I've always found it both surprising and interesting that Jerry Fisk isn't an AKI maker. While I don't usually participate in lists trying to determine whose the best knifemakers in the world(are), I believe it would be fairly easy to present a very compelling case that Jerry is certainly towards the top of the heap and would be a most obvious AKI candidate considering his skill, popularity, all he could offer the show and his tremendous contributions to custom knives in general over nearly 35 years.
Hi Kevin, you have to remember that the candidates for the AKI are voted in by simple majority of the makers already in the AKI, and that politics always presents an aspect that can throw logic out the window.
It is the politics and politicking that turned me off the the AKI(after all, I'm just a collector of simple working knives) but Phil personally asked me to attend and do my write up after the show was over.....the videos were just a bonus.
Negatives: Audio at times TOO loud (tinny?) and your dialog needed to drop down a calming notch Your tone with Julie was just right and could have been for all.
Hey Jim, I do appreciate your feedback. This is really only the third even we have done like this, and would like to make each segment better than the last.
The sound level in the room moves up and down. If we keep the makers where they are comfortable, we have to err on the side of louder. If we move them to a quiet room, they get less relaxed and the sound echoes.
The quality of the discussions deserved a better spot than staring at other people at other tables. It was ESPECIALLY distracting and did a disservice to the effort. I would have suggested aiming the camera at a wall instead of the crowd. I realize you wanted to capture the essence of the event, but it there far were too many Photobombs.
In your introductions it seemed unprofessional to only use a first name.
You need to look directly into the camera when talking to the video viewers.
Adam who? I'm wary of the anonymity of the internet and welcome real names. We value community. Why so secret?
We will work on optimizing a spot for shooting video. Some people like the "background of busyness", some don't. Lighting is a factor. We are using mostly ambient light for these, as it looks better, makes the subject appear more "human", we are not using makeup.
My name is Steven, and have been using it professionally for over 30 years. People in this industry know that. All my business cards pre-CKCA only say "Steven". There is no mystery there...have been signing every post on BFC with my last name since day 1.
Will try to look at the camera more, it's a balancing act to make the subject of the interview comfortable and still look at the camera.
A great task well done STeven and like myself I am sure collectors of knives and especially the art knife collector enjoyed your work in interviewing some of the greats of the knife making world. I thoroughly enjoyed all that you did and thank you very much.
You created well researched questions which elicited insightful responses from the interviewee for the benefit of the audience.
I did not mind the audience in the background as other than the JWE segment the interviewee spoke loudly enough and clearly so that it was easy to ignore the background sounds but gave a nice feeling for what was going on in the room.
This was a lot of effort on your part and I am sure everyone that has or will view the videos will be happy with what you done and join in commending your efforts and look forward to similar events at future shows.
MW
Hi Murray,
Thanks for the feedback. The questions were off the cuff, solely based upon my knowledge of the maker and experience. For example, I have not talked with Michael Walker for five minutes in total, and we sat for an almost 10 minute discussion.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
