During the 1940s and ’50s, seasonal tourism overtook logging as the mainstay of Cherokee’s economy. Indian iconography and relics of 1950s and ’60s tourism coexist with chain hotels and fast-food restaurants. In 1997 the tribe opened the glitzy, upscale Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, one of the largest employers in North Carolina west of Charlotte. Gaming has pumped hundreds of millions into Cherokee’s long impoverished economy, making Cherokee a powerful economic force in Western North Carolina.

Along with other changes in Cherokee has come the desire to move beyond the stereotyped images associated with the town, to embrace instead a more authentic representation of tribal heritage.

Video by Travis Long & Jason Arthurs.

Video by Travis Long & Jason Arthurs.

The 2009 edition of News & Observer’s “Eight Great Local Acts” spotlighting eight of the best and brightest music acts from the Raleigh Durham area.

Acts include: Jason Graves, Lonnie Walker, Double Negative, Violet Vector & The Lovley Lovelies, Alesana, The Loners, Inflowential and Hammer No More The Fingers.

Great 8 2009 interface

Video: Travis Long & Jason Arthurs
Photos: Jason Arthurs
Design: Tim Lee
Text: David Menconi
Flash Coding: Lamonte Garrett
Trailer soundtrack: by Jason Graves

All images copyright Travis Long and Azul Photography.

A yearly round up of the best local acts in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area . The interactive includes 12 videos.

The 2008 lineup: Red Collar, Small World , Megafaun, I Was Totally Destroying It, Bowerbirds, Bull City, Scene Of The Crime Rovers, and Alina Simone.

Video: Jason Arthurs, Rob Roberts, Travis Long, Juli Leonard.
Still photography: Jason Arthurs
Editing: Jason Arthurs, Rob Roberts, Travis Long, Juli Leonard.
Design: Tim Lee
Text: David Menconi
Production and programming: Rob Roberts.

The G8 team, back row from left: Rob Roberts, Juli Leonard, Jason Arthurs, Travis Long, Tim Lee. Front, David Menconi. (Photo by Shawn Rocco)

On June 23, 2007, News & Observer photojournalists Travis Long, Takaaki Iwabu, Ethan Hyman, and Juli Leonard visited the Eno Quarry in Durham to shoot video and still images for an in-house project on the quarry. The group had envisioned a light piece on swimming hole culture.

A few weeks later, they were contacted by the family of 18-year-old Ian Creath who had drowned in the quarry July 9, 2007. The family sought the last known video and photographs of him.

In the process of gathering images of Ian and his brother, Lance, the group got to know their mother, Shawn Bailey. Her strong spirit and thoughtful remembrance of her son inspired this project.

When the N&O started its push towards video in June of 2007 our then director of multimedia, Robert Miller, broke the staff into five teams. We were to go make a video and the only rule was that the video had to involve water. Our team (Takaaki Iwabu, Ethan Hyman, Juli Leonard and myself) chose to do a video on the Eno Quarry swimming hole in Durham.

We lugged a boat-load of gear a mile into the woods and spent the whole day immersed in multimedia bliss. A few weeks after our visit, 18-year-old Ian Creath tragically drowned at the quarry. Ian’s mother, Shawn Bailey, mentioned to the reporter who wrote the news story that Ian’s brother, Lance, remembered seeing N&O photographers at the quarry a few weeks prior to Ian’s death. I went through two hours of tape and didn’t find any footage of him because we didn’t interview Ian. I had no context.

About a month later, I was learning Final Cut Pro while using the quarry video as source material for practice. I was in the studio capturing video when I heard someone off camera call out Ian’s name. I logged on myspace and found Ian’s profile and was able to determine that we indeed had video of him. Takaaki went through all his photos from the day and found photographs of him as well.

Juli and I went to Ian’s home to give his mother, Shawn, the raw video and prints. We talked with her for more than an hour. No cameras, no mics. She said when she visited the quarry she could not be sad and that it was a peaceful place that was special to Ian. We were struck by Shawn’s candor and thoughtful remembrance of her son.

We pitched a story. Then we followed up with a formal audio interview and two more visits to the quarry (one visit with Shawn and another with a gasoline generator to do some night projections with our original footage of Ian).

We were able to get veteran writer Martha Quillin onboard and the story was slated as a Sunday features display. In the end, we came out with a 50 inch feature story, some nicely displayed photos and the video online.

It truly was a collaborative effort that developed over weeks and weeks. Ethan’s original footage of Ian, Takaaki and Juli’s still photographs, Juli’s thoughtful audio interview and a solid week worth of video editing resulted in a piece I’m pretty darn proud to be associated with.

Perhaps the most rewarding part of this whole project was this letter to the editor from Shawn:

Dear Editor,

I commend your staff for the wonderful job on “Ian’s Peace.” Martha Quillin, Travis Long, and Juli Leonard were spectacular during the process of creating the tribute to my son. Not only was the project of highest quality, but they truly “entered in” –as much concerned for my personal journey of grief as they were interested in procuring a story.

The article and video are treasured gifts, but equally cherished will be the memory of these three compassionate people who have been an integral facet to my healing. When they accompanied me to the quarry, they just let me be what I needed to be—let the words come, but also allowed the silence. It felt like a sacred time.

I realize there were others who invested in the birth of this gift to my family and me. I sincerely offer my gratitude to those individuals as well.

Some aspects of humanity disenchanted Ian. Yet, there are so many stories of how he used this frustration as a catalyst to make a difference. In his laid back, brilliant way, he pointed us to a better moment, or simply made us smile. May we all be so deliberately invested.

In recognition of Bike to Work Week, I put together a stop animation video of my daily bike commute through Raleigh set to “Black Mags” by The Cool Kids.

Geek notes: All images were made with a Canon 5D mounted to my bike with a Bogen Magic Arm and triggered by an intervalometer. Ambient sound is from a shotgun mic mounted to the frame. Bike is a 2009 Giant Tran Send DX.

Mental-health reform has been a bust for North Carolina taxpayers and patients. Millions of dollars have been wasted and services have suffered.

Video: Travis Long
Still photography: Juli Leonard
Editing: Travis Long and Juli Leonard
Interviews: Juli Leonard, Travis Long and Michael Biesecker
Design: Judson Drennan and Tim Lee
Production and programming: Valerie Aguirre

Light paintings of tobacco barns in Cameron, NC. A New York artists’ collective made pilgrimages to Cameron for years to paint the barns. Photographs were lit with halogen lights using long exposures.

I’m in the process of updating to an entirely wordpress based site. Unfortunately that process is taking longer than I anticipated. What you see here is incomplete at best. Please check back in a week or two when things have calmed down. Thanks!