Summer Wrap-Up

So, all in all, I had an excellent summer. Many friends were made, wonderful experiences were had, and many memories created.

I got to cuddle with a manatee :)Visited the Mote Aquarium with Mom and DadAlso visited the Ringling museums with Mom and Dad
Celebrated 4th of July with some new friendsVisited Lido and Siesta Key Beaches oftenOften...Learned camera operations on several different types of camerasSpent a lot of time with the Florida Highway Patrol, on the ground and in the airPlayed with new action cameras (that we attached to the wing of this plane)Witnessed K9 Unit training and spent a lot of time with friends made within the unitsGained more respect for the highway and the troopers that protect usEnjoyed my condo and wonderful neighborsSpent some time with Courtney on her vacation on Anna MariaMade a close friend, Arelan, or Ray, if you preferOffice-mom PattyProducer Don, who taught me so much. Not only about the field of film making, but about myself and life in general.

I had such a fantastic time and I look forward to visiting again and possibly moving to the area after graduation! Thank you to all who supported me this summer!

Q

Two More Days!

Ahhh!! My stay here is coming to an end, but with any luck I'll be back next summer! I'll do a wrap up post with some of the videos I've worked on and pictures of projects and such, but right now just wanted to quickly post the current happenings.

Last weekend and the weekend before I spent doing interviews for my independent study. First at Southeastern Guidedogs, where I got to speak with a trainer and three visually impaired 'students' (to take a guide dog home with them, they have to spend a month on the campus training and learning how to work with the dog.) Then I spend a week in West Palm with two FHP K9 units and just had a blast. I can't wait to see them all again!

Here at work, we brought in the Fall intern and I've been showing him some of the ropes. Very nice guy, goes to Ringling College of Art & Design. Salt & Light just launched a new program where non-profit organizations nationwide can benefit from the promos and PSAs that are created. It's just in the very beginning stages but it looks very promising for reaching more people nationwide.

Also here at work, one of the concepts I presented is starting to take off as a potential documentary and the new intern is very interested in it as well. So, hopefully I may see some good come from an idea that was originally mine! :-) In a nutshell, the topic is cyber bullying and how it's lead to multiple suicides and many cases of harassment.

Well, more later as I finish up my projects and start to pack for home!!

Q

Two Weeks Notice

So, it's been awhile since I've posted and it's getting to be near the end of the summer. I've had a fantastic time so far and I hope to gain more experience in the next two weeks before coming home!

I've been keeping busy at work, doing research on a few concepts that are being tossed around in our brainstorming sessions. Adam's concept is animal abuse, specifically dog fighting, so I've been doing a lot of research on that, which makes me a bit emotional. But the idea is that there are people out there who want to stop it all from happening, which is comforting.

A concept that I've come up with and researched is cyber bullying. It's only in the past few years that this type of bullying has been significant, resulting in many teens being forced to move to a different school or go into therapy, and in some extreme cases, has led to suicide and suicide attempts.

Besides work, I've been playing around with my fancy new camera and have made some progress on my independent study! This past weekend I conducted four interviews; three with blind individuals training with a new guide dog, and one interview with the dog trainer. Very interesting stuff and it has me even more excited about the work I'm doing! More information to come.

So I have to leave soon, which will be sad, but I'm excited to see all my friends again. I'm also super excited to see my dogs! OMG it has been far too long without a corgi in my lap!! I can talk to my friends and family on the phone or via video-chat and they can even visit, but I have no interaction with my dogs unless it's in person! I miss my babies, but I get to see them soon!

Congratulations to everyone at the Western Reserve Specialty! I miss everyone!!

Q

Weekend and I'm turning 22!

My mother would tell me that turning 22 is nothing special. And according to Patton Oswalt (explicit), there are only 20 some birthdays we're allowed to celebrate in our lives. And 22 is not one of them! I won't get another "birthday" until I'm 30, which is terrifying to think about!!

Real reason why I wanted to do a post: I found this awesome gif, and since I've been doing so much research and work with police K9s, it jumped out at me (literally, haha). This dog is awesome!

see more dog and puppy pictures

Q

August!? When did that happen?

The summer has just been flying by and it's been so fun. I've kept busy with work and church and Law & Order SVU episodes. :-) God bless Netflix.

Salt & Light just hired another producer, Adam, who is just awesome. Very intelligent and has a lot of great ideas. I'm looking forward to working with him. We'll be scheduling for some more shoots here in the next few weeks before I head home and I'm pumped!

Before I leave, I'll also be doing some interviews with people for my own benefit: looking into my independent study about human/canine relationships. My friend and her mom took me to Southeastern Guide Dogs a few weeks back and I'm planning on going back and talking to some of the trainers. And, I have friends in the Florida Highway Patrol! Next week or so I'll be driving down to West Palm (or Miami, haven't decided) to hang out with a few of the K9 units! I'm so excited.

I'm especially pumped because I'll get to see this dog again:

I'm keeping busy and loving it and I hope I get to come back!

Q

Summer's halfway over! Ahhh!!

So, right now I'm continuing work on the ShelterBox promo piece and I've been given the opportunity to write the story/treatment for it! It's been very exciting. I'm actually able to apply some of the things learned from broadcasting!! Who knew? Hahaha...

As for my independent study: I made contact with Southeastern Guide Dogs and I will hopefully have an interview with them in the near future. I'd be interviewing one of the dog trainers and *hopefully* one of the "graduates," aka a blind person who's been matched with their dog. I'm still waiting to hear back from the K9 units in Miami, and hopefully I'll get to go back for a day and spend some time with them again. Now, even though I show dogs myself, I want to get a perspective from someone who shows their dogs more regularly. Hm.

Not too much to say. Enjoying life!

Q

Information Overload

So, my ears have stopped ringing and I'm back to researching, cataloging, and capturing footage. We are beginning to focus a bit on a project about ShelterBox. It is a non-profit organization that essentially stuffs all of the necessities for a family into a large green box! I can't share pictures yet because they are copyrighted, but you can see some images from the website here. They've done incredible things for so many countries including Haiti and Brazil, where their people were forced out of their home because of a natural disaster.

I say overload because ShelterBox has given us so much footage and plenty of pictures to sift through. I'm attempting to download them all (from a remote server) and, no joke, my computer estimates that it will take 10 DAYS+ to download it all. It's only 5 gigs too...my laptop could download 5 gigs in 3-4 hours. Man.

It's a rainy and hot day, which is a bit odd! But I plan on taking advantage of it and catching up on sleep!

Q