Immersive Video Journalism - What is it?

My cyber colleague and mentor, David Dunkley-Gyimah posted a blog entry entitled “Hail the Immersive Video Journalist” introducing me as one who is uniquely qualified to bring the skills of being a “Jack Of All Trades, Master Of Them All” to the aquatic realm.

Once I got past the blushing of seeing my credentials being promoted, there are those who might stumble across my site, ImmersiveVJ.com and wonder what does the term “Immersive Video Journalist” as coined by David, actually represent?

In a nutshell, take the skills of a Solo Video Journalist, as described here, and incorporate the additional skills of freediving (in my case) or scuba diving to the mix. This adds a whole new dimension to working as a Solo Video Journalist.

I prefer to work in the water while freediving. In layman's terms, freediving is breath hold diving. I train five to six days a week to maintain a level of fitness that will allow me to hold my breath while shooting video for up to two minutes at a time. 60 minutes of Power Yoga is my primary method of training in the off season, graduating to a couple of pool sessions per week as the weather warms up here in the Pacific Northwest. It requires self discipline to practice the skills of freediving as it forces one to become absolutely present at depth, holding your breath and operating a video camera in a housing, while at the same time, being creative in ones shooting technique.

As such, the ImmersiveVJ site is a platform to promote not so much the hardware end of things, but the technologies, story telling techniques and musings on shooting video underwater while freediving - and doing so with a perspective that promotes working as a one man production company - ie; "A Jack Of All Trades, Master Of Them All".