5600° Kelvin

Ethical Journey - Day 3 to 5 - Muskegon, MI

PMurt — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:41:00 GMT

Yesterday we spent the morning doing some shooting around town. It was really cold. The wind by the lake was non-stop. It was the kind of wind that hits your face and steals your breath, making your eyes water. We then went to a local radio station to do an interview for a NPR program, The World. Then we spent the rest of the day with a family from Muskegon who aren't so green. We'll be having dinner with them tonight. ...

Ethical Journey - Day 1 - Muskegon, MI

PMurt — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:35:00 GMT

Yes, it's me! I still exist! I know it's been forever..,an entire election has passed and no word from me. It's pathetic, I know. I'm sorry I've not posted sooner...The last few month of the campaign season went so fast and were so busy I barely had time to do anything but work...I was all over the place and never in one place for more tha 24 hours. But, that's all over now and things have gotten back to normal. Well, a bit....

I am currently in Muskegon, MI on the eve of a month long adventure which will ...

8/08/2008 - Washington, DC

PMurt — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:30:00 GMT

Back home again. It was an eventful week at the RNC. One that started out looking like it was going to be pretty boring and one that ended with very interesting and bewildering events.Here's what's happened since my last post....We arrived in Houston Sunday night around 11pm and headed for a hotel in downtown Houston. Early the next day we headed East toward New Orleans. Our story was going to be about the political impact and whether or not the government had been able to fix the mistakes of Katrina. It was nice and sunny in Houston once the sun ...

8/31/2008 - St. Paul, MN

PMurt — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:27:00 GMT

Yesterday we started shooting for our package for Monday's program at the Minnesota State Fair. We filmed all the usual stuff - food, rides, animals and politicians shaking hands for votes. We ended up doing an interview with Al Franken who is running for senator against current senator Norm Coleman. We also went to film at "Civic Fest" in Minneapolis at the convention center. It featured a huge model of the White House, the front section of an old Air Force One, a replica of the Oval Office and a ton of other presidential type ...

8/29/2008 - St. Paul, MN

PMurt — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:38:00 GMT

We made it to St. Paul although we are dead tired! I finally got to bed last night at 2 a.m. and woke up at 3:45 a.m. to catch the flight here.

Last night was an impressive site and I'm glad I was able to be there to see it. The place was jammed packed with media, delegates and spectators. By the time I arrived at Invesco Field our program was off air so I didn't have to be there to work, which was a nice change of pace. But, since I wasn't there to work I wasn't given a very good ...

8/28/2008 - Denver, CO

PMurt — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:46:00 GMT

Here I am writing about the Democratic National Convention for the first time on the last day of the convention. It's been really busy here for us and finding time for much else other than sleep on my down time has been tough.

We started off last Friday arriving in Denver and heading straight to the Pepsi Center for a live shot for our program. We were the first crew to use the live position outside the center so it wasn't setup yet. It took a little time to get it all working but in the end we did fine and ...

T'blisi, Georgia - 8/15/2008

PMurt — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:52:00 GMT

Early this morning we fed our last package from Georgia after working on it all day yesterday and through the night. Here are the details of what we did -- I'll post photos into it later when I'm a little mroe awake!

We spent the day trying to find the mother and children attacked in Gori which we filmed arriving at the civilian hospital in Gori. We found the mother in T'blisi at a hospital with many wounded from the conflict. She was in the main hospital in town which by any standard is a far cry from any hospital you may find even in ...

8/13/2008 - T'bilisi, Georgia

PMurt — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:58:43 GMT

Yesterday I finally arrived in Georgia after a 5 hour drive through Armenia. The journalist I met in Istanbul and his photographer and only one of the radio guys and myself crammed into a sedan full of our gear. I had my camera, editing equipment and my flack jacket and Kevlar helmet in my lap for the journey. I sat in the front and didn't have as much piled on me as the boys in the back. They could hardly see the road ahead. We passed through the mountains into southern Georgia and arrived in town at noon.

I met ...

8/11/2008 - Munich, Germany

PMurt — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:22:30 GMT

I've managed to get myself out of Istanbul finally. I am in Germany waiting on a flight to Yerevan, Armenia having a bier and a bratwurst. From Armenia I plan on driving to Tbilisi which should take about 6-7 hours. It turns out that the route along the Black Sea would take us into Batumi, Georgia which has been hit by Russian jets and the route from there goes right through Gori, Georgia which has just been taken by Russian ground forces. The route from Armenia is, by far, the better option. I met a journalist trying to do ...

8/11/2008 - Istanbul, Turkey

PMurt — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:05:00 GMT

Well it's a little after midnight and my day ended with what I sort of thought would happen. All the flights to Tbilisi are cancelled and I'm stuck for the short term here in Istanbul. Turkish Airlines hooked me up with a hotel right across the street from the Blue Mosque. So I can't really complain since I have such a nice view in such an ancient and historic city. I shot this from my balcony.

