OLD Whidbey Life Magazine

Category: Film

A 21st Century Drive-In Right Here on Whidbey Island
BY KATE POSS
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributor
June 28, 2017

There are only 322 drive-in movie theaters left in the United States, and fortunately for Whidbey Island, one of them is south of Oak Harbor. The Blue Fox Drive-In opened in 1959 and, since the eighties, it has offered the latest movie releases, a video game arcade, go-karts, and good movie food, including pizza, nachos, hot dogs, candy, and popcorn.

At their peak in the ‘40s and ‘50s, there were 3,775 drive-in theaters in the U.S., but then the numbers started to decline. The Blue Fox Drive-In continues to thrive, thanks to community-minded owners Darrell and Lori Bratt, who maintain a family-friendly atmosphere and have diversified in a way that sustains them during the off-season.

The box office opens at 4 p.m. The lot fills up on weekends, so get there early to get the best parking. (Photo by Kate Poss)

“They bought it in ’88, and they’re the ones who put in the arcade, built the track, and made it more family-friendly,” says Kelsey Bratt, daughter-in-law of the Bratts. Kelsey helps with publicity and social media, along with the many other tasks that are required to run a movie theater and party venue seven days a week during the summer. “Back then, kids would come out and drink and get rowdy. The Bratts put a kibosh on that. They made it more family-oriented. We keep our prices low and offer lots to do. As far as rowdy partiers, we have signs posted ‘No alcohol or drugs.’ People realize that it’s for families.”

Elizabeth Saenz, a central Islander with three children, says she and her husband find the Blue Fox Drive-In a way to get out and have quality family time. “It’s the only way my family of five can afford to go see a new movie together,” Saenz says. “We have great family memories there. Love the curly fries and nachos!”

After you’ve found your parking spot, you can enjoy the go-karts and arcade, and play Frisbee or catch in front of the screen. (Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Drive-In)

During the longest days of summer, features start at dusk, and if it’s a triple feature, you might find yourself staying until 5 a.m. the next morning

“Right now, movies start at 9:40 p.m.,” Bratt says. “June 21 is the solstice and after that, we will start the movies earlier as the nights get longer. We’ll be running a couple triple features because of how the movies fall. We want the new releases and want to get the crowds.”

Waiting for the show to begin. During long summer days, double and triple features start at about 9:40 p.m. (photo by Kate Poss)

The Blue Fox Drive-In is fortunate to attract first-run films, which bring the crowds, Bratt explains. “We get first-run movies because we have such a good following. We’re up there with the averages (required by distributors). We can get 390-430 cars in a night, depending on how well we manage the lot when they are coming in.”

On a mid-May night, my friend and I drove in to see a double feature: “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” and “Beauty and the Beast,” two films that had been recently released. The lot was full. Most cars and trucks parked with their back end facing the screen on a raised berm. Families opened the hatchback and cuddled in sleeping bags while munching popcorn.

The snack bar offers movie munchies and fresh pizza. (Photo by Kate Poss)

Inside the snack bar, we bought fresh buttery popcorn and were caught up in the friendliness and good energy of the employees. The pizza looked delicious, and those who ordered one received pizza-shaped pagers that buzzed when their pizza was ready.

“We make our own pizza dough and use a family recipe for the sauce,” Bratt says. “We grate two different types of cheese, cut our own veggies.”

The show begins at dusk. (Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Drive-In)

Outside the snack bar, apparel with the Blue-Fox logo is for sale. The Bratt family runs a print shop on the premises that does screen printing, banners, and embroidered logos for the community. “The print business keeps us alive during the winter,” Bratt says, adding that the drive-in is open Friday through Sunday from fall to mid-June.

To find out what’s playing now, visit the Blue Fox Drive-In website. Bring blankets and pillows, open the hatch, enjoy a double feature, and expect to head home past midnight.

https://youtu.be/6Zmu1vqXdtM

Video courtesy of Blue Fox Drive-In

Kate Poss worked as a library assistant at the Langley and Coupeville Libraries before retiring last year. She worked for three summers as a chef aboard a small Alaskan tour boat from 2008 to 2010. She was a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles for many years before moving to Whidbey Island, where she likes cooking for new and old friends, hiking, reading great fiction, and writing her second novel with her friend Fred Bixby.

