Eileen Mignoni

Without Limits

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:09:19 +0000

Francisca Mardones refuses to let her physical impediments limit her.

After being paralyzed in a hurricane in 1999, Mardones took up tennis as a means of physical therapy. Today she is the 1st ranked female wheelchair tennis player in Chile, 17th in the Iberoamericana league and 29th in the world. Her motivation to play tennis is to show others with similar challenges, that they can overcome them – that they have no limits.

A Refuge for Those Without Hope

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:02:56 +0000

Reinaldo Montecinos Yáñez arrived at a Hogar de Cristo shelter in Santiago in 2005. Serverly malnourished, he weighed only 29 kilograms. He did not even have the strength to walk. He went to the Hogar de Cristo to die. In time, however, he managed to get better, and still spends his nights on the mattresses at the shelter, and his days, volunteering there.

So is the Hogar de Cristo shelter to many in the community. It is where individuals go when they have no other hope, when their families have abandoned them and the streets are too cold or dangerous to brave alone. This particular shelter caters to the male senior citizen population of homeless.

Down the Lines

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:26:49 +0000

Dependent on technology developed over 100 years ago, our energy grid is in trouble. Consumption is increasing dramatically, and the construction of our power lines has fallen far behind, setting the stage for more serious and frequent blackouts in the coming years. This video was part of my contribution to Powering a Nation, UNC-Chapel Hill’s News21 project.

The Lures of the Mountains

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:12:50 +0000

Danny Williams grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains surrounding North Carolina’s Fontana Lake. Williams gave up heavy operating heavy machinery and a life on the road to run the shuttle boat around Fontana Lake and live permanently in the mountains of his upbringing. This video was produced for the Charlotte Observer’s special multimedia section celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

A Father’s Sacrifice

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:37:22 +0000

John came from Acapulco, Mexico, three years ago. He was 15. He enrolled in high school and excelled. He learned English quickly and made his father proud.

In October of 2008, John saw his school friends from his living-room window. He went out to see them. They had stolen a gas can from the back of a pickup truck. The police came. They arrested John, despite his friends’ protests. Instead of attending high school, John sat in jail.

Posting bail in immigration proceedings is complicated and expensive. The few bail bondsmen who will post an immigration bond require the full amount up front. John’s family struggled to raise the $3,500 needed for bail in addition to lawyer fees. Although the family’s lawyer knew that the charge could easily be dropped, he delayed the criminal trial to give them more time to raise the money before John was transferred to federal custody.

Raising Burmese

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:36:35 +0000

School is important to Toe Toe’s mother. So Rose keeps the 9-year-old’s hair cut and helps with homework. At the first sign of fever, Rose’s hand is the one reaching for Toe Toe’s forehead.

Yet, Rose is not Toe Toe’s mother.

Rose is a teacher at one of the few schools for Burmese children in Thailand. Two years ago, she and her husband welcomed Toe Toe and her brother into their one-room home. The biological parents – old acquaintances from Myanmar – live 1.5 hours away on a rubber plantation with little time to meet the children’s simple needs such as supervision. There is also no school nearby.

Through two couples’ sacrifice, two Burmese children now face a brighter future in a foreign land.

Fighting the Tides

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:12:44 +0000

The Coast of Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina is washing away at both ends. Erosion has plagued the east end for years, and has now begun carrying away the west end.

projects

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 04:27:55 +0000

Starting at UNC-Chapel Hill, I was involved with a number of multimedia documentary projects which gave me a deep appreciation for the story telling aspects the many elements of multimedia can contribute. As a multimedia producer for La Tercera, I am fortunate enough to continue examining topics in depth using all of my multimedia skills.

Los Desafíos que Deberán Enfrentar Los Candidatos: Segunda Parte		Los Desafíos que Deberán Enfrentar Los Candidatos: Primera Parte

Multimedia project for La Tercera using personal stories to explore some of the larger issues in the 2009 Chilean presidential elections – part 2 of 2. This part examined access for persons with disabilities, public transportation and access to housing. All video and photography is mine, and I was also responsible bringing all of the work into HTML.		Multimedia project for La Tercera using personal stories to explore some of the larger issues in the 2009 Chilean presidential elections – part 1 of 2. This part explored education, the public health system, social security and crime. All video and photography is mine, and I was also responsible bringing all of the work into HTML.
Powering A Nation		Hope and Hardship on Tobacco Road

This project explores numerous different facets of energy consumption in the US. It is UNC-Chapel Hill’s contribution to the Carnegie and Knight Foundations’ News 21 journalism initiative. As photographer and videographer, I directed the team for Down the Lines, exploring the electrical grid and and contributed photography to Reclaiming Creation.		A collection of 22 stories examining the impact of the economy on individuals in the Triangle Region of North Carolina, the work is the product of the documentary photography classes at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. I coached the students involved in this project.


Facing Deportation		Special Olympics Live

Multimedia documentary project about the impact of North Carolina’s immigration policies on families in the state. Incorperating video, photos and infographics, this project was my Master’s Thesis at UNC-Chapel Hill. It’s videos are being incorporated into a curriculum for high school students in North Carolina to help them understand and explore immigration issues in North Carolina.		Multimedia documentary project telling stories of individual athletes and providing coverage of every athlete in every event to the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. I was a member of the 3 person documentary team producing daily documentaries about athletes from the Middle East and North Africa region.

Andaman Rising		Cape Fear to Down Here

Multimedia documentary looking at the revitalization of one of the regions hardest hit by the 2004 Asian Tsunami. Produced in Khao Lak, Thailand.		Mutlimedia documentary project about the southeast coastal region of North Carolina.

Nuevas Fronteras		South of Here

Multimedia documentary project telling the stories of Latinos in North Carolina.		Bilingual multimedia documentary about Argentinian and Chilean Patagonia featuring photography, audio, video stories, 3D graphics and info-graphics.

Trucking, Fuel and Lives

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:38:41 +0000

Gail Nash and Randy Lambson are a couple who work for a trucking company based in the small town of Deckerville, Michigan. The rising cost of fuel has changed the way the trucking company operates, the way they think about their jobs, and, potentially, might change their lives.

stills

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:05:14 +0000

This collection of images comprises the best of the photographic work I have done over the past two years.