... MAHALA GAYLORD'S MULTIMEDIA BLOG ...

WHAT? Don't bury the 'What'

2011-10-08T15:16:00.001-04:00

good advice from the Poynter Institute's tip of the day: One of the biggest mistakes in feature writing: an over-reliance on emotion.

I totally do this!

Actually, I'm have a revelation of a sort this week. As I go back to watch the videos I've made over the past few months, in order to choose some to enter into the nppa clip contest, I noticed that I bury my 'what' in almost all my videos. Viewers have to make it half way through the video before finding out the 'what' of the story. I put the 'why' and the 'who' and the 'where' long before the what. Why do I do this? My logic up to this point has been that I want to put the most interesting parts first because I want to hook people and keep them interested and to me often the 'what' of the story is the most mundane part. But, if you don't know what you are watching or reading the 'why' becomes a great mystery. And that's when people lose interest and stop watching. It's time to change.

With that said, here's a story that I made last week about Tom Loux. Tom makes a living doing dove releases at funerals and weddings. He trains the birds, which are actually white homing pidgeons, to fly back to his home in Arvada, CO after being released. I'm telling you all this now because you won't find it out in the beginning of this video. My mistake. If I were to do it again, the editing process would go differently.

9/11 is more real for me now

2011-09-11T02:02:00.000-04:00

Ten years ago I was 14. I did not know anybody directly affected. I did not read many articles or watch much tv. I was in my own small world, a world that yes, was affected but no not greatly affected. I did watch the towers collapse in class at school, 9th grade, and it was horrifying. My brother and sister-in-law lived in Weehawken, NJ and worked in Manhattan, my sister-in-law even worked near the World Trade Center. Luckily they were both fine. So fear and anxiety and strong emotions, for me, receded quickly.

Things have changed. I've been working on a series of videos for the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and in the process my eyes have been opened to tragedy, to anguish and to courage. I've learned so much about what happened on 9/11 and how it affected people that I now know. I met Ann and Dutch and Susan and the Yancy's. For these people, it was all real and close to their hearts and heads ten years ago, and for them, they never had learn about it through other people's experiences, they always knew first hand.

One of the guys we interviewed, Dutch, emailed me with some pictures I'd asked for. Dutch lives in Boulder with his three sons and wife. We interviewed him because his younger sister Nina worked in the World Trade Center and died that day. Dutch and Nina were really close. I'd asked Dutch if he was willing to share any pictures of himself and his sister. He returned my email late late into the night. In it, he included some lovely lovely pictures and a few words..

"I found more but some were too personal and others were too embarrassing…I spent a couple of hours going through old photos. it was good for me, brought back some really fond memories. though I have to say I miss her more than ever right now…"

It was such a seemingly small gesture for him to have included these words in an email to me, someone whom he has met once and talked on the phone with twice. But when I read it I thought about Dutch and his sister laughing at the dinner table when they were kids and that they used to write letters in code to each other. Memories he was able to share with us, but memories nonetheless that he does not bring to the surface often because it is too painful, memories of a lost sister.

Due to my growing personal connection to this event in the past weeks, my fascination has snowballed. And I think it's because I'm looking and reading with a new perspective. I've been reading articles written back in the days directly after 9/11, I've been reading retrospective articles, I've been watching StoryCore animated videos (which, by the way are interestingly different, check them out), and videos telling the story from the photojournalist's perspective (Witness to History: The Photographers of 9/11). I've listened to The 9/11 Tapes: The Stories in the Air. I've looked through tons of photo galleries. There is so much happening around the world and for me to take the time to really read and investigate and understand something that happened far away from me, be it physically far away, or emotionally, I need to find a way to connect personally to it.

I guess in the end, this post is about my growing understanding of what journalism means to me. So, broadly, journalists are responsible for bringing as a real an understanding of 'what happened' to their audience as possible. More specifically for me right now, journalists have the opportunity to take a big far away event and give someone an avenue into understanding it on a personal or individual basis.
To show how it affected real people, and what it felt like to be affected personally so that that person can relate and empathize and understand with their hearts.

Before, I knew 9/11 as a whole, as an event. It was big and horrible, too big really for me to comprehend at age 14. Now, when I read all these articles and look and pictures and videos, I think about what it meant for the people I interviewed for this story. Now I can see 9/11 in small heart-wrenching pieces as well as hopefully begin to better see the mosaic. I hope the videos I've contributed to the Denver Post's 9/11 - 10 years later can give some people that avenue in.

This video is one of eight vignettes of people connected and effected by the attacks of 9/11. My colleague, reporter John Ingold, and photographers Craig. F. Walker and RJ Sangosti also worked hard on the written and picture portions of these profiles, you can check out their work and the rest of my work here.

Ten years ago, Ann Wichmann took her dog Jenner to New York as part of a local Federal Emergency Management Agency Administration rescue team that searched the rubble of ground zero.

CETH "the light that shines through my life."

2011-09-10T21:59:00.001-04:00

Several months ago, Sung Park, my former photo professor, asked me to skype into his multimedia class to talk with his students about my job, how I got here and what I do on a daily basis. It was pretty daunting and it set me to thinking about how I would answer those questions for myself.

One thing the students asked about is how do I come up with story ideas. What a huge question, it's one that photojournalists struggle with that all the time. I'm lucky enough to work at a paper where stories are given to me. But when other people give you story ideas they sometimes are really not visual, or they are boring, or they don't interest you. My best work often happens when it's based on a subject of interest to me.

One non-video-related thing I know I want to be doing right now is learning how to dance. I feel really good when I'm out there on the dance floor and at least part of the time I feel like I'm floating around in the correct fashion. Is there a correct fashion? Well, then the fashion that suits me.

In any event, I decided to make a video about dancing, not for the Denver Post, just for myself. Here it is.

