Multimedia Photographer Susan Seubert in Smithsonian

The current, (May 2012), issue of Smithsonian Magazine features an online multimedia piece about the meaning behind hula and I had a great time shooting the video and audio that comprise the bulk of the piece.  I had been assigned to illustrate a story written by Oahu resident and well known author Paul Theroux entitled, “Paul Theroux’s Quest to Define Hawaii.”  It was a pleasure to spend an afternoon with Paul, an extremely interesting and generous man. He’s always got a tale to tell and is engaging in conversation. I feel quite lucky to have now worked on two of his stories.  His story can be read here, the photo gallery can be seen here, and you can hear his thoughts, along with Kumu Hula Hinaleimoana Wong Kalu in the multimedia piece here.

One of the images made for the story, “Paul Theroux’s Quest to Define Hawaii” of the Waianae Mountains on the island of Oahu, Hawaii

All of the still images and video were made with Canon 5D Mark II bodies, Canon L series lenses and the audio was captured with a wireless Sennheiser mic system and the Zoom H4n hand-held audio recorder.  The stills were processed in Adobe Lightroom and Smithsonian’s in-house video editors compiled the raw material into the finished piece.  Go team Smithsonian!

Read Full Post »

Editorial and Fine Art Photographer Susan Seubert on Oregon Public Broadcasting

Last night, Oregon Public Broadcasting aired their twice weekly segment on art, called Oregon Art Beat.  I was one of the three persons featured on the show.  It is so strange to watch myself on tv, as I’m used to being on the other side of the camera.  The piece is about the fact that I work both as an editorial photographer and a fine art photographer.  I would like to thank OPB, Jule Gilfillan, Tom Shrider and Randy Layton for putting together such a nice piece. I’d also like to thank This Old House for giving OPB permission to photograph us working on location for the March 2012 cover. I am also grateful to Michele Greco for allowing herself to be filmed while we were working – so a big thanks to my favorite stylist/producer. Although this feels like more shameless horn-tooting, I really hope that you’ll take a moment to watch the video.

Oregon Art Beat video about Susan Seubert Photography

Read Full Post »

Back Yard Barred Owl -or- Why We Live in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon is an amazing place to live for so many reasons:  the food scene, the forward-thinking development, the great public transportation  but for me, our home is the reason we have firmly planted roots here in the Pacific Northwest.  Our house backs into the Marquam Green Space which is tangential to Forest Park, the largest in-city park in the United States.  If you can figure the maps, it’s possible to walk out our back door and join up with the Pacific Crest Trail.   The other great part is that literally steps, (with a little bush-whacking), from our back yard is the newly developed 4-T Trail:  Trail, Tram, Trolly, Train.  If you are a resident or visitor, this is one great urban hike and a fantastic way to tour the city for under 5 bucks.  Last year we began the process of becoming certified for Backyard Habitat, a joint program between the Audubon Society and the Columbia Land trust.  This program acts as a guide in transforming your property to a haven for urban flora and fauna.  Since our property butts up against the Marquam Green Space, it made sense to get on board.  We’ve removed the bulk of invasive plants and re-planted our back yard with native plant species.  Now the battle with bindweed, holly and ivy begins!  The great part is that we’ve already noticed an increase in the wildlife that visits us, including this Barred Owl who spent a good deal of time on a branch about 5 feet from my office window.  You can hear us whispering to the owl as it sits nearby…

Back Yard Barred Owl

►

Here is how difficult it was to photograph the owl

Wildlife photographer, in action!

In addition to the Barred Owls, we have regular avian visitors.  Tonight, while sitting outside having dinner, I noted the following species: Black-Headed Grosbeak, Spotted Towhee, Rufous Hummingbird, Anna’s Hummingbird, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Black Capped Chickadee, Steller’s Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Lesser Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Band-tailed Pigeon, House Finch, Red Shafted Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Song Sparrow, and to top it off, a mother/son pair of Hairy Woodpeckers.  Below is our regular summer set-up for dinner.  Bon appétit!

summer backyard dining

a steller’s jay joins us for supper

The video was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS USM L series lens and edited in iMovie.  The stills were shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 24-105 IS USM L series lens and edited in Adobe’s Lightroom software.

Read Full Post »

Multimedia Photographer Susan Seubert with National Geographic Expeditions in Alaska

Last week I spent aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird where we traversed Alaska’s Inside Passage.  The weather was constantly changing but it rained very little, much to my surprise and delight!  I will be writing more about this National Geographic Expedition in the next few days, but I was so excited about this footage that I felt that the blogsphere would be a better place if I could share the joy of watching a pair of Dall’s porpoises bow riding on the last day of our journey.  I was preparing for a slideshow presentation when I suddenly heard hoots of excitement coming from the front of the ship.  A group of these cetaceans had decided to join us and bow ride for a good deal of time.  For a while, there were as many as 5 in front of our ship, much to the delight of everyone on board.  People took turns looking over the bow as the animals jumped and played in the water.  I was fortunate enough to get some video footage of these amazing marine mammals.  Their distinguishing marks were made visible as they turned on their sides and it was wonderful to witness their agility as they frolicked in front of the ship.  I hope that the movie below transports you to Southeast Alaska for a moment and affords you a glimpse into what it’s like to be on board with National Geographic.

