FIELD NOTES

Insights from working in more than 85 countries. I’ll help you live, work, and take better pictures, from anywhere in the world.

free podcast advice

I spend a ton of time traveling, both in the air and driving (when can I please start sailing again?!) and most of the time I have my iPod on.  Only rarely am I listening to music, although I have a nice collection ranging from Eva Cassidy to the Rolling Stones, from James Taylor to…

Read More →

Cindy McCain and my wife…

Cindy McCain and my wife, Kat, have something in common (besides both being beautiful, capable women)… they have both been active volunteers with the Norfolk, Virginia based charity Operation Smile. I was watching Mrs. McCain’s speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention, during which she mentioned Operation Smile. This fine group of plastic surgeons,…

Read More →

Is it twittering or tweeting?

Not long ago I blogged about Twitter [click here to read it] and wasn’t really all that complementary.  But what a power peer pressure is!  Some of my best friends are active twitters, or is it tweeters… check out what Michael “Holy Cow” Buckingham and Mark “Hardly Normal” Horvath are up to [ @holycowcreative and…

Read More →

Prompter Hell

I have produced thousands of hours of live and live-to-tape television, and the majority of all problems have come from IFB (interruptible foldback- that ear piece allowing a mix-minus feed of audio) or the prompter (the screens that allow the speaker to read the script whilst looking out at the cameras). Last night at the…

Read More →

The Paradox of Church Growth

“We’re not trying to grow a church here.” That’s not exactly what you expect to hear right before the pastor says that we must expand to three services because of our rapid growth. It’s not normal, but that’s what Rod Van Solkema told us this Sunday at Crossroads Bible Church outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan.…

Read More →

flirtin’ with disaster

Wow… two hurricanes, two tropical depressions… yeah baby we’re flirtin’ with disaster!  Sorry Molly Hatchet for rippin off your song, but it works!  I’ve been part of a few productions that have been disasters in the recent past, but I haven’t been in a huge natural disaster for a couple of years… and the adrenaline…

Read More →

The Lost Art of the Great Speech

I love speeches. No, actually, I hate most speeches, I love great speeches. That is why I watched much of the Democratic National Convention this week. I was on the lookout for great use of language. There are so few people who write for the spoken word, and so few speakers who can deliver those…

Read More →

Rules for Vacation

Summer is just about history.  Labor Day — the traditional start of Autumn — is less than a week away, and I just got the jet ski registered and ready to put in the water! Good thing I have a wet suit! We did have a great vacation. Early on we looked at the calendar and found…

Read More →

forced evacuation

I’m spending a lot of time right now in Central Ohio, helping a huge television ministry as executive producer. It’s demanding, hard and rewarding but tonight it ramped up to a whole new level. After dinner with my buddy and Avid editor extrodinaire Mark, I went back to the office to finish writing a script.…

Read More →

Don’t Let Up and Don’t Give Up.

Two lessons today… First: when you are on top of the world, everything seems to be going right, and as the church says, you’re blessed — don’t let up.  The situation can change quickly, crap can come out of nowhere, and next thing you know, you’re fighting, struggling, desperate to get back to where you…

Read More →

Back to Top