In this Trek 3 blog, I tried to explore a great deal of things, and it turned out that I wanted to do too much. After my first part of the Trek that I took to Atwater Beach in Milwaukee, I decided that I needed to focus on fewer things and, for the most part, I decided to keep that focus on what was around that beach. For my visuals, there was so much to look at such as animals, trash, things washed ashore and the water itself. When I went over my imagery and my sound, the strongest clips came from just merely exploring the water and absolutely nothing else. The imagery of water came through as extremely beautiful and intriguing. Also, in my sound recordings, it is hard to get away from the water when you are on a windy beach, but I wanted to show things visually so you weren't quite sure where you were, and match that with audio that made you not quite sure as well. In most of my posts, you can see a pattern were I try to give very little away about surroundings in terms of sound and visually right away, but then slowly reveal information to the viewer.

Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI
Completed December 17, 2006
52 seconds

I, Andrew Nordstrum, put this post in mp4 format, so it should work with most computers. In this post, I decided to take the clips that I had put together from the Trek 3 post and manipulate the timing and order of the clips that I used. At first, I wanted to make the sound in the beginning very obscure, but I realized that since my visual was, my audio did not have to be. I wanted to make it so what the viewer is looking at is not obvious right away. I wanted the subject of my blog to be slowly pieced together through sound clues and visual aid.

Morning in the Woods
Babcock, WI, 11/26/2006

When I was out hunting opening weekend, I noticed to my East the absolutely beautiful sunrise. I also heard the sounds of birds and other creatures as the world woke up. It was a beautiful combination to see and hear different aspects of the woods wake up at different times. With video, I took pictures from the very beginning of the morning, when the sky was still nearly black to the time when the sun had risen above the treeline. With the audio, I tried to show the order of how the world woke up with the sun. I mixed the sounds of two different birds, to illustrate how one comes out earlier in the morning and the next waits just a bit longer to make its presence known to the world.

Through a Hunter's Eye
Babcock, WI, 11/26/2006

In this clip, I wanted to emphasize what is important to me as I hunt, as well as how a gunshot can shatter the normal tranquility of being out in the woods. There are three parts of hunting that I wanted to establish: tranquility, family and the hunt itself. At first, I was going to intersperse sounds of birds between the shots, but instead I think that the sound of the woods when there is absolutely nothing around, not even wind, would better show the break in tranquility that comes when a deer may come through.

Underfoot
Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI, 11/15/2006

In this post, I used the previous silent clip of moving over seashells and then a slow pan up to show them on the beach. I try to keep the image a little bit ambiguous, as is the pattern of a couple of my postings so you cannot tell exactly from the image what these things are or where they are. The thing I liked about pairing this sequence with the soundtrack is that as I begin to reveal clearer images and more of a context, the sound reveals a context in itself, no longer overpowered with just the crunching of the seashells.

Water
Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI, 11/15/2006

For this post, I used the idea that I had from the water clips in my previous post. I wanted to keep the order and the ambiguity that there was before, having water taking up most of the frame. In this way, the viewer cannot really tell where they are. I chose to put this sequence to the sound of water, but when the water in the pipe is seen, that sound is distorted. I wanted it this way because there is something strange about the water in there, something unknown. I wanted to demonstrate that this shot was not like the other couple in this sequence, and that distortion was one way of doing that.

Trash and Death
Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI, 11/15/2006

In this post, I decided to juxtapose the images of litter and animals or traces of animals. I thought that they would be a good side-by-side comparison. I wanted to emphasize their relationship, without giving too much away about where they were in terms of context. With the sound, both tracks are recordings of the same subject, but one was done inside of a concrete block which I thought would take away the sound of the wind. Instead, it was heightened, and I used that in the beginning so I would not give away context until the very end of the clip.

For this next trek, I was put in a strange spot. Initially I wanted to continue on with my idea near the beach. However, with the timeframe I was committed to, I would not be able to go on another trek in that area. So, instead I took advantage of being out hunting the weekend over Thanksgiving. I had to change my location to near my hometown. This is a map of the general area where I recorded and shot photos. It is impossible to pinpoint the area without real satellite images, so I will just say that where I hunt is between Amundson Road and Flowage Road. Click HERE for map. If the link does not go straight to the address, type in "amundson road, babcock, wi"

Project 3 Video, Last Light Capturing Trek Strategies (11/24-11/26, 2006)

Light-capturing Strategy 1: I want to take photos of the woods throughout different times of day, kind of like the video that I took at the Atwater Beach. I think it is interesting to see the world as it lights up and gradually darkens. It truly is a beautiful thing to witness, and I believe the composition of the images can be quite striking.

Light-capturing Strategy 2: I also hope to take pictures of my family members out by me as I am hunting and also pictures through the scope of my rifle. I think that it will show things that the hunter sees around him, things that are important to me while I am out hunting such as my family, the actual hunting part, as well as merely being out in the woods.

Project 3 Video, Last Sound Trek Strategies (11/24-11/26, 2006)

Soundscape 1: In this trek, I hope to explore the sounds throughout the entire day on a hunt in the woods. I am in the woods for 12 hours, so I want to show all the sounds of different animals (mostly birds) and possibly place those in with video sequences of the woods.

Soundscape 2: I also hope to get sounds of gunfire interspersed within the normal quiet and desolation that I encounter when in the woods hunting. It is such a strange contrast that it will be interesting to explore.