View the other stories published this week
- They Walk Among Us, but on Saturday, They Skate
- Sue the Screenwriter: It Takes a Village to Launch a Book
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Enjoy more articles in the print edition of Whidbey Life Magazine, which you can purchase at local and off-island retailers or receive in the mail via subscription.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. You may link to this story. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, please contact us.
June 28, 2017
The Envelope Please? Meeting Lewis Carlino

BY DEB CRAGER
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributor
February 19, 2017

The Academy Awards, the lights, the red carpet…

Lewis Carlino knows what it’s like to live through all the glamour and chaos. But chaos isn’t what comes to mind when you’re around him. He lives a quiet creativeness, with an awareness of all that surrounds him. But his humility contradicts his long and successful career in writing and directing. “I’m very grateful for this work, this profession,” he says. “I’ve met people that I would never have met from all over the world.”

Carlino started writing poetry for the “Stars and Stripes” while he was serving in Korea in the Air Force as a corpsman. He planned on a medical career when he finished and enrolled in premed courses.

After he started college, he realized that his true interest was writing and switched majors from premed to communication. “Suddenly, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” he says, even as his mom was telling him to get a real job. “As a writer, you get inspiration from experiences, observations, projections — and wishes, but the act of writing is something you do on your own and, once committed, you have to keep doing it.”

Lewis Carlino surrounded by photos of family and friends. (Photo by David Welton)

While at university, Carlino was writing plays that were being performed at his school’s repertory theater, the American National Theatre and Academy, and professionally in Los Angeles. During that time, he was approached by a Hollywood agent who said: “I’d like to represent you.” That turned out to be a lifetime friendship, one he’s never regretted. He went on to graduate school to complete his education and wrote for television as well as the stage.

Carlino’s agent told him that he needed to build a body of work, so he went to Taormina, Italy, where he had family, to do just that. The sea and cliffs created just the right environment Carlino needed to write his next two plays: “The Dirty Old Man,” which was eventually performed off-Broadway by Franchot Tone and “The Beach People,” in which Dustin Hoffman performed in 1960. Returning to New York City in the early 60s, Carlino had three plays that were running off Broadway at the same time, including “Cages” with Shelley Winters. In the 63/64 season, Carlino won the New York Theatre Critics Drama Desk Award as best playwright.

His focus changed to film when he wrote a screenplay adaptation of “Seconds,” a conspiracy thriller, one of the twenty-five films recently selected by the Library of Congress to be preserved and archived at the library. From that point on, Carlino stayed in film, and having a family with three kids helped him decide to stay with a more practical endeavor. “Theater can be risky,” he says. “It can seem like a great play, but a few bad reviews, and it’s over in a week.”

Lewis Carlino on the set of “Brotherhood” in 1968 with director Marty Ritt and actor Irene Pappas. (Courtesy of Lewis Carlino)

More films and awards followed for “The Brotherhood,” and “The Mechanic,” a film starring Charles Bronson that was unique because there is no opening dialog for 16 minutes, and a surprise ending. Carlino adapted the 1963 novel “The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea,” and directed it. He followed this by writing and directing “The Great Santini,” starring Robert Duval and Michael O’Keefe followed by his original film “Resurrection,” starring Ellen Burystyn and Eva LeGalliene. All four actors where nominated for Academy Awards in the same year for their performances.

In 1977, Carlino was nominated for an Academy Award for the best adapted screenplay for “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,” with Kathleen Quinlan and Dennis Quaid. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for best picture.

Carlino is the first to admit that a lot has changed about the industry. In the early days, he explains, there were no computers, so you’d type your draft, edit it, then send it off to be typed. And this is what went out to the studio.

Lewis Carlino at his desk–where he now writes scripts using a computer. (Photo by David Welton)

He moved to Langley from California but stayed involved in the business. Locally, he’s directed three plays, one of his own, “Telemachus Clay,” the comedy, “Art,” and his revised and edited version of the Restoration comedy, “School for Scandal.” His most recent play has just completed its initial readings in Seattle and New York City.

To cast his votes as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Carlino has watched more than 90 films this year. When asked about the quality of the movies, he says most of the concentration today is on action and special effects, but his preferences are films that rely on character and deep, complex storytelling.

”Once we lose our stories, our myths, the human experience becomes trivialized, and we become a superficial culture of computer-generated reality,” he says.

As he gets older, Carlino says he has a richer reservoir to draw from, and he finds satisfaction as his frame of reference changes and continues to grow. “Creation is what I call self-generated delight,” he says and he never tires of finding different ways to tell of the human condition. “I’ll never retire from writing. It’s been a worthy and a rich, satisfying career.”

Deb Crager is originally from the Midwest but has lived on the island for 26 years. She wrote the book “101 Things to Do on Whidbey Island: For a Day, a Weekend, or a Lifetime” available on iPad and Kindle Fire, with older copies in print from Amazon and ebay.

