http://www.michellelotker.com/food-gallery daily 0.75 2024-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1502738810457-IQ5O3E6KMRFKKLCD5HSP/KEEPERS_01.jpg Food + Farms (gallery) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715622342368-DGLNFRXTW31Y15SC5ASL/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Is our food system ready for climate change? | State of Change: Seeds of Hope With climate change comes more weather extremes that threaten our vulnerable food system. Discover how the Utopian Seed Project in western North Carolina is building more climate resilience for North Carolina by selecting crop varieties adapted to our changing climate and introducing hardy tropical staples to farmers and chefs in the region. This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, and PBS North Carolina's State of Change series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715622230138-DCVBOHG063A3E51XRD0G/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - How an apple orchard is preserving Appalachian views | State of Change: Seeds of Hope The Blue Ridge Parkway is known for its views, but the surrounding land is privately owned, meaning it could be developed. Learn how Conservation Trust for NC works with property owners to protect the land, conserving views and habitat for wildlife impacted by climate change. Plus, pay a visit to the Historic Orchard at Altapass to see how land conservation doesn’t mean land untouched by humans. This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, and PBS North Carolina's State of Change series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715622094547-L9VL9JCGBBL36BAPH04W/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - How this farmer is fighting a salty intruder | State of Change | PBS North Carolina The Blacklands of NC’s Hyde County are home to some of the most productive farmland in the state. Because of their proximity to the coast, farmers experience saltwater intrusion as sea-levels rise and push salt water into drainage ditches. Local farmers like Dawson Pugh are collaborating with researchers from NC State and the county’s Agriculture Extension Agent to determine how to keep farming, for now and the future. This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, and PBS North Carolina's State of Change series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715622030481-UULMXWKEIY9KMKL3GVCJ/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Farmers think outside the box with conservation tillage | State of Change | PBS North Carolina Tilling soil has long been thought of as a necessary step in agricultural production. A long-term study by researchers at NC State, however, bolsters what farmers like Beverly Blackwell Bowen of Blackwell’s Farm are experiencing: conservation tillage allows for more resilient plants with higher yields than traditional tillage practices. When you look at the soil, you can see why. This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, and PBS North Carolina's State of Change series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1502738321728-P4YTG43VNA3PR0KMSPSY/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Handing it Down Neill Lindley’s family has been farming the same land in Snow Camp since the late 1800s. He took over the farm from his father and remembers when he bought the first goats to diversify what the farm was producing. His son, Neill Jr., 27, is one of the few young people in the area working the family farm they grew up on. When I talked to Neill Jr. about the next generation of farmers, he reacted in surprise. “I didn’t even know there were other farmers my age, none of my friends stayed with it,” he said. The Lindley’s are a rare breed in other ways: they own all of the land they farm and they’re continuing to produce dairy as small dairy farms shut down or transition to other use all around them. Both Neill and Neill Jr. credit this to having diversified their farm to produce more than one product. They raise chickens to be sold as broilers in five large chicken houses on the property and their herd of goats allows them to be the sole supplier for a successful local cheese company, Goat Lady Dairy. When asked why he wants to keep farming Neill Jr. says “It’s what I know how to do” and talks about expanding to producing more value-added products, like cow cheese, in years to come. With a baby on the way, keeping the farm viable and profitable is even more important to the family’s livelihood. ----------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1502738241880-X4SAC4YF17RHDB9B5U9J/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Changing Hands When Jennie Rasmussen, 32, decided she wanted to start farming, she was immediately discouraged. The costs to get started were sky-high, and she didn’t have an inheritance of money or land to cover the initial investment. When she started working at Peregrine Farm, she had no idea that farm owners Alex and Betsy Hitt would eventually agree to slowly transition operation of the farm to her. Neither did Alex and Betsy. The Hitts are in their 50s and started the farm in the 80s, when they were around Jennie’s age. They’re private people, and since they live on the farm and don’t have children, the plan was to slowly phase things out as they got older and let the farmland go dormant when they didn’t feel like working it any longer. When they met Jennie and learned she was looking for a farm to run, they started talking it over and slowly changed their minds. This kind of gradual transition of a farm to someone outside of the family is rare and if successful will represent a model of how other farmers who don’t have children interested in farming can keep their farmland active and out of development. As Alex said, “You don’t see people bulldozing houses to create more farmland. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.” ----------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1524157129007-28EP5E21FN7PSUIAYCUV/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Keepers *Official Selection International Wildlife Film Festival 2018* *Part of UNC-TV's REEL SOUTH online Summer Shorts series, 2017* *Silver Medal for Individual Multimedia Story or Essay, College Photographer of the Year 2016* ---- Bobby Jack Smith won't tell you what his age is, but he will tell you how he met organic farmer Kelley Penn at a local beekeeper meeting in Sylva, North Carolina, and decided to help her in her efforts to start keeping her own hives. Years later, the two are inseparable; they meet up most days to capture swarms, work on projects, and drink a few beers along the way. Although they don't always see eye to eye, this unlikely pair is bound by their mutual admiration for bees and a concern for their future populations. ----------- This video was created during the annual 2016 Carolina Photojournalism Workshop. Each year a group of multimedia students from the University of North Carolina travel to a unique part of the state with a group of professional coaches to produce a documentary website in a week. To view 2016's full collection of work visit the Mountain Lore website. ----------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576271951432-G2MBU39FHMQGSTAOASAU/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Mad Farmer (pilot) “It just may be that the most radical act we can commit is to stay home.” - Terry Tempest These farmers are doing just that, against the odds, and in the most radically sustainable ways they can. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472078427387-H692O6CMEG7OZ7Z8S2D2/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Built with Bananas Banana production is both a blessing and a threat to Bocas del Toro. It once built the region’s infrastructure, and continues to provide steady employment for the people. However, the lack of genetic diversity in banana plants creates a reliance on fungicides that, along with sediment runoff, negatively affect marine ecosystems. A new resistant fungus is affecting global banana production but has yet to reach the Western Hemisphere. ---------- View the whole project at http://undercurrent360.com/ ---------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker & Casey Toth https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1452747766152-08KHI4CO5Q41LECAODH5/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Eating Local in Beaufort County, NC A short I produced in partnership with the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and with the support of The Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and the US Economic Development Administration. The project’s goal was to highlight the people and businesses supporting and growing local food in Beaufort County, North Carolina. -------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1452747873744-QYSA2LT0J8Z31RU7B1YD/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Farm to Table Funny Girl Farm provided the food for the August Farm Dinner held by Foster's Market in Chapel Hill, NC. This is the first in a series of short films highlighting the rise of farm to table culture in the triangle area of North Carolina, these films follow food from it’s harvest on a local farm, through the kitchen of a local restaurant to your plate! -------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1452748168861-H0PD263XMB8DN9UWMRT8/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Farmer Profile: Terri Rogister, Halifax County, NC A short documentary sponsored by the Southern Foodways Alliance about Terri Rogister, a peanut farmer in Halifax County, NC. The documentary is also featured on SFA’s website here: http://www.southernfoodways.org/watch-our-latest-greenhouse-film/ -------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1452748248267-JJ8XBHTDA3IONABJ3QN1/image-asset.jpeg Food + Farms (gallery) - Growing Peanuts in Halifax County A work in progress, this project was started before the peanut planting and growing season began so I hope to go back throughout the year to film more of the process. A shorter documentary focused on farmer Terri Rogister was sponsored by the Southern Foodways Alliance. -------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker http://www.michellelotker.com/video daily 0.75 2023-07-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472163633716-TPEN04D8YOMS8QIXGDDL/doug+portrait.jpg VIDEO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1502738882709-M66OSSV6QXGGS4ZN7JHZ/KEEPERS_01.jpg VIDEO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533226485714-9XWYN6JF3G6KAJL9BIIY/z_Summer+Months_FINAL.00_00_00_00.Still002.jpg VIDEO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456235023943-UDXYD8RAIJRUXC4FD9WB/WOW2015_LowesGrove_015e.jpg VIDEO http://www.michellelotker.com/sciencegall daily 0.75 2026-01-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715623627145-II2LRQ85RZIK532TU4TW/WALK%2BAND%2BTALKS.00_56_05_23.Still028.jpg Science (gallery) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710251481-NX7974YQ2J1YNEN5ZHI6/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - What makes a perfect Christmas tree? Ashe County, NC is the nation’s largest producer of Christmas trees and the site of the Upper Mountain Research Station. Researchers there collaborate with NC State’s Christmas Tree Genetics Lab, using tools ranging from Petri dishes to cloning to improve Fraser fir growth, shape, needle retention and aroma. They also work to breed resistance to the soil-borne “tree killer” Phytophthora. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710215501-ZFF4J0SI0YWLP4GZCPLG/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - How we're studying the black bear comeback in NC North Carolina once had black bears statewide, but now they live mainly in the mountains and along the coast. Conservation has helped their numbers rebound, and scientists are studying where they live, their population size and demographics. By collecting and analyzing hair follicles rich with DNA, researchers can better manage the state’s growing bear population. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710066001-T252U600E2IMHQ3OIH6X/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - The right way to clean up rivers after Hurricane Helene Hurricane Helene left debris across rivers in western North Carolina. In Henderson County, crews and biologists are clearing hazards while protecting habitats. Producer Michelle Lotker joins efforts to relocate endangered mussels, balancing flood prevention with species conservation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1738696256427-ICK3T1428EYK6BEXR7EE/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - This magnificent snail is getting a second chance in the wild The Magnificent Ramshorn snail is only known to come from one part of North Carolina but hasn't been seen in the wild in over 20 years. This spotty-shelled species isn't extinct, though. Biologists have been cultivating three separate populations in captivity, and now they're ready to reintroduce them to the wild. Join Sci NC producer Michelle Lotker as scientists release 800 Ramshorn snails to a specially prepared pond near the coast of North Carolina. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1738695997558-VP39RNPUPDAQY6C9APQL/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - What Hurricane Helene Left Behind Hurricane Helene brought over 2 feet of rain to many counties in Western North Carolina and caused extreme flooding. The powerful flood waters washed houses, businesses, cars, and sewage—and all the associated chemicals and contaminants, into nearby creeks and rivers. With recovery efforts underway, local Riverkeepers are tracking how this flooding impacted river sediment and water quality in the area. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710570437-R8HZZSTYTHONYTZXMUF3/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - The river that disappeared - and the tribe bringing it back | State of Change Storms and beaver overpopulation have blocked the Great Coharie River, making it unnavigable. But the Coharie Indian Tribe is restoring their namesake river and introducing it to the next generation, who grew up without it. The restoration project is reconnecting them to their heritage and preparing them to steward the river as climate change reshapes the surrounding landscape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710543012-R7D2AU52YHLUCT97JALZ/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - The parking lot flooded half the year. They embraced it. | State of Change Tidal flooding around the Battleship North Carolina has skyrocketed 7,000% since it arrived in Wilmington in 1961, restricting visitor access. But visitor revenue is crucial to its survival. To stay afloat, leaders restored natural systems around the ship. This Living with Water project isn’t just saving a historic landmark, it’s a model for how coastal communities can face climate change head-on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710498095-UMOXJLZE3ZQEFQPOVOSI/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Why restoring floodplains matters more than ever | State of Change Floodplains along the French Broad River naturally soak up stormwater and provide a home for wildlife. But over time, ditches and berms have changed the land, separating the floodplain from the river. Now, Conserving Carolina is working to bring these floodplains back to life—helping people, wildlife and prized fish like the muskie thrive. This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines reporting initiative. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710188361-X96IYQOJYZIM05OAXI2B/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Can we save North Carolina's rarest frog? North Carolina is giving endangered gopher frogs a head start. The Wildlife Resources Commission and partners like the Edenton National Fish Hatchery raise wild-collected eggs to adulthood, then release them to boost shrinking populations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710155166-7HEW0L8L9IT7Z3ZNJ6M9/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Why is an NC hatchery growing more than 100,000 of this fish? Wildlife officials stock Atlantic striped bass in North Carolina to support and restore populations in coastal rivers. But where do the fish come from? Hatcheries such as the National Fish Hatchery in Edenton, North Carolina, are a key piece of the conservation puzzle. Every year, they raise more than 100,000 striped bass from tiny fry to adults and add them to wild populations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710293482-KGN2Y8CJ31OLNPT7NXIG/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Watch this parasitic wasp hatch on its prey Tomato growers know the tobacco hornworm can destroy a plant overnight. But a tiny natural ally helps keep them in check: the braconid wasp. Producer Michelle Lotker visits Dr. Adrian Smith, who works at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences and runs the independent Ant Lab, to show how these wasps take down their larger foes. And, a surprise: hornworms glow under UV light! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710119549-RRNAZB8J9SJ8KWYJPB2Q/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Mapping heat where people are most at risk Extreme heat doesn’t leave visible damage, but it’s one of the deadliest climate threats, especially in cities, where concrete traps heat. Most weather apps rely on a single station, often at an airport. But in Durham, NC, researchers deployed more than 40 sensors across the city to map urban heat distribution more accurately. The goal is to protect people and plan smarter, cooler cities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767710015260-LIMHFL5M0PW3B5M7QDY0/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - What you're missing beneath North Carolina's rivers The Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail offers public access to North Carolina’s mountain rivers, revealing vibrant ecosystems beneath the surface. Snorkelers are often surprised by the colorful fish and insects they see. Guides like Kevin Merrill hope these experiences inspire people to protect the rivers they explore. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767709963704-K5XEF2OJD0ZXWLVJAQYX/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - On the hunt for rare spring wildflowers Spring brings wildflowers, but some only bloom for a short period. Join a hike in Durham, NC, with plant experts as they search for ephemeral spring flowers, spot some surprises, and call out one unwelcome invader. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1767709822633-52OOIK1G8CYKOJUNHSWZ/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - How does a hot air balloon fly? Hot air balloons might seem like magic, but there is a lot of physics at play behind their ascent. Once they get up in the air, how do you make them go where you want them to? And why are woven wicker baskets still used to carry passengers? We visit the Alcovets balloon festival in North Carolina, home to some serious hot air balloon history and lore, to learn more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1738696330238-BMQB2HPSADQV0NA0R6S9/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Can solar panels and crops share the sun in the same place? | State of Change: Solar Harvest Solar energy production and farming land benefit from flat, open, sunny fields. But solar panels and crops don't play nicely together; they both need the same thing to be at their peak: sunlight. Researchers like Ricardo Hernandez at NC State are working to redesign the classic solar panel to allow plants to get the sunlight they need while collecting enough to turn it into renewable energy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1738696168246-DOUOURVFXE7EM0DOY8EM/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - How sheep make solar energy production easier | State of Change: Solar Harvest Solar energy installations have the potential to generate a lot of much-needed electricity. A 20-megawatt installation in rural NC can provide enough power for nearby towns, but fields of solar panels require maintenance. The solution? Sheep. Meet the people behind Montgomery Sheep Farm, a farm in Biscoe, NC, using an innovative combination of agriculture and solar power known as agrivoltaics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715789760081-M0R90B39NQ4IZQEXTW2J/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Is our food system ready for climate change? | State of Change: Seeds of Hope With climate change comes more weather extremes that threaten our vulnerable food system. Discover how the Utopian Seed Project in western North Carolina is building more climate resilience for North Carolina by