Working Late

2011-03-09T19:09:00.004-05:00

There are some videos I create and never want to watch again, and there are others that I don't mind watching over and over. I have to say, I've watched this one a few times. Sometimes it can be very hard to watch my own work because all I see are the parts where I failed or where I should have made changes. But sometimes, even when a video is not perfect-and they never are, I am able to look past the imperfections. When I watch this video I can feel all the positive energy coming through from the people I interviewed and from the dancers and it imbues me with a sense of well-being. This video is by no means the best i've made, or hard news, but for a feature I think it's one of my better ones.

Hosted by the nonprofit organization cmDance, Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout offered lessons and a host of competitions in the Balboa swing style for the several hundred people who gathered from around Colorado and across the nation to share their passion for the dance. Balboa is a form of swing dance that was developed in the 1930’s on Balboa Island off the coast of California. During that era, the dance floors were very full forcing people to change their style to a closer, small-stepped dance.

Chickens and Champions

2011-01-27T16:19:00.020-05:00

This is my favorite video that my coworker AAron and I made at the National Western Stock Show this year. I think it works so well because we actually accomplished a lot of the basics of multimedia storytelling while having fun with the video.

We kept it short. We started strong. The audio drives the piece. We cut the interviews down to the basics, we didn't try to tell the entire story through the words (interview) instead we let the words give a flavor of the place and people. Cuts between video and photos are fairly seamless. And our main interview, the kid named Wyatt, was perfect. He was funny and witty and fun to watch.

Snowboarding downtown Denver at Big Air

2011-01-27T16:04:00.017-05:00

I've finally figured out how to make my videos look ok on this blog. Woohoo. Now I believe i'll actually start posting more often.

coffee, a sore throat and an imagined confrontation

2011-01-27T05:42:00.001-05:00

Compelling videos have to start strong in one way or another. I imagine compelling blog posts are the same. This is not one of those.

I'm too tired to write coherently, or to have a purpose to my writing. It's 3:30am and I'm still awake. I covered Denver Big Air this evening and I've been sick for a week or two--on and off.

After finishing, I walked over to a McDonald's to get a coffee to make the editing go faster and to sooth my throat. I try to pee before ordering only to be headed off at the door by a fat supervisor who was very much in charge of the situation. "You can't pee unless you buy food first," he practically yells at me. I'm pissed. I'm tired. I'm full of urine. All I wanted was a bathroom and a coffee in that order, not the other way around. "I have a job," I say. "I work across the street, let me pee." All I get is the same response from the supervisor and a fat body between me and the bathroom door. He's really having none of it.

In my head I run past the supervisor and offhandedly mutter, "you can suck my fat cock," I go pee, and THEN buy a coffee. But, in reality I just say, "I heard you the first time," in a louder voice than the situation warranted and wait dejectedly in line for my coffee.

What a let down.

On an unrelated note, check out my Big Air Video. Also, here are the Rockies as seen from above (obviously).

Exhaustion-induced hallucinations and video export nightmares

2011-01-11T23:19:00.014-05:00

I was going to post some of the recent videos I've produced for the Denver Post but I've been flummoxed by Blogger's inability to let me resize my videos. Idiot technology.

My boss Tim put me and my co-worker AAron (I swear, it's really spelled with two capitol A's) on stock show duty for the entirety of the National Western Stock Show. Being from the East, I've been harangued by everybody from the lady at the info booth to the guy who steams cowboy hats. I don't have the right jeans (wranglers) I don't have the right shoes (cowboy boots) I don't have the right flannel shirt and schmancy belt buckle, and I tend to ask questions that three-year-olds know the answer to (what's the difference between a bull and a bronco). Meanwhile, AAron, who's from Wyoming, is fitting right in. I think they can smell the West on him. Little do they know, he's never actually ridden a horse, Jeeze.

We've been tasked with producing a story a day from the show. This is a cool assignment because we get to find interesting people and create our own schedules for two weeks, but it also means that we have to be at the Stock Show when the stories are happening. Getting done at 5 or 6 pm is a sweet dream far off on the horizon. And when I say horizon I mean, as I watch the sunrise while I fall asleep for the night after producing a video at the 24-hour Starbucks, jacked on coffee, kind of horizon.

Despite my chagrin at not fitting in and and an onslaught of exhaustion-induced hallucinations of my bed sprouting wings and flying across Denver to the Stock Show to save me from myself and my weird need to stay till the end, it's great. I've been hanging out with rodeo clowns, tall cowboys sporting pants that I believe are referred to as 'nuthuggers' (Tim swears that cowboys wear pantyhose and it's acceptable, I'm skeptical) an eight-year-old fiddle-playin' wizard, split-lipped alpacas and a whole bunch of happy people eating turkey legs. I'm enamored, and I may be sporting some cowboy boots by the end of the show because seriously, these sneaks are not cutting it.

(photos by AAron Ontiveroz)

Check out AAron's and my multimedia presentation for the Denver Post here: NWSS 2011

Stock Show day 3: trying my best to look Mexican at the Mexican rodeo. Note the vest and Raiders cap.

2010-05-28T19:54:00.002-04:00

MaryJo Tapia and Roger Heckler travel 45 minutes by bus to buy groceries once a month because there are no more affordable options nearby. Video by Mahala Gaylord for the Denver Post.

This is the third video installment for the Food Desert series I'm working on at the Post. I decided to use stop-motion photography with this video because I was basically working with a video that was about a process. The process being a grocery shopping trip... a very long one. I think the feeling a viewer gets from the stop-motion in this video better conveys the length of time and the distance this family travels to get their groceries.

Here's a link to the story by Karen Auge at the denverpost.com Judy DeHaas is doing the photography for this series. She's got some great ones of the family shopping (a different family than the one in my video) if you scroll to the bottom of the page! Also Judy's photographs of old abandoned buildings that were once groceries stores in food desert neighborhoods are beautiful check them out here: grocery graveyards.

I believe she shot them with a Holga.

The next installment I am working on is about Re:vision, an organization that is helping low incoming families in 'food desert' designated neighborhoods to start their own gardens. The program helps the family set up their garden and helps them throughout the summer to keep the garden healthy and teach the families about sustainable living. These gardens are helping families eat healthier food that they otherwise might not be able to afford.