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February 22, 2017
Paradise Found: The New Guys Capture Ebey’s Landing

BY SHAWN BERIT
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributor
December 7, 2016

It took three years to find this place. Three years of soul searching, conversations, and research all led . . . to a film.

We had traveled 1,500 miles from the prairie city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to this magical island that Colonel Isaac Ebey called “almost a paradise of nature.” His quest to find a new home to settle in with his family paralleled our own in many ways. Just as Isaac brought his family to Ebey’s Prairie in the early 1850s, I came here with my wife and youngest son and eventually brought my mother.

We were in search of a near-mythical place when we found Whidbey Island. While Ebey sought fertile farm ground, I sought a fertile arts community. We also wanted a place with pine forests, mountain vistas, quaint fishing villages, and most of all, the ocean. We were also in need of a milder climate than the uncommonly extreme weather of South Dakota. We found all that and more on Whidbey Island.

It was while learning about our new declared home that we discovered the Ebey’s Landing Film Slam contest. Fifty hours to write a script, video, edit, and turn in a video about Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve with the theme of “Find Your Park.”

My son, Cody, and I already had a YouTube channel where we called ourselves “The Dakota Guys.” It was a joint creative project that we started in 2014 as a way to have some fun and spend more time together.

The YouTube channel was Cody’s idea to start with. He’s a creative, like me, and has interests in music, acting, and storytelling. He even does voice-over acting for an independent video game that’s being produced. YouTube seemed like a logical outlet for us to create and spend time together.

Our videos are mostly about travel and new experiences. We end all of our videos with the motto, “Life’s the adventure that you make it, so go find one.” We decided the film slam was the perfect way to learn more about the island, and that it would be a great topic for our first Dakota Guys video here.

Cody and Shawn Berit (Photo by Shawn Berit)

We had arrived on the island mere weeks before, living out of our motorhome, as we worked with Realtor Christina Parker to find our new home. Due to a happy twist of fate, we found ourselves staying in Fort Ebey State Park, an excellent location to work from.

Our task was straightforward. Make a video that highlighted something about the Reserve that had personal meaning to us. Oh, and for added fun and challenge, our team had to include a shot of a beach, a blockhouse, and a duck. No problem.

In researching and shooting video around the reserve, I found a bit of a kindred spirit in Isaac Ebey. He loved his family and made sure they were taken care of. He also traveled far to create a new life here. He loved Whidbey Island and, like me, had found his own kind of paradise.

Cody Berit with the 2016 Ebey’s Film Slam Judge’s Choice award.

We’ve just begun to uncover the treasures of this island, some of which we were fortunate to highlight in our video. The natural beauty is abundant here. On Whidbey, you can enjoy deep, lush forests that open into glades, wetlands, and farmland. You can enjoy beautiful sandy beaches and views of two magnificent mountain ranges. Where else can you do that?

Yet with all this beauty, we have learned that Whidbey Island’s best-kept secret, its greatest treasure of all, is its people. I’ve traveled many places and lived most of my life in a place with very good people, yet we were astounded at how welcome we were made to feel upon arriving here. We’ve already made a number of friends and wonderful acquaintances.

Our video, titled simply “Dakota Guys: Ebey’s Landing,” wrapped up the history and beauty that we found in the Reserve. It was a great privilege to join with the other film makers in this fun challenge. In the end, we were incredibly honored to be selected as the Judge’s Choice Winner of the 2016 Film Slam! All the submitted films were fun and creative, showing what a talented group of people live on this island.

Like the mix of joy and sorrow that Isaac Ebey and his family experienced here, our joy was tempered by loss. My now ex-wife and I parted ways shortly after the film festival. Yet we remain friends and are both moving on. The magic of Whidbey is a healing magic, a restorative magic. Just as life goes on, so will the videos of Cody and me, the Dakota Guys!

Subscribe to our Dakota Guys channel and like us on Facebook for the latest updates. Many Whidbey videos will be coming in 2017!

Shawn Berit lives near Maxwelton Beach on the south end of Whidbey. He is co-owner of Fairy Magic Children’s Entertainment with business partner Hahna Luna. Shawn is a father of three and an all-around creative. He is a painter and drawer (acrylics and pastels) of fantastical scenery, story illustrations, and science fiction concept art, a nature photographer, a vocalist wanting to start a band, a science fiction writer working on his first novel, and a television and voice-over actor. Of course, he is also one-half of the Dakota Guys on YouTube and in love with all things Whidbey Island!

