Singularity Effect vs. Psychic Numbing. Really interesting Vox article about our collective inability to feel empathy for addressing a problem when the number of characters in the story grows from one to two to 20 million. Make the numbers big and you lose a significant amount of engagement. Choose to communicate data or an anecdote – probably best to avoid trying both.
ACTION ITEM: Can you break your story, such as a use case, down into more relatable numbers, perhaps a personal anecdote told from the perspective of an individual? Or can you offer the solution to a smaller subset of a larger challenge so it seems more relatable – and achievable?
Very fun animated GIF – I was a bit skeptical when it started but totally sold by its conclusion. Watch, learn, and make better graphs
ACTION ITEM: Make your graphs as clean and simple as possible – this goes for any PowerPoint slide as well – remove as much as you can, then toss out half of what’s left
Every year, right about this time, I am officially and thoroughly done with summer. I do not like heat, sun, sweat, or sand – yeah, I’m a real delight at the beach 😉
ACTION ITEM: I work hard – really hard – throughout the summer to see the brighter side of my least-favorite season. Such as cool mornings, outside on the deck, with a cup of coffee.
Here’re the kids this morning, watching the eclipse (about 81 percent here in the foothills):
Bonus awesome: The light peeking through the oak leaves make dozens of pinhole cameras. I propped up an old whiteboard so you could see the eclipse reflected in those glimpses of light between the leaves:
We finished up our week a week ago today at The Washington Hotel, a delightful resort built in 1857 and largely unchanged since then. We captured the owner, Charity Jackson, as she taught our host Brian Hamilton how to make their signature cocktail, the Washington Sleeper. I was really reluctant to shoot in a bar as the folks there can often get a little rowdy. But not only were patrons amazingly cooperative and helpful, some even got into the production process. The guy in the Red Sox shirt (far left) got into the spirit by counting us down to the action:
ACTION ITEM: When you’re working with people, and you really need their cooperation, don’t be afraid to include them in the action
The idea behind the “Off The Beaten Path” series were the many humble, out-of-the-way, inconspicuous bars, clubs, and restaurants we motor by every day without having the curiosity to stop in and check them out. We selected a starter batch of three (Dew Drop Inn, the Red Frog Bar and Grill and The Washington Hotel). Our host at the Red Frog, Randy Brock, showed us a rear deck for a shooting location that, though a bit cramped, worked surprisingly well as a shoot location. Here’s what the set up looked like…
…and here’s the result:
ACTION ITEM: Before you set up for your shoot, take a look around and consider every possibility
Iwas on a three-location whirlwind shoot-a-thon this past week creating a lifestyle series for our local newspaper The Union, working title: “Off The Beaten Path”. First stop is The Dew Drop Inn where we interviewed new owner and gracious host Lori Godfrey. Producer was Emily Rolland, Andy Rolland directed and will be editing, and Carson Hall ably served as Camera Operator. I was there for steady leadership and charm 😉 We brought, I think, three different camera platforms but the one we used in the dark environment of the barroom was the Sony a7S. I like this camera for its inconspicuous footprint; but also for its ability to reduce noise (that graininess you see in an image under low-light conditions), even at an ultra-high ISO of 16,000. Here’s what our two speakers looked like:
The fam recently took a vacation to Flagstaff AZ (way more fun than it sounds), flew back home out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. As our plane arrived Andy captured this short (18 seconds) time lapse clip on his iPhone.
Rolland Video Blog 