Trash
Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI
11/15/2006

For this post, I took close-up pictures of different pieces of garbage that were scattered all over the beach. I tried not to get any water in the shots, so that the trash would not be necessarily associated with the beach itself. I wanted to leave context out of this, just to spark curiousity I guess. What I want to do with this is put it together with clips of the dead animals that I found on the beach. I think that they go together well, sending a discreet message about littering, especially in such a beautiful place.

Seagulls
Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI
11/15/2006

In this post, I was looking for various types of wildlife, and besides dead stuff, mostly I just found seagulls. I thought it was really strange how they would just hover around the pier or randomly just be swooping over the water. It seemed like a huge waste of energy, so I kind of just watched for a while, hoping to see why they were doing this. I never did find out. I may not even use this clip, or anything from it. However, I really do like when the one seagull flies off to the right and I follow it until it isn't visible. I may try to juxtapose the images of dead animals with live ones. Maybe.

Water
Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI
11/15/2006

I wanted to record images of just water, not being able to see hardly anything else, so there was no context around how large it was, where it was, etc. I leaned out over piers, under piers, out on rocks, and stood in the face of waves (which happened to surprise me by being very inconstant, completely soaking my shoes). But I thought these clips worked well together, and I believe they are a bit ambiguous and disorienting, which is exactly what I wanted. I want to put this clips to sound.

Seashells
Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI
11/15/2006

I was walking over seashells on my trek as I was struggling to find different sounds. I realized that they make an interesting sound, like glass crunching, when you walk on them. At first I didn't even think about recording them on video, then it just made sense. In some of this clip, I wanted the feel of walking on a beach filled with shells. In the end, I wanted a context for the clip, showing exactly where the viewer is, right on the beach. With this, I want to put it to the sound I recorded while walking through the seashells. It isn't an overly creative endeavor, but I think the simplicity of it is what endears me to the idea.

Morning, Day and Night
Atwater Beach, Milwaukee, WI
11/15/2006

I wanted to see how the lake changed from morning to night by just looking at the horizon. I wanted to see how the color of the water seemed to change, how the color of the beach seemed to change and, of course, how the color of the sky changed. I am thinking about mixing this sequence with recordings of the water, but that seems a little simple and predictable. So I'm not really entirely sure what to do with this one.

Project 3 Video, Light Capturing Trek (approximate date 11/12-11/15, 2006)

I will be doing this trek near Atwater Park, as described in my previous post in this blog.

1.) For one setting on this trek, I wish to shoot video around an old, run down lighthouse. It is small, and is surrounded by the lake and some vegetation. I believe that it has a lot of character. Since I am doing my treks right by the lake, I am going to try to focus on water I think. So, when I am shooting this lighthouse, I really want to emphasize what is around it by the lake rather than just it. I want to explore it in itself, but I really want it to be seen in the bigger picture of why it is there.

2.) Another setting I want to shoot on this trek is the lake. I want to look at it in different stages of the day. I want to see it at sunrise, sunset, noon, dusk, twilight, etc. I want to show how different times of day change the way that things are around the lake, i.e. animals, traffic, and just light in itself.

Project 3 Video, Sound Trek (approximate date 11/12-11/15)

1.) One soundscape that I wish to explore with this trek is that of the animals present near the lake in the really early morning, around sunrise. I want to keep the lake in my field of hearing, while creating a depth of field with the animals and plants around me. In my last recordings, many things would overpower the mic or drown out other sounds. In this I hope to minimalize those distractions by protecting my mic from wind and experimenting with distances from my subjects.

2.) Another soundscape I want to explore is the lake itself. I think it is difficult to find different sounds besides just the waves that are coming in when recording a body of water as big as Lake Michigan. But I believe that if I can find these interesting sounds, coming from a small inlet, or hearing the water slowly seep out of sand, for example, I believe my recordings will be very rewarding.

Ten Curiosities:

1.) How can I use the lighthouse and the areas around it to create a feeling of the vast expanse of the lake?

2.) Is the lake an interesting subject for video at sunrise/sunset?

3.) How do the sounds by the lake differ early in the morning from late at night?

4.) Besides using just the sound of waves, how else can I create a sense of water by the lake using only sound?

5.) What kind of people will I find near the lake, and how can I shoot them to accentuate their differences (not limited to physical differences)?

6.) Is the lighthouse there still used? And if so, when can I shoot it being used?

7.) What kind of wildlife is around the lake, especially during cold weather? How can I use the wildlife to create a good depth of field in a sound recording?

8.) How do I get a close-up sound recording of the water without it totally overpowering the mics and drowning out other soundscapes?

9.) How does wind sound different on a beach in sand rather than blowing through the grass?

10.) What kind of juxtapositions can I employ in this situation? More specifically, what kinds of things that seem unrelated could really be related through sound or through visual attributes?

There is a specific place that I believe will be an area of great interest especially visually to me near the Atwater Park area. It is a lighthouse that is hardly visible from the road. It is old and sort of run down, and I want to explore all around it. I believe that if I couple views of the lighthouse with views of the lake and the coast I could make a very visually stimulating post. I really am not sure what I would do with the sound for something like that, but I believe that area would afford me a lot of interesting visual perspectives for my next posting.

Area around Atwater Park, N Lake Dr, Shorewood, WI

Google Maps View