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To read more WLM stories and blogs, click here. Have a great story idea? Let us know at info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. You may link to this story. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

December 7, 2016
“Cultivating Kids” Film at the Clyde Theatre November 6
BY KATE POSS
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributor
October 26, 2016

While parents have long wondered how to get kids to eat their veggies, Cary Peterson has cultivated a simple solution that has students clamoring for “garden tacos” that they grow themselves in their school’s backyard.

A once-neglected half-acre of rubble behind the South Whidbey Elementary School now grows tidy rows of veggies, including kale and French sorrel, pumpkins, tomatoes, field peas, nasturtium, sunflowers, and ground cherries—sweet little globes wrapped in a papery skin that taste like tomatoes, pineapple, and mangos all in one. Students from kindergarten through fifth grade enjoy working the garden and harvesting the fruit of their labor in a program pioneered by Peterson, a master at creating community through the land.

Students wave from a teepee of scarlet runner beans in their school garden. (from the film “Cultivating Kids” by Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young)

Local filmmakers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin were so inspired by the garden’s success that they made a documentary, “Cultivating Kids,” which shows at the Clyde Theatre, Sunday, November 6, at 2 p.m. The event is free, but donations are welcome and will go toward matching a $30,000 grant provided by Goosefoot, a South Whidbey nonprofit dedicated to building community, preserving rural traditions, adding to the local economy, and creating a sustainable future.

Matching grant funds come from profits made by The Goose Community Grocer, which works with Goosefoot. The school garden received nearly $45,000 in funding in 2014, more than $52,000 in 2015, and has a goal of $60,000 for 2016. The funds pay for garden materials and the salaries of Peterson and her team: a curriculum coordinator and two apprentices. Goosefoot made a three-year commitment to the project, and future funding needs to come from the community. So far, the garden program has received grants from Whole Foods, proceeds from the South Whidbey Garden tour, community donations, and volunteer hours.

“We heard about the farm and went to visit it,” said Young. “We were totally entranced.” Dworkin has worked as a projectionist at the Clyde for more than 40 years. He and Young have made more than 20 notable documentaries, which have been shown on PBS and distributed internationally. Young, a long-time gardener herself, said that she and Dworkin are interested in broad issues of social justice and sustainability. Such themes are reflected in their films, which include “Shift Change,” a documentary about employee-owned businesses. “Good Food,” which aired on PBS in 2010, celebrates the comeback of the family farm and the importance of eating local produce. “Cultivating Kids” is one of their latest films.

“There are a lot of problems in the world,” Young said, “If we’re going to make it a better place, we need to look at what makes a difference.”

The couple began filming in 2015 during the growing season. They filmed students working in the garden through spring, summer, and fall, culminating in a Thanksgiving feast.

Middle schoolers use math skills when working in the garden. (photo courtesy of movingimages.org)

The film is already attracting praise, such as that from Lauren Howe, director of the Slow Gardens program for Slow Food USA. “Cultivating Kids is the ideal film to show all stakeholders that are either considering a school garden or have an existing garden that is needing an infusion of excitement,” she says. “The South Whidbey Island (Washington) project shows how school gardens connect to all aspects of a school day to support academic success, healthy eating habits, and connections to nature. Parents, teachers, school administrators, and community members will all find a special connection in this film that will motivate them to support a garden program for their school. The students are the real stars. A must see!”

On a recent visit to the garden on a cool misty afternoon, Peterson pointed out rows of squash and pumpkins curing in a greenhouse, awaiting a student Thanksgiving feast November 17. “The pumpkins were planted by last year’s third graders, and this year’s fourth graders harvested them for pies,” Peterson explained. “The potatoes pulled by this year’s third graders were planted by the children last spring when they were second graders.”

Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young created the film, “Cultivating Kids,” which will be shown at the Clyde Theatre November 6. (photo by David Welton)

Planting and harvest compliment student studies in math and science, Peterson explained. “We hold a picture of ‘Big Ideas’ for each grade.” The big ideas fostered for the elementary school students are like a foundation that gains strength as the children mature:
- Kindergarten and first grade: We connect to the living world
- Second grade: Soil nourishes life
- Third grade: Life thrives through its diversity
- Fourth grade: Our actions can support life
- Fifth grade: All life is interconnected
Peterson’s big ideas for linking community and locally-grown food were founded in the creation of the Good Cheer food bank garden and the community garden at the Whidbey Institute. That work evolved to include working with students at the Bayview Alternative High School to restore their garden. When the school moved to the old primary school site and became the South Whidbey Academy, Peterson was asked to get a garden going there. She thought it was essential to serve the produce grown in the garden to students in the South Whidbey School District.

