Basement studio

There’s a large, empty room in the basement of the Upcountry History Museum where I shoot oral history interviews. The final renders, burned to disk, accumulate in a box that sits on the floor of that room, their ultimate disposition as yet undecided. Maybe an interactive exhibit, maybe a pleasant surprise for some 35th century archaeologist.

The equipment I bring to these shoots has evolved over the years. CFLs displaced by LEDs, for example. Gross weight decreased. And the HD camcorder soon will pass its torch to a 4K descendent.

Technology aside, though, the shoots permit me to meet without really meeting a cast of characters I’d never encounter otherwise. Civil rights leaders, historians, upper crustaceans of various stripes. They aren’t always likable, but they do have stories to tell that might be lost but for their immediate telling, and that’s the point. Preservation. Our own little Akashic record.