Links to the three published food desert videos at the denverpost.com: 1st video, 2nd video, 3rd video

2010-05-25T19:11:00.000-04:00

Here's a funky video about a family farm producing and selling raw milk on their farm in Colorado.

2010-05-25T19:02:00.000-04:00

This is a daily video I did about a month ago at the 4/20 rally that was held on the Capitol lawn in Denver. It's is just a quick a dirty look at the events of that day; people rallied to fully legalize marijuana usage in Colorado and in the U.S. I have just begun working on a series that the Denver Post is working on to tell the story of what's happening with marijuana in Colorado, It will be a long term project with several installments to be published in the coming months. It's going to be awesome, we are working on getting access to all sorts of different places to tell people's stories. I'm looking forward to sharing it.

Warrior Games

2010-05-15T22:50:00.002-04:00

Sgt. Gavin Sibayan, a Colorado native, won four gold medals in the Warrior Games Friday. The U.S. military's first ever Warrior Games are a paralympic-style event where disabled soldiers compete in an array of competitions for medals and to show the world that they can compete and achieve many things despite their disabilities.

Sgt. Sibayan was hit by three EID's while serving in Iraq. He swims with hip injuries, traumatic head injury and PTSD.

I produced this video about Gavin for the Denver Post, you can see it in context here. Please also look at Matt McClain's photos of the games here. Matt's photo's of the track events are beautiful.

2010-05-11T18:08:00.004-04:00

This is part of series i'm working on about food deserts in the Denver area. This installment focuses on Denver's Park Hill neighborhood, residents talk about why the grocery stores left town and never came back.

new job and a Pulitzer

2010-04-12T23:28:00.003-04:00

I started working for the Denver Post three days ago. Today, one of the Post's photographer's Craig F. Walker, won the Pulitzer for feature photography with his project "Ian Fisher: American Soldier." I am so honored to be joining this staff right now. Craig's photography is so powerful. Please look at his project by clicking here, and watch my video as Craig and the Denver Post staff hear the news that they've won.

Spelling Bee!

2010-03-12T00:46:00.001-05:00

Long Island Championship Spelling Bee

Casey Durant, of New Hyde Park Memorial High School, wins the LI Championship Spelling Bee and will compete in the Scripps Howard 82nd Annual National Spelling Bee finals in Washington. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord

Mahala goes to Washington!

2010-03-12T00:05:00.002-05:00

Huntington fashion students meet with Michelle Obama

Thirty-two students from Huntington High were invited to see the first lady's inaugural gown unveiled at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord

So SWEET! I came within 15 feet of the first lady! and got to walk around DC on a most beautiful spring-like day. I wish I actually got to meet her instead of just stand in a crowd of journalists, but still, a very cool assignment!

2010-03-03T21:30:00.001-05:00

Lukian Lawro, 4, cruises across the ice at the Christopher Morley County Park skating rink in Roslyn. Lukian and his twin brother, Oleksa, just watched Mighty Ducks and are practicing their skating because they want to play hockey says their mother, Dania.December, 22, 2009. Newsday photograph by Mahala Gaylord.

Used tires are stacked up behind Somerset Tire Service, waiting to be recycled. Photo by Mahala Gaylord.

Hempstead Turnpike in Nassau County has been named the most dangerous road in the Tri-State area for pedestrians, according to an annual study. January 6, 2010. Newsday photograph by Mahala Gaylord

Some photographs where I focused on the graphic composition.

2010-03-03T20:52:00.001-05:00

Robert Jean-Gilles, 7, touches his mother Banassa Jean-Gilles' cheek during prayer at an interfaith prayer vigil held for Long Island Haitian's at First Presbyterian Church of Greenlawn. January 16, 2010. Newsday photograph by Mahala Gaylord

While I've rigorously been posting my Newsday video's to my blog, I have allowed posting of still photos to fall by the wayside. So, as I was archiving photo's today at work, I set aside a few I wanted to share. This one, was taken soon after the earthquake in Haiti. I love the idea of the young feeling the angst and pain of their elders, and sharing in it, even if they don't yet quite understand everything that has caused the pain.

2010-02-25T12:28:00.001-05:00

Ilisa, Queens, NY. Snowstorm Jan. 2010.

Snowstorms either make me feel whimsical or dark and mysterious. I think for Ilisa, the snowstorm became something very serious and Russian. Its all about survival.

2010-02-20T18:24:00.002-05:00

Alambria Springs Farm

Amy Yahna and Brian Musician built their organic and self-sustainable farm from the ground up. Alambria Springs Farm, located in Lebanon, NY, is powered entirely by wind and sun energy, and provides food for community members in the surrounding area through a form of community supported agriculture (CSA) in which members pledge their monetary support to the farm in return for a share of the years' crop. Produced by Mahala Gaylord

2010-02-20T18:16:00.001-05:00

Ben

At age 34, Ben Lehr has a fulfilling life. Although he has severe autism he lives in his own house, owns his own woodworking shop, and sells his finely crafted work at local festivals.
Produced by Mahala Gaylord

2010-02-20T18:08:00.005-05:00

Lorna Rose

Lorna Rose's grandparents died in 2007 leaving her on her own and having to support herself. She is putting herself through school at Syracuse University, works three jobs to keep herself in school, and still finds time to win beauty pageants. Produced by Mahala Gaylord

2010-02-19T14:29:00.002-05:00

Praying for Haiti

Members of St. Anne's church in Brentwood pray for their fellow Haitian's during Wednesday night's Haitain Mass. Produced by Mahala Gaylord.