Cary Peterson, advocate for the Earth, community, and locally grown food is in her element in the school garden. (from the film Cultivating Kids by Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young)

Peterson consulted Chartwells, a corporate provider of school lunches nationwide, and together, they created protocols to ensure food safety. Now, South Whidbey School Farm and Gardens, sells its produce to Chartwells, which serves it at all schools in the South Whidbey School District. The student-grown produce also supplies Whidbey Island Nourishes, a nonprofit that provides food for needy students.

Meanwhile, a snack garden, which will provide healthy easy-to-pick veggies for the students’ snacks, is getting ready for spring. “The thing that distinguishes this garden, is that children can grow and eat their own food,” says Peterson. “This program happens due to the 150 percent support of the school and Goosefoot. What’s amazing is that these children know what a delicious carrot tastes like. That changes the system—to serve food that is delicious. It’s their benchmark. I think it’s a very powerful thing when it ripples out.”

More information:
- Preview the film “Cultivating Kids”
- Visit the school garden website.
- Learn about Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin’s other films.
- Learn more about Goosefoot.
Kate Poss worked as a library assistant at the Langley Library until last June. She was thrilled to work for three summers as a chef aboard a small Alaskan tour boat from 2008 to 2010. She was a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles for many years before moving to Whidbey Island where she likes “talking story,” hiking, hosting salons, and writing her novel.

Related stories
- big wHOOP!
- New Documentary by Island Filmmakers Premieres on PBS
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To read more WLM stories and blogs, CLICK HERE. Have a great story idea? Let us know at info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. You may link to this story. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.
October 26, 2016
From Russia With Love: The Babushkas

BY RK BUZARD
Whidbey Life Guest Contributor
October 19, 2016

There’s no place like home. Ask Whidbey Islanders, and they’ll tell you that the best part of any journey is that short ferry ride north from the mainland to where the evergreens meet the horizon, where the eagles surf the skies, where the deer and rabbits roam as they please and where friends and family wait to welcome them back to the Island. Back to this beautiful place we call home.

“The Babushkas of Chernobyl” (photo courtesy of Holly Morris)

Half a world away from Whidbey, an intrepid group of Ukrainian women have refused to let one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters keep them from returning to their beloved home: Chernobyl. To tell their incredible story, award-winning filmmaker, “adventure diva” and Hedgebrook alumna Holly Morris is bringing her unflinching documentary “The Babushkas Of Chernobyl” to The Clyde Theatre for a special screening and discussion this Sunday, October 23, at 1 p.m. as part of The Clyde’s Films & Filmmakers Series.

Thirty years ago, at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Reactor Four famously melted down in an accident that created more than 400 times the radiation of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Why would these elderly women return to the toxic “dead zone” surrounding Chernobyl? Did they not know about the risks? When a Soviet official tried to stop one of the “Babas,” she said “Shoot me and dig the grave. Otherwise, I’m going home.” These are women who had faced the forced famines of Stalin and the brutality of the Nazi regime. When warned about the deadly level of radiation surrounding their homes, another of the women said “I don’t fear radiation. I fear starvation. Better that I have five years of happiness in my home, rather than ten in a high rise in Kiev.”

Filmmaker Holly Morris stands in front of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor (photo courtesy of Holly Morris)

The pull of home is powerful thing. Holly Morris is returning to her own Pacific Northwestern roots this weekend, and she is proud to share her warm and wonderful film with a Whidbey audience. At its heart, the film is a story of three women who have decided to shape their own destinies and make their way home, come what may.

“The Babuskhas Of Chernobyl” was produced in partnership with Hedgebrook as part of its new initiative to support women filmmakers. Nancy Nordhoff and Lynn Hays are the executive producers. A portion of the proceeds from this screening benefits the filmmaker.

RK Buzard is writer, artist, and renovator. She kisses the ground of Whidbey on a daily basis.

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To read more WLM stories and blogs, click here. Have a great story idea? Let us know at info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. You may link to this story. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

October 18, 2016
Hedgebrook presents a screening of “The Babushkas of Chernobyl” at the Clyde Oct. 23

October 12, 2016

Hedgebrook presents The Clyde Theatre’s Films & Filmmakers Event: A screening of the film “The Babushkas of Chernobyl” and Q&A with award-winning filmmaker and Hedgebrook alum Holly Morris.

Holly Morris is an author, documentarian, and the host of PBS’s Adventure Divas, but it’s her work as producer, director, and writer of “The Babushkas of Chernobyl” that brings her to The Clyde on Sunday, Oct. 23.