selecting crop varieties adapted to our changing climate and introducing hardy tropical staples to farmers and chefs in the region. This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, and PBS North Carolina’s State of Change series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715789648503-XCLETGGRCI1PA39WU7GL/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Growing solar options in rural communities | State of Change: Seeds of Hope Can farming and solar-energy production coexist in the South? Learn how EnerWealth Solutions and Roanoke Cooperative work with farmers and landowners in rural North Carolina to harness the power of renewable solar energy alongside agricultural production as well as help ensure that revenue is shared equitably with the community. This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, and PBS North Carolina’s State of Change series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715789424962-KN6NXE85LCWW79CGZNV1/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - How an apple orchard is preserving Appalachian views | State of Change: Seeds of Hope The Blue Ridge Parkway is known for its views, but the surrounding land is privately owned, meaning it could be developed. Learn how Conservation Trust for NC works with property owners to protect the land, conserving views and habitat for wildlife impacted by climate change. Plus, pay a visit to the Historic Orchard at Altapass to see how land conservation doesn’t mean land untouched by humans. This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, and PBS North Carolina’s State of Change series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715623176022-WPXUMESE3S847122A1JC/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - How fire saved NC's Pilot Mountain The plants at North Carolina’s Pilot Mountain State Park are adapted to fire, which explains why they’re flourishing after the accidental 1,000-acre Grindstone Fire of 2021. Come hike the trails with us and see how things look a year later. Credits: Producer/Editor: Michelle Lotker Videographer: Rob Nelson Special thanks to Daniel Whittaker for sharing his footage of the Grindstone Fire, and to Pilot Mountain State Park. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715622985518-6S8S0XZZM5ZHQNQEKMHD/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Protecting a Tiny, Shiny Fish | Sci NC | PBS NC Sci NC’s Michelle Lotker discovers how NC organizations partner to save the endangered Cape Fear shiner, a tiny native fish that turns gold during breeding season. She visits the fish’s natural habitat with Brena Jones of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and sees how Edenton National Fish Hatchery bolsters the fish’s population with hatchery manager Sonia Mumford and biologist Brandi Symons. Credits: Producer/Editor: Michelle Lotker Videographer: Miriam McSpadden Additional footage provided by Sonia Mumford, Edenton National Fish Hatchery. Special thanks to Cape Fear River Adventures. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689136187195-394QOH8EWUKTV6HWUUYO/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - NC's First Flowers of Spring Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— Blink and you’ll miss them! Trout lilies are spring ephemerals, plants that only bloom for a short time each year. These bright yellow flowers are among the first signs of spring in North Carolina. We join Hillary Harrison of the Eno River Association to explore the brand-new trails at Panther Branch Natural Area near Hillsborough, NC, and discover carpets of trout lilies. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715623879071-K6KLPIU9504UIOVVBZ7W/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Floodproofing Streets with Resilient Stormwater Measures | Sci NC | PBS North Carolina Stormwater control measures are everywhere, sometimes hiding in plain sight along roads and parking lots. But why do we still see floods? And could flooding get worse as our climate changes? NC State bioengineering grad student Naomi Pitts reviews existing measures to see where they are failing and if they can be made more resilient for the future. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689138257150-KHC6163CDNYENYZ51Z26/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Planting grasslands helps fight climate change | State of Change | PBS North Carolina Part of the Emmy Award Winning Series named State of Change, Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— Grasslands are a surprising part of the North Carolina Piedmont’s ecological history. Learn how planting native grassland species in our yards and other open areas mimics historical landscapes while improving the soil and fighting our changing climate. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689138207632-GZJ0APMJC6BOESH91CP5/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Farmers think outside the box with conservation tillage | State of Change | PBS North Carolina Part of the Emmy Award Winning Series named State of Change, Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— Tilling soil has long been thought of as a necessary step in agricultural production. A long-term study by researchers at NC State, however, bolsters what farmers like Beverly Blackwell Bowen of Blackwell’s Farm are experiencing: conservation tillage allows for more resilient plants with higher yields than traditional tillage practices. When you look at the soil, you can see why. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689138117709-N0J48CLA8TD0NS6QFLQA/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) Part of the Emmy Award Winning Series named State of Change, Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— The Blacklands of NC’s Hyde County are home to some of the most productive farmland in the state. Because of their proximity to the coast, farmers experience saltwater intrusion as sea-levels rise and push salt water into drainage ditches. Local farmers like Dawson Pugh are collaborating with researchers from NC State and the county’s Agriculture Extension Agent to determine how to keep farming, for now and the future. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689137114218-NWE11W581APY1KFH4PVQ/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - How rewetting pocosin peatlands protects the ancient carbon they hold | State of Change Part of the Emmy Award Winning Series named State of Change, Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— The Pocosin peatlands of North Carolina’s coast have the ability to store a huge amount of carbon in their spongey, highly organic soils. But when peatlands are ditched and drained, that carbon storage potential is lost and they’re vulnerable to fire. Learn how returning water to these ecosystems could have a huge impact on the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689136145856-HXY840OBR0JU9W4ERWLX/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - This Bird Still Needs Our Help Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— The red-cockaded woodpecker is a conservation success story, but it still needs our help. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689136102828-HQGKS44D6GY7WOLBM1IU/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Why Is NC Megalodon Country? Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— North Carolina is a hot spot for fossilized teeth from the extinct Megalodon shark. Why? And what can we learn about this massive ancient predator from the teeth it left behind? ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689136002701-W2FLLV9UOLOVFQ76RKYR/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Taking the Temperature of Urban Heat Islands Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— Cities are often hotter than nearby rural areas due to their dense concentration of hard, artificial surfaces that absorb heat and create what’s known as an “urban heat island” effect. What does that heat feel like on the ground? Volunteers explore Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill by car, bike and foot to collect data that brings to light systemic inequities that exist within urban heat islands. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689135811159-X27EL53Y1HX41SUJJL3L/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Blacktip Sharks - The Other Snowbirds Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— Why blacktip sharks migrate along the Atlantic and if warm waters will change that. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689136338686-AIAEKAOHIH9AZKO5FHQS/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— North Carolina’s high elevation peaks like Grandfather Mountain near Linville are home to a unique ecosystem: the spruce-fir forest. Plants and animals that inhabit this forest can survive extreme conditions but as temperatures increase and precipitation shifts, will they be able to adapt? Land conservation might hold the answer. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689135422472-WHP7HINAKU8Y5EFDRXMK/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— Corals are threatened by changing ocean conditions and emerging diseases like Stony Coral Tissue Loss. But new aquarium technology is allowing researchers to simulate the sun, the moon, and ocean conditions in the lab allowing them to preserve and restore wild populations with increased genetic diversity and resiliency. Learn about the potential created by this new setup, and the innovation happening at UNC Wilmington. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689135285419-Q3CMWFO67RV998KZ4WNF/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) Part of the Emmy Award Winning series State of Change, Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— The historic town of Princeville sits on low-lying land within the floodplain of the Tar River. With increasing storm intensity due to our changing climate, the town is experiencing more and more frequent flooding. But the people of Princeville aren’t going anywhere, and they’re using innovative building practices to “flood proof” the town, starting with their elementary school. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689134882598-WYS0NW1L06TAFY96TGIN/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - What these birds can tell us about sea level rise | Sci NC Part of the Emmy Award Winning series State of Change, Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— The humble Saltmarsh sparrow lives in a habitat that's threatened by climate change. The marshes they live in are being squeezed out of existence —development on one side, and rising seas on the other. And marshes aren’t only important as bird habitats. Humans rely on them too. Follow along with researchers from UNC Wilmington as they survey the marshes. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689134187721-O3L5MLUMT8HNIZ2VZZ5W/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Virtual reality: It's not just for video games | Sci NC Produced for PBS North Carolina. ——— COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns prompted an immersive STEM program for high school students to build a virtual world. Find out how Durham, North Carolina, company CrossComm is leveraging augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to do everything from helping people with phobias to transporting students into a virtual operating room. ------- [Producer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1572650545686-EQJXO96I45TH0IQGA057/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - The Complicated Sex Lives of Venus Flytraps How do Venus flytraps survive if they end up eating their pollinators? To solve this mystery, ecologists at North Carolina State University have set up a suite of experiments examining how the flytrap interacts with the insects around it. But their ultimate goal isn’t just to discover how the plant has solved an evolutionary problem. With their habitats under threat, insect species disappearing, and a black-market trade endangering these plants, the researchers hope that understanding the ecology of the flytrap may help conserve them. — Part short-form cinema, part science explainer, The Macroscope is an up close view of science in action. [Cinematographer (along with Luke Groskin)] https://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/the-complicated-sex-lives-of-venus-flytraps/ https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/5697060605caa7eb5b80611b/5eb1ce4095ae0505f391be74/1738696366463/ Science (gallery) - California Halts Oil Drilling But Buys Crude From The Amazon Episode 13 of the “Business Insider Today - A Closer Look” series. — [Assistant Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1517000198379-M7H9MLUYPA46NMSHF1T0/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Work in Progress: Grasslands This video was created in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness about the important role of healthy grasslands in the northwestern United States play in providing clean, clear drinking water downstream, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. The short film was produced by a team of scientists and filmmakers as part of the 2017 International Wildlife Film Festival Filmmaker Labs in Missoula, MT. The video hasn't been released to the public yet as we wait for final edits and feedback from WWF. ------- [Videographer, Director, Editor, Animator] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576265299970-11HRGX6WOBU2MSSZHBVF/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Aquaculture at Carteret Community College One of several videos about community college programs in North Carolina created during a contract with Education NC. Other videos + articles available here: https://www.ednc.org/author/michelle-lotker/ Full Article Page Here: https://www.ednc.org/waterfront-immersion-hands-on-learning-draws-aquaculture-students-to-carteret-community-colleges-coastal-campus/ ------- [Videographer, Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472077484656-V7OF3K1C106G82Q6K96Y/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Solar at Southern The Southern School of Energy & Sustainability leads the solar energy charge in Durham while giving high school students hands-on experiences in green industries. ---- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker Special thanks to: Southern School of Energy and Sustainability & Repower Our Schools https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1516999954072-8I729DH1E75AS8SR6ZX3/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - UGLY & WILD: Learning To Love N.C. Fish Over the last decade 40% of N.C. fish houses have closed due to increasing demand for imported seafood; which is familiar and cheap, but often frozen and from obscure sources using questionable practices. UGLY & WILD explores how Locals Seafood is creating new connections with venerable coastal fishing families to bring one of the states last wild foods to a dinner plate near you. ------- [Assistant Editor for Vittles Films] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456244778170-I93ANNTDT75FHWHZYYB0/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Designing Organic Electronics A Story Driven Media video I co-produced highlighting the collaborative research being done on carbon-based organic electronics at NC State University. Filmed in collaboration with NC Central and UNC Chapel Hill. ------- [Production Assistant] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1452746541283-UC35BIJD6RE9JEDZOTCI/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - The Bugs in Your Home An Untamed Science video I worked on investigating the bugs commonly found in your home. Filmed in collaboration with the Earth Observation and Biodiversity Lab at the Nature Research Center (NRC) (part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences) in Raleigh, NC. -------- [Production Assistant, 2nd Camera Operator] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1452746586365-LEO9PKDJO86YT4KA5HLU/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Paleontology 101 - Untamed Science An Untamed Science video I helped film, sharing what really happens in the field of paleontology. Filmed at the Nature Research Center (part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences) in Raleigh, NC. -------- [Production Assistant, 2nd Camera Operator] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1452746929597-4GHL9M1123038WKKBRK7/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - The White Squirrel Phenomenon An Untamed Science short I helped film about research being done on rare white squirrel populations in the United States. -------- [Production Assistant, 2nd Camera Operator] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1452747028071-E7MA65N9WGB5G1VKTMFU/image-asset.jpeg Science (gallery) - Siats - The New Mega-predatory Dinosaur An Untamed Science short I helped film, announcing the discovery of a new carnivorous dinosaur! On location at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, NC. -------- [Production Assistant, 2nd Camera Operator] http://www.michellelotker.com/photo daily 0.75 2019-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576264402812-AV4PHK0KACLCVGXM0MFX/Brunswick_Facebook.png PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576264679253-OTV6DOQCJ7L6OPIVF7OW/Waterrock+ver.2_Poster+%26+Postcard+_CTNC_BCDC_18Flyer.png PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576264214637-R7BMWS4NF9S72XAVCFDB/Brunswick_Postcard.png PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576264356521-9DNJ0H336OQQ4YQQ1OTS/Brumley_Facebook.jpg PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576264531089-X5QOP33JAZ1QC4WBHNCF/Brumley+ver.2_Poster+%26+Postcard+_CTNC_BCDC_18_PostcardBack.png PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576264217158-27ZWZQ699YV0G48X7U4T/Brumley_Postcard.png PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576264260626-QHQ5NG9BVPTJXTIQRAHC/Waterrock_Postcard.png PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137578631-B00US6U3YMR7YCC9MI5X/Lotker09__04.jpg PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576265212301-2HZ6GLT91NQ9GLM7BWQC/Waterrock_Postcard.png PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456236472880-4A0SSSVG6S98TDY5YEM0/FunnyGirlFarm20150828_699.jpg PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456441306587-3BXIPN20YJUFF6GSDHDO/Lotker07CR_12.jpg PHOTO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456441790902-ELCYLNNAGPQ0RP0TIZ8Q/CPOY_Interp+Eye_Lotker_001.jpg PHOTO http://www.michellelotker.com/fgf daily 0.75 2016-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456235416521-KQNRIT2TMILJ3U1B2CIQ/image-asset.jpeg Funny Girl Farm Early morning light through the doorway of intern housing at Funny Girl Farm. Intern housing is located walking distance up the road from the farm itself. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456235416521-KQNRIT2TMILJ3U1B2CIQ/image-asset.jpeg Funny Girl Farm Early morning light through the doorway of intern housing at Funny Girl Farm. Intern housing is located walking distance up the road from the farm itself. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456235359964-ZAGU08A1JVTZDL3CMW9T/image-asset.jpeg Funny Girl Farm Nate Lotze is one of the interns at Funny Girl Farm and lives in the creatively named “intern house” located a tenth of a mile up Mt Moriah Road. He’s up at 6:30 am and out the door to the farm 10 minutes later after eating a homemade vegan scone from a batch his mom sent him. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456235312522-VSD5WFD0V2WFYZLL75YO/image-asset.jpeg Funny Girl Farm This is a caption. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456235822967-1SDEW9BU5Q2YGTQ9OZMQ/image-asset.jpeg Funny Girl Farm If it’s his turn on the schedule, the first thing Nate does when he gets to the farm is let the chickens out of their mobile coop where they roost overnight. A scarecrow wards off airborne predators while farm dogs Phoebe and Filbert (two huge white Great Pyrenees) patrol on foot. Funny Girl Farm chickens are raised for egg production and the farm has hundreds of them at a time to keep up with demand for fresh eggs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456236539400-04ZVM7U9PCPIRPGDEGG3/image-asset.jpeg Funny Girl Farm Brian Ferrell is one of the salary employees at Funny Girl Farm. As Field Supervisor he manages the day to day tasks related to keeping the fields productive. Brian grew up in North Carolina on 10 acres where his parents kept a large garden. When asked how he got into farm work he said: “Farming and gardening continued to present itself in my life. Whenever I’m doing this type of work there’s a deep resonance. This feels right. I’ve never felt so deeply satisfied with a job." