For work, I often go out to members of LRF (Swedish farmers’ association) and do stories about them. Usually, I want to take photos, record video, as well as recording the sound while I talk to them. Because I will likely produce a web article, a social media post, a video and so on.
That’s a lot. Because there’s only one of me!
What I’ve tried recently is to:
- Take photos with the Nikon D800e (it’s really my personal camera, and I have a Sony camera for work, but more on that some other time) and the 24-120mm lens. I record video with the same Nikon (sometimes I also carry a Nikon D7200, usually with 16-80mm lens, and then it is for videos, primarily).
- As soon as I get on site and have met the person I will interview, I put a wireless Røde microphone on him or her (with their permission) with the microphone receiver connected to a Zoom recorder in my pocket. I typically attach earphones to the Zoom to make sure the sound sounds good. Sometimes I use a Tascam DR-10L. It has the benefit that I can sort of set it and forget it, and it records the whole session with fewer gadgets. The downside is I can’t listen in all the time, so I can’t be absolutely sure it is recording.
I’ve tried this a few times, and it works pretty well.
That way I have audio for the entire session, which I can use for video or for transcripts for text. With a switch on the camera, I can go quickly between video and still photos.
It’s not ideal, because there are so many things to still think about. And I want the experience, for the people I talk to, to be as easy and relaxing as possible.
As relaxing as it can be to have a hot microphone on all the time, and a camera in your face from time to time.
But at least I can capture all that I need to: audio, photos and video.
I still miss things, like I wanted photos or video of something that I didn’t get. But I can live with that.
And to be honest, the most important is that I get the sound, so I can write the article later, and photos for the article as well. Video I can typically go without, even though video is a nice bonus.
So that’s what I do. If you face the same problem, how have you approached it?
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash.