Following three women of a small group that has returned to their homes after the nuclear plant explosion, “The Babushkas of Chernobyl” tells a story of the call of home and the subjective nature of risk, one that is both rousing and haunting.

Audiences from the LA Film Festival (where Morris won the Jury Award for Directing) to today have fallen in love with The Babushkas, and now you have a chance to do so too.

Holly Morris will talk about the process of discovering, developing, and filming the story, and answer questions afterwards.

Join us at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23 at The Clyde Theatre located at 217 First Street, Langley, WA 98260. Admission is $7, or just $5 for those under 17 or over 65. Tickets are available at The Clyde’s box office which will be open at 12:30 p.m.

Find out more at: http://thebabushkasofchernobyl.com/ or http://thebabushkasofchernobyl.com/ted-talk

October 12, 2016
Artists of Whidbey Island || Thoughts on a Photograph

BY DON WODJENSKI
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributor
September 28, 2016 (updated 9/30/16)

A photograph reveals and deepens the mystery, when we choose to look.

Zenigata Mizubachi (photo by Don Wodjenski)

Consider what our world would be like without photography. Unless you’re living off the grid, you’ll likely see hundreds of images today.

Billions of images are available to view online, anytime. Many of those images are captured by professional photographers on assignment—experts who have been schooled in the art and techniques of quality image creation. Multitudes of amateur shots of vacations, dinners, family and friends create a visual record of personal experiences, filling social media sites. Regardless of origin or intent, images have become our lingua franca, communicating a shared recognition of the world.

When we consider a photograph, we implicitly accept the photographer’s premise or suggestion of meaning in what we see. We emotionally connect with recognizable images that describe the world as well as photos that portray nature or the human condition in unexpected ways.

Do knowledge and experience matter in the creation of photographs? As a professional photographer and educator, I’ve met many photography students who felt that ‘something’ was missing from their photos compared to the work of professional photographers. Usually, a quick tutorial in camera operation solves many technical issues, and suggestions on ways to compositionally frame an image can help refine their skills. Image quality always improves with exposure fundamentals and thoughtful image framing becoming familiar through regular practice.

So what are the kinds of images we might consider to be worth a second, third, or longer look? Or, to put it a different way, what are the criteria for “quality” in an image? Most of us recognize quality in a photograph, but struggle to define its characteristics. Do we judge a photo solely by how it makes us feel? Are there images we respect for their creativity even though we don’t relate to the subject? What combination of visual elements and emotional content do we take into consideration?

To help answer these questions, I’ve invited a dozen well-known Whidbey Island photographers to share their opinions. These esteemed friends and associates are professional photographers with years of knowledge and experience. Collectively, they encompass traditional and current photographic trends. To illustrate their philosophy of what constitutes quality in photography, each has contributed a personal image.

Every Other Year (photo by Skip Smith)

To me, a quality photo is one that I want to look at twice, one that draws my interest and makes me think, one that shows the photographer thought about what she or he was doing and made lots of decisions before releasing the shutter. A quality photo contains vision (composition, craft, etc.) but also contains something of the artist.   — Skip Smith skipsmithphotography.com/

Blades of Grass — Grass detail abstraction; Lewis and Clark State Park, WA (photo by Earl Olsen)

Photography requires a combination of both right- and left-brain skills—artistic to compose and technical to produce. Find a subject that pulls you in like a good book. Slow down and really look at what surrounds us every day.   — Earl Olsen earlolsen.com/index.htm

Havana Boxing Club (photo by Lorraine Healy)

The Holga camera gives an unsharp image that is vignetted, blurry, with light leaks galore, and a dreamy look. I love it! With a Holga, I realized that I didn’t have to ‘take a photo,’ I could make an image.   — Lorraine Healy   lorrainehealy.com/

Lorrie’s Dory (photo by Tom Hanify)

Photographs are crafted with an intent to capture the essence of the subject or the story. Most importantly, great photographs evoke an emotional reaction and are memorable.   — Tom Hanify tomhanifyphotography.com/

Captain Whidbey Bikes (photo by Denis Hill)

Dennis Hill whidbeypanoramas.com/

Portal (photo by Nancy Duncan)

A “quality” photograph, to me, represents my curiosity for the intimacy of design, shape and form. I see with the hope of inspiring others to see beyond the obvious. To cause a reaction, negative or positive, means I have succeeded.   — Nancy Duncan whidbeyartists.com/duncan.html

Third Eye (photo by Louie Rochon)

