Did you know I now make memes? I mean, we make graphics to share on Facebook and then hope they go viral. Some are better than others, in both look and performance. I happen to be a fan of these two.
This one’s been posted a number of times, and each time it gets more than 2,500 shares. I believe that qualifies as ‘viral’ for us. Yeah!
IBEW Utility Department Director Jim Hunter testifies on Capitol Hill at a Senate hearing on April 10, 2014. The hearing, convened at the request of the IBEW, United Mineworkers, and the Utility Workers, discussed the reliability and safety of the nation’s power grid.
© Erin C. Sutherland / IBEW
I really love the days when I get an email that says, “Hey, can you go shoot this thing on the Hill tomorrow?” This time, it was a Senate hearing on the reliability and safety of the American power grid.
The room was beautiful, and packed. Thankfully we got there early and got a standing room spot. Non-press were being turned away all morning. It seemed like no one expected the hearing to be so full, and yet there we were, stuffed into corners like sardines.
On a side note about the room: we were watching Cosmos this week and I noticed that the hearing room illustrated in the lead-in-gasoline fight was likely the same room. Funny.
Edit: Looking at these photos on my home laptop, I think I may need to calibrate my work monitor. Hm.
Original story: IBEW Director to Senators: Ensure Reliability of Grid
House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi greets Baltimore Local 24 member Stan Osnowitz before his testimony to Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.
So exciting, right? In actuality, it was – and enlightening, too. The dais in the room was huge. I didn’t think I would actually see more than half the chairs full for this particular hearing. But lo! Congresspeople came from all entrances to fill just about every seat and listen to these everyday people give their testimony.
Some may see unemployment benefits as extending the poor and out-of-work’s dependency on the government in a negative way. Not so on that day. For those precious moments in front of the microphone, stories of severe hardship were aired in the public, in front of lawmakers who could possibly (and hopefully) help. Without an extension of benefits, these people will be left in the cold with no way to pay their bills or put food on the table. Homes would be lost. Lives shortened by the lack of appropriate medications. And without assistance, these people won’t even be able to afford to look for work. And while only three workers sat at that table (the other two were from support organizations), they represent hundreds and thousands more who are just trying to make ends meet.
So let’s get on this, Congress.
Original story: Local 24 Member Tells House Leaders: Extend Unemployment Benefits
A note about the photos above: It seems as though Flickr has changed the way they embed photos into a page. I bet it’s for security, for which I am grateful. However; it now turns every image into a slideshow of ALL my public photos. That is not cool, and creates a poor user interface. I will be researching a better image hosting option for posts in the future.
I’ve been insanely busy.
I know, that’s a lame excuse. But it’s true! I’ve been gallivanting across the country for work, making videos and having some interesting adventures. Where have I been since starting this job? My list says 24 cities in 20 states and Canada. That doesn’t count the multiples – I’ve been to Los Angeles, Des Moines, Las Vegas and Baltimore at least twice each.
What, you don’t believe me? Here’s the evidence.
IBEW Fall 2013 National TV Commercial from IBEW on Vimeo.
We shot this national commercial – currently during CBS and FOX NFL games – in St. Louis with the help of IBEW Local 1. Super fun! It’s my first all-shot-by-me national commercial. No, I did not think I’d ever make a national commercial when I graduated from Mizzou.
Memphis – Made in the USA from IBEW on Vimeo.
This is a lot closer to the storytelling I thought I’d do as a journalist. We went to the Sharp Manufacturing plant in Memphis as part of our Manufacturing Code of Excellent project – a 10ish minute video that took us six months to shoot and edit. It was a huge project and came out quite well. While we were at Sharp, our first location, we thought it might be good to do some interviews for a story just in case. Glad we did! Sharp is using this piece to help promote their American-made solar panel business. I know I’d buy one.
MDC 2013- Neutex Advanced Lighting from IBEW on Vimeo.
