The great thing about being a video journalist (VJ) is you get to see the world through a lens. Couple of weekends ago a Bottlenose Whale swam into Spry Bay near the Eastern Shore. What a sight!
Usually you have to be in a boat off somewhere in the Atlantic to catch a glimpse of one. Or you can just be a VJ and be assigned the story.
I just started shooting, editing and reporting my stories at CBC Nova Scotia. I’m a video journalist or VJ. I love it. It’s tougher than being a reporter. You’re doing multiple jobs and you have to multitask. But in many ways you have complete control. Nothing’s stopping you from getting your gear and heading to the next story.
I just finished my demo tape of some of the stories I shot. Check it out.
I just finished reading this book after putting it down and them picking it up. That’s not an indication of the quality. Just that it’s one of those books you can put down and pick up again. In fact I like those kind of books.
Inside there are many tips that you don’t learn in journalism school. Like how to develop sources. How to talk to parents who child has just died. The importance of a work life balance.
For me the biggest take away is how to stay positive in this industry and how not to get jaded.
Didn’t realize how true the statement is. Everybody knows everyone in a small town. Yep, it took an assignment that sent me down to Nova Scotia’s South East coast to understand this.
Two towns there were hit by a weekend snow storm in February. My assignment editor sent me down to a couple of areas that received the worst damage.
Camera man and I getting ready to hit the road.
Our first stop? The Shelburne waterfront, which had been inundated with storm surges the day before. But today, the water had receded as if it never happened. There was really nothing to see. And the locals knew it. That’s why the waterfront was dead. But we got our shots anyway.
Just came from the Shelburne water front. You can’t tell this place was under storm surge waves yest’d. Things look fine. #CBCNS
The town of Barrington had returned to normal, but some were cleaning up from the storm’s vandalism.
Winds, that were at times hurricane strength, looted its way through signs, leaving shreds hanging in the afternoon breeze. The rampage continued as the storm ripped off the facade of a local No Frills and smashed its glass like a bandit.
Stopping by Martin’s No Frills in Barrington, where part of the front entrance was torn down by the wind. #cbcnstwitter.com/CBCDavid/statu…
A short distance away, the winds lifted the roof off a trailer park home and dropped it on the street a couple metres away, the crime scene still fresh.
The damage made for great TV. So like the wind, we arrived, got all the footage and interviews we needed, and took off.
***
The next day, back at the newsroom, one of the producers who didn’t work that weekend, asks.
“Where you down in Barrington this weekend? Because my mother, heard from her cousin, who said her friend met a Black reporter down there.”
“Yes,” I respond; blushing.
“Yep, they said they saw you. You’re the talk of the town.”
davidthurton.com 