When an image literally takes my breath away, jars me loose from reality and throws me into an emotional state—then I feel such joy and I KNOW that I have co-created a “Quality Photographic Image.” … as opposed to a snapshot.   — Louie Rochon louierochonphotography.com/index

Langley Harbor (photo by Linda Schwarz)

A quality photograph draws me in and holds my attention like a meditation. Intent, simplicity, composition, design and use of light are most important in creating a quality photograph.   — Linda Schwarz whidbeyartists.com/schwarz.html

June’s Web (photo by Tom Trimbath)

The pause, the thought, and the emotion prior to taking the photograph makes the difference, for me. And, of course, luck…   — Tom Trimbath fineartamerica.com/profiles/tom-trimbath.html

Creepy Ride (photo by David Welton)

Landscape photographers have a golden hour, photojournalists only get a decisive moment. Good composition cannot be defined as much as it is felt;, it just is. An excellent photograph is one that leaves a lasting impression years later.   — David Welton   davidweltonphoto.com/#/special/splash/whidbey-island-photographer–weddings-portraits-fine-art–landscapes-by-david-welton/

Fort Casey Study #2 (photo by Kim Tinuviel)

I always approach my projects by “listening” for the shot. For me, I hear melody and harmony in color and texture, so listening really helps me zoom in on the visual energy.    — Kim Tinuviel kimtinuviel.com/

Ferry House (photo by John Olsen)

Beauty is not necessarily quality. Newness and originality in a photograph might better reflect a response to reality, and maybe only reflect concerns internal to the photographer.   — John Olsen johnolsenphoto.com/

To discover more about these fine photographers through their websites, click on their names.

For more on other artists living and working on Whidbey, visit my website featuring Artists of Whidbey Island.

Don Wodjenski is an artist, photographer, teacher and musician living in Coupeville. Recently retired after 20 years as an arts instructor with South Whidbey Schools, he remains active in the Whidbey arts community. Although never without an opinion on Art and Culture, he’s new to blogging.

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WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

September 28, 2016
‘Unmade Bed,’ exhibit on sex slave trade, at WICA Oct. 7 – 9

September 16, 2016

Prostitution is said to be the oldest profession in the world. The reality is that prostitution is the oldest ongoing abuse. “Unmade Bed,” an exhibit of visual art, tackles the heart response to the sex slave trade. We hold in our hands and hearts the ability to stop this inhumane practice.

Participating artists from western Washington invite the public to come respond to this powerful topic and exhibit at WICA in Langley from Oct. 7 through Oct. 9. The art ranges from photography to encaustic to video to fiber by artists Debra Calkins, Christina Fairley-Erickson, Jan Fisher, Julie Gautier-Downs, Mary Hilkey, Barbara Matthews, Marie Plakos, Diane Reardon and Cheryl Weisz.

“Unmade Beds” will be on view from from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8 and 12:30 to 2 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 8.

September 16, 2016
Award-winning new Western “Five Grand” by Whidbey native Orson Ossman to screen at The Clyde on Aug. 22

BY JUDITH WALCUTT
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributor
August 15, 2016

Orson Ossman, a Whidbey native, returns home this week for the 10th year reunion of his 2006 South Whidbey High School graduating class. With him, he brings evidence of his work in the world—writing, producing, directing and occasionally starring in independent films that tend towards the genres he grew up watching on blurry VCR’s on his parents old TV or in Mr. Durbin’s “Film as Lit” class, a storied favorite among several generations of SWHS students. From Erroll Flynn’s “Robinhood” to Gary Cooper’s “High Noon,” Ossman took inspiration from them all.

Ossman’s newest film, “Five Grand” was shot on location in northern California last summer and the production is currently in negotiation with a global distribution company. It will have a one-time, pre-release screening locally at 1 p.m. on Monday, August 22 at The Clyde Theatre. There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door. A “Q&A” will be held with Orson afterwards.

“Five Grand” has won several awards, including a Gold Remi for Best Western at Worldfest Houston (the Houston International Film Festival), top honors as Best Western at The Trail Dance Film Festival in Oklahoma and Best Western at Cinema-on-the-Bayou in Lafayette, Louisiana, among other honors.

Ossman’s first independent, full-length film was “The Phoenix Project,” which was co-written and co-produced with his partner Tyler Pavey. Funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, it was a nod to speculative sci-fi classics, such as the original Twilight Zone series, which made much out of the creative use of minimalist surroundings and edgy writing. Following national distribution, “The Phoenix Project” film can be seen on Netflix and Hulu.

