New Year Photo - Peace & Love in Munich

On the first day of 2010, I’d like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year and Peace and Love around the world. I took this photo in the Hofgarten in Munich, when I was there in December with my parents.

The first snow of winter had just fallen in Munich and I wandered into the Hofgarten, the formal public gardens, just behind the Residenz Palace to take some photos of the park covered by snow. People were out strolling, with children and dogs playing in the snow and people had been writing in the snow covering the tables of this cafe. I immediately thought what a great Christmas card this would be, perhaps I’ll send it to my nearest and dearest next year.

So here’s to Peace and Love in 2010!

Other Munich articles to enjoy

Visiting the Munich Christmas Markets - Podcast
Postcard from the Snow in Munich
Postcard from the Christmas markets in Munich

Munich Resources

• We stayed in Munich at Hotel Falkenturm, a comfortable, 2 star hotel which is well-located for sightseeing
• The guidebook I used on this trip was the pocket sized Dorling Kindersley, Eyewitness Top 10 guide to Munich, which I found ideal for sightseeing if you are there for a short time.
• Official Munich Tourism Website

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Friday photo - City lights in Millenium square, Bristol

The harbouside area of Bristol is one of the great places to walk, eat and hang out, with numerous restaurants and bars and plenty of history to take in from Bristol’s maritime past. Millenium square is a great place to go in good weather, with water features and shallow pools and statues of famous Bristolians, and it’s right next to the @t Bristol hands-on Science centre which is a favourite with families.

I ventured down there one evening after work to go to one of the numerous festivals that take place by the waterside, as the organisers had borrowed some of the footage from our Harbourside video and were playing it on a big screen. It’s rare for me to go down in the evening, so I hadn’t seen all the lighting that illuminates the square, it really makes it something special, don’t you think? especially as the lighting reflects in the water pools.

Seems that you find something enchanting every day in your own city if you know where to look. In your home town are there any areas like this that are particularly atmospheric or beautiful at night?

Take a look at the Bristol Harbourside video here

This photo is posted as part of >Photo Friday over at Delicious Baby - head over to see all the other photo Fridays.

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www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Bristol - harbourside photoset

How to do a great video interview for your blog

If you’ve ever met an interesting character on your travels and wished you could interview them on video, then this post could be for you. I’ve been recently recording a few video interviews myself and thought I’d share with you the things I learned - I’m assuming that you already have a video camera and have a basic knowledge of shooting and editing the video.

 

1. Practice on your friends
Before you start interviewing people who are busy or important, make sure you have practiced on a few friends first. For example, your friend has just come back from an exotic travel destination, so interview them about the things they loved about their holiday.

2. Do your Homework
If you know in advance that you’ll be interviewing someone, then do your homework. Have a thorough look through the interviewee’s blog or website, read their book, find out a bit about the place or subject that they’ll be talking to you about.

3. Do a pre-interview
In order to get the best interview, you need to do a bit of a reahearsal, but without making it seem so. For instance you may sit and chat with the person for a while before the interview, or talk over the phone or if in the example of a tour guide, take their tour. That way, you’re in a position to ask the right questions and get a concise and interesting interview. You’ll also be more relaxed and so will the person you’re interviewing.

4. Decide the look of your video
There are several different ways you could film your video interview, and you need to decide on one in order to shoot it the right way. for example;

• Both interviewer and interviewee are on camera - in this example you need to shoot reaction shots
• Only interviewee on camera but you hear the interviewer asking questions - in this example you need to keep the questions short
• Only interviewee on camera but questions are shown on the screen and the interviewee talks continuusly - in this example you need to avoid overlap of question and answer so that questions may be edited out.

These are just a few examples - you may find other creative ways, but you can see how you’ll need to plan this in advance to get the right shots.

5. Decide on the length of your video
If you are planning to show the interview on your blog or video hosting site such as YouTube you probably don’t want to go over the 5 minute mark. Some people will start to snooze after 3 minutes. Allow around one question for each minute of video. So in a 5 minute interview you can only ask 4-5 questions.

