Carl and Kathy start shooting the Miami Beach Video Memoirs project this week

We teamed up with the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) to write a grant to develop the Visual Memoirs Project for the Miami Beach Convention and Visitors Authority. The project creates a video archive of oral histories about the city’s colorful past. January during Art Deco Weekend, visitors will get to see a video sampler of the first interviews, which we start shooting in November.

The archive will, ultimately, be open for public access and themed videos will be available with teaching guides as the project progresses.

Carl and Kathy Hersh on a “Remote”

I’ve only told a few close friends, but I am excited about the upcoming wedding of Prince William and the commoner, Kate Middleton. I’ve managed to keep my enthusiasm under wraps because it’s not cool to be a royal watcher, even if it’s just from the grocery store check out aisles, eyes roving the magazine racks for the latest on Will and Kate.
My chances of being “in” with the royal family and getting invited to the big event were dashed by my husband many years ago aboard the royal yacht Britannia. This is a true story.

I was a correspondent, covering the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Mexico for the BBC. Martin Bell was the Beeb’s man in Washington in those days but he was on assignment elsewhere. So being based in Mexico and having worked often for the BBC, my cameraman husband, Carl Hersh, and I were assigned to the story in Acapulco.

In the days before she had to give up the ship, the Queen had a custom of inviting the press of whatever country she was officially visiting onto the yacht for a small reception before lifting anchor, a nice parting p.r. gesture.
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Punk Rocker Relaxes at Home

One of the perks of this job is meeting some of the great characters of our time. Iggy Pop, the 70’s musical innovator, the godfather of punk, was at home filming an interview for PETA to support their campaign against the annual Canadian baby-seal bashing. Iggy replied when asked why he was supporting PETA, “because they asked me….” See Iggy full-on on a computer near you. Check your local listings: www.peta.org.

We profiled the great storyteller Jackie Torrence a number of years ago near her home in North Carolina. An amazing presence. I was reminded about this recently when a student called to ask about Jackie for a paper she was doing on her use of hand motions. Here Jackie tells one of her “Jack Tales” and gives a perspective on how she became a storyteller.

Interesting how we look back on some of our work after a time and see it through new eyes. I was impressed by Billy Taylor while filming this piece over 10 years ago, but it took on new relevance when I came back, after news of his death, and looked at it again. Here he talks about growing up Black in a segregated American — about his mentors and idols.

Billy Taylor, the great jazz pianist, died this week. I did a video with Taylor to document his teaching and playing in a program at FIU more than 10 years ago. Here he is with kids from Miami’s Northwestern High School, discussing the roots of jazz and demonstrating at the piano.

Carl with President Bush during a visit to a textile plant that supplies garment workers with equipment to replace their’s destroyed in the earthquake.

Back in Haiti to document the visit of former President George W. Bush to projects being funded by the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. A quick trip but a good chance to highlight the long-term agenda of the fund to develop projects that will generate on-going jobs and services for the Haitian people. One project was focused on improving the production of mangoes, not only a staple of the diet, but an important export item.

Another project was helping build a factory where garment workers who lost their shops and equipment can come and work on domestic and export projects generated with the help of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

We always say that “if the camera wasn’t rolling when it happened, it didn’t happen.”  I have the video to prove that the one-man band can have drawbacks. Having a soundperson leading you over rough ground is more than a luxury. This happened while documenting President Bush’s visit to Haiti for the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, this week. No damage, just bruised pride.

In the first days following the earthquake in Haiti there was ruin and desperation everywhere. Survival and death were side by side on the streets, broken bodies and dead ones, shanty shelters and collapsed buildings. The country’s infrastructure like the Justice Ministry, pancaked and non-functional. These are some images of my first day of coverage.

Red Cross Distribution at Camp Simon at the edge of Port-au-Prince, Haiti from Carl Hersh on Vimeo.

The American Red Cross supported the International Red Cross by handling aid distributions. This video documents one of the early distribution of personal supplies in a small camp in Port-au-Prince.

Carl demonstrates camera techniques during his “backpack” journalism presentation.

Carl’s presentation on “backpack journalism” at the Science Museum, last Tuesday, took a look at how new camera, editing and transmission technologies have created possibilities and liabilities for the video (or should we still say “television”?) journalist. On the plus side, he said, was increased mobility and flexibility in the field. But, he added, the jury was still out on whether the additional demands, with the need to combine a cameraperson, editor and producer in the same person, would fatally cripple the news gathering process.

May 4, Showtime 7:30: I’m doing a presentation at Miami’s Science Museum on “Backpack Journalism.” The nuts and bolts of the 50 pound (not me, the gear), all-in-one producer, reporter, shooter, editor, satellite tech — the cut-rate combo (“do you want fries with your order”) package. While the technology has made the gear more portable, with the ability to function with a smaller crew, there are unexamined consequences of how this affects coverage. We’ve seen the shift that the continuous news cycle has created where the reporter has little time to actually get into the field because he has on-air obligations. The new gear feeds into this conundrum, more flexibility and agility with less time to apply it.