2010-02-19T14:27:00.001-05:00

Manhasset man files claim against N. Hempstead housing authority

After a heart attack and a month in the hospital, Jim McCann, 79, returned to his Manhasset apartment and found it empty. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord for Newsday

2010-02-11T08:33:00.001-05:00

Snow falls on Long Island

Snow is expected to mix with sleet and rain early Wednesday before turning over to all snow with totals expected between 10 and 16 inches on Long Island. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord

Snow cleanup on Long Island

Snow trucks plowed Long Island streets throughout the night to ready the roads for commuters Thursday after a major storm left up to 16 inches of snow on the ground. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord

2010-02-04T23:49:00.002-05:00

LI high schoolers headed to Syracuse University

Two high school football players, from Lawrence High School and St. Anthony's High School, will sign letters of intent with Syracuse University. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord, for Newsday

2010-02-04T23:45:00.002-05:00

Roslyn star runner to attend Villanova University

Emily Lipari, Roslyn High School star distance runner, will run for Villanova team.

Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord, for Newsday

2010-02-04T23:43:00.002-05:00

9 LI students named Intel science finalists

Nine LI high school students, out of a total of 40 nationwide, are named finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord, for Newsday

2010-02-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

used statues crammed hundreds and thousands to a room waiting waiting waiting

2010-01-28T19:18:00.002-05:00

An hour in Brooklyn.

2010-01-27T23:58:00.009-05:00

The Organist

During hockey season, organist Paul Cartier plays Saturday mass for Our Lady of Hope Church, in Carle Place, before hopping over to the Coliseum to play the organ at the Islanders' game. Produced by Mahala Gaylord

2010-01-20T20:16:00.000-05:00

Anthony Naimoli, a shipping company owner, was in Haiti on business
when the capital was leveled by Tuesday's magnitude 7.0 earthquake.
Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord, for Newsday

2010-01-20T19:58:00.002-05:00

Long Island Haitians pray at St. Anne Church in Brentwood Wednesday night for the safety
of their families and all the people in Haiti suffering from the effects of Tuesday's earthquake.
Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord, for Newsday

2010-01-20T04:38:00.001-05:00

Toes from Mahala Gaylord on Vimeo.

My first video made with the new camera, it is a D300s with a 60mm lens

music: Staying by Mark Allaway

2010-01-20T01:46:00.001-05:00

falling in love should be like dancing with magic
not formulaic and logic-filled

it should be ecstatic and unexpected
utter anticipation

make me laugh till tears squeak through my lashes
i'll stare at your face, simply unable to look away

i, in no way, want it to be ordinary, or Starbucks, or club's bars
or movie dates, or sex in cars

let love land lightly in the night
or let it crash its heavy hand into me, unable to breath

know me by letting your soul find mine

2010-01-16T18:36:00.000-05:00

Jessica Buttner will donate her bone marrow to her twin sister, 6-year-old Leukemia patient, Julianna. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord for Newsday.

I have continued to cover the journey of Julianna Buttner as she battles Leukemia. It is very touching to be able to continue working with this family. They have been so welcoming to allow me again to intrude on their lives. The two girls love to play with my cameras. Julianna always wants to put on the headphones while i'm interviewing the rest of her family so she can listen to them talk and watch them on the back of the video camera. And Jessica continually wants to grab my d700 to take pictures. (you can imagine how tense that makes her parents as they imagine the thousands of dollars they would have to replace if she were to drop it!) She won't though, and she is being so brave to become her sisters bone marrow donor.

Thank you

2010-01-08T00:00:00.002-05:00

I had the opportunity to do a shoot for Shut Up! Magazine over the summer. Here are the final selects the magazine used. I mostly do photography along the lines of journalism so it's always fun to mix it up and do some fashion or editorial shooting. I can get pretty nervous when it's just me, a beautiful girl and my camera. and it's completely up to me to create the action, the atmosphere, and the moment.

One person who has helped me an infinite number of times to overcome that fear and make the picture, is my friend and fellow photographer AJ. I used to be so confused by our photography relationship, because he would assist me time after time on my shoots. I always used to feel that he got nothing out of it while I was gaining everything by having him there. He always made sure the lighting I imagined came to fruition. He would make sure all the cameras were working, and even lend me his camera when I did dumb things like not bring a back up. He would let me bounce ideas off of him and tell me I was doing great when I started to doubt myself. I would inevitabley come out with a sweet photograph, and always wonder but what did he get? So really this post is about saying thank you. Thank you to AJ for always lending a hand and making me look like a smooth operator. I hope you got as much out of working with me as I have from you! Just look at these pictures! damn! AJ is as much the creator of these photos as I. And, for that matter, there was a hair stylist, makeup artist, clothing designer, model, and art director, who put in just as much effort as anyone to create these.

2010-01-06T18:58:00.005-05:00

Sunset on the Southern State. taking pictures one handed with a heavy camera in heavy traffic. always a good idea!

face of homelessness

2010-01-06T18:55:00.002-05:00

December 28, 2009, Deer Park: Michelle Tingle and her son Zuriel Mason, 9, have been living in a homeless shelter in Deer Park since February. Newsday photograph by Mahala Gaylord

I took this photo for Newsday for an article about the rise of homelessness on the Island and how shelters are unable to handle the new high numbers of people in need of a place to stay. Contact was made with a woman who is homeless and willing to be photographed. I went to the shelter where she and her son are staying and made a portrait. (above) The newspaper was all set to run this picture A1 with the story, but upon receiving the photo from me, and seeing that she was black, they decided not to run it on the front. They cropped it down and stuck it a couple pages back in the paper. WHY? because the paper didn't want to portray the face of homelessness on Long Island as being black. How do you feel about this?

Is it right to NOT use someone's photo because they are a minority? Normally the paper is pushing photographers to find people of color or ethnicity to put in the paper. But this time things about-faced very quickly. I felt put off when I saw what they did with the picture. But I'm not sure if my feelings are stemming from the fact that I took a cool portrait and they cropped it and shrank it and stuffed it on the inside of the paper.

