Storyteller Sit-downs: Connor Boals
This is the first installment in a series called “Storyteller Sit-downs.” Its aim is to show the great big personalities behind the cameras at GBS. We’ll put producers, editors, designers, even interns on the hot seat to answer questions about their experiences inside the office and out. Let’s see how it goes…
Meet Connor Boals — a senior producer at Great Big Story and proud native of Ada, Michigan. Cycling is more than just his passion (as evidenced by his Instagram page). Sometimes he catches flack from coworkers for being a Chicago Bulls fan, but we still love him. This is Connor’s Great Big Story:
GBS: Describe a strange experience you had on location
CB: Every time I go in the field things get awesome and strange but one that comes to mind is waking up a 3:45 a.m. and driving to the top of a windy mountain highway to meet Greg and Mike Paproski, a father-son duo of downhill skateboarders as they went on “dawn patrol” with their skateboards. They ride down this switchback-laden road for miles, reaching up to 50 mph standing on their skateboards, while cars come in both lanes. That was definitely a moment where I looked at my coworker Haimy and was like, “these guys are crazy.” (from: Chasing a Family Dream: Father and Son Take on Longboarding)
GBS: Favorite piece you produced for Great Big Story and why
CB: I have my hands in a lot of pieces here at GBS, but I think a favorite of mine was a piece a coworker and I shot with sushi chef Bun Lai in New Haven, Connecticut. What Bun does is he takes local, invasive species from around (basically) his backyard and makes them into these world class sushi meals. We got to spend the day crawling around like kids, catching bugs and crabs and getting our hands dirty; then he prepared this amazing meal for us to shoot as the end product. Oh yeah, and we got to eat it (fried grasshopper sushi is a must-try). (from: Bugs, Weeds, Snails: Your Sushi is Served)
GBS: Biggest self-criticism on a piece you produced
CB: I was shooting a piece in Key Largo, Florida with my colleague Farhod about an underwater coral farmer who was restoring local reefs, piece by piece with coral he grew in his own underwater nursery. In another life I plan to be a professional underwater videographer, but in the middle of this shoot I panicked and removed the orange filter on my camera that helps compensate for the overwhelming amount of blue light coming in. Half my footage looked awesome and vibrant — the other half looked washed out, grey and blue. Our editors did their best to hide it, but I’ll never forget to put that filter on again ;-) (from: Healing the Ocean With a Garden of Coral)
GBS: A strange, nightmarish, or weird-mazing tale from the road
CB: When we were in our early development stages and figuring out what Great Big Story was, we went to JFK airport to interview the customs agents who confiscate all the illegal food that comes in. No one at the company knew exactly what we wanted our stories to look like, so we were trying everything. We shot ALL DAY with the customs agents, but as we were getting ready to leave I wasn’t sure if we’d need shots of airplanes on the runway, so I made my colleague Eben come with me (along with all his camera gear) as we rode the airport transit shuttle around and around the airport, recording planes out the window. It took an extra hour at the end of an already long shoot…We never used the shots. (from: Where Illegal Food Goes to Die)
GBS: A callout for your favorite GBS social media supporter (or favorite comment)
CB: Ferguson’s Lawn Equipment is this little business that shares all of our lumberjack and chainsaw related-pieces (we actually have quite a few) across their social media accounts. It looks like they sell chainsaws and I guess they’ve decided that our stories can get people excited about getting out and doing some yard work!
GBS: Most difficult part about being a storyteller
CB: I think it’s the pressure you put on yourself to be as honest and forthright in telling the subject’s story. There’s pressure to deliver something the audience likes and institutional knowledge tells you what people want to see and hear, but it’s an incredibly rare privilege to be able to parachute into someone’s life with a camera and have them open up and trust you to tell their story. I think everyone at GBS (including myself) feels that pressure every time they go out into the field to spend time with their subject. Luckily for us here at GBS, 99% of the time people are absolutely thrilled to see what we’ve done with their story.