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456236518362-JNJTHRKVWDO8O7SC55FK/image-asset.jpeg Funny Girl Farm Although there are specific job titles, everyone pitches in to get things done. Fridays are big harvest days and everyone is on deck to get everything from tomatoes to cut flowers out of the fields and up to the barn for processing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456236599603-JLHT2LGPT9OVUVVN20SP/FunnyGirlFarm20150828_539.jpg Funny Girl Farm Teamwork and independence are both key to the overall success of the farm. Vegetable Production Manager, Melissa Rosenberg, says part of what attracts her to working on a farm is a love of nose to the ground, solitary, hard work. “I’m a human being, a social creature, but I think a lot of farmers like the solitary quiet that comes along.” She also appreciates the farming community in North Carolina and how supportive and collaborative everyone is. “I have a problem, they have solutions. If somebody comes up with one, why reinvent the wheel?" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456236650077-SPU9Q61JGLFJF8MPUZ34/FunnyGirlFarm20150828_699.jpg Funny Girl Farm “One thing I love about farming is the creativity required to solve problems, basically for free, out of necessity. It’s definitely one of my favorite parts of the job.” - Melissa Rosenberg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456236571264-LDXAES4QOONGISA1AXI3/FunnyGirlFarm20150828_371.jpg Funny Girl Farm Nate worked for an environmental non-profit related to climate change straight out of college but eventually wanted a change of scene. Working on a farm appealed to him because he’d get to work outside all the time doing a variety of tasks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456236628755-RK0F4IYXPRO8TX04J5BA/FunnyGirlFarm20150828_588.jpg Funny Girl Farm Funny Girl Farm, in Durham, North Carolina, has interns and salary employees working to grow produce and manage several hundred chickens. Intern Nate Lotze worked for an environmental non-profit related to climate change straight out of college but eventually wanted a change of scene. “Everyone always comments on my shoes.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456235798886-9QIYY2D13DH5XDCH358D/image-asset.jpeg Funny Girl Farm Nate enjoys being “directly involved with growing good food and the sustainable moment, and working with good people.” Although he’s enjoyed being a farm intern, he thinks the shift towards longer term, salaried employees would be a good thing for farming. “It’s not efficient to have your workforce change every 3-6 months." http://www.michellelotker.com/southern-vance-volleyball-1 daily 0.75 2016-02-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440586639-RKLU1Q9WKWJZ1GKPR9CK/Lotker07CR_01.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball The Southern Vance High School varsity volleyball team, located in Henderson, Nort Carolina, won only 3 of their 20 games in the 2015 season. As with any high school team juggling schoolwork, part-time jobs and transitioning to adulthood, their focus and motivation varied from game to game but they shared a strong bond as a team and call each other family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440586639-RKLU1Q9WKWJZ1GKPR9CK/Lotker07CR_01.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball The Southern Vance High School varsity volleyball team, located in Henderson, Nort Carolina, won only 3 of their 20 games in the 2015 season. As with any high school team juggling schoolwork, part-time jobs and transitioning to adulthood, their focus and motivation varied from game to game but they shared a strong bond as a team and call each other family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440586522-3YIW1KCSAQDK3PDOV87W/Lotker07CR_02.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball The team started off the year with a brand new coach, Coach Tracie Twine, and some players left the team because they didn’t like her coaching style. By the end of the season, the transition seemed to have settled in, leaving a tight knit core group of players. Junior, Ayeshia Teasley said "We really played together, like really well and as a team. They really became like really my sisters." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440586721-3J213J52RF4KUMCAG6VN/Lotker07CR_03.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball Like any family, they help each other out. Two or three of the girls would braid everyone’s hair before each game and girls often brought extra socks or knee pads for their team mates that forgot them. Senior Shiquasha Williams said, "We got along very well, it was a nice vibe with each other."   https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440586988-T8FA7LEYAXZVRQWY1LRV/Lotker07CR_04.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball "We were around each other a lot,” said Senior Brittany West. “Volleyball… unlike a lot of other sports, we don't have a lot of time in our season, realistically compared to other seasons. Having to learn everyone's buttons, that was like the hardest thing. You know, learning how everybody was." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440586882-KVR6PQCQLMKVV2JU00G7/Lotker07CR_05.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball “It's kind of like sisters,” said Junior Kendall Harris. “One minute you're all happy and chipper and the next minute you're like man I want to kill you kind of thing. So it's a love hate relationship. We love each other but sometimes I'm just like ‘You go be in your corner, I'll be in mine’." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440587071-YX6NMSZHOOJCJOPAIKYH/Lotker07CR_06.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball Most of the girls worked part time jobs in addition to being full time high school students and participating in several sports. They did their homework in the stands before games and leaned on each other for help in subjects where they were struggling. Often they didn’t get to eat dinner before their games, and would complain about how tired and hungry they were because they’d been up late doing work the night before and hadn’t eaten much since breakfast. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440587274-LDBJ44R7IGNKJGH5PRNW/Lotker07CR_07.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball Despite a long losing streak throughout most of the season, the girls always showed up enthusiastic and positive before for each game. As the game started to go poorly, you could see them struggling to maintain their focus and keep a good attitude. "I think in the beginning, learning how to work together and learning how to stay together was the biggest part, irregardless of how the game was going or the outcome of the game,” said Senior Brittany West. "I think that is the biggest thing, staying consistent, that was a really big frustration for us as a team. Consistency was really hard for us to achieve, and thats what I think made everyone so frustrated." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440587239-9A2TSLCM9TQ63AE0GDOM/Lotker07CR_08.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball Many of the girls on the team were part of pre-college programs and some of them, including Freshman Kierra Gray, were already being scouted by college volleyball programs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440587389-HQ4XNMPA96BGJ7XHC52F/Lotker07CR_09.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball "At the beginning of the season there was a lot of problems,” said Junior Kendall Harris. “There were certain people that we started out with and then they decided, like, I don't know... they didn't like some of us or I don't know they didn't like how our coach was coaching us. At first we started out like we were really frustrated with one another and we were just like kind of mad at everything." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440587597-2L1FIKG19SGL77BGDHXN/Lotker07CR_10.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball “As the season went on it got better,” said Junior Kendall Harris. “We learned to work with each other, and I think that's one of the best things. When you start off working with a team you don't, you're not for sure how it's going to go and how it's going to play out. I Guess that's why it feels like a family, because you work with each other so long that you just, you bond." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440587519-5DF32YMOYCDSE5K7615L/Lotker07CR_11.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball "During the day I always knew if I was having a bad day, whenever it was time to be with the team it was just gonna turn upside down,” said Senior Regina "Jnay” Meadows. “It's just, everybody had a good vibe and whenever we was together it was always a good time." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456440587747-YX6SMMBVC5B3GZE6WJVK/Lotker07CR_12.jpg Southern Vance Volleyball Senior Brittany West talked about how the team came together over the course of the season. "We learned each other's strengths, was the biggest thing,” she said. “It wasn't just we were all just kind of out there with a jersey, we really learned each other as team mates and as people and I think that made a difference between the beginning of the season versus the latter half of the season. That made a big difference." http://www.michellelotker.com/single-photos daily 0.75 2016-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472139403236-RIGKRERU445UD2NLMTU7/RosesMeat-1001.jpg Stand Alone Images Rose’s Meat Market & Sweet Shop opened June 21, 2013, in downtown Durham, North Carolina. Justin and Katie Meddis moved to Durham from California after working in the food industry there. At Rose’s, Katie (who attended highschool in Durham) applies her skills as a pastry chef to produce delicious sweets made fresh daily using local, sustainable ingredients; while Justin sources local, pasture-raised meats that are butchered in-house. Fresh cuts of pork, beef, and lamb are displayed for sale alongside fresh and smoked sausage and the classic favorite: bacon. Bacon flies off the shelf so quickly that there is always some part of the production process occurring at Rose’s, as pork belly is spiced, cured, aged and smoked into savory perfection. