Jamaica Pond in the Fall

When I looked through some stock footage of Jamaica Pond today, I had a moment.  A moment of inspiration.  Here I was, with all this beautiful, unused video footage of the Pond.  I had to get it out to the masses!  In case you’ve never heard of it, Jamaica Pond is Boston’s best kept secret.  It makes you feel like you’re in the heart of Maine without leaving the premises of a bustling metropolis.  Check this video out, a collection of stunning high definition shots filmed in the Fall at the Pond, set to some music by Future Islands.

A Community Bands Together – Premiering “Stories from Boston’s Emerald Necklace.”

The Final Mini-Doc in the Six Part Series!

The past two weeks have been amazing and equally as hectic.  On November 3rd, my full 23-minute “Stories from the Emerald Necklace” documentary was finally premiered at the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s annual meeting.  I was told it was met with gasps, sighs, laughter, and applause.  I have no personal recollections of this since I was transformed into a zombie-like state as soon as the screening started – unable to comprehend my surroundings, out of tune with the movie, and generally perplexed and stupefied that the big moment had finally arrived.  Nevertheless, I was assured by those attending that they liked it very much.  In the middle of all this commotion, I have worked as a Production Assistant on a feature film over the past two weeks – 12 hour days and little sleep.  More juice on that experience here.  Let’s get to my last “Story.”  Roger Gottlieb, a master storyteller and author of A Spirituality of Resistance: Finding a Peaceful Heart and Protecting the Earth, recounts a time when city dwellers had to unite to save the west bank of Boston’s best kept secret, Jamaica Pond, from apartment developments.  Roger is a fascinating individual and I hope you enjoy his story.

Only on YouTube: My extended interview with Roger.

See last week’s premiere here – Restoration and Revival of the Muddy River

Nora Lutz and the Pond Jam – Premiering “Stories From Boston’s Emerald Necklace”

Over the hump!  Premiering Part Four of the Six Part Series.

This was the first video I completed for “The Stories Project”.  It’s also one of my favorites because of its’ unique style – in essence, I like to call it my own little rock-doc.  Nora Lutz’s story – The Pond Jam – invites us to take a look at how art, music, family, and community come together and are brought together everyday by the parks.  Enjoy Nora performing a beautiful rendition of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel.”

See last week’s premiere here – Running the Emerald Necklace with Mark Lowenstein

The Stories Project: A new venture into video-documenting a historic Boston park system.

Scroll down to see two of the ‘Stories’ videos I am publishing!

This summer, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, a nonprofit oversight organization of Boston’s historic Emerald Necklace system of parks, launched the beginning of a brand new venture  – the Stories Project.  The Stories Project is meant to video document the broad variety of stories that come from the 1,000,000+ people that visit the park system every year.   The Emerald Necklace is a 1000+ acre linear park system outlining the city of Boston that includes six parks in total, each with a different character and motif.  It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and completed in 1891.  The Stories Project is groundbreaking for the Emerald Necklace; it marks the start of creating a historical database of experiences formed at these historic parks and promotes and encourages use of the parks through a series of creative and compelling high definition videos.  These videos are being posted online and eventually will appear at the Conservancy’s new visitor center, opening in the fall.

[Update: All Six 'Stories' Videos Now On IGORoamandreport]

How do I know all this?  I’m the lucky son-of-a-gun that was hired to develop a vision and produce the novel video project.  Yes, it is my responsibility to find, collect, produce, and report