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8/10/2008 - London Heathrow Airport

PMurt — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 08:55:00 GMT

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything on this site. It's been a busy year and I've let this go by the wayside. Which is not what I intended since a fair bit of this blog throughout the year was supposed to highlight the US election. I guess I'll have to dig into the vault and highlight some of the more interesting happenings during the past year.

But, today I've arrived in London and am waiting to depart on Turkish Airways en route to Tbilisi, Georgia via Istanbul. It's 10a.m. local time and I should arrive in Tbilisi ...

5/17/2007 - Washington, DC

PMurt — Fri, 18 May 2007 02:54:00 GMT

Today I was sent to the White House to cover Tony Blair's last official visit with the President. The two held a press conference in the Rose Garden. The event started at 11:30 or so but we had to arrive at 8:30 for preset. I positioned my camera so I had a nice view of the Oval Office just in case Blair or Bush would be hanging out in my line of view before the presser . Sure enough, about 20 minutes before the event I spotted Blair and Secretary of State Rice, Carl Rove and a few others laughing ...

5/08/2007 - Iowa and Louisiana

PMurt — Fri, 18 May 2007 01:57:00 GMT

It's been a while since I've posted anything here but hopefully I'll have time to keep up. Business has been steady but not overwhelming lately. After spending a few days covering the Virginia Tech shootings it really hasn't been busy. The World Bank, the Gonzales saga, and a few other Washington stories have kept my travel to a minimum lately. But I did spend a few days on the road in Iowa and Louisiana doing a story on ethanol and whether or not it is a viable solution for our energy future.

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3/28/2007 - Orlando, FL

PMurt — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:40:00 GMT

I recently went to Orlando to spend the day following the CEO of a very innovative company which has developed a product that may become common place in the wireless world. I met up with the people from SpinVox at the CTIA Wireless trade show which featured the latest wireless technology from every aspect of the business. I spent the day following the CEO around touring the trade show, chatting with her staff and meeting with clients and potential investors SpinVox provides a voice mail service that converts voice messages to text and sends them via SMS ...

3/11/2007 - Fort Stewart, GA

PMurt — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 22:47:00 GMT

In preparation for the "Surge" in Iraq the US military has expanded its "Situational Training Exercises" to Fort Stewart near Savannah, Georgia, home of the 3rd Infantry Division. I went there for a full day of shooting for a documentary about the four years of the war and where it all went wrong. The training puts soldiers into a 24/7 environment that simulates Iraq but it all takes place in the pine forests of Georgia. We had to drive for miles to the middle of nowhere to get into the area where the training was taking place. But it was ...

2/19/2007 - Washington, DC

PMurt — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 14:11:00 GMT

The White House News Photographers Association announced the winners of the annual Eyes of History competition and I didn't win! Actually, I was given 3 'Awards of Excellence'- 1 for editing and 2 for shooting. I've been a member of the WHNPA for a long time but I have never entered anything before so it was nice to find out I won something. All three pieces were long format pieces more than 10 minutes in length. One editing award was for a piece I did in Miami about Chinese spying and how China is focusing more on corporate spying ...

1/25-1/30/2007 - Washington / Des Moines / New Orleans

PMurt — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:39:00 GMT

The race for the White House is officially underway. This will be the fourth Presidential campaign season I've covered and it's the earliest start for such detailed coverage. We started out on the hill covering Barak Obama, following from press conferences, committee hearings and a meeting with Al Sharpton. We waited outside Senator Obama's office for about a half hour before we were allowed in for a photo op. Reverend Sharpton didn't have much to say to the cameras but Obama gave us a few soundbites. The journalist I was working with asked if he thought he was 'black enough' ...

1/13/2007 - NYC

PMurt — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:28:00 GMT

Looking out at Ground Zero ...

1/17/2007 - Park City, UT

PMurt — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 02:56:00 GMT

Since there's no snow anywhere to be seen around Washington I'm glad I had the chance to go where there was snow. Unfortunately it took forever to get to Park City, UT and on to the Sundance Film Festival. Our day started out with a flight cancellation which put us on an earlier flight. There's nothing wrong with getting to where we need to be earlier. That wasn't going to be the case though. Our new flight wasn't a direct flight like the original. Flying into Newark International AirportInstead, we had to fly to Newark first ...

01/05/2007 - Detroit, MI

PMurt — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 02:01:00 GMT

It's been awhile since I've posted anything but that's not because I haven't been busy. Since Christmas I've been working at a steady pace and haven't really been able to give much attention to anything else.I went to Detroit early in January to do a piece about how the auto industry and Detroit are in decline. The North American Auto show was the peg. Our focus was on 'old Detroit' and when the city and the auto industry were at their peak. /images/44237-40356/det01.jpg" width=346> /images/44237-40356/det02.jpg" width=183>Our shooting schedule started at the old Packard plant which is over 1 million ...