Train is coming

Joe Gregory said "I heard the train coming and I am not one to be in harms way so I decided to hop aboard. When I got on the train I noticed I jumped onto the luxury car." Joe is my chief photographer or I should now say, Chief Video Journalist, and he is finishing up vj training this week. He is optimistic about the change and thinks it is here to stay. I agree.

The second week of training is coming to an end and I have seen some great stories from group two. Reporter, Melissa Penry, shot and edited a few great stories and the photographers wrote and sounded very good. I know you will want to judge for yourselves so check them out on the internet at WKRN. I am curious to hear what you think about the stories so please let me know.

The Rest of My Family

Riley, with Fish in the background on the left and Gracie on the right. Since I shared some sad news today I thought I would end with a few reasons to smile. I will get back on subject tomorrow.

Today started very sad but then again I knew that it was going to be one of those days before it began. You see, our dog Casey has lived a long, happy life with us but his age finally caught up with his spirit as his health declined. Ember and I decided that we would take the trip to the veterinarian's office on Thursday morning if Casey did not make a miraculous recovery.

He was pretty frail by Wednesday evening but we made him as comfortable as possible and tucked him in for the night. This morning we found him laying peacefully right were we left him.

I have been trying to go on as normal, but I know it will not be the same at home without Casey running around.

I will have another story that airs at 10 tonight. I think you will be able to find it on WKRN.com by tomorrow. Let me know what you think.

One of the things that I like about the vj transformation is the equipment. The size and quality of the camera can't be beat. The picture of me is a good example of what I am talking about. I grabbed the picture from the video I was shooting from the back of a motorcycle. Since my new camera is small, I am able to get shots that were not possible with my old 25lb sx beta cam. The problem with the new equipment is that I do not know its limitations and full capabilities. The limitations are more of an operator problem than any thing else and I will be fluent with the camera in no time.

I wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to comment and share constructive criticism. I will admit it is a little strange to have the feedback. I have never had to deal with it before because it has always been a reporters story and I just went home. Please keep
it coming though, and with your advice and some hard work on my part I will be able to get better. Thank you for throwing out some story ideas. I definitely can use more of that.

I set out today with the goal of completing a story in one day and I did it! Thanks to great teachers and the help of my fellow vjs I was able complete the story for the 10pm news. It aired around 10:19 Saturday night. Keep your eye on News 2's web site to view the story about motorcycle riders who joined together to show their support for our troops.

It has been a long, hard, yet rewarding week and I have not seen my supportive, beautiful, loving wife very much so I am out of here!

If you would like to see my first vj story go to WKRN's web site and click on As Seen On Two and go to TennCare protesters remain resolute as sit-in enters 32nd day.

My first video journalist story is set to run during the 4:30 news cast. I think it turned out pretty good. I am not expecting to win an emmy with the story but I feel it is as good as anything that I have done this year. With practice I will only be able to get better at writing and telling the stories.

The image to the left was taken while I was voicing the Tenncare protest sit-in pkg.

The hours of the training sessions this week have caught up with me and I feel the effects. Besides not being able to think clearly, the muscles in my legs and back are aching. I think I am sore from the long hours of sitting in front of a computer trying to make tv magic.

Check out the blog of Tim French who is one of my video journalist teachers. You will be able read his perspective on what I have been going through.

It is Friday morning and I am still alive. After reading some industry message boards I thought that I might spontaneously combust if I went into vj training. Seriously, I am having a great time. The hours are long, I am tired, my eyes are red and blood shot, but I have completed my first news story. I have shot, written, voiced, and edited 3 stories and I feel pretty good about what I have accomplished. I would like to tell you guys more but I need to get on to story number four. Let me know if you guys have any good story ideas for me.

Wednesday was an interesting day for me. I understand that the feelings I am having are not always rational or sane but they are messing with me none the less. For awhile yesterday I was pretty discouraged because I felt like the other kids were playing in the deep end of the pool and I was stuck in the shallow end wishing that I could swim. Writing the story is new to me and I struggled with it. We are receiving first class training and Kelly is reassuring me that I am doing fine and also reminded me that it was only the 3rd day of training.

As of right now I have shot, edited, wrote and voiced two stories that were completely mine, which came out pretty good considering I have never wrote or voiced a story before. I will say again that I am going to like being a VJ.

Cutting the voice track of my narration seems weird. I must have done 50 takes yesterday trying to get it just right. I tried voicing the narration as if I was telling the story to my wife. I am sure I will get better it with time. I always admired how my friend Luke Duecy, an anchor and reporter in Richmond, Virginia voices his narrations. Luke makes it sound like he standing next to me telling me about the story.

I am off to see what I will learn today.

It is 11pm central time in Nashville and I just got home from training a few minutes ago. Whew, I am worn out! Today was another productive day, similar to yesterday, with assignments to shoot and edit our stories. I had a few snags in story gathering part of my day and ended up going on a re-shoot. The second time was the charm because I found a better story. The rest of my class was more successful than I was and I am looking forward to seeing their work.