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472139403236-RIGKRERU445UD2NLMTU7/RosesMeat-1001.jpg Stand Alone Images Rose’s Meat Market & Sweet Shop opened June 21, 2013, in downtown Durham, North Carolina. Justin and Katie Meddis moved to Durham from California after working in the food industry there. At Rose’s, Katie (who attended highschool in Durham) applies her skills as a pastry chef to produce delicious sweets made fresh daily using local, sustainable ingredients; while Justin sources local, pasture-raised meats that are butchered in-house. Fresh cuts of pork, beef, and lamb are displayed for sale alongside fresh and smoked sausage and the classic favorite: bacon. Bacon flies off the shelf so quickly that there is always some part of the production process occurring at Rose’s, as pork belly is spiced, cured, aged and smoked into savory perfection. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472139663663-CSTH3UBK08B3I7VZU5EN/Unseen_083.jpg Stand Alone Images We all carry objects with us through life, moving them from house, to apartment, to house. Sven (name changed to protect his identity) keeps a box in the attic full of old drug paraphernalia. “I’m not in a place where I want to do it anymore, but I haven’t wanted to let it go. Sometimes I think I’ve pushed it away too far. It’s hard to let go, they’re like little horcruxes." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456441482641-V6XM20C4J8HT2D0G4UL9/CPOY_Portrait_Lotker_003.jpg Stand Alone Images Senior Tiesha Gibbs is one of the teenagers on the Southern Vance High School volleyball team. Most of the girls juggle school with part time jobs and sports year round, working on their homework together in the stands before games. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456441468984-8MDDV7JODIUMBA2KI7D6/CPOY_Interp+Eye_Lotker_001.jpg Stand Alone Images Will Funk is breeding open-pollinated, landrace, tropical corn in Durham, NC. The field is in a backyard around the corner from his house and he hopes over several years to breed a variety specially adapted to the area. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456441448400-4MRMXKLJI3K9S8YZPFB6/CPOY_Gen+News_Lotker_004.jpg Stand Alone Images Dan Wales came out in support of the 2015 Pride Parade in Durham, North Carolina, and stood in front of the religious protestors in a protest of his own, dressed as Jesus, carrying a rainbow flag and holding a sign that read “I am not with these guys (but I love them too)”. “The people with the hate signs always kind of perplexed me and usually you feel so uncomfortable when you're standing in front of that kind of hatred but doing it this way it just, I was smiling the whole time and it feels so good and you see everybody's faces light up when they see what you're trying to do. Yeah, it's selfish, it makes me feel good." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472139740989-1RY3V6U66JX35E3AX8S1/Unseen_445.jpg Stand Alone Images Kelly Sims has her grandmother’s suit that she wore on the boat to America from Finland. Made in the 1950s by her grandmother’s friends who, like her, were seamstresses in Finland, it fits Kelly like a glove. When asked why having the suit was important to her Kelly said “That moment doesn't exist any more but those items that you have in your hand, they do, so that's the only thing that you have left. Those memories are in your head, they can't be seen, only the artifacts are left.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456441455084-YVHC8CPZCOF9ZKUT99CN/CPOY_Gen+News_Lotker_003.jpg Stand Alone Images Religious groups showed up both in support and protest of the 2015 Pride Parade in Durham, North Carolina. Most parade participants and spectators responded to protestors by shouting things like “We love you too!". Some spectators danced around a man holding a sign saying “Perverts on Parade” for a few minutes while he tried to avoid them, but a police officer eventually asked them to leave him alone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472139449403-934MAIEM1WIUZ70HWOE4/RosesMeat-40040.jpg Stand Alone Images Rose’s Meat Market & Sweet Shop, in downtown Durham, NC, produces delicious sweets made fresh daily using local, sustainable ingredients and sources local, pasture-raised meats that are butchered in-house to make everything from bacon to sausage. “I wouldn’t do this if it was just garbage meat,” owner Justin Meddis said when asked how he felt about the quality of locally sourced meat available in North Carolina. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456441468921-9NCP8AZERNAO860N459I/CPOY_Interp+Eye_Lotker_002.jpg Stand Alone Images The rain may have dampened some of the enthusiasm of the crowd at the Durham Pride Parade but turn-out of parade participants and supportive spectators far outnumbered religiously affiliated protestors. When asked about the protestors Tawni Houston, member of Metropolitan Community Church, said "I just have one thing to say, God loves everybody. So he doesn't discriminate on who we are, what we are, what we're doing.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1456441476787-4F3CUJIIZ8LRJV8MDHOZ/CPOY_Portrait_Lotker_001.jpg Stand Alone Images Brian Ferrell is one of the salary employees at Funny Girl Farm in Durham, NC. As Field Supervisor he manages the day to day tasks related to keeping the fields productive. When asked how he got into farm work he said: “Farming and gardening continued to present itself in my life. Whenever I’m doing this type of work there’s a deep resonance. This feels right. I’ve never felt so deeply satisfied with a job." http://www.michellelotker.com/alternative-gallery daily 0.75 2016-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472136553540-K2U92Y3BPCS4QDPPEU4V/Lotker09__01.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) "If you had asked me 20 years ago if any of this would have happened, I would have said no way. There are definitely moments when I'm like how the hell did I get here?” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472136553540-K2U92Y3BPCS4QDPPEU4V/Lotker09__01.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) "If you had asked me 20 years ago if any of this would have happened, I would have said no way. There are definitely moments when I'm like how the hell did I get here?” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137162365-GJ3FDN1WALR1UIH7ZYZN/Lotker09__02.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) Having five girls under one roof would try anyone’s patience. “Every night is like a rock concert, that you didn't want to go to,” Jen said. She turns to creative expression to relieve stress. "Ukelele, drawing, painting, crochet… Sometimes if they're making me crazy I just go away from them and go outside. I mean, chicken coops or gardening for sure. All the things that focus me on something." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137195585-NVPQX1BR5ZQN32TFOX0A/Lotker09__03.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) If she had to label her style, Jen would call it ‘eclectic homeschooling’ with some ‘unschooling’ tactics mixed in. "Unschooling is the idea that you're always learning, and that it's not just learning by sitting in a class room being talked at by a teacher. It's the idea that you're always learning. It's the idea that you're intelligent enough to have interests and lean towards things and that if you're allowed to, if you are learning something that interests you, you learn it one hundred times faster than something that you're being force fed because you have no interest… it doesn't feel relevant to you.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137228779-JX0APCNAQHASY5U1B7H2/Lotker09__04.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) When asked if she thinks the girls will miss out on anything, not being in public school Jen says she’s sure they will. "I've had people say 'Oh my god, well how are they going to learn to get along in society. You learn how to deal with your peers when you're in school and that includes the bullying and that's what makes people rise above.' Well it really doesn't, people suffer in there and that doesn't make you better, and that's not the way people should be to each other. I mean how many people feel like their workplace is like their middle school? Not that often." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137250895-BU94L5131FW3VQRMXZLR/Lotker09__05.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) "I hope that they learn not to just believe everything they hear, and to realize that they can teach themselves anything they want, they just have to seek it out. Like Roxy, she's taught herself all of this crochet stuff and she will make something out of anything. And I want them to do that.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137278941-ZI4II0GB0RE8ULV9U4OK/Lotker09__06.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) Jen started hula hooping for fun and fitness after having her fourth girl, Scheherazade. It’s become an important part of her life, a way for her to meet like-minded people and de-stress. She tries to get to the gym to hoop at least twice a week. "I do love hooping, and when I first started I was smiling all the time. But it's meditation. When I'm hooping it's my ADD, introvert way to tune everyone out around me. There's been times when I haven't gone for weeks and, ugh, it's not pretty. It's very meditative, and it's to the point where I've been doing it so long… if I'm there for an hour it's just me and the hoop and the music and..." she sighs deeply. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137308277-JPB4S7N0AF09P3K06Y6K/Lotker09__07.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) Jen made the decision to start preschooling when her first daughter, Olivia (aka Livi), was approaching the age where she would go to preschool. “They were like 'Oh do you have her in a preschool yet? You should have her in a program. This place, etc.' I was like, you're kidding me that I have to know by her being 7 months old 'Ok, it's this program or the rest of your life is ruined' Really? We don't do kids any favors. You put kids in the system and there's all of these different studies and nobody really knows yet we treat everything as though this is the right way, even though 10 years ago they're gonna be like 'Oh, eggs are good for you now!' You know?" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137329989-S03BA4HCNYTTYIF3JQT4/Lotker09__08.