Invisible work…

Videojournalism or reporting visually can make you highly visible.  There ya are:  camera in hand, mike out.  You're gathering news to put up...somewhere.  On the web, on TV, whatever. So folks see you with that gear and think, "Hey, I can do THAT!"  Piece of cake. That's the visible part of your job. The invisible …

Paying it forward…and back…

...to the next generation. Truth is I'm nearing the end of my career. Went from shooting production stills to news film and video to teaching broadcasting to retired and working part time with high school students and freelancing as a camera/shooter/videojournalist. Within the next year all of this will slow down...but never really stop. (I …

Ingrained knowledge can be a b****…

Life is full of patterns...we live by them and a good videojournalist sees and uses them. It's all good. Positive. Um...not always. Part of patterning is doing stuff in a certain way - a set way. Do it often enough and your body can go through the motions without the brain having to actively participate. …

Voices that inspire me…

...to get back to blogging. Did a (fairly basic) lighting workshop yesterday for Voices of the Earth, a Bay area non-profit. They're a bit out of the ordinary...a small group of passionate folks who have taught themselves an awful lot about video production and who want to move on to what they call "the next …

Choosing the right nonlinear editing program…

...is a headache. Kinda like driving the same old rattrap car forever...when it dies there are way too many bright shiny new choices you've heard about but honestly really don't know anything about. So I've dumped Apple computers for a PC - a Dell. And I've been slowly trying to wean myself away from the …

Posting from Premiere workshop…

Whew...I spend way too much time in front of the class and not enough sitting and learning. This is a hoot - I'm finding out that Premiere and Final Cut and close relatives and learning new software is easy. The brain-twisting part is the lead-in and instructor ----- made me sweat but did a fantastic …

Relay for Life (edited)…

One to ten isn't a bad shooting:editing ratio. My final story runs a bit over three minutes - and I shot possibly 35 minutes of tape. As usual, I keep wondering what shots I missed...what I could have gotten. More faces I know. (Everyone was at the ceremony, which I didn't want to shoot.) The …

Editing your way to a story

Editing begins the moment you decide you want to do a story. As you sift through ideas, you are constantly editing out those you don't like. Finally, you settle on one story. Now you edit even more: you choose an angle to the story. Remember to think visually as you brainstorm. Season: Autumn * windy …