The story: EPA contract workers in hazardous waste suits cleaned up a toxic dump site found in an older woman's garage in northwest Spokane.

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This video is sort of a milestone for me. The world of multimedia storytelling at newspapers is rapidly changing. When I started producing multimedia for Video Journal in August of 2005, I was one of only a handful of newspaper photojournalists using a video camera to tell stories. In the last six months, much has changed in our industry. Hundreds of reporters and photojournalist across the nation have been trained and are using this engaging medium to reach online viewers in greater numbers.

So why is this spot news video a milestone? It is the full-meal deal of sorts for me. It is one where I did it all on deadline. I shot the video, wrote and voiced the narration and finally I edited it all together in an interesting and informative (hopefully) package. Recently, I have been using more and more of my voice in my videos because I felt that the objective narration helps move the story along. When I first started producing videos, my mantra was “let the subject tell the story.” There was such a desire on my part to not be like “TV,” that I felt adding my voice would take away from the story. As I have experimented along the way, I’ve come to the conclusion that narration is not such a bad thing. Local TV news seems to fall down by relying on stand-ups to disseminate a story’s information. It is all about the on-air talent now, not the subject they are reporting on.

At The Spokesman-Review, we are moving forward with multimedia. We have trained another photojournalist to shoot and edit video. Dan Pelle a veteran S-R still shooter will be coming online with his own take on video storytelling soon. It is nice to have someone I can talk that understands the language of video geek speak.

In the newsroom, the baby steps of using more than words to tell a story, is taking place. Reporters are now gathering audio and doing voice-over work. Amy Cannata our morning on-line breaking news reporter is publishing her photos and stories from the scenes of breaking news events. This is just the beginning. I see a rapidly approaching future where we will all be multimedia journalists. This is scary stuff for all but the youngest journalists graduating from J-school. For me, it is just an exciting time to be on the innovative edge of on-line journalism.

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This is scary stuff for all but the youngest journalists graduating from J-school. For me, it is just an exciting time to be on the innovative edge of on-line journalism.

I graduated less than one year ago ... I gotta say I've never been scared about this. I'm very excited about it!

Nice Job Colin and congrats on the milestone.