Getting There: Bob Kealing

In our new blog series, “Getting There,” we ask professionals and experts what it takes to be successful and what kinds of advice they can offer. And, as we believe the concepts of curiosity, creativity and communications are vital to contributing to the success of any endeavor, we are also interested in knowing which they have utilized most often and how.

Bob Kealing
WESH -TV, Orlando, Florida

Bob Kealing is a three-time Emmy award-winning journalist and reporter at WESH-TV in Orlando. He is author of the books: "Kerouac in Florida: Where the Road Ends” (and, he is co-founder of the Jack Kerouac Writers in Residence Project of Orlando), “Tupperware Unsealed: Brownie Wise, Earl Tupper, and the Home Party Pioneers” (Sony Pictures has picked up the rights to “Tupperware Unsealed” with Sandra Bullock playing Brownie Wise) and “Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock.”

He is also currently writing a book about Elvis Presley and his barnstorming trips through Central Florida.

How did you get your start?

I was actually lucky enough to have a full-time job before I graduated William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas. I started out at a small station in Topeka, Kansas. Before that, I was working in a cable station, something akin to a Channel 13, in my college town. I was able to get very practical experience on real professional equipment.

There was a new startup station in Topeka right before I graduated, so I was lucky enough to get a full-time job: a one-man band, what they called a VJ job, right out of college.

Have you always been interested in journalism?

Definitely. Words, pictures, stories. I’ve always been really interested in that. This area, especially Central Florida, is such a fertile area for lore, history and certainly, news. This is a big, big, news town. People say that Florida is weird. But, I have a response to that. We have Open Records Laws and we’re very lucky we do. Because of that, we find out the weird stuff. I believe it goes on all across the country, it’s just that in Florida, we find out about it. Other states, other places, they’re keeping that information behind closed doors. So, I think we’re fortunate in the sense that we get to find out all the weird stuff. I’m of the belief that it goes on everywhere and in every state.

What kind of advice do you have for aspiring journalists?

I would say to make sure you love it. Because, if it’s just the idea that you want to be on TV or you want to see your name on bylines, but you’re not really willing to put in the work day in and day out, it’s probably not the business for you. If you’re not willing to sacrifice some weekends, if you’re not willing to work a holiday or two or three or 20, and you’re not willing to move, this probably isn’t the profession for you. But if you have an innate curiosity about people, if you like to meet people, if you like to listen, it’s a great field. It’s fun.

The line is so blurred anymore with new technology and media. When I was starting out, there were strict lines between print and broadcast. It was kind of these parallel lines. Today, the Web gives  younger people and students an opportunity for a new way into the business. But, I would say that you need to make sure that you’re actually out investigating and doing the work of journalism, not just aggregating, which means that you’re in the air-conditioning and taking in what other people report. Because, I don’t think you’re getting the full threshold of the experience with doing it that way.

Tell me about curiosity? How do you use curiosity?

Curiosity is a gift. It’s one of those things where it can you lead you in so many interesting places if you’re willing to do the work and follow your curiosity. I think that’s the key to the books that I’ve written. The books that I write are on subjects I’m curious about. The umbrella for that is pre-Disney Central Florida and the history of the area. There is this sense that nothing happened here before the theme parks came to town and nothing could be further from the truth.

So curiosity is a gift. It’s a great thing. And, as a journalist and storyteller, it’s an essential ingredient to have.

The Dairyman and the Power of Curiosity

Trending industry buzzwords and jargon fill the pages of media sites.  But, in our complex and highly technical world, people look for ways to make a difference; to stand out.  They want to inspire change and to effectively communicate ideas.  An often-overlooked method to accomplish this — one that anybody can utilize — is the concept of curiosity. 

Everything starts with curiosity. As children, one of our most-asked questions, the one that drove our parents crazy, was: why?  We were curious. We wanted to know.

Curiosity can be applied at work or at home and it goes hand-in-hand with storytelling — one of the hot topics in business communications right now. Journalists find good stories because they are curious.

Curiosity is wanting to know more. I start my day with curiosity. Well, that and coffee. 

Coffee gets me going in the morning and keeps me going all day. No cream, no sugar, just strong and black, the way it’s supposed to be consumed. A cup of coffee will also act as an ice-breaker to any conversation and keep it moving along. I’ve heard countless stories while downing cups of coffee.

So, I brought some extra coffee with me recently to meet Johnny Sixma at his house. I heard about Mr. Sixma from a couple of people. He was a former dairyman in the western part of Volusia County in Central Florida and his place was down a dirt road in the middle of suburban sprawl. It was hard to imagine that this was, at one time, the home of a thriving dairy with 100 cows on 500 acres. He still has 175 acres with a wonderful view overlooking old barns, farm equipment and pastures. My curiosity level was high. I wanted to know how a dairy got started and thrived in these parts.

“Morning Johnny. How about some coffee?” I asked.

“I don’t drink coffee,” he said.

Uh, okay. But, Johnny didn’t mind a conversation about life as a dairyman.

“How did it all get started?” I asked.

“My grandfather got the dairy business started in the early 1900s with probably around 10 cows. When I got started, it just continued to grow.

“For years, we produced raw milk. We just put it on ice and delivered it. We delivered milk in the old days by horse and wagon. Then, he got a little fancy and got a Model T. Big-time.

“My day started at 2:30 a.m., so not too early. We would deliver milk to the customer's doorstep and bring the old bottles back to the dairy. We would make deliveries to customers about every three days.”