Following his graduation from SWHS in 2006, Ossman went to the London Film Academy for a year, receiving a certificate in film production and then went on to Chapman University’s Dodge School of Film and Television, where he received his B.F.A. in film production with an emphasis on directing in 2012. Upon graduation, he and his Chapman co-hort formed the Ironwood Gang as an independent film production company. They have been working to create new works in the film medium ever since.

Growing up on Whidbey Island, Ossman was seen in many plays as far back as Martha Murphy’s original Whidbey Children’s Theatre backyard productions and grew into roles at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, such as Careless in Lew Carlino’s “School for Scandal.” He treasures the memory of appearing in his father’s signature role as the young George Tirebiter in the 2005 independently staged production of Firesign Theater’s well-known comedy album, “Don’t Crush that Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.”

Ossman had several professional acting opportunities as a boy; he was cast opposite Tim Daly in an episode of CBS-TV’s remake of “The Fugitive” and was cast by Norman Corwin in his “Notes to a New Millennium” special broadcast on National Public Radio. Growing up he was used to being on location with his parents who, he said, “were always producing something, somewhere, for radio, stage or TV. But the best part of having grown up on Whidbey was being allowed to be a kid, to play and to learn from playing. A lot of kids who grew up in show-biz families and started their careers as children didn’t have that pleasure, that privilege, to enjoy their childhoods. I was lucky I had that on Whidbey, the freedom to discover who I was, before I had to play someone else, and that has helped keep me centered in an otherwise crazy business!”

August 16, 2016
A Red Carpet Night on Ebey’s Landing

TEXT BY MADISUN ELIZABETH
PHOTOS BY DAVID STERN
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributors
June 15, 2016

To celebrate their Centennial Anniversary in 2016, the National Park Service has challenged people all over the country to “find your park” and “share your story.”

Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve responded by challenging independent filmmakers to participate in a 50 Hour FilmSlam Competition: writing, producing, filming, editing and completing short films within a specified 50 hour time period. Filmmakers were asked to show what makes Ebey’s Landing nationally significant, and the results were described by the judges as “love letters” to the Reserve.

The competition culminated with a grand premiere of these films on Saturday night, June 11, at the “Ebey’s Reserve FilmSlam Film Festival”, at the Coupeville High School Auditorium. The audience was full of supportive community members and visitors alike who bought tickets to benefit the Reserve. Many purchased VIP tickets, enjoying a Red Carpet experience complete with gourmet catering. All proceeds of this event directly benefited the Friends of Ebey’s, who are working to preserve, protect and enhance the Reserve.

An award ceremony followed the screening; filmmaking team “Dakota Guys” was awarded the Judges’ Choice Award and team “WINOT!?” received the People’s Choice Awards. Team SOULLESS, made up of local Girl Scouts, received their Film Making Badges. The main consensus was that it was a tough decision to choose the winners, while the whole event was a win for Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve.

Competitors were asked to show and tell what makes Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve so unique. Many of them found inspiration in the nature that abounds within the Reserve’s 1,800 acres. This seagull was seen on the Reserve during the weekend of filming.

All films shown at the premiere were created from start to finish within the 50 hours permitted, with most filmmakers utilizing the full time allowed.

On the night of the premier, VIP ticket holders felt as though they were walking into an exclusive party as they approached the entrance.

The VIPs were swept onto the Red Carpet and photographed by local “paparazzi” as soon as they arrived.

Gourmet catered delicacies and all-ages-friendly sparkling juice were served at the Red Carpet party leading up to the grand premiere of the FilmSlam showing.

The VIP area was standing room only. It was an intimate affair.

Filmmakers were Special Guests on the VIP Red Carpet and anxiously awaited show time while they mixed and mingled at the party. Photographer David Stern managed to take this portrait away from the bustling scene.

The audience filled the Coupeville Auditorium and, before showtime, looked over the program, which included their People’s Choice ballot to cast a vote for their favorite film.

After the films were shown, there was commotion in the illuminated auditorium as filmmakers made their way to the stage for the awards ceremony.

There will be ongoing celebrations and community service work for Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve during the National Park Service Centennial in 2016. Visit www.nps.gov/ebla for more ways to support the Reserve and become part of the community that protects it.

David Stern and Madisun Elizabeth participated as a team making their film debut in the 50 Hour FilmSlam competition. Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve is a place they call home and regularly find inspiration. More about their various endeavors can be found at WhidbeyCustomPhotography.com or find Whidbey Custom Photography on Facebook.

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CLICK HERE to read more WLM stories and blogs. Have a great story idea? Let us know at info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

June 15, 2016