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) Being adopted and not knowing her birth parents, Jen said she completely freaked out when she had her first daughter, Livi, because she was the first person that Jen knew for sure she was related to. “I looked at her and I finally knew what love was. I felt bad but I realized I didn’t feel that way about Chad [her ex-husband] at all. It was so obvious to me from the first second I held Livi that this was a totally different feeling.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137354642-NPFUE9THR6STXY7W87IK/Lotker09__09.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) "Yeah we have a box of clay on the floor, and they can cut things up and put it back together, absolutely...it's on purpose. And I feel like I was just this weird alien person in my family and they all look and go 'Wow! Jenny you do all that art stuff’ like it's this weird thing and I think everyone has that but maybe the people that you're more biologically related to, you may lean more towards similar expressions and understandings and brain workings." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137373694-SVQDOKAB6G8HGIQD8T1E/Lotker09__10.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) The kids travel alone frequently to see their dad and grandparents so at this point packing for a trip is second nature, but navigating the airport is still a stress. “To me it feels like constant judgment. People are like ‘Oh you're going on a trip! Oh, unaccompanied minors…ooh.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137391399-95RGARPD4JDOSPRMFYXR/Lotker09__11.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) It’s a break when the kids leave but it’s also sad for Jen. “It's beautifully and awfully quiet all at the same time. But the quiet is nice! And I haven't had to make twenty snacks a day either.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472137415167-HXT5X7DQRKZX0Q0HNN96/Lotker09__12.jpg Outside the Bubble (gallery) “I don't want them to feel like there's only one way or there's this particular path, and you have to be on that path and if you're not on that path you can't have happiness or success or any of those things. I just want them to see things outside that bubble." http://www.michellelotker.com/people-gallery daily 0.75 2023-07-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472163489007-V02X2HRY9OS86D8EEQXD/doug+portrait.jpg People (gallery) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689357324234-PV6BNT2CL5UN5XQ43K7P/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Your gift opens doors at the University Libraries Co-Produced, Filmed and Edited for UNC Libraries to celebrate the impact of the Campaign for Carolina. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1689357059783-34Z09G1U3T0UJGX9SMOA/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - 10 Years of Healthy Places NC Produced, Filmed, and Edited for the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the Healthy Places NC project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1588711204056-0O9C8O0KFW6P00MSIM0E/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Jaki Shelton Green reads "Rumors" In October 2019, the University Libraries welcomed North Carolina poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green to Wilson Library to open the exhibition “Enriching Voices: African American Contributions to North Carolina Literature.” This video was recorded in Wilson Library’s Fearrington Reading Room. — [field producer, DP, editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576272445375-DWHBLSETVS20SL8FUT04/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Sierra Club "No Filter" Campaign Videos Part of a series of social media shorts created for a Sierra Club campaign called “No Filter”, this series specifically referencing the impact of the Mountain Valley Pipeline on Virginia and North Carolina. ------ Edited + animated by: Michelle Lotker Filmed by: Michelle Lotker and others https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1576272820271-TMB79GVGG5ECDD2O4HVJ/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Education NC - Locally Grown: Building Violins at Surry Community College One of several videos about community college programs in North Carolina created during a contract with Education NC. Other videos + articles available here: https://www.ednc.org/author/michelle-lotker/ ------ Filmed + edited by: Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1480086940502-E3UO63U11SBX3CD0091I/Lotker_PosterFrame_TugLife.jpg People (gallery) - Tug Life The Neal family doesn’t take vacations. If they did, their family business delivering groceries to tugboat operators would fall apart. 27-year-old Andrew Neal follows in his father’s footsteps, sacrificing time with his 5-year-old daughter to keep the business that employs his entire family running and their quirky customers happy. --------- Produced during the 2016 Mountain Workshops in Paducah, Kentucky Video + Edit by Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1502739050206-R6AMIQMO2AZYMZZU3L7T/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Domestic Energy Access Stories: North Carolina Produced for Duke University’s 2017 Winter Forum, “Power to the People - Tackling Energy Inequality through Clean Energy Solutions." ------ Filmed by: Michelle Lotker Production + Editing by: Libbie Weimer https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/57be1f393e00becdf8f1d625/5eb1ce820923bd3f1fa96230/1588711090985/ People (gallery) - California Halts Oil Drilling But Buys Crude From The Amazon Episode 13 of the “Business Insider Today - A Closer Look” series. — [Assistant Editor] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533228247422-GHX0N61G392VZSZNACHY/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - f22: a collection A response to the following 22 word prompt in no particular order: 1. Self portrait 2. Fire 3. Light 4. Play 5. Pure 6. Break 7. Shadow 8. Downstream 9. Blur 10. Time 11. Change 12. Opposites 13. Authority 14. Tension 15. Truth 16. Milk 17. Blind 18. Body 19-20. A portrait of a person 21. Glass 22. Dream ----------- Music: Pukae by Blue Dot Session [film + edit] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472162268803-9YZB7XCXYCD9R6JCWETN/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Mornin', Mornin' Doug Johnson, Durham, NC, 2016. -------- Video + Edit by Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472077798896-7GD5JGSV1EWHEUAPXWWV/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Go Among Trees A interpretation of a Wendell Berry poem (see below) with the collaboration of Haley Chamberlain Nelson. Music by Sergey Cheremisinov and Kai Engel. -------- Concept, Production, Video + Edit by Michelle Lotker -------- I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep like cattle. Then what is afraid of me comes and lives a while in my sight. What it fears in me leaves me, and the fear of me leaves it. It sings, and I hear its song. Then what I am afraid of comes. I live for a while in its sight. What I fear in it leaves it, and the fear of it leaves me. It sings, and I hear its song. After days of labor, mute in my consternations, I hear my song at last, and I sing it. As we sing, the day turns, the trees move. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/57be1f393e00becdf8f1d625/57bf69db5149bfdecf9cd37f/1472077670473/ People (gallery) - Doug https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472163297472-Z6ZPI6YVF75XZ1E0OCLX/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - So You Put on a Record [rough edit] Justin Blatt, metal worker and violinist extraordinaire, talks about his craft and process. --------- Concept, Production + Video by Michelle Lotker & Alissa Alba Edit by Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1472077902241-1V33INH89CATWS970SJM/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Friday Night Dance at the Jolly Inn Conversations from the Open Road learned some cajun line dances and two-stepped the night away at Chauvin, Lousiana's local Friday night dance. We even created some music of our own, singing "What a Wonderful World" and scratching away on washboards. -------- Video + Edit by Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533228082454-JCO5OU460VLDCIGS4U2V/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Firefly Gathering [ 2013 ] The Firefly Gathering offers a wide range of classes for adults and children on primitive skills, permaculture, nature connection, and eco-homesteading that are designed to be applied to enhance everyday life. The gathering brings together a bevy of inspiring, amazing people. Besides classes, it offers evening entertainment, basic infrastructure, and on-site camping. -------- [Co-Producer, 2nd Camera Operator] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533228156792-4QN3TGUAF6TO7B2R796H/image-asset.jpeg People (gallery) - Climbing the Grand (the 2D version) This short I produced and edited with Untamed Science about climbing the Grand Tetons won second place at the 2013 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. The movie was shot in 3D using two GoPro cameras mounted next to each other, but this is the 2D version. If you have the right glasses and want to watch in 3D that version is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTMMQvV_i7I -------- [Co-Producer, Editor] http://www.michellelotker.com/featured-work daily 0.75 2024-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715787012964-QGGHT4O5LVCCKH3IS5AX/image-asset.jpeg Featured Work - Is our food system ready for climate change? | State of Change: Seeds of Hope With climate change comes more weather extremes that threaten our vulnerable food system. Discover how the Utopian Seed Project in western North Carolina is building more climate resilience for North Carolina by selecting crop varieties adapted to our changing climate and introducing hardy tropical staples to farmers and chefs in the region. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715787012964-QGGHT4O5LVCCKH3IS5AX/image-asset.jpeg Featured Work - Is our food system ready for climate change? | State of Change: Seeds of Hope With climate change comes more weather extremes that threaten our vulnerable food system. Discover how the Utopian Seed Project in western North Carolina is building more climate resilience for North Carolina by selecting crop varieties adapted to our changing climate and introducing hardy tropical staples to farmers and chefs in the region. