The National Parks series by Ken Burns

Heard Ken Burns on the radio today talking about his series on The National Parks premiering Sunday night. Really looking forward to watching this.

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

You might want to change the title, right now it sounds like Ken might be an arsonist Thanks for the heads up!

You might want to change the title, right now it sounds like Ken might be an arsonist

I thought the same thing. With all the fires in the news lately, I guess we are programed to think the worst.

Title changed.

I am looking forward to seeing this as well !

I am sooo excited to see this. Just got back from Sanibel Island and went to Ding Darling . Saw and captured alot of bird images.

Watched the first part last night. Was it just me or was the photography weird? You would think that a film on the grand majesty of some of the most beautiful places on earth would have breathtaking photography? What I saw was gross over saturation (particularly the shots of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone), lots of underexposed scenes, footage that was obviously not shot in HD, and way over the top contrast on many of the scenes. Shadows were absolutely black with no details. I liked the stories and information presented but the photography was severely lacking in my opinion.

Agree - strange photography and Ken is usually Indian "heavy".

What was the deal with the river in yellowstone Grand Canyon? Did they paint it blue in After Affects or was that over polarized? I liked the show, but half the visuals were blah and about 10% just, well, sucked. Maybe we were spoiled by Planet Earth.

Let's offer to reshoot it for him.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed the quality problems. Low budget + national parks + high def = YIKES

What was the deal with the river in yellowstone Grand Canyon? Did they paint it blue in After Affects or was that over polarized? I liked the show, but half the visuals were blah and about 10% just, well, sucked. Maybe we were spoiled by Planet Earth.

Let's offer to reshoot it for him.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed the quality problems. Low budget + national parks + high def = YIKES

'Ken Burns Effect' or not , I thought the images were so manipulated and high in contrast they were uncomfortable to look at. I was constantly shocked at the poor image quality.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the series so far. I'm not being too critical on the photography, but just enjoying the history lesson. The stories of the people who championed the cause are wonderful. I have even more respect for John Muir, Roosevelt, and the many others that took up this noble cause.

Wonderful program so far.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone appeared to have been shot with a gold/blue polarizer; I did it that way myself on my single midday visit there; Burns got it in much better--ideal--light.

I noticed one or two short sequences, especially otherwise incredible aerial footage of a running bison, that had some sort of noise or artifacts. There also seems to be a fair amount of repetition from one segment to the next. Overall, though, as a fan of black shadows and sunrise/sunset saturation, I think the images are spectacular (reminiscent of Galen Rowell or Art Wolfe) and the history interesting (though too respectful of the otherwise disastrous Woodrow Wilson--did you know he segregated the previously integrated U.S. government?--who signed park bills advanced by others without any apparent interest of his own). It's especially interesting to see historical photos of famous park views.

I have no problem with manipulation of video or photos, but this series is a documentary. Images close to the truth of these places are more than good enough.

I find this series inspirational. It shows how short-sighted some powerful people can be, and how it will always be important to fight the good fight.

Ken Burns: Pimp My Documentary.

Pete D.

aka "Shadow Alta Vista"

Another aspect of this is that while The Civil War and other Burns' documentaries were based on old still photos, The National Parks may well include existing stock video footage along with photos both old and new--no one who's seen Clyde Butcher's large-format photos could have missed quite a few of them in last night's Everglades sequence.

Looking around the internet, it seems some critics think Burns' work has become too imitative of itself, not edgy enough, and that he isn't sufficiently objective about of his subjects. There was even a comment at The Huffington Post, of all places, that he glosses over the aggressive behavior of the park service against people whose land it wants (last night's episode did mention at least three examples of that in addition to the internment of Japanese-Americans). But I found little criticism of the imagery apart from an HD Video site where there were complaints that there is non-HD footage [the horror!] in a series promoted as HD by PBS.

I wonder if a younger Ken Burns shot some of the 8mm in the first episode. That's the way I can see the editor letting it in - the "Emperor Has No Clothes" effect.

I found episode three over-the-top sentimental. Apparent all good things in America were directly caused by the National Parks. Who knew? I found it overly sentimental and manipulative.

Hoping for a better episode four. Like most here I'm a huge NP fan. Just hold the syrup.

I agree, maybe a little too much syrup, but still a well done history of our national park system.