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Four stories that floored me at the NPPA Best of Photojournalism Video Workshop

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I’m fortunate to occasionally get asked to speak at journalism workshops, which gives me a good reason to attend those workshops. It’s hard to carve time away from my family, especially on weekends. But I do it for the chance to embrace an atmosphere of passion, enthusiasm, and devotion to a complicated profession.

I especially embrace the critique sessions. Whether one-on-one or in a small group, they offer substantial windows for substantive conversation. Journalists ask my advice, and I dispense it. But I always learn plenty myself, and sometimes I wind up asking my own questions.

Such was the case earlier this month.

I spoke alongside my E.W. Scripps teammate Justin McCray at the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism Video Workshop in Nashville. Our presentation was Saturday. The critique sessions came Sunday. And three-quarters of the way through, I watched a story that could easily be its own workshop presentation.

That story – and several others – left me stunned. I hope they have a similar effect on you:

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PODCAST EPISODE #52: Oliver Janney, senior field production supervisor, CNN

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The morning after he sat down for this podcast, Oliver Janney hopped on a plane from Washington, DC to Norman, Oklahoma.

Why?

He could not pass up the chance to be a part of the faculty at the famed NPPA News Video Workshop.

Janney has a pretty busy day job; he is the senior field production supervisor at the DC bureau for CNN. He monitors dozens of photojournalists who fly all over the world to cover the biggest stories.

But he also used to be one of those photojournalists in the field, and before he reached the national heights of CNN, he got a kick-start by attending the workshop in Norman.

Janney is my guest on Episode #52 of the Telling The Story podcast.

“That one week truly changed the trajectory of my career,” Janney told me. “I thought I knew what I was doing before that, and I came out of that week questioning everything, excited, and just fired up.”

I met Janney two weeks ago when we both spoke at a different NPPA workshop: the Northern Short Course in Fairfax, Va. I truly enjoyed hearing his perspective as a photojournalist who has experienced both local and national newsrooms. I wanted to bring his insights to the recorded audience of this podcast, and Janney happily obliged.

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PODCAST PREVIEW: Jeff Reid: “This is one of my finest hours”

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A week ago, I spoke of my pride for taking part in “50 Years Of Change”, an hour-long documentary about the Civil Rights events of 1963. It premiered last week to great acclaim from viewers and local leaders.

Now, allow me to introduce you to the man behind it.

Jeff Reid has been a co-worker of mine at WXIA-TV in Atlanta for more than a year; he joined us after spending 15 years at CNN, spearheading their documentary department and producing the much-discussed “Black in America”. He manages our enterprise content, meaning he oversees the production of long-form stories and investigations.

His other big mission? Get a few documentaries under our belts — and make them great.

In the recent history at our station, we had done the occasional single-topic newscast and even a documentary or two, but we had not tackled a topic as heavy as the Civil Rights movement — and we certainly had not filled an hour doing so — until “50 years Of Change”. For his part, Reid had never produced a documentary with so little time and staff; he spearheaded this one with a team of 8-10 people in barely a month.

Reid discusses the process with me on this episode of the Telling The Story podcast.

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