 More 2016 Adventures |
Medford, OR → Weed, CA → Tule Lake, CA 174.0 mi (280.0 km) |
 Later Today |
Lights, camera, action, everyone!
Last week, I was browsing Twitter when I found a request for a videographer from World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. They’re gathering footage for the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and it just so happened that I was already on my way to tour the landmarks of Modoc and Siskiyou Counties! I asked if the monument needed any footage from its Tule Lake unit.
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It turns out, they did, but since the park is based in Honolulu, I was on my own to make arrangements to access the Japanese Internment camp. Normally, that requires a 2-week advanced notice since the unit is closed during the winter, but I only had one week before my flight! I made a whole bunch of calls to assure the NPS staff that I was there to volunteer for them, and was not planning to sell the footage!
At long last, while I was out hunting landmarks on Expedition 92, the day before I hoped to visit, I got an appointment with Ranger Alison from Lava Beds National Monument! Hooray!
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We met at the gate to the Tule Lake Segregation Center, where 18,789 Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II in much worse conditions (filth, overcrowding, beatings) than their POW counterparts up the road at Camp Tulelake. Yes, that’s right! These ordinary citizens were treated worse than captured enemy combatants from Germany and Italy!
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Most of the original buildings of the segregation center have been broken down and repurposed. In fact, there are still folks living in some of the old barracks! The centerpiece of the complex, though, is the jail, where disruptive inmates had to stay for a whole host of reasons! Unlike these folks, though, I had only two hours to spend in jail. Ranger Alison had other important duties to attend!
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It was dark and musty inside the jail, and I wasn’t sure if there would be much to film in such low light, but Ranger Alison found a generator and lit the place up! The walls were crumbling, but they had still preserved notes scratched on the walls by prisoners, like “Show me the way to go to home.”
It was horrible to imagine people staying here through all seasons, but the building was kind of beautiful in its quiet abandonment. It was easy for a beaver of the future to appreciate. But there wasn’t much time to muse. Time was ticking, and I had to get to work!
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I shot some neat pans and tilts and zooms, with a sprinkling of rack focuses! It wasn’t a big space, so it really didn’t take long at all before I’d shot a whole bunch of angles. With an hour left, Ranger Alison offered to take me up the road to Camp Tule Lake, but as we went, a blizzard blew in! The wind kept blowing big snowflakes onto my lens, and the chill ate right through my fur! The two-hour limit ran out, so I had to admit defeat at this location. I think I’ve got some good shots to show the media department, though!
Extra special thanks to Ranger Alison for her time and patience! Maybe this will become a regular line of work. It was a lot of fun!
Check the gates!
More 2016 Adventures |
Total Ground Covered: 434.0 mi (698.5 km) *includes Landmark Expedition 93* |
Later Today |