Blog: It has been nearly two year since I last blogged about my experiences as a video journalist and, inevitably, my job has changed very much since then, writes James Shaw.

Although I still point a video camera at people with varying degrees of success (not all of them are happy about it), many of my techniques have changed.

I suppose that could be put down to experience – indeed, my (nearly) four years on the job have taught me a lot about so-called ‘people skills’.
A lot of the time, it’s all about timing.

A case in point was a recent factory fire in Telford.

When I arrived at the scene just before 8am, staff were relatively calm and seemed willing to accept their fate.

Some had no work for the day, but the mood was still light enough for a laugh and a joke.

A manager was willing to let me know the basics of what had happened but, understandably, he wanted to wait for the managing director to make a statement on camera.

Moments later, the MD shook my hand and politely told me to return later for a video interview.

No problem with that.

But when I arrived back at the scene half an hour later, the boss had clearly digested the full impact of the evening’s events and didn’t want to talk.

Again, that was fully understandable.

Thankfully, I had a 30-second clip in the bag from a neighbouring factory, but I couldn’t help feel that my timing could have been better.

And that was confirmed at 5pm when a local radio station had a full interview with the firm’s MD.

See? They clearly got their timing right.

But it’s not all about waiting until later in the day.

Sometimes, an early start can produce results.

Following another fire in Shrewsbury last week, I decided to rush out early in the morning, just to get some general footage.

I hadn’t expected to land an interview with those involved in the blaze (thankfully, nobody was seriously injured) but on this occasion, timing was on my side.

Just as I was packing my kit away, I was spotted by a relative and invited to interview one of those involved.

I prepared to begin my interview… then another of the people involved turned up.

Call it what you like – good luck, timing, or skilful journalism.

I prefer the latter, although to be honest, like all of these things, it was really all down to luck.