Photo courtesy of WETA-TV 26
Seated at Carlyle Grand Cafe one morning across the street from their offices at WETA-TV 26 in Shirlington, Alexandria residents John Begeny and Christine Wolski are reliving the yearlong making of their new documentary.
"Discovering Washington: Through the Lens," will debut Thursday, March 8 at 8 p.m.
Wolski and Begeny have worked at WETA for 17 years primarily in fundraising, but squeeze in time to make documentaries, including a trilogy of shows about Alexandria.
"Alexandria had the most incredible resources and people," Wolski said.
"John and I work on the on-air fundraising and over the years usually we're so busy with going from a radio drive to a TV drive we try to squeeze in projects like this because it's so important to the community, it's so important to bring these stories to light, it's our local history," Wolski said.
"It's a really fun perk that we get to do that," Begeny said. "We love history. We're fundraisers, but we get to be creative. What's fun is when we work with historians and they say, 'We've never seen this picture!'"
One of the more interesting pieces of footage to make it into their latest project is film of President Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, who can be seen at the 1922 dedication ceremony for the Lincoln Memorial.
The two also found footage of people touring the Mount Vernon Estate mansion in 1939, which is also included in the documentary.
"We try to find these little nuggets that people may not normally see," said Wolski. The two made their finds at the National Archives, the Library of Congress and in the Washingtoniana Collection at the D.C. Public Library.
About a third of the documentary is aerial footage taken from a helicopter flown from Manassas over the area, including parts of Alexandria. Wolski conquered a fear of flying, sitting in the chopper for seven hours of filming. She called Begeny for support, who talked her through it. "I was crying in my kitchen," he said with a laugh.
"When we got up there, it was actually quite stunning," she said. The helicopter flew over the Masonic Temple in Alexandria, the periphery of the National Mall, over Mount Vernon Estate grounds (not over the mansion itself, which is not allowed), Great Falls, the Kennedy Center, Watergate, the Wharf, the National Cathedral, the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery and more.
They also filmed from the water taxi in a trip from Georgetown to Southwest D.C.
The program will debut on WETA during a live pledge show. Viewers who donate will receive special gifts including an exclusive program DVD and soundtrack CD, a Washington Monument artisan glass piece made in partnership with prominent regional manufacturer Blenko Glass Company. The documentary is narrated by WETA on-air host Nicole Lacroix.
