Scouting for Sites & Shooting in Snow
2 comments BARROW, ALASKA– (By Robyn Higdon) Today the work started for real. We met with scientists, arranged for a car, and started to scout locations for our first few webcasts (beginning with those closest to our ethernet connection!) They have just completed a new building for the BASC scientists, but only a few have moved in. The building is impressive, and the second tallest in Barrow.
The new facility for BASC scientists seen through a snow fence. The snow is melting, but is still 2-3 feet deep.
We really want to do as many programs out-of-doors as we can; nothing is worse than being in a really exciting environment but having to broadcast from a conference room. Luckily we packed lots of cable and hope our cameras can reach outdoors. We scouted all of the fire exits, the roof, and some hallways with good views.
Liz in a hallway that may be the location for our first webcast!
A possible outdoor location. Worried about talent being backlit, Julie is attempting to bounce light off my face using snow. (We left the flex-fill [professional light reflector] in the hut.)
The roof is a promising location. The crew is with Brad Heaston, the Senior I.T. person for BASC. We may try this spot for Friday’s webcast with Steve Hastings.
We had heard that one of our correspondents, Archeologist Laura Thomas, was called to work with a crew building a new road. Which led me to ask, “Why do you need an archeologist to build a road?” We were hoping to shoot her at work in a couple days, but we got a call that today was our last chance. We decided to skip dinner and head out for a shoot.
(Obviously) there is no road, so we had to haul our gear out on to the tundra for a mile or so to catch up with Laura. The shoot took almost two hours, so our cold fingers hurt and our noses felt frozen… but at least now we know why you need an archeologist to build a road! (You’ll have to check the website in a few days to see the video.)
Interviewing Laura, who was sporting a band-aid on her face. She had been working outside without sunblock and got a nasty burn. The light is diffused, but with the Albedo effect (the sun reflecting off the snow,) the chance of getting a burn is high. Remember: wear sunblock all the time!
Liz and Laura walking back after a very cold shoot.
How did Laura get the sunburn and why did she need a band-aid?
I enjoy reading these blogs and I hope you will always have new
information every day!
Rionna
P.S: I am only 8 years old, so maybe most adults would already know how Laua could have got a sunburn.
Even when it is cloudy, some of the UV light that gives people sunburns can get through. It also bounces back up of the snow (like a flashbulb reflects off a mirror), so there is a lot of UV in the Arctic. If you forget sunblock you can easily get a bad sunburn on a cloudy day.
Then it is always windy, so there is windburn on top of that, and it is very cold, so you can get frostnip, if not real frostbite. Put those 3 together, and you can acutally get blistering (like you can get from a really bad sunburn) and that’s what had happened to Laura. She was wearing the band-aid to protect the blistered area.