Part 3: Cambodia

Over the last week I've noticed a lot of differences in the things I shoot and the way I shoot them. Some of these are good but some may also have there downsides. The first is that I have gotten a lot more confident behind the lens of a video camera. It no longer bothers me to hold a video camera in social situations and just film the conversations and interactions occurring. I am however still getting use to this so some of my shots aren't as good as they could be but this is something that will improve with time and practise. Having the confidence to film these interactions is both good and bad as it means that I have more content to work with and am less likely to miss valuable moments but it also means that looking through my content to find grabs and shots that are relevant to our final piece will be time consuming. However this is probably better than missing shots entirely. I'm really excited for the possibilities that being able to shoot candid conversations will have on the impact of my work as I feel like some of the best content comes when people are involved in casual conversations and not thinking about speaking to a camera.

In front of the lens has been one of the areas I feel I have improved on the most. Where this use to be one of the most terrifying areas for me I am now able to approach it with a far more clear mind, allowing me to focus on what I am saying and how I am delivering it.

Photo: Paxton Roth

My new confidence in front of the came has also opened up new opportunities to do impromptu pieces to camera, even in some of the most challenging situations. These stand ups still need a lot of work but having the confidence to do them is something I wouldn't have felt was possible a week ago.

The area that I have found I am still the weakest in is photography. The combination of not having a good quality camera and having no training on how to produce a good quality photo lowers my confidence and adds to the poor quality of photos I am taking. Photography is also just not something I find enjoyment in the way many other on this trip do. I feel like being able to take powerful photos would be an extremely valuable tool to have but it is just not something I enjoy and at this stage in my training I would prefer to work hard on improving the skills I have and enjoy such as speaking to a camera, than spend time working on photography.

Another challenge I faced in my photography was my desire to take photos without tourists, which was obviously hugely difficult in such a busy tourist area. This resulted in lots of photos being poorly framed or disrupted by tourists.

 

 

Being in places like Cambodia and Vietnam as a journalist rather than a tourist gave me a heightened ability to step outside of my own moral and ethical codes and the opportunity to understand what has happening around me from a different point of view. As a journalist your job is to tell stories without imposing your own standards upon the situation. This is a difficult thing to do but definitely something that is becoming easier as I mature as a journalist.