Behind the Scenes
Eric Blumer
I was introduced to video journalism while I was at Moorhead State University, Moorhead MN. I entered college with music as my major. That literally lasted five minutes. On the first day of orientation I was in a large ballroom with other freshmen. There were tables for each major and we sat down to meet our advisors. I sat at my "Music majors" table, then started looking around at signs on each table signifying the majors, such as "Accounting," "Elementary Education," "Biology," "Business," etc... When I saw "Mass Communications," my interest peaked. I had never heard of Mass Comm but in an instant I decided on a new direction. I got up, walked across the room to the Mass Communications table and never looked back.
That was 1984. Since then, I have travelled throughout Colorado, Arizona, South Dakota, Minnesota, parts of the United States and the world. I have met thousands of people and shot, produced and edited thousands of stories covering the good, the bad and the ugly.
Usually, news photographers (video journalists) do not know what we will be working on from one day to the next. We must cover the bad and the sad. But we also cover the good and the happy. Shooting sports, entertainment, and feature stories about interesting people makes our jobs enjoyable. I have covered two Super Bowls, an NBA Final, a Stanley Cup, the U.S. Figure Skating Championship, the Grand Prix, countless professional, high school and college games, plays, events and more. Being on the field as Michael Jordan, John Elway, Patrick Roy, or a high school team is celebrating a championship is a lot of fun. Yet the work is often very hard and the hours long.
Most days are uneventful, however. For me, that has meant sitting through hundreds of state, city, county, and school board meetings listening for any interesting and newsworthy items. These meetings are important but not very visual. I have visited countless hospitals, doctors offices, businesses, parks, resorts, museums, farms, factories, and every type of place in between. I have videotaped hundreds of houses, buildings, streets, signs, statues, sunrises, sunsets, mountains, streams, animals and interviewed countless spokespersons. These normal, average news stories about the latest consumer, market or technological trends fill up a lot of air time on the newscast. The average day for a news photographer isn't very exciting.
But there are interesting and exciting news stories to cover as well. I have videotaped open heart surgery, knee replacement surgery, facelift surgery, three live births (one C-section), the birth and separation of conjoined twins, and other medical procedures. I flew in a medical evacuation helicoptor with emergency responders as they treated a patient with a gun shot wound to his head. I have videotaped four U.S. Presidents and been a part of the Presidential motorcade. When the weather turns bad, we need to capture it. Shooting during a deadly blizzard, heavy hail storm, driving rain or strong wind is challenging. Yet we must do it. I have worked in 30 degrees below zero (South Dakota) and 115 above (Phoenix).
I covered forest fires in Malibu, Arizona, South Dakota and Colorado; the adoption of Romanian orphans and children living in tunnels and sewer holes in Bucharest; the horrible Columbine masacre; hundreds of murder scenes; the crash of United Flight 232 in Sioux City, Iowa; the trial and execution of Timothy McVeigh and one year aniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing; the farm crisis in the early 1980s; the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey and the assasination of a Mexican Presidential candidate in Tijuanna. I have extensively covered the illegal immigration issue on the U.S. / Mexico border. I spent hours shooting illegal crossings, and went along with a group through a tunnel as they secretly and illegally crossed into the U.S. I have gone undercover as well to secretly shoot video of illegal activities. I spent five days covering the devastation in New Orleans days after hurricane Katrina. I worked in the toxic flooded streets, flew over the city in a Blackhawk helicoptor, and witnessed first hand the death and devastation.
There are also many good news stories. I have covered numerous graduations, award ceremonies, parties, reunions, parades, festivals, contests, fairs, presentations and weddings. I have enjoyed many funny stories, stories with artists, musicians, and singers. I have had the pleasure of covering the annual Colorado Christmas Concert by the Colorado Symphony, Choir, and Childrens Chorale. These types of stories are a joy to cover.
Being a video journalist has been a very interesting profession. I can't imagine another in which you travel extensively, meet every type of person, and find yourself in every type of situation. As a video journalist, I try to capture and compose interesting pictures and sounds. I work on the Four C's of Video Journalism: Content, Craft, Creativity and Commitment. I do my best to tell strong, newsworthy stories and serve the public with the truth. We can inform, entertain, educate and inspire.
Professional Biography: I graduated from Minnesota State University, Moorhead, with a major in Mass Communications (advertising and broadcast journalism.) After graduating, I worked as a radio news reporter/anchor at KBRF radio, Fergus Falls, Minnesota. My first television news job was at KCMT, Alexandria, MN. Then four years at KSFY-TV, Sioux Falls, SD and four years at KTVK, Phoenix, AZ, before coming to Denver in 1994. I currently shoot and edit daily general news stories, run live trucks and shoot live shots. In the past, I have shot, edited, written, and produced visual stories and documentaries and worked on special projects.
I have presented seminars on video journalism throughout the U.S. and Canada for universities, schools, journalism associations, the U.S. Department of Defense, Avid, and others. I have served on the board and the executive committee of the National Press Photographers Association.
Professional awards include: 1995 National TV Photographer of the Year (NPPA), International IRIS Award (NATPE), National Edward R. Murrow Award (RTNDA), Distinguished Alumni Award (Minnesota State University Moorhead), numerous national and regional NPPA awards, twenty one regional Emmy awards (NATAS), Arizona TV Photographer of the Year (1993), three time NPPA Regional Photographer of the Year, numerous awards from the Associated Press, Colorado Press Association, Best of the West and others.