Would most people be angry to see a black homeless person on the front of their newspaper as a picture portraying homelessness in their area? Would they feel that the newspaper was making a statement about homelessness that was not neutral? I feel that the newspaper's not using the picture was also a statement. A statement that they're worried about what people think of the paper, that they fear they are not a neutral news source. As you can see by my rambling statements above, I'm not sure how I feel, or what decision I would have made were I in charge. I'd love some feedback

Braving the snow

2009-12-20T01:56:00.001-05:00

I survived the crazy snow storm that bombarded Long Island on Saturday. I drove all over the Island, braving snow-covered icy roads, blinding snow, freezing feet, and crazy drivers, to take pictures of said snow for Newsday. It seems the stress and frozen toes were well worth it, my pics will be A1 in tomorrow's paper and are already up front on Newsday.com. check it out! newsday.com

Living with Leukemia

2009-12-09T17:51:00.000-05:00

November, 25, 2009. Stonybrook: Six-year-old Julianna Buttner ignores the breathing aparatus she wears during an oxygen treatment while she draws in her hospital bed at Stonybrook Medical Center the day before Thanksgiving. Julianna needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Newsday photo by Mahala Gaylord.

November, 25, 2009. Stonybrook: Lynda Buttner hugs her six-year-old daughter Julianna, who needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Mother and daughter rest in a cafeteria at the Stonybrook Medical Center the day before Thanksgiving after eating the hospital's Thanksgiving dinner. Newsday photo by Mahala Gaylord.

November, 25, 2009. Stonybrook: Six-year-old Julianna Buttner, left, and her twin sister Jessica lie on Julianna's hospital bed at Stonybrook Medical Center the day before Thanksgiving. Julianna needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Newsday photo by Mahala Gaylord.

The Bath

2009-12-09T17:26:00.000-05:00

November, 12, 2009, HUNTINGTON. Sister Luiza bathes Ann Christ who has a heart condition and needs assistance. They bathe once a week or as needed, the nuns assist for protection and safety. Newsday photo by Mahala Gaylord.

The Missionary Sisters of St Benedict are the only traditional convent on Long Island. I had the pleasure of spending the day with the sisters and their wards for a Newsday assignment and I have plans to return for a more long term project. The Newsday article was a profile on the convent as part of the papers coverage of the Vatican's investigation of American Nuns. I am more interested in the relationship between these nuns and the elderly they care for. The nuns have what you might call a motto that came from St. Benedict: 'work and prayer.' The prayer part is pretty obvious, but work for these nuns is about taking care of the elderly. The convent runs what might be compared to a nursing home called St. Joseph's Guest Home. The 43 elderly residents are completely cared for by the nuns and even the most intimate of tasks like bathing, as above, are done with care, affection and dignity. I would like to explore the family that exists between these nuns and the residents of St Josephs.

For the Newday article click here.

Getting Skinny

2009-12-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

The Peppermint Twist body treatment at the Bocu Salon in Commack involves wrapping the whole body in seaweed and peppermint soaked wraps. Newsday photos by Mahala Gaylord.

2009-12-03T13:49:00.002-05:00

2009-12-02T04:01:00.002-05:00

Gillian at her house in Syracuse. disposable camera photography

point's unpleasant

2009-12-02T03:38:00.001-05:00

I took my sisters to the Jersey Shore in August. Point Pleasant turned out to be Point Unpleasant, they didn't appreciate the garbage floating in the water very much. Note the unsmiling faces. I was using AJ's Zenit film camera that day so these pictures took a while finding their way onto the interweb. enjoy!

My Mom

2009-12-02T02:39:00.004-05:00

Many years ago my mom gave me a book by Maya Angelou called "Even The Stars Look Lonesome." Now, you should know, my mom is always giving me these self-help, self-esteemy-type books because she thinks I need to become a happier, less-stressed person. She is most probably right, but for years I have been fighting it, holding on to my crazy stress-filled existence and packing those books away in the bottomest parts of my closets. But this year, when I moved by myself out to Long Island, to really live on my own for the first time, for some reason I brought that Maya Angelou book with me. And one night, alone, (I'm always alone at night here on Long Island) I started reading it. I actually ended up loving the book, and as I was reading the last paragraph of the book, it almost seemed as if my mom was channeling Maya Angelou to send me a message. It went like this:

"Many believe that they need company at any cost, and certainly if a thing is desired at any cost, it will be obtained at all cost.
We need to remember and to teach our children that solitude can be a much-to-be-desired condition. Not only is it acceptable to be alone, at times it is positively to be wished for.
It is in the interludes between being in company that we talk to ourselves. In the silence we listen to ourselves. Then we ask questions of ourselves. We describe ourselves to ourselves, and in the quietude we may even hear the voice of God."

I think living out here on Long Island on my own, I have begun to see who I am. Part of who I am is this blog, and being able to put into words the ideas about photography and journalism that I am learning out here. Another part of me is being able to see my mom as a complete human being; a beautiful woman and not just a mom and to be thankful that she loves me so much.

BLACK FRIDAY

2009-11-27T22:03:00.001-05:00

I stayed out late to catch the opening of the Tanger Outlet in Deer Park opening all it's store at midnight for Black Friday. These people waited for hours! and some didn't even buy a thing after all that waiting. Hard for me to understand!

2009-11-26T05:31:00.004-05:00

Living with Leukemia

Six-year-old Julianna Buttner, of Farmingville, was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was three. She now desperately needs a bone marrow transplant, but of the 13 million people in the national bone marrow registry, none are a match for Julianna. Produced by Mahala Gaylord

In the spirit of giving

2009-11-26T04:49:00.001-05:00

Bruce M. Brenner, a Vietnam veteran, gave his Purple Heart to the family of Keith Bishop, the army green beret from Medford who was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Bishop's family had wanted him to be buried with a Purple Heart, but the Army did not award him one. When Brenner heard about it, he offered to give the family his own. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord.

2009-11-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

Me and Bo Bice... WHAT!

