This week in Hilversum, the Netherlands the RNW-NOOR Academy kicked off with a three-day training on visual storytelling for a select group of editors working for Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW). The 14 participants represent different regional editorial departments of RNW being the Arab, Africa, Latin America and China Desks. Amongst the participants were also social media editors and web designers from the ‘Themes & Projects’ department.
The group, together with NOOR photographer Kadir van Lohuizen and photography consultant and photo editor Claudia Hinterseer, learned how to select and develop visual stories from existing photographic material.
“It’s great to see the enthusiasm amongst the participants. Everyone seems eager to explore new ways of visual storytelling on their respective online platforms and get inspired by Kadir and other great photographers’ work,” said Claudia Hinterseer. “It’s very interesting to discuss topics like image quality and resources, ethical and copyright issues, and sequencing with this varied and energized group.”
Claudia Hinterseer gave an introduction to picture editing and led a hands-on session where the participants had to prepare an online thematic slideshow from scratch, using the themes and resources available to RNW, in order to make the exercise as realistic as possible.
“It’s almost like making a movie,” said Kadir van Lohuizen about working on long-term multimedia projects. “The difference between making a movie and being a photographer is that you have to do everything yourself, the research, the planning, the shooting, etc.”
Kadir van Lohuizen showed and talked about his extensive project Via PanAm and allowed the group to edit a part of his story, which lead to interesting discussions about different opinions and ways of editing a story.
Kadir also reflected on how nowadays he uses video as part of the process: “For me with video it is the sequence that makes it strong. With stills it is the decisive moment that makes it strong. I use video more to support my stills.”
“The NOOR photography workshop really opened my eyes to great tools and ways to build a photo story,” commented Issa Shaker video editor at the Arab Desk.
Catarina Gomez, social media editor at the Themes & Projects department, found the workshop very refreshing: “Photo editing is not only about illustrating your written story, it's about thinking visually how to tell your story. I never thought it was possible to tell a story with just still images.”
As part of the RNW-NOOR Academy, Jon Lowenstein and Sebastian Liste will conduct a training in Mexico City from October 20-24 for 10 young visual storytellers from Latin America. After the initial 5 day workshop the group will be mentored for three months by the NOOR photographers.
