In 2014, the bodies of multiple blue whales washed ashore along the Newfoundland Coast, victims of unpredictable ice in the Atlantic that trapped nine whales in total. The Royal Ontario Museum was able to make the best of this tragedy by collecting the skeleton, heart, and tissues for genetic samples. This story was captured in the 2017 special exhibition "Out of the Depths: The Blue Whale Story", and the information gathered with the whale's body allowed for a series of firsts for the scientific community, and important data to help us understand the endangered North Atlantic blue whale population. Below is a video I made to document the wrapping and shipping of the preserved heart, when it was sent to Germany to undergo the plastination process to be put on display in the exhibition at the museum. As of January 2019, the video has had over 19,000 views on Youtube! To read more about the ROM's blue whale story, visit the exhibition microsite HERE and the research project page HERE
The Royal Ontario Museum is not just a building with artifacts and specimens on display - it has a thriving group of people working behind the scenes and with the public each day who conduct research and communicate that research to the rest of the world. As part of Science Literacy Week in Canada, I led a team that developed the #iamascientist series of videos to showcase some of those scientists that make the ROM the incredible institution it is. Below is one of my favourite videos that I shot and edited about Assistant Curator of Botany, Dr. Deborah Metsger. You can watch more of our #iamascientist videos on the ROM's playlist HERE.
The Ontario BioBlitz is a program that uses citizen science to encourage exploration and inventories of local biodiversity in Ontario. I've been a part of the program since its first event in 2012. Working with the Royal Ontario Museum, I created this video using footage collected by my fellow Environmental Visual Communication alumni to promote the Blitz and give a bit of a visual overview of what it's like to participate.
While working for the Royal Ontario Museum as their Biodiversity Storyteller/Creative producer, I worked with the Ontario Road Ecology Group (OREG) to create a video that would introduce the topic of road ecology for an audience that was new to the subject. Parks Canada was our main partner for the project.
Chef Michelle Curnock of Cooking Toronto wanted to share one of her most popular recipes with the people who visted her blog and website. What you'll see below is the video that she commissioned from me and Brennan Caverhill of Caverhill Photography
...and yes, we did get to eat some of our tasty video subjects! nom nom nom
...and yes, we did get to eat some of our tasty video subjects! nom nom nom