Environmental Photo Essay for Clean Alternative Energy. Multimedia presentation used for educating.

1. Bellow are some samples of my photography with a narrative produced for educational multimedia
presentations. Most of this photography was created while on assignment for private sector clientele. Many
of these clients are recognized as world leaders in their fields, this recognition establishes rapport and re-
spect from students that I teach using these presentation. From my assignments over the years, I have de-
veloped presentations on composition, creative techniques and technical procedures covering digital pho-
tography and nonlinear video production. These presentations are unique in content, as they are not derived
solely from academia, but from, “real world” media assignments which help captivate student’s attention and
promote creativity. The lessons are delivered using my passion and energy which has helped sustained me
in one of the most competitive fields of visual communications. Because I remain active in servicing the
private/public sector; new content will be added to my multimedia presentations to help sustain their rele-
vance for the demands of a changing educational/working environment.
In the Gulf of Mexico: BP = Black Plague Spring 2010
David Axelrod --Senior Advisor to President Obama stated on June 13th, 2010 - NBC, "Meet the Press," the Admin-
istration viewed the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, more like an "epidemic."
An epidemic is a fair description of the gulf-oil-spill -- as something that can't be easily viewed or comprehended. Like
the Black Plague that silently... without warning crept over Europe in the Middle Ages, the Gulf Spill shares similar
symptoms with its hidden, silent attack on the Gulf Coast marine environment.
My original photo series for Earth Day was sent out to friends and clients less then two days after BP's Deepwater
Horizon oil rig, tragically exploded and caught on fire. At the time, it wasn't clear this catastrophe would become the
worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.
Now, months later, with 11 lives lost, ecosystems destroyed and over 2 million barrels of crude oil spilling into the Gulf
of Mexico, the nightmare continues. If all this economic and environmental morass weren't enough, we have irre-
sponsible individuals trying to muddy the waters by playing politics with the real cause and the corporate entities re-
sponsible for the oil spill.
Perhaps more-than-ever, my Earth Day essay sent in April, currently has more significance now that our marine envi-
ronment is clearly suffering symptoms from the dreaded petroleum attack. So, I'm resending this Earth Day photo
essay, along with new images which directly relate to oil exploration and alternative energy sources.
My hope is that we all 'wake-up' by educating ourselves to the issues on energy, the environment and responsible
government which ideally represents our nation's best interest. Blind, gutted deregulation is the main cause for allow-
ing industrial standards of health and safety to evaporate away -- not just for energy production, but banking, trade/
capital markets, telecommunications and the list goes on beyond the horizon.
Unfortunately, if we as individuals are collectively content to just blame the previous administration or our current one
for the disaster in the Gulf, we only polarize the issues, allowing the status quo to be sustained, until the next out-
break of disaster spreads again.
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2. An infusion of common sense, non-partisan checks and balances are needed for accountable regulation,
which will insure a sustainable economy supported by a safe, clean and healthy environment.
(On the left horizon, hydrocarbons are being released into the air, blemishing an otherwise clear arctic day.)
All Roads Lead to Nowhere --
Early in my career as photographer, I received assignments which took me above the
Arctic Circle. Construction companies and architects doing work for oil companies in
Alaska's North Slope hired me to photograph their on going developments. At that time
the Prudhoe Bay oil fieldʼs production had peaked due to years of sustained extraction.
A new oil field near the Kurparuk River, west of Prudhoe Bay was the site I was sent
to. The Kuparuk oil field is the second largest oil field in North America by area, and
traveling by aircraft was the way I traveled from site to site.
Almost all roads and construction above the arctic circle, relies on heaps of gravel
placed over the surface tundra to prevent them from sinking into the earth when the
ground thaws. Traveling less than 100 feet off the tundra, at close to 150 miles per hour,
the pilot of the Hughes 500D helicopter races to horizon. The orange shelters at the
edge of the road is our intended destination. These shelters are used to pump hot
steam down-into the wells, to recover dwindling oil reserves, locked deep below the fro-
zen tundra.
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3. Alaska, the Last Frontier --
Flying above an older oil facility, it can clearly be seen -- the years of oil production have
left Rorschach-like-ink-blots, splattered on the surrounding tundra. I have not been to
the oil fields for many years, but I was told at the time, the oil companies were trying to
"cleaning up their act and leaving a smaller footprint." I pray what I heard was true, but
still, as we know -- accidents do happen.
One day flying over vast stretches of tundra, I spotted dozens of randomly placed metal-
lic cylinders. The pilot brought the airplane down for a closer look and cynically said --
those are abandoned, empty 50 gallon oil barrels... known as -"Alaska's state flower."
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4. An old barn in the shadow of Anacortes oil refinery.
There's something charming about old barns as they weather the years. This one with
its organic wood earth tones, is contrasted against the metallic cylinders of an oil refin-
ery in Anacortes, about 70 miles north of Seattle, on the edge of Puget Sound.
The month of April was a tragic
time for oil disasters. On April 2nd,
five workers were killed at this oil
refinery as an explosion and fire
ripped through part of the refinery.