2009-11-25T13:08:00.000-05:00

Here I am with Bo Bice, a man I didn't even know existed until several hours before I found out that there are thousands of 12 year old girls on Long Island, along with their crazy grandmothers, who LOVE this man.. being almost an American Idol and all. Anyhoo. I got to interview him and record his show at the Tangers Outlet in Deer Park for Newsday. Check it out below

reign of the TWERDS

2009-11-20T22:15:00.002-05:00

My Latest Newsday conquests: Wednesday I was sent to cover Miley Cyrus at the Nassau Coliseum. ie: loads of very young girls decked out in Hannah Montana paraphernalia... singing and dancing to a gyrating 16-yr-old Cyrus. Thursday I covered the first screening of Twilight's new movie. ie: again, teen girls, this time, love hungry for 'sexy' vampire and werewolf stars. They refer to themselves by a variety of terms including but not limited to 'twilighters' 'twerds' twi-hards' 'twi-tastics'

2009-11-17T20:32:00.005-05:00

the mother and child reunion, is only a motion away

Falling Stars

2009-11-17T07:29:00.000-05:00

I set out early this morning to capture meteors and oh did I have high aspirations. I wanted streaks sweeping across my camera's lens. It was not to be. I failed to snag a single falling star in my frame. I did get to lie on the beach and stare up into the sky for a couple hours though and it was a lovely thing. Sometimes just sitting back and letting the world BE can relax and revive me unlike anything else. I returned home around 5 am and proceeded to edit photos from a previous shoot, instead of going to sleep like a sane human being. Now it is 7:30, the sky is blue outside my window, and I get to photograph my nuns tomorrow. What could be better?

faces on my mind

2009-11-17T07:01:00.000-05:00

Sometimes faces make the darn'dst expressions. I love them. I love faces. I could photograph faces for the rest of my life just so I'd have to freedom to stare, stare, stare.

Montauk Point, a fine mist

2009-11-17T00:02:00.000-05:00

Newday Video: Vigil for the one year anniversary of Marcelo Lucero's death

2009-11-13T22:39:00.002-05:00

Many people gather this Sunday at the site where Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero was killed last year in Patchogue to honor his memory. Videojournalist: Mahala Gaylord. Copyright: Newsday

Newsday has been covering this story since last year when Marcelo Lucero was killed. He was murdered by 7 white teenagers. It has hit the community of Patchogue pretty hard and I hope has started to bring about change as to how immigrants are treated here on Long Island. A recent New York Times article quotes a study finding that Long Island is one of the most segregated suburbs. Simply by visiting different communities through my job, it is easy for me to see the segregation. The study from the New York Times articles states, "74 percent of Long Island's blacks would have to move to be evenly dispersed across the population." I believe it. I don't know that segregation is the only cause of hate crimes but it has to add to the problem. At least some of the people of Patchogue have come together to start addressing the problem in their community, more foot police have been given patrols and the Latino community is no longer pestered by gangs of racist white teenagers. But there is still much to be improved upon.

If you want to read more about Marcelo Lucero check this out: A Year Since Lucero Hate Killing

New Paltz

2009-11-13T22:09:00.001-05:00

marching band

2009-11-12T19:42:00.000-05:00

Michael Jackson Premiere

2009-10-30T16:12:00.004-04:00

copyright Newsday 2009

I went to the premier of "Michael Jackson's This Is It" in Time Square to make a video for Newsday.com. It was windy and raining but there were still many avid MJ fans ready to sing and dance for their hero.

Flashes Of Hope

2009-10-18T12:50:00.000-04:00

This August I spent a day at Camp Tyler Hill in Pennsylvania working for Flashes of Hope. "Flashes of Hope is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating powerful, uplifting portraits of children fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses." (words from the org's website)

I had the opportunity to meet and photograph 10 beautiful young girls at this camp. Above from top to bottom are pictured: Precious, Alejandra, Danielle, Jasmine, and Teresa. I had a great experience and I hope that the girls I photographed did too, some were happy to be in front of the camera and at ease, while others were shy and hesitant to smile. I almost felt like we- the photogs from Flashes of Hope- descended on this camp with little warning to these young kids. It can be scary to be in front of the camera where all the attention is focused on you alone. Especially if you are going through a difficult time in your life like these girls were. I hope I had a positive impact on them that day and I hope that the photographs I made gave happiness to their families.

If you are interested in volunteering for this organization as a photographer you can go to this link to find out more and sign up. I had a great experience.

NEWSDAY: featured on the NYTimes Lens blog

2009-10-17T12:33:00.003-04:00

Newsday recently published a series on Alzheimer's on Long Island, both articles and multimedia. One of the videos was featured in yesterday's Lens post of 'must see: videos worth watching' which you can read here.

Below is the piece the Lens blog highlighted writing: "In this episode — one of the more touching in Newsday’s series, “Alzheimer’s on Long Island” — Ms. Richmond takes us on the journey from Mr. Richmond’s marriage proposal to their meetings in his assisted-living center. Her words are intimate and moving, emotionally underscoring such telling shots as fingers scratching a hat and a half-completed coloring book figure. Though the transitional music at the end is somewhat intrusive, this is still a quiet and powerful testament to a wife’s love for her husband."

"For nearly two years, reporter Denise M. Bonilla and photographer J. Conrad Williams Jr. followed six families in order to chronicle the agony of Alzheimer’s disease and to provide an inside look at the role of the caregiver." Newsday writes about the project. But what started with 2 ended with more than 30 people having contributed to the project.

You can see the other video pieces and articles on Newsday's site here. The story has been carried across multiple platforms, the layout of the stories and photographs in the paper was well done and moving, videos were created about each family. And each one was edited to different lengths, I think 5 minute pieces for the website, but also 2 minute pieces which the local tv station- Channel 12- is running, I happened to turn the tv on the other day to one of the stories and it was really cool to see work done by newspaper visual journalists broadcast on television.

I joined Newsday far after this project was underway and I only saw the tail end of people putting finishing touches together. But I am happy that the paper is working on projects of this scope and putting such emphasis on the multimedia mode of telling the story.

