Fire-Wired Blog

This article was first published by  dmcityview.com Can anyone truly prepare for a crisis? One can purchase insurance, open a rainy day savings account or plan an escape route in case of a fire. But being prepared for a crisis, in a way, changes the very definition of the word. For instance, imagine reaching for your phone and not only being locked out from using it, but the screen is showing someone making huge purchases, controlling your device remotely. Being hacked is the most modern digital crisis imaginable. Sure, you have a passcode on your phone or virus protection software on your computer, but if either fails, you will likely find yourself helpless to whims of whatever has impinged on your digital liberties. The Urbandale hack Doug Stillwell, superintendent of the Urbandale School District, knows the feeling all too well. Doug Stillwell, superintendent of the Urbandale School District Around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2014 — approximately the time most...

Last Friday I had the unexpected pleasure of taking pictures for the Iowa State University Greenlee School of Journalism's Future's Forum. A couple week's earlier I was given the photog assignment, but few details except for a handful of choice people to photograph. It wasn't until I showed up that I found out it was a Greenlee event (a school I have a little history with). It turns out the "Futures Forum" is a chance for current journalism students to hear from industry execs, ISU grads in the field and  current  students with unique intern experience. This year's panel was made of a senior editor at Better Homes & Gardens, an Ag magazine exec, an graduate who now works at ESPN and a student who recently interned for Rolling Stone and Maxim. For the majority of the forum I was looking for different photography angles, but after the M.C. held a cheer for the recently deceased and beloved professor, Barbara Mack, and announced the topic, my interes...

What you see above is the finished product of four months of work, a dozen interviews, a bunch of b-roll shots, and meetings upon meetings. A seriously large project and done for an audience of... two people. Hey that's what happens here in the world of higher education fundraising and stewardship. This project was almost like producing a documentary into the way private giving has impacted over 100 students at ISU and thousands of people around the world. Quite a cool project for my first big assignment. I worked with a team of 10 people building everything we wanted to touch on and figuring out who we needed to feature. I really wish I could share it with you but thems the breaks. I'm really proud of the finished product and I hope the donors enjoy it.

Last night I filmed an ISU student event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, "Universities for a Better Iowa." The short and sweet is students from all three major Iowa universities have banded together with the Governor's office and the State Board of Regents to lobby legislators to either increase higher ed spending, stop state funding cuts and/or slow funding cuts. Obviously the preferred action would be the increased funding. There were roughly 300 people attending, mostly made up of students, and over half of them were University of Northern Iowa students. If you know anything about what's been going on at UNI you know they've been dealing with cuts in hard fashion recently . Considering my employer and as a product of a public university - Go Cylones! - I am absolutely on board with their mission. The problem is they are going about it in a very old fashion way; Public events, state tour, lobbying at the state capitol building... These are all smart i...

One of the few topics that comes naturally to me is history. My Dad is a bit of a history nerd and after childhood full of museums and presidential trivia I passively became infected with the passion for yesteryear. Seems fitting that I've worked on a handful of historical documentaries.  Recently, the Foundation made a decision to hold a major banquet at Iowa State's newly renovated State Gym, and as part of the program for the evening, I was tasked to dig up some history on the facility. I got really excited and contacted the ISU Special Collections Department  to see what they have on the old gym. Turns out quite a bit. Above is a picture of the Iowa State COLLEGE State Gym circa 1918. Built in 1913 and opened in 1914, the State Gym was at one point considered "one of the finest gyms west of the Mississippi." The State Gymnasium was the first multi-purpose gym on campus. It housed two basketball courts, a suspended track, a swimming pool, a basement lev...