And this one was my favorite out of the six videos we did for the 2013 Membership Development Conference in Las Vegas. I can’t even begin to tell you how much my eyes hurt after multiple takes of all those lightbulbs turning on. I had my camera stopped down SO FAR to make sure the bulbs could be seen. Could have used an ND filter for my eyes. But as always, totally worth the shot in the end. Love the LED lights.
So yeah. I’ve been busy.
Why so many ‘vaguely’ notes? This trip wasn’t very long ago compared to past backlog posts, and while the forecast called for almost 9″ of snow, we got barely 2″. C’est la vie, no?
The morning of the snowstorm, we decided to head out with a local assistant business manager to find a wind farm. We don’t have any video of them, and thought that it would be good to have for the future. (We also were trying to include some wind turbine footage in our manufacturing project, but not sure if that’ll work.)
In any case, the video looks pretty neat, and I made sure to take some stills while freezing my fingers off in 19 degree weather with a wind chill of about 4. Oh, and the nice leather gloves I bought for this trip? They served their purpose here, and then Amber decided to eviscerate them the day I got home. Sérieusement, c’est la vie.
A Test Time-Lapse; or A Little Story About Love. from Erin Sutherland on Vimeo.
I found this on a compact flash card today, while we were setting up a timelapse for the coming snowstorm. Forgetting that I had already uploaded it to Vimeo when it was taken, I tried to upload it again. Silly me. I must have shared it on Facebook, because it shows up in the referrals, but I never posted it to my blog.
So here you go. Five seconds of adorable-ness from me and Scott. This was taken on March 31, 2012 in our old apartment. This is also the kinds of things we used to do before we got Amber. Now all the photos are of her.
We spent a few days in Salt Lake City (and vicinity) this summer while on a two-week multiple story trip through California and Nevada. The sky never ends here. Everywhere I looked, there was an incredible vista framed by mountains. These frames attempt to illustrate, but just barely do the sky justice.
We put together a few videos from this portion of the trip. I shot the footage, Len did the editing and graphics.
IBEW Builds Top Secret Data Center from IBEW on Vimeo.
IBEW Expands its Role in Utah Electrical Industry from IBEW on Vimeo.
I travel for work. A lot. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a videographer for the IBEW. We shoot stories, videos for conferences, commercials for national TV, and anything else that we might need. My first travel story was to Nashville for an organizing blitz. After spending a full day riding around in a car on said blitz with a local organizer and one from Atlanta, my coworker (he’s our amazing producer) and I went to dinner downtown.
I love how there’s music everywhere, even on the street corner.
This old train bridge is now a pedestrian walkway over the river. The light was amazing.
And of course, no trip to Nashville would be complete without a bit of country in a touristy, kitchy bar. These guys were SO GOOD. But then again, I feel like everyone in Nashville is SO GOOD.
Overall, the trip was a great success. I learned a LOT about shooting video on my DSLR, and remembered that I make myself seasick when I try to shoot without support. Here’s the video I produced.
Reintroducing the IBEW from IBEW on Vimeo.
My brother Justin is awesome. And really, really smart. First he graduated from RIT in software engineering, then he worked at the Fed for a while (which I selfishly loved, since he lived just the next town over from me), and then he went back to RIT for a master’s in game design. Now he’s graduated with a job, moved to San Francisco, and still doesn’t email me enough. (Just kidding. Kinda.)
Waiting.
More waiting.
My parents are even more proud of his accomplishments. I don’t blame them.
Amber’s being a pain in the ass today, so I thought I’d embarrass her (if that were really possible) with first bath photos. I mean, other people’s babies have their first bath photos, so why not ours?
Wet fur.
She needed a firm hold to keep her in the tub.
She sure loves Scott. And being clean.
**Bathtime is a lot easier now in the house. We have a hose-connected shower head (to make it tall enough for Scott), so no more Shakespeare’s cup. She’s still not a fan, but at least she stopped trying to escape soaking wet.