Dall’s Porpoises bow riding the National Geographic Sea Bird

►

This video was made with a Canon 5D Mark II fitted with a 24-105 IS USM lens and processed in iMovie.

Read Full Post »

multimedia photographer Susan Seubert and the birds

The sound that wakes me most mornings here on Maui comes from an introduced bird species called the Gray Francolin.  They are quite common in Hawaii, particularly around the beach where many hotels have unwittingly provided the perfect habitat in which they thrive.  There were a pair sitting in the tree, just outside the lanai, and I was fortunate to be able to capture them calling out.  Enjoy!

francolins

►

Read Full Post »

Travel and editorial photographer Susan Seubert in “Pack Your Kit”

Blackstone Edge Studios produced a series of short films about photographers in Portland, Oregon and were kind enough to include me in one of the featured videos.  I hope that you find the information of use!  Thanks for your time.

Read Full Post »

Multimedia Photographer Susan Seubert films birds in Australia

A few years ago, my husband and I went to Noosa Heads in Queensland for a holiday.  It was our first trip to the island continent and we had a marvelous time.  After spending just a few days in Sydney, which I later photographed for a feature story for National Geographic Traveler, we boarded a plane bound for Maroochydore where we then rented a car and drove north to Noosa Heads where we had rented a condominium.  Our first evening we heard what appeared to be quite human-like laughter.  It was only after consulting my bird book that I realized that we were surrounded by Kookaburras.  It didn’t take long to discover that they are quite tame and enjoy being photographed.

From Wikipedia: Kookaburras (genus Dacelo) are large to very large (total length 28–42 cm/11–17 in) terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea, the name a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, which is onomatopoeic of its call.  Kookaburras are best known for their unmistakable call, which is uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter — good-natured, but rather hysterical, merriment in the case of the well-known Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae).

We also had wild bush turkeys, currawongs, friarbirds and flocks of lorikeets.  It was wonderful and I made this little film gathered from bird activity around our deck. (apologies for the compression – makes the lorikeet practically invisible) Enjoy!

laugh_kookaburra

►

Read Full Post »

Multimedia Photographer Susan Seubert, underwater with the whales

whale_sounds

►

During whale season in Maui, one can head out to calm waters and listen to the whales call to one another.  We swam out to a popular snorkel spot on Ka’anapali Beach called Pu’u Keka’a, otherwise known as Black Rock, where the lava forms underwater valleys that collect the sonar that the Humpback Whales use to communicate.  Breathing lightly through the snorkels, the whale calls are unmistakable and make me wish for more pro equipment to collect them!  The reef is alive with snapping shrimp and sometimes there are lots of people, but some days, the winds are calm, few people have swum around the point, and one can simply float in the water, ears just beneath the surface and be suspended in a completely different world.  It’s truly amazing and I recommend it to anyone comfortable enough to dangle in the open ocean.  The person in this multimedia piece is my husband who had stopped to listen.  He was too close to the reef, and I had swum out to deeper waters to try and get away from the snapping noise and was able to lay that sound over his image using iMovie.  Although this isn’t the best recording of whale calls, I hope that you enjoy it nonetheless.  I used a Canon SD1000 Digital Elph in a WP-DC13 Waterproof housing for both the video and the audio.

Read Full Post »

Multimedia Photographer Susan Seubert and the Kona Winds

►

Sometimes the Kona winds pick up, the light is dramatic and I imagine what it must be like in the desert, minus the ocean of course. All of these images, both motion and still, were shot with the Canon 5D Mark II and a 24-105mm IS USM lens.  I was a bit concerned about the sand getting into the camera, as it was blowing pretty hard, but so far, there’s no indication that any grains penetrated the body, lens or mount.

whale watching with Canon Image-Stablized Binoculars

A wind blown beach, but beautiful and dramatic nonetheless.

An equally dramatic sunset with a view of the island of Lana'i

Read Full Post »

Susan Seubert’s Multimedia piece about San Francisco

I am an editorial photographer who is making the leap into multimedia.  This piece is my first foray into telling stories using audio and video gathered on a still photography assignment. I see this as more of a sketch than a finished work, which is why I am posting it here and not on my portfolio site.  With the help of some audio gathering from the lovely and talented Kat Nyberg, we put together a small video that mirrored a few of the places that I shot for a feature story that ran in the September 2008 National Geographic Traveler magazine.  This was made just for fun, as sort of as a test to see how well I could shoot some video, collect some sound and cut together a very short piece that mirrored some segments of the assignment.  I shot all the video on a Leica d-lux 3, the audio was gathered with either an iPod mini with a microphone attachment or a marantz recorder and a shotgun microphone.

San Francisco

►

Read Full Post »