The photograph above is a picture of our work space with George Mitchell and Mike Browning hard at work between Kelly and Tim French who are expertly instructing us on how to implement the VJ tools.

I am on my way to talk to the sandman to get some rest. Last night I dreamed of vj training so I am curious about tonight's dreams. I had better get to bed quickly or I will be day dreaming during the lessons tomorrow.

Today was an exhaustive day of training as we were at it for nearly 12 hours with tons of information to digest and cultivate. With the first day of training quickly coming to an end, I remain positive and honestly, somewhat excited about the future.

I would try to explain what I learned today but it is getting late and my eyeballs are bloodshot already! I will share a few of my thoughts though. For those of you who are an NPPA photographer and have been to the workshop in Norman, Oklahoma, it is easy to understand because you have basically been through the training. The ideas and principles of telling a good story were drilled into our head and we were even sent out to shoot and edit a story with a public critique session to follow.

The day zipped right by even though it was really long. I am anxiously awaiting the things that the rest of this week will have in store for me. The photo was taken by VJ Neil Orne.

I am back to work after a wonderful week on vaction which means I am almost three hours into the vj training. I am even more optimistic about the new experience and I will have more details later on this evening. For now I have got to get back to work.

We had a photographers meeting with the boss last night. I received answers to many questions that have been on my mind since the big announcement was made. Several of the topics were internal policy issues that I do not need to share but I did hear some very exciting info about the future.

Most of the negative comments that I have read are based on the old, standard way of gathering news. I believe you will see a huge change in the way that the news is covered and collected. The vj system will allow us to work together in new and creative ways to make a better product. I would not say that the possibilities are endless but the options are plentiful. Management expects personalities to be seen in our work and our stories to be varied based on individual style.

How many of you are sick of the doom and gloom of local news? The attitude of "if it bleeds it leads" has strangled the news viewing pleasure from more than a few people I know. I think TV news viewers are going to enjoy the impending changes as much as me, if not more.

I am going to be on vacation next week so I will be rested, relaxed and ready for my vj training starting the 18th.

I was up late last night reading the discussions about the vj transformation at WKRN on TVSpy.com. Since I work at WKRN I was curious to see what was being said. I found that the majority of those who were posting were negative with the exception of oldcbsguy who left very defensive yet positive posts. It was pretty apparent that oldcbsguy is Michael Rosenblum who has been leading the charge for more stations to change to the vj format. Mr Rosenblum has been at my station to observe and his company will be training me and my coworkers.

Let me get back to the negativity that was oozing out of the watercooler on TVSpy. I guess it is human nature to be skeptical of something completely different from what we are used to doing but I would hope people keep an open mind. I on the other hand have been accused of drinking the red Kool Aid that the management has been passing out around here but I try to think positive which does not mean that I am not worried, scared and concerned about the future because I am. I also know there is nothing that will stop the process from happening here, short of a record speed unionization of my cowokers, so I have decided to face this change like a man with my arms out wide to embrace this "vjdom" with a big fat hug and make the best of it.

I have been playing with the camera that the vj's will be using (Sony zu-1) and I am going to like it. The best thing about the new camera with accessories is the size and weight. Currently, the equipment that I use weighs 54lbs. Camera, tripod, fanny pack, microphones, and extra tape. The Sony ZU-1 is a mini-dv format which makes everything smaller and lighter. I guess that the total weight will be under 15lbs.

I have shot one story completely with the ZU-1 and I do not think many people will be able to notice the difference in quality. News 2 has purchased several Dell lap-top computers which will be used for editing. I have seen them in the building but I have not had a chance to play with one yet. We will be using pinnacle editing software to edit our stories on the laptops. I am told we will be able to email the stories into the station and on occasion, not even have to come into the building.

I am scheduled to go through an intensive, six day, training session. I am on vacation next week so I will be to rest up and then hit the ground running with the vj training. I will be in the first class on training which is exciting itself. Feel free to include me in your prayers.

Here I am with my wife Ember who is the Love of my life. 

Nashville, the city I work in. Photograph that I took last July.

I have started a blog to keep a public diary of the evolution of my career from television news photojournalist into a television video journalist or vj. If you are wondering "what is a vj?" the short answer to that question is a person who works as a one-man band, reporting, shooting and editing a news story. I have worked as a TV news photojournalist working with a reporter and being primarily responsible for shooting and editing daily news stories for eleven years.

I work at WKRN News 2 is Nashville, TN where the whole station is converting to the non-traditional vj format, which is more than a little scary. News 2 will be the first station in the country to completely switch to this format. I guess a lot of the fear is of the unknown, will I be able to adjust, will the vj concept succeed and will I still have a job in six months?! are just a few of the many fears that are knocking around in my head. The management of the station has done a good job of reassuring our staff that the vj concept will work but there are a lot of people who are very skeptical.

I know there will be a lot of people watching the transformation to see how it turns out. I am excited about the new opportunity and hope it goes well.