NEWSDAY: cranking out the daily video

2009-10-17T01:27:00.002-04:00

I was hired at Newsday as a 2-year intern in multimedia about a month ago. I'm doing a lot of daily video's right now. It has definitely been a learning experience so far. I've produced news videos before, but not to this scale of everyday having to have a finished product. I have learned to be faster and more efficient, and I'm sure I will continue to fine tune my editing. Here are a few videos I've done so far.

These three video's are from the Hampton's International Film Festival. I went for three of the five days to cover the event and produced a video at the end of each night. I got to meet and interview a couple different celebrities including Steve Buscemi, Alec Baldwin, Cheryl Hines, and Josh Lucas. This was my first visit to the Hamptons. It was a long drive out there!

I've had to cover several protests, below are daily videos I made for Newsday featuring two groups of people protesting very different actions.

Portraits

2009-10-03T00:28:00.000-04:00

looking to the future or maybe to the past

2009-10-03T00:25:00.000-04:00

I was looking through my photo library and came upon this photo that I took during my internship at the Syracuse Post-Standard: removal of the big Christmas tree in the town center. I like all the white space.

scenes from a x-country meet

2009-10-03T00:20:00.000-04:00

Alfred U. Dodgeball Tournament

2009-09-22T13:22:00.000-04:00

very funny video from vimeo: MARSHMELLOW TEST

2009-09-22T13:03:00.001-04:00

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

This just goes to show that conflict is the the stuff of stories, it will keep me watching. There is no narrative in this video but we all know what it is about and understand the agony these kids are going through. Would you wait?

'Scapes of Western NY

2009-09-22T02:06:00.000-04:00

Color!

2009-09-22T01:51:00.000-04:00

AJ, Green Lakes in springtime

2009-09-08T02:19:00.000-04:00

Public Housing, Newark, NJ

2009-08-30T23:57:00.000-04:00

Surf at Sandyhook, NJ

2009-08-30T23:39:00.001-04:00

natural stuff

2009-08-30T23:34:00.000-04:00

A Newark Nightmare

2009-08-13T12:45:00.000-04:00

CAPTION: Karl Randolph, 32, is comforted Tuesday by his wife Nicole Randolph at University Hospital. Randolph has a punctured lung and a broken rib and is in critical but stable condition with the bullet still lodged within him. He was shot earlier in the day while pursuing two men he caught after they broke into his Georgia King Village home. "This is not the place to be when you have children," Nicole Randolph says about living amid the dangers of Newark. . Newark, NJ 8/12/09 12:08:28 PM Mahala Gaylord/THE STAR-LEDGER

This story ran in today's Star-Ledger and online at nj.com

I went to the University Hospital in Newark to get this photograph where the family was very welcoming of me but the hospital was not. I had only a short time with the Karl and Nicole Randolph before hospital PR kicked me out. Lighting in the hospital room was tough, it was fairly low lighting and no window light at all. The love and care Nicole Randolph displayed for her husband was visible from the moment I met the family and I hope comes through in the photograph. The first photograph is the one that ran in the paper and the one I feel shows the emotion of the moment beautifully while still being wide enough to give a hospital room feel. The closer shots lose a little of the graphic composition of that first shot.

Crime in Newark always seems to be in the news, and a lot of times death. In the short time I have worked at the Star-Ledger I have covered several different criminal cases. And I hate to see all the families that have been hurt. At least the Randolph's are still all in one piece.

Believe it or not: Video of a Painting Horse

2009-08-06T18:59:00.001-04:00

Flemington horse paints abstract art

Eli Dock's Dutch Friesian horse, Arjen, makes abstract watercolor and acrylic paintings by holding a brush in his mouth in Flemington, NJ. The paintings go for $75 a piece and Dock donates part of the profits to Mylestone Equine Rescue, a horse rescue facility in Phillipsburg, NJ. Dock started painting with her horse just last year. (Video by Mahala Gaylord/The Star-Ledger)

Hot Air Ballooning in New Jersey video and photos for the Star-Ledger

2009-08-06T18:50:00.001-04:00

Quick Chek NJ Festival of Ballooning

Quick Chek NJ Festival of Ballooning
Chuck Wagner, of Milford Delaware, flies his Dela-Bear balloon amidst more than 100 hot air balloons at the Quick Chek Festival of Ballooning in Readington, NJ, the weekend of July 24. The festival flew hot air balloons twice a day, in the early morning and evening, for three consecutive days at the nations largest hot air balloon festival. (Video by Mahala Gaylord/The Star-Ledger)

All Points West Music and Arts Festival

2009-08-06T18:39:00.000-04:00

I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to have the chance to photograph all three days of the All Points West music festival in Liberty State Park, Jersey City this past weekend. The lucky part: I got to see some awesome musicians like Jay-Z, MGMT, Gogol Bordello, and Xavier Rudd among many others. The unlucky part: I was soaked and covered in muds 2/3rds of the time. Maybe the mud was itself a blessing because it made for some pretty cool pictures. I've always been told that photographing performances is almost like cheating at photography because the lighting and backdrop is all set up for you- all you do is wait for the moment. So going to a music festival to photograph just such musical performances I gave myself the task of finding beautiful photographs I could claim for my own. Many were provided, not just in the performers, but in the awe inspiring crowds of fans attending.

angry clouds

2009-06-30T15:03:00.000-04:00

Cowboy at Cowtown Rodeo

2009-06-30T14:52:00.000-04:00

Steer wrestler Junior Allo is a regular at Cowtown Rodeo, in Pilesgrove, NJ competing weekly through the summer for the past 29 years. The father of two is planning to retire after this season. His wife and sons, five and seven-years old, will be cheering him on as he competes for a regional title. These photographs were taken for the Star-Ledger and are copyrighted to the Star-Ledger

Portrait of Eva

2009-06-24T02:51:00.000-04:00

I was playing in photoshop late late and night- who needs sleep anyway. I just read an article by Lindsay Adler on Apogee Photo Magazine about some ways to play in photoshop to make your photos look old-school as if you had combined two slides in the dark room. It was very fun and very easy to do! Here is my creation:

Raccoons!

