York, then shipped to the Spanish-speaking and Spanish-reading world.
For me, it's fun reading the translations - sometimes the interpretation is right on; in others, they have to modify the sentence so it makes sense in Spanish. Some English idioms can't be translated.
If you want to practice your Spanish reading skills, check out some of my stories in español:
This past week I spent three hours driving around Seattle looking for a mini-market owner willing to talk about the ban on Four Loko and how that ban, which took effect last week, helped sales.
In the end, the interview wasn't used by the producers but I got 18 seconds of Internet glory in this video. Enjoy!
This video is an extended cut of my AP video report on "green" burials. I've written about this project before here.
To summarize, I followed an Oregon man as he chose his burial spot in a private nature reserve.
Steve Sall was an avid outdoorsman before he was stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease. He chose a "green" burial. These burials are a small but growing industry. With these burials, people chose to be laid to rest in the most natural way possible - no concrete, vaulted coffins or chemicals. Just the body and the earth.
I followed Steve when he picked his burial spot. Three months later, he died.
In this cut, I expanded the video to about six minutes. It shows more of Steve as he picked his spot.
No video or photo for this post. The above picture is one of print outs of a document I got through a Freedom of Information Act request, or a FOIA. It also shows file stories I printed out.
We wanted to explore the effectiveness of I-9 audits being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It wasn't necessarily ground-breaking, but it's always good to keep filing records request -- I just wish it hadn't taken ICE six months to get back to me.
Back on the immigration beat this week. One of my recent stories got good play around the country, and equally exciting was that I got to again take pictures for the story. The fine folks at The Seattle Times featured the picture on the front page of the website for good chunk of the day. Pretty sweet.
The story, about a vote drive in Seattle that has many undocumented immigrant volunteers, touched the nerve of the immigration issue. And in these heated political climate, it got spun like a top.
Key for the story was Maria --- the undocumented woman who agreed to be photographed and be written about. It's a brave move.
In my career I've met many people who are here working and don't have the documents that say they're legally in the country. The fear of being detained and deported is palpable, so Maria's courage is venerable and unusual.
More pictures below:
Portrait.
I had about 45 minutes for the assignment on a Saturday. My good colleagues in Portland covered for me on the desk.
East we went, to the the southeast corner of Washington state, as far away from people as we could.
Our plan was to rent a U.S. Forest Service cabin in the Umatilla National Forest. For $50 a night, we'd get a little place, a kitchen, a propane-gas stove, and a place to sleep. It was a great deal. Our cabin sat atop a hill, overlooking the northern tip of the Blue Mountains.
We entered the forest through Pomeroy, a tiny town in the middle of the Palouse. It was rather cute and depressing at the same time. To reach our cabin we drove on 23 miles of gravel road.
As we entered, the obvious smell of a forest fire filled the car. Parts of the road were hazy. Thanks forest service, for the heads up. But things were fine.
We reached the cabin in the dead of night. There was a visitor's log. The last entry was by a woman named Yvonne. In it, she wrote that her family had stayed in the cabin. One night they were startled by a loud shaking of the front door. Afraid, her husband and her took out their guns. She described her girl screaming, and noise coming from outside. The next morning, she described going outside and finding nothing out of the ordinary. Thanks, lady, for the horrible story - especially arriving there at night.
The next morning was beautiful. Granted we were awaken by the smell of propane gas.
All around us, like old sentinels protecting the jagged hills, old pine trees stood, dotting the yellow, sunbathed hills.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, MUSHROOM MUSHROOM
Slow shutter speed and a wrist rotation to create this effect.
An abandoned house on the highway to Pomeroy.
Trusty Toyota - it slaughtered hundreds of bugs.
County courthouse in Pomeroy, Wash.
As a tiny town as they come here in Wash. -- Pomeroy, the gateway to the Umatilla National Forest.
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