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We decided to take a Saturday drive through McDowell to visit with my second family. Ed got to meet baby August and Alan played us his new banjitar. Kudzu has covered nearly everything and more buildings have collapsed. I love that county and the people it holds.
"This baby is made of lead," Ed exclaimed as he struggled to get a grip on August.
I'm honored to be a part of the team that won a Digital First Media Award for January. Here is what the judges had to say:
The Charleston Daily Mail deftly managed the Elk River contamination, providing all-angles coverage without diluting content. The show-stealer is the artistry of videographer Elaine McMillion in "West Virginia Water Woes, 36 Hour Recap," which is also a testament to the explanatory reporting skills of David Boucher. This video is not just informative — it's striking. I was further impressed by the work of reporters Marcus Constantino and Matt Murphy; a hot shower well-earned by all.
Award announcement here
Behind the scenes of our coverage here
Congrats to the whole team!
[vimeo 83906115 w=700 h=394]
Synopsis: West Virginia stands in a state of emergency after a potentially harmful chemical spilled into a local river and contaminated the water supply. And no one knows how long it will last. More than 100,000 customers in the nine counties receiving water from the 1,500-mile affected network were ordered to stop using their water for almost everything.
I produced this piece for the Charleston Daily Mail on Friday. If you need caught up on what has been happening in West Virginia, during the past 36 hours, take some time to watch the video.
Over the next couple months I will be adding to a series of microshort films (1-2 minutes) that focus on observing life in Appalachia. The footage from the series was shot in 2012 while I was filming for Hollow, an interactive documentary about the residents of McDowell County, West Virginia. From May to September, I filmed seven terabytes of footage in the coalfields.
Many of the interesting moments and awesome people I met did not make it into the interactive doc so I'm happy to find a new home for these people and places in this series. You can expect to observe church services, front-porch haircuts, residents wandering through abandoned buildings, riding on golf carts with the elderly, tent revivals and moments at home. I am very excited to share some of these slices of life with you.
You can view the first five shorts and read my artist statement here. Enjoy and stay tuned.