2009-06-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

Aj made a video of our raccoon experience on sandyhook with his video and my stills. its pretty sweet!

Raccoon Babies from AJ Chavar on Vimeo.

Found these baby raccoons on Sandy Hook when I went to photograph birds.

St. Petersburg Times Special Report on the Church of Scientology

2009-06-22T01:09:00.000-04:00

Scientology: The Truth Rundown Part 1

I think this article bears reading; the public needs to take a second look at Scientology. The writing in the piece is phenomenal and the attention to detail, the breadth and depth of the article are superior. This is journalism as it should be, finding and exposing what needs to be exposed. I have just read the second part which you can find here: http://tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/

.. and I eagerly await Part 3

How Do You Feel

2009-06-22T00:14:00.000-04:00

Portrait of AJ

2009-06-19T02:39:00.000-04:00

To me, in these portraits, AJ is feeling very pensive. I don't know what he was thinking about but it seems serious and deep; I think it's expressed in his eyes. They were taken about 2 months apart, I used window light both times.

Sandyhook Secrets

2009-06-19T02:34:00.000-04:00

AJ and I on the boardwalk. We originally went to Sandyhook, NJ to look for birds to photograph. There are supposed to be wonderful birds there. While I did see an osprey in the distance, and AJ found some red-winged blackbirds, the birds became secondary to other activites! And....

To our surprise we ended up photographing baby raccoons. We were driving around the hook and near a gutter on the road were these three babies (baby raccoons are called kits) in the beautiful late afternoon sunlight. I've never been this close to a raccoon before. They were tiny and they made a cool purring sound. So at the end of the day, I returned from Sandyhook with raccoon pictures and boardwalk pictures, and no birds!

Fern photo

2009-06-19T02:28:00.000-04:00

The sun was kissing these beautiful ferns in the Poconos.

my edit from ChanMi's collection

2009-06-04T12:58:00.000-04:00

These are my two favorite photos from the shoot I did for senior fashion design major ChanMi Park

ChanMi Park's collection

2009-06-04T12:33:00.000-04:00

This collection is by ChanMi Park, this is ChanMi's senior collection. She just graduated from Syracuse University. I like the grey on grey from dress to background. I think it has a light airy feeling which adds to the beauty of the dresses themselves. Shooting six dresses in at one shoot is tiring!

Alambria Springs Farm

2009-06-04T02:00:00.001-04:00

Alambria Springs Farm from Mahala Gaylord on Vimeo.

Alambria Springs Farm, a CSA farm in Lebanon New York (upstate NY), owned by Amy Yahna and Brian Musician. I found these guys through a job I had while interning at the Syracuse Post-Standard. I was sent to the farm to take a portrait of Amy and Brian and some shots of their house for a story in the paper. I liked them so much and what they were doing that I called them back about a week later and asked if I could do a video about them and their farm. They are wonderful people and I felt at home every time I visited to do video or photos.

Lorna Rose

2009-06-04T00:45:00.001-04:00

Lorna Rose from Mahala Gaylord on Vimeo.

Lorna Rose's grandparents died two years ago leaving her on her own and having to support herself. She has successfully joined Syracuse University, works three jobs to keep herself in school, and still finds time to compete in beauty pageants.

softball!

2009-06-04T00:35:00.000-04:00

Pequannock high school beats Caldwell 5-1 at the state semi final in New Jersey. I shot these for the Star-Ledger. It was my first time shooting softball. It's hard to catch the action!

Tomahawk Regatta

2009-06-02T22:44:00.000-04:00

I photographed the Tomahawk Regatta on Lake Hopatcong for the Star-Ledger last week. I am interning with the Ledger for the summer and this was one of my first assignments.

Portraits of Julie

2009-05-12T20:24:00.001-04:00

For these i simply used window light. I was originally going to try and emulate Erwin Blumenfelds nudes using sheer fabric between the camera and the body. That plan changed as the model did not feel comfortable posing nude. I think some beautiful photos came out of the shoot. There is an almost sickly fragile feeling to the girl in the photographs

portraits of Sara

2009-05-12T20:08:00.000-04:00

Sometimes playing is just the best way to capture the emotions and inensity you want in a portrait. Sara is one of those people who loves to play so to take a portrait of her that captures that in her character we had to play of course.

Here we played in the snow with a big yellow street light.

Here we were exploring a divinity school in Rochester. It was pretty quiet and abandoned on a Monday morning but we were not sure we were supposed to just walk in so thats exactly what we did. It was a beautiful place

Rochester Lilac Festival

2009-05-12T20:03:00.000-04:00

Sara loving the red oak

Lilac branch in the sky

glorious foliage

goldfish!

and tulips

everything was beautiful on this day. The sun was shining and the colors were beyond beautiful. walking around the Rochester Lilac Festival was amazing. We explored the lilacs themselves and then went into the divinity school above the festival as well as the conservatory (thats where we found the fish pond!)

Howard Schatz

2009-05-02T00:01:00.001-04:00

copyright Howard Schatz
www.howardschatz.com

So Howard Schatz does lots of crazy things with the human body in his photographs. I really like the beauty he sees in the human body and the shapes, he goes all the way. His naked bodies of men and women holding each other in different shapes are beautiful. He inspires me to see and look at the body in new ways.

A couple years ago Schatz did a project called Rare Creatures and basically he took snap shots of models who came on 'go sees' and photoshopped them into looking rare and unique. Here is an attempt I made at this technique:

Dilapidated Old Farm

2009-04-23T01:32:00.000-04:00

I snuck onto an old abandoned farm a couple days ago. These are the resulting pictures, I did an HDR effect on them using Lightroom.

Beautiful Girl

2009-04-19T20:23:00.000-04:00

These photos were taken in a studio, the top photos I played with split toning in photoshop. I like the effect it made: moody and dark.