Videos

There is no secret ingredient. Believing in yourself and putting your heart into your work is what makes it special. If you treat it that way, so will others. I feel this is a perfect example of how to approach professional storytelling and journalism.

This month the course work we discussed and learned was all about defining four main concepts – What are my strengths and weaknesses, and how will that shape my content? What are the main elements of telling a story that will engage and compel my audience? Who is this audience, and what do they want? And finally, where can this audience be found, and how do I effectively develop content for this wide array of platforms? Going back to the concept of the secret ingredient from Kung Fu Panda, I think it becomes apparent how it relates to what we learned in this course – Look inside yourself and discover your value. Make sure you authentically express the passion you feel. When you do this, others will recognize and respond to your excitement. And lastly, special means different things to different people who will best be able to digest it (no noodle pun intended) in their own personal way through formats they find most suitable to them.

For the most part, I’d say all of that pretty much met my expectations for this month’s class. I really enjoyed the first week when we discussed competencies. That was something I didn’t anticipate but gained a lot from doing so. It made me evaluate where I am right now as a professional and where I hope to be in the near future. I gained insight into specific areas that I should focus my time and efforts to form a solid foundation as a content creator. Storytelling is something I love. Lately, I have found myself reading way more non-fiction books. I am fascinated by writers who can take often mundane historical or scientific subjects and spin them into a captivating story that keeps me wanting more. I hope to be able to do this as well. I think I have a good grasp of who my audience will likely be already, but I was glad to have discovered some resources through the class to better define them and ensure they are responding well to my work. As for looking into the media industry platforms, I am happy this class encouraged me to really start to consider more seriously some of the digital outlets I had been ignoring for one reason or another. I finally have a Twitter account and am excited to see what doors and windows this opens in my professional life.

I feel good about the fact that I have been able to quickly identify my content niche and what I am passionate about (wildlife and conservation through photojournalism). As long as I make sure to add that “special ingredient” into my work and follow these core concepts I learned this month, I will be effective and successful at telling stories and inspiring others to continue coming back for more content in the future.

Cobb, M. (Producer), Osborne, M. (Director) & Stevenson, J. (Director). (2008). Kung Fu Panda. [Motion Picture]. United States: DreamWorks Animation.

“Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you’re standing outside the fire.”        (Brooks, 1993)

The call came across the scanner at 2:00am for everyone west of Las Virgenes road to evacuate immediately. I grabbed some clothes, my cat, my camera gear, my hard drives that contain all my photos, and I headed out to the car. I locked the door to my home with the painful realization I may never see it again. Wind gusts were howling up to 50mph that night and they were pushing a massive glowing red cloud through the treeline of my Calabasas neighborhood. It was the Woolsey Fire charging toward us like a freight train out of control. There was no time for panic, just action.

In the next few days I would learn the hard lesson that terrible things come our way when we least expect, but we can’t let them inhibit our progress. I still had work to do, school assignments to finish, and a family to care about. I didn’t sleep for days. The time during my evacuation was nerve-shattering not knowing if my home was still standing or not. I located a map showing the fire’s destructive spread,  and all I knew was the fire plowed right through my area. I used a pen to mark the location of my home within the path. It demolished everything around me. But through the grace of God my home survived the blaze.

The Garth Brooks song “Standing Outside the Fire” has always stood out to me as the perfect representation of what it means to live a life of fulfillment. It means taking risks and potentially getting burned. It means leaving safety and comfort to accomplish goals no matter what. After this past week the song has obvious new significance for me. Adversity, fires, will come my way again. I feel more confident after going through this trial that I can and will succeed. Forcing myself to take bigger risks has a whole new meaning and context in my life. I will use this experience to forge myself into a stronger more capable professional and human being. I saved a scorched leaf to frame and hang on my wall as a constant reminder of how fragile and uncertain life is and not to take any of it for granted. I must live every day as if it were all going to disappear tomorrow.

 

Brooks, G. (1993) Standing Outside the Fire. [Recorded by Garth Brooks]. On In Pieces [CD]. Nashville, TN: Liberty.

[Above the Line Studios]. (2011, June 10). Standing Outside the Fire. [Video File] Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/24944823

All photos are my own.

In some ways, the movie Chasing Mavericks kick started my journey to discovering what I am capable of achieving in life. Jay Moriarity was one of the most driven and determined people imaginable. His courage and spirit were undaunted. But those virtues were instilled in him through a mentor, Frosty Hesson. Jay became an apprentice under Frosty to learn big wave surfing. He had to learn the fundamentals first, and in this particular scene where they encounter a great white shark while free diving Jay learns one of the most important lessons anyone attempting mastery must understand; “Fear is healthy.” (Hanson & Apted, 2012) It is through fear we grow stronger. To do great things takes great courage. But courage is not the absence of fear. It is the willingness to face fear, acknowledge it, and then take action despite its presence. Everyone has fears that range from big to small. This scene where Frosty explains the difference between fear and panic stood out to me as a defining moment in Jay’s life, but also for my own journey. I think of this moment when feeling apprehensive about taking risks to move forward in my endeavors. The unknown is frightening. Uncertainty creates doubt. But over the past few years I have felt much more confident to approach my fears and get out of my comfort zone to achieve my goals. The whole movie is really inspiring as it tells the true life story of Jay, whose life was tragically cut short in 2001, and conveys an overall message of “Live like Jay,” which essentially translates to seize the day. (Hanson & Apted, 2012) But I love and attribute this scene in particular for motivating the important changes I’ve made in my life toward pursuing my dreams.

Hanson, C. (Producer/Director), Apted, M. (Director). (2012). Chasing Mavericks      [Motion Picture] United States. 20th Century Fox.