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Category: Books (Page 2 of 5)

Inspiration From the Work of Master Scribe Thomas Ingmire

August 18, 2012 /

Calligraphy by Thomas Ingmire

“Everything is For Sale,” by Thomas Ingmire, 23 x 12

A few months ago I blogged about seeing a rock star in the World of Intuitive Painting, Michele Cassou.

Now, I want you meet a rock star in the World of Calligraphy you may not know about.

He was the first American elected to England’s Society of Scribes and Illuminators with a craft membership status. He lives in San Francisco and his work is in public and private collections around the world including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Stiftung Academy of Art in Berlin, Germany.

A friend from the Capital City Scribes (of Austin) referred me to Thomas Ingmire in 1996. I met him briefly, long enough to get his beautiful book, Words of Risk: The Art of Thomas Ingmire, written by Michael Gullick.

In the Kalligraphia 13 show of the work of the Friends of Calligraphy you can see one of Ingmire’s pieces on display at the San Francisco Public Library’s 6th floor Skylight Gallery (last day is August 26th).

During a walk-through of the art on display, Ingmire flipped through a book he has in the show which was a collaboration with Robert Sheppard. It’s called Afghanistan: a Visual/Verbal Book by Thomas Ingmire and Robert Sheppard and it’s open to a page (see previous post) that gives you a glimpse of Ingmire’s work.

You can see more of his creations on his website or more at Scriptorium St. Francis, and some of his works are for sale.

I still get inspiration looking through the book Words of Risk. Fortunately it is in print.

“Thomas Ingmire writes pictures. He is a visionary artist whose work resonates with warmth and passion….Ingmire has turned words into images, and combined words with images, to make potent visual magic.” – Michael Gullick, author of Words of Risk.

You might also enjoy:

–3 Things to Like About Gerhard Richter Painting
–3 Discoveries About Intuitive Painting
–Celebrating Cameraless Art

14 Tips from Wayne Freedman on Storytelling (continued)

June 18, 2012 /

Before continuing on with the 14 tips I gathered from Wayne Freedman’s presentation on storytelling, I thought you might enjoy this video of him produced by Warren Mayer. In under 60 seconds hear what Freedman’s advice is to journalism students.

Below is the continuation of the previous post sharing tips I garnered from Freedman’s keynote at the day-long workshop, the “National Academy of Television and Academy Sciences (“NATAS”) Storytelling Workshop.” It was put together by video journalist and photographer Jeremy Carroll and held at the American Broadcasting Company-owned station, KGO-TV, in San Francisco.

5) Let the interviewee find his comfort zone in the interview. This could be by finding a comfortable place to sit. Move the subject around the room, like by the wall, by a window, etc.

6) Find a reason to make people want to talk.

7) Use keywords. When Freedman’s on-camera he said he doesn’t have his script written out, he uses keywords.

8) Throw in visual appeal. Change focal length and mix up your shots with long, medium, close, super close, super long. Shoot in different places. Add more people to the shot.

9) The news story should be able to stand on its own – have a beginning, middle and end. Introduce people by their name (since interest in a person brings interest in the story). Set the scene … “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Add a surprise reveal.

10) Use a Thesaurus! If you get writer’s block use a thesaurus to help you. A thesaurus can also help you identify themes and ways to open or close your story.

11) Bring your own wisdom to your work. Listen to things you say to yourself and put those observations into your story! Come up with simple truths. That add universal appeal to your story. “One small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind,” is an example.

12) Situate yourself for success. “Luck is only good when you’re ready for it and prepared to take care of it when it happens,” said Freedman. He tells the story of when he covered baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr. He didn’t get an interview in advance with Ripken but found a spot next to stand next to Rifken’s wife. When he came to be with his wife, Freedman was able to ask him a few questions. He got the story.

13) People usually have the ability to remember three facts. Three. There’s more to a story than the 5 W’s (where, what, when, why, who).

14) The final tip is a flip from what we’re used to hearing. “You’re only as good as your worst story,” said Freedman. “It’s about time, distance, and people management.”

You can find Freedman’s book at Amazon.

More helpful storytelling tips from other video journalists continued after lunch. Stay tuned and I’ll share those notes in the future.

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14 Tips from Wayne Freedman on Storytelling

June 11, 2012 /

The keynote speaker has won 51 Emmy Awards from the Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. That was plenty of endorsement for me to see Wayne Freedman as he led the first half of a workshop I attended where six San Francisco television journalists shared their tips on telling news stories.

The official event title of the day-long was the “National Academy of Television and Academy Sciences (“NATAS”) Storytelling Workshop.” It was put together by video journalist and photographer Jeremy Carroll and held at the American Broadcasting Company-owned station, KGO-TV, in San Francisco.

The list of presenters included four video journalists:
-Wayne Freedman of KGO-TV
-Jeremy Carroll, photographer for NBC11
-Da Lin of KRON-TV
-Garvin Thomas of NBC Bay Area Proud

and television reporters:
-Julie Watts of KPIX (CBS)
-Noelle Walker of KTVU

Freedman’s book, It Takes More Than Good Looks To Succeed at Television News Reporting, is now in it’s second edition (2011), and required in many college journalism programs in the U.S., Canada and Europe. He shared some information on storytelling that’s worthy of sharing:

1) Feature writing techniques may work better for many television news stories than the traditional news story structure. Instead of putting the most important relevant facts first and the details later, tell the story with a beginning, middle, and end. And add an element of surprise or a big reveal.

Freedman gave several examples of how storytelling is strengthened by not going in chronological order of the actual event and moving elements around. For example, a story he did about a woman’s freeze-dried dog. The order of reveal is not chronological.

2) Storytelling is about structure and timelines. There’s not one timeline, there’s three:

a) the order of events;
b) the order which you shot those events; and
c) the order you put the timelines in the story.

Move the timelines around to add more interest, which changes the structure.

3) Set the Scene. This might be done with one line or ten lines. Don’t give away the story with the first line or begin with the punch line.

4) The viewer needs to have an emotional investment in the subject. Television is a visceral medium. “The road to the head goes through the gut,” said Freedman. Tell stories through people. Compelling stories are visceral stories. “Visceral” means appealing to our instincts more than our intellect.

If the viewer cares about the person they’ll care about the story. Find a person to tell a story. “Sometimes you can tell two or three stories through one person.”

Read more about this Wayne Freedman’s tips in my next post.

You might also like:
–7 Elements to Include in Digital Storytelling
–4 Simple Tools for Effective Storytelling
–Where Do Opals Come From?

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