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5. EARTH Day – Thursday April 22, 2010
EARTH Day seems to have more meaning as the impact of global warming, seismic
and volcanic activity focuses our attention on the big picture.
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6. Our world is delicately balanced, spinning through space, with us all aboard along for
the journey. At least one day, one week, out of a busy calendar year, weʼre asked to give
homage to our planet by being aware of itsʼ environment. In honor of this day, Iʼm send-
ing out photographs and prose that reflect current events affecting our worldʼs environ-
ment.
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7. “One World, One Planet.”
A fascinating, outdoor setting, with one of the most diverse ecosystems is the Rainforest
of the Olympic National Forest. It was a late summer day when I hiked down form Lake
Osset, to where the rainforest meets the Pacific Ocean. This area has never been
logged, the old growth forest here stands as it has for thousands of years. After setting
up a tent I walked on a trail leading to a lush meadow. A twig snapped a few feet away
from me, revealing two unusual looking deer, grassing in the tall grass. Never have I
encountered wildlife where if I desired, could reach out and touch it. The deer could
plainly see me; yet they made no effort to scramble away or even conceal themselves.
The reason this wildlife seems tame is that they reside within a remote National park,
where no hunting is allowed. Slowly, I raised my camera loaded with my favorite Ko-
dachrome transparency film. As I began to take a series of photos, I noticed unusu-
al patterned markings on the deerʼs body. Refocusing my lens, amazingly, what ap-
peared was a map of the earth, patterned on the deer. Last year I scanned the
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8. transparency, then enhancing
it with Photoshop, the world continents clearly revealed themselves in what Iʼve themed
– “One Planet, One World.”
“Paradise Lost” –
Have you ever gone back to a place and found what you had once treasured was miss-
ing? Thatʼs the theme of the two photos, seen above and below. The image with the old
growth stumps in the pond was taken on Camano Island, using my medium for-
mat, Hasselblad camera. At one time, this location would have been a stunning place to
be standing under the shadows of a virgin forest, with towering Douglas-firs and Cedar
trees reaching for the sun overhead.
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9. “Paradise Lost” –
The enchanting scene with a man gazing into the pools of water is from Whatcom Falls.
My college roommate sitting on the moss-covered boulders is Mark Nishimura, a fine-art
photographer, originally from the state of Hawaii. Mark asked that I photograph him in a
place that was reminiscent of the waterfalls back home on Ohau. I used a Hasselblad
and slow speed transparency film to help capture the dynamic range of shadows and
highlights. This was one of my favorite places to photograph when I attended school at
Western Washington University, in Bellingham. Many students would spend summer
afternoons cooling off, diving and swimming amongst the deep pools of water. A short
walk into Whatcom Park, placed you in a lush environment, under a thick canopy of ev-
ergreen trees, moss covered vegetation with sounds of cascading waterfalls running
throughout it. Some years after this photo was taken, tragedy struck, instantly incinerat-
ing this charming environment. A refineryʼs 16-inch fuel-line running next to the park,
ruptured, spewing nearly 300 thousand gallons of gasoline into the creek. In an instant,
the fuel ignited, creating a river of fire, which killed three youths fishing in the creek and
sending a toxic vapor cloud six miles into the atmosphere. The fireball and plume of
smoke was visible from Anacortes to Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Now, ten years after
the catastrophe, I plan to return to the falls and photograph the site with hopes that na-
tureʼs healing process is transforming it back to the way it use to be.
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10. “Paradise Found” –
I remember a photography teacher I had in college took us to a beach near Chukanut
Drive. When he gave out the assignment, most of the class groaned; we were to pick a
spot on the beach, stay within a 25-foot diameter and shoot a series of photos to tell a
story. Most of us wanted to take our cameras and explore what the entire beach had to
offer. Surprisingly, it was one of the best assignments I was ever given in school; be-
cause it broke the stereotype about how you were suppose to see. Within that small
domain we discovered, a whole universe was waiting to reveal itself before the camera
lens. That photography lesson has stuck with me since, although world travel is a pas-
sion, I realize that I really didnʼt have to go any farther than my backyard to find great
images and no matter what, if resourceful, amazing subjects can be found everywhere.
My homeʼs back yard is like an outdoor studio full of indigenous plants, birds and am-
phibians. We avoid using pesticides and only use natural fertilizers on the yard and gar-
den. One afternoon I found this charming tree frog sitting on a leaf, warming itself in the
sunshine. With a macro lens on my camera, I was able to get within inches of the
frog and let the background merge into soft abstract forms. The photo makes me smile
whenever I see it because it reminds me, I never have to go far to reconnect with na-
ture.
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13. On a moonlit night, traveling on the back-roads of Washington and Oregon --
we found countless sentinels standing guard against the cold breeze of darkness.
The Future is Now...
Working tirelessly with the wind, turbines spin against the moon backdrop, producing
'clean energy' for the Pacific Northwest. Throughout the Americas and many other
places in the world, the tide is turning as we move more towards wind and solar for a
clean, renewable energy source.
David Johanson Vasquez
Big Picture Photography
206.799.4848
www.bigpicturephoto.us
david@bigpicturephoto.us
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