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/58799ecba5790ab82b8864e9/58799ee7a5790ab82b8865cb/1715786729437/ Featured Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715786865193-E1WMIT4K6MFIVWIUTB6M/image-asset.jpeg Featured Work - Protecting a Tiny, Shiny Fish | Sci NC | PBS NC Sci NC’s Michelle Lotker discovers how NC organizations partner to save the endangered Cape Fear shiner, a tiny native fish that turns gold during breeding season. She visits the fish’s natural habitat with Brena Jones of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and sees how Edenton National Fish Hatchery bolsters the fish’s population with hatchery manager Sonia Mumford and biologist Brandi Symons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1524156927303-5HRSIJKVTH4R22PO5RN3/image-asset.jpeg Featured Work - Keepers *Official Selection International Wildlife Film Festival 2018* *Part of UNC-TV's REEL SOUTH online Summer Shorts series, 2017* *Silver Medal for Individual Multimedia Story or Essay, College Photographer of the Year 2016* ----------- A new survey shows that 44 percent of the country’s honeybee colonies died in the past year. Kelley Penn is an organic farmer and beekeeper in Bryson City, North Carolina, with a focus on chemical-free beekeeping. Through a local beekeeper meeting, she met Bobby Jack Smith who has been keeping bees his whole life, and the two struck up an unlikely friendship. Although they don’t always see eye to eye, their mutual admiration and concern for bees has them working together to protect populations in the Smoky Mountain part of the state. ----------- This video was created during the annual 2016 Carolina Photojournalism Workshop. Each year a group of multimedia students from the University of North Carolina travel to a unique part of the state with a group of professional coaches to produce a documentary website in a week. To view 2016's full collection of work visit the Mountain Lore website. ----------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715786761412-ZCYO9XXZ9ZFBXK3QMYW0/image-asset.jpeg Featured Work - Your gift opens doors at the University Libraries Campaign for Carolina project highlighting UNC Chapel Hill’s library system. Producer, Videographer, Editor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1502738544249-F6LLE9YH5PLY4T7O1ZTO/image-asset.jpeg Featured Work - Handing it Down Neill Lindley I’s family has been farming the same land in Snow Camp since the late 1800s. He took over the farm from his father and remembers when he bought the first goats to diversify what the farm was producing. His son, Neill Jr., 27, is one of the few young people in the area working the family farm they grew up on. When I talked to Neill Jr. about the next generation of farmers, he reacted in surprise. “I didn’t even know there were other farmers my age, none of my friends stayed with it,” he said. The Lindley’s are a rare breed in other ways: they own all of the land they farm and they’re continuing to produce dairy as small dairy farms shut down or transition to other use all around them. Both Neill and Neill Jr. credit this to having diversified their farm to produce more than one product. They raise chickens to be sold as broilers in five large chicken houses on the property and their herd of goats allows them to be the sole supplier for a successful local cheese company, Goat Lady Dairy. When asked why he wants to keep farming Neill II says “It’s what I know how to do” and talks about expanding to producing more value-added products, like cow cheese, in years to come. With a baby on the way, keeping the farm viable and profitable is even more important to the family’s survival. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1484365588390-8WEF8USYVPV61RL0SL8I/image-asset.jpeg Featured Work - Keepers *Silver Medal for Individual Multimedia Story or Essay, College Photographer of the Year 2016* A new survey shows that 44 percent of the country’s honeybee colonies died in the past year. Kelley Penn is an organic farmer and beekeeper in Bryson City, North Carolina, with a focus on chemical-free beekeeping. Through a local beekeeper meeting, she met Bobby Jack Smith who has been keeping bees his whole life, and the two struck up an unlikely friendship. Although they don’t always see eye to eye, their mutual admiration and concern for bees has them working together to protect populations in the Smoky Mountain part of the state. ----------- This video was created during the annual 2016 Carolina Photojournalism Workshop. Each year a group of multimedia students from the University of North Carolina travel to a unique part of the state with a group of professional coaches to produce a documentary website in a week. To view 2016's full collection of work visit the Mountain Lore website. ----------- Produced, Filmed & Edited by : Michelle Lotker http://www.michellelotker.com/songdance daily 0.75 2020-05-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1566595158163-YISHLGFICP7YNJDSFV4A/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves : Debut duo album! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1566595158163-YISHLGFICP7YNJDSFV4A/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves : Debut duo album! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1566595209968-HBPSUFJITBGHAQHENGDR/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - I Don't Want To Get Married, Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1584387121838-45H6PTWUSDU0N5B676XV/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - Ellis Dyson & the Shambles | Men Trinkte Mashke @ the Pour House, Raleigh, NC Recorded Live @ The Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh, NC October 4, 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533227441726-CQMCJ559L19N49LF7PJ5/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - "Summer Months" by Hardworker Recorded at Overdub Lane, Durham, NC [video + edit] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533227374140-XDQ33B2XXGT0PA9THKYN/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - "Radioman" by Blue Cactus MUSICIANS: Gabriel Anderson: drums; Mario Arnez: electric guitars, vocals; Alex Bingham: bass; Steph Stewart: acoustic guitar, vocals CREDITS: Recorded at The Rubber Room Studio in Chapel Hill, NC Produced & Co-engineered by Alex Bingham Co-engineered & Mixed by Ryan Johnson Mastered by Nick Vandenberg Additional overdubs recorded at Silkworm Sound [video + edit] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533227010395-QBX5D4SUAUY6VBV0LX6F/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - Durham Independent Dance Artists Promo DIDA (Durham Independent Dance Artists) raises the profile of independent dance in Durham by curating a season of dance performances by local choreographers. We connect audiences and artists, providing audiences with easy access to exciting local work and providing artists with increased visibility to local audiences. Music: DJ PlayPlay [video + edit] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533226590732-QJRJYJY7TZBHQ5TP2PJ5/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - Blue Cactus: Band Profile “Since making music together as the Americana string band Steph Stewart & the Boyfriends, Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez have joined forces as the classic country-inspired duo BLUE CACTUS. From gritty honky-tonk to heart-breaking balladry, BLUE CACTUS is the one stop shop for everything that made country music matter. Just one prick, and you’ll be stuck.” bluecactusmusic.com [video + edit] https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/5b632e2b352f53bb9055534e/5b632e5e8290851c4a5e4be0/1533226552013/ Song & Dance https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533227130422-UCLDPHWAYW8H2IZE66BI/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - COMPANY: No19. Modulations Promo Promotional video for No. 19 / Modulations by COMPANY (a Durham, North Carolina, based independent dance company). Modulations was a two-part multimedia performance incorporating dance, visual art, film, projection, and live music. [video + edit] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533227751857-2PE61BSBNF38QQZTN8T8/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - COMPANY: No.13 The Weights No. 13 The Weights is a full-length work by COMPANY that premiered at The Carrack Modern, December 13-14, 2014. An original score was composed and performed by Lee Weisert and Matt McClure. This video documents the process leading up to the final performances. ----- COMPANY is a contemporary dance company based in Durham, NC. By utilizing both composition and improvisation, and reconsidering existing ideas about movement and content, the goal of artistic director Justin Tornow is to experiment with the formality of modern and contemporary dance. COMPANY is currently comprised of 4 dance artists developing and presenting new work at various local and regional performances. -------- [video + edit] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1533227924754-IL4Z7V80U9QNOHWD1JA9/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance - Waltz Night Promo Waltz Night is a monthly event that happens in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. Live music comes together with a variety of levels of talented dancers for a night of "un-frumpy" waltzing. [video + edit] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1584387484996-U77RUYZ3D5LGNPUJFWRY/image-asset.jpeg Song & Dance http://www.michellelotker.com/conservation-trust-north-carolina daily 0.75 2019-08-24 http://www.michellelotker.com/landing daily 1.0 2023-07-14 http://www.michellelotker.com/about daily 0.75 2024-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715624708373-L2WPIQ2Z98MQS4BLHTZ9/BROLL_Pocosin+Wildlife+Refuge.00_53_50_04.Still005.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715624714789-J7Z1D1MDU7OBIYLAOXBH/Blackwell%27s+Farm_BRoll.04_12_52_21.Still012.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715624728007-SNIECDKPDJCD4HDQNGQD/Synced+Walk+and+Talk.00_52_04_22.Still001.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/1715624732343-0FUT3TFUBI5AH0W7GASK/WALK+AND+TALKS.00_56_05_23.Still028.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55563d6fe4b0443afbe60612/768e47ff-d5b4-4841-8a6d-4d16a84fbd56/MLotker_2022+Headshot3.jpg About photo by StoryMine Media