Now take a break and look at my video interview with Rob Wallace of Freddie’s Beach Bar. Be kind - this was my first attempt!

 

If you can’t see the video above, view it on Youtube

6. Decide on the questions you will ask and write them down
If you’ve had an informal chat in the pre-interview stage, you will have a good idea of the questions to ask to bring out whatever the subject has to say. Decide the questions, bearing in mind the number you will have time to ask and then perhaps a couple spare questions if the interview moves quickly. Then tell the interviewee what questions you would like to ask them.

You may also ask your subject if they have a question they’d particularly like you to ask. Once you’ve decided the questions, write them down to keep in front of you during the interview, although perhaps not visible on camera. You should use them as a prompt, but not necessarily follow them slavishly.

7. Brief your interviewee
Before you start the interview, tell the interviewee what’s going to happen in the interview - things like;

• How long the interview will last
• The questions you plan to ask
• Ask them to allow a pause at the end of each question and answer, and to allow space at the end of the interview to allow you to edit the video more easily. If you are planning to edit out the questions, let the interviewee know, so that they allow a second or two before starting to answer each question.

8. Set up the equipment
I’m assuming that you have already arrived with your video camera, ample film or memory cards, and a couple of full charged batteries (double check all of this well beforehand to avoid embarassment) To get a good interview, you will also need to use a tripod, to avoid shaky footage and a small plug-in microphone, to attatch to the interviewee’s clothes. Position the camera just below head level of the interviewee for the most flattering shots.

9. Consider the background and environment
Think about where you should do the interview. Best not to be somewhere too busy, or where you’ll be interrupted. Choose an attractive background, or one which will enhance the story you are trying to tell. If you’re talking to someone about a historic site, or their business, try to get it in the background. Consider the noise levels, and if there’s a lot of wind, traffic or background noise, consider moving somewhere quieter.

10. Think about your editing.
Either before or after the interview, you need to take some additional shots which will make your video look much more professional. Take lots and make them around 5 seconds each. The sort of shots to think about are;

• Placement shots taken from a distance of the interviewer and interviewee. You should look as if you are doing the interview, although the audio of these shots will not be used.
• Reaction shots - if the interviewer is also in front of the camera, you need to get some head sots of them reacting to what is being said - laughing, looking thoughtful, interested, nodding etc. Try to make them look natural.
• Introductions and closure - You can film a shot of the interviewer making a short introduction and also winding up the interview separately from the main interview and then cut them in.
• Cut-away shots of the surroundings which will be used to cover up any editing or breaks in the dialogue. These can be any interesting or attractive shots going on in the background of the main interview. You should make sure you get a cut-away shot of anything that represents the things being talked about in the interview. If possible, do these before or after the interview to avoid keeping the interviewee waiting.

Of course, sometimes things happpen on the spur of the moment and you won’t have time to follow all these steps, so just bear them in mind and use them where appropriate. You can also apply these tips when doing an audio interview either to post as a podcast or to transcribe for your blog. See an example of my interview with Yannis Vardakastanis about Saving the Caretta Caretta turtles on Zakynthos

My bonus tip: Note down names and addresses
An the excitement of doing the video it’s easy to forget to take a person’s business card or write down their name, e-mail address and website. You’ll want to show these on your video later and if you don’t have these details later it can be really embarassing. Also you’ll want to be able to let them know when you have posted your video. People love to be a star!

Other Resources
Many of these tips were covered in a podcast about doing interviews which was included as part of my Become a Blogger Premium course. The interview was with expert interviewer Corinne Edwards and you may be interested the article she wrote about interviewing;
Interview like Larry King - Learning from the Pro

See more videos on my Youtube Channel

You may also enjoy
How to film your travel video
How to make a TV Travel documentary
12 ways that Flickr can enhance your blog

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