I drained my coffee cup as he continued telling stories about the old days. I heard about pasteurization, homogenization, milking machines, feed corn, soybeans, molasses, milk cans, creamery, hay balers, dry cows, udders and cats. 

I glanced over to the barns and old dairy buildings, and asked if he was up to showing me around. He didn’t get around too well, but he was eager to show them to me.

Slowly, we walked over to the former dairy barn. The cinder-block building contained an assortment of farm and ranch paraphernalia. In the center of the barn was a small table where cat food had spilled out of a small bowl, as well as some empty water bottles; for man or cat, I wasn’t sure. Names of horses were written out on old boards and attached to the stalls. The dairy business changed over time and Johnny eventually got involved in horse racing.

There were also a few chairs and Johnny sat in one.

“This is one of my favorite spots.”

Here, I surmised, Johnny just liked to sit and reminisce. I asked if he would mind if I made a few photographs of the old barn and a portrait of himself.

“I’d be upset if you didn’t,” he said.

There were a lot of photo opportunities close by to make Johnny’s portrait, but I decided to have him sit right where he was. I set up my large-format camera, took a meter reading and made a few exposures. 

Johnny was accommodating and friendly, and he had a dry sense of humor that I like. 

I marveled at how, on this day, my curiosity led me to sit in an old barn and learn about the dairy business in Volusia County.

Curiosity drives everything including empathy. To understand Johnny Sixma, I had to want to know more about him and, as a result, I had a new experience that added value to my life and work. 

I am a bit of an introvert and keep to myself. It’s a major effort to get involved in business networking events and I’m typically not someone who will easily seek out new people. But, curiosity gets me out of my comfort zone and into experiences in which I would not normally find myself — like that day.

Curiosity is big-picture thinking. It is wanting to see things a little differently and creating new opportunities for a fuller life. Travelers create new experiences and adventures because they were curious about what lay ahead. Books are read because we are curious about what happens next (I read one of the worst books I have ever read last year. While it garnered major awards, I thought it was a terrible piece of fiction.  But, I kept at it because I was curious to find out if it would get better.). 

I spent a morning learning about a dairy business and the results could appear in any number of media. I might add Johnny’s story and photograph to a new book project or marketing efforts. Curiosity leads to opportunity, which leads to discovery, which leads to storytelling. And, storytelling creates an engagement with an audience.

What are you curious about? 

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Eric Dusenbery (B.A. Cinema & Photography, Southern Illinois University) is founder, executive director and photographer for Cinderic Documentaries Inc. He utilizes the power of the still photograph for documentary work and frequently uses the traditions of the large format film camera for storytelling. His documentary photography has been widely exhibited and his work has appeared in numerous national publications. He is also a speaker, consultant and award-winning freelance journalist who writes/photographs frequently about media, agriculture, self-sustainable lifestyles, human interest profiles, history and off-the-beaten path features.

Vintage Large Format Camera Still Doing the Job

The only way I was guaranteed to get into the Large Format Photography class at Southern Illinois University back in 1980 was to have my own camera. There were only a couple of 4 x 5 cameras available for students to use. I really wanted to take this class so I headed up to Calumet Photographic in Chicago to buy my own before the fall semester started. With a lens included, I made the purchase for around $400.

I got into the class and found out that I loved this camera format. It has been my favorite format ever since and I have been using the same camera to this day. I found myself using it again over the weekend to document some of the traditional craftsmen and artists at The Barberville Pioneer Settlement.

On a day when the temperatures hovered around 95 degrees, under a dark focusing cloth, I examined a composition on the ground glass of Steve, a woodworker, at the Settlement. As I made a few exposures, I talked to Steve and learned quite a bit about his philosophy on life and the art and craft of working with his hands to create beautiful objects from wood.

He and I favor the experience and the intricacies of working with traditional methods to create work.

I enjoy photographing traditional artists and craftsmen and documenting and preserving their techniques and skill. It's history. And, I continue to find the rewards of working with a large format film camera for the experience of photography and the darkroom.

New Blog Series: Getting There

In our new blog series, “Getting There,” we ask professionals and experts what it takes to be successful and what kinds of advice they can offer. And, as we believe the concepts of curiosity, creativity and communications are vital to contributing to the success of any endeavor, we are also interested in knowing which they have utilized most often and how.

Jeff Johnston is president of E.O. Painter Printing in DeLeon Springs. Their company is the oldest continuously operated printing company in the state of Florida. The following was excerpted from the Volusia Voices documentary book project. His simple tool for effective communications can be utilized by everyone.

"I communicate pretty effectively with my writing because that’s a lot of what we do. We don’t write e-mails informally. They’re well thought out and they become a document.

In today’s world, I don’t get a lot of first-class mail that matters. It’s all e-mail. Some of it is horrendous. It’s hard to look at and see misspelled words all the time. But, as a company, there is a lot of pride in our communication. We want it to look like a business letter every time we communicate. That’s important. So I can write a business letter to communicate."

A Turpentine Still and Creativity

I had a brief meeting this morning at The Barberville Pioneer Settlement. This living history museum in west Volusia County is devoted to preserving Florida's rural past and promoting folk artists to the community. While there, I decided to give myself a bit of a creativity assignment. The place is loaded with photographic opportunities.

Creativity is thinking something different. In this instance, my curiosity had been somewhat satisfied as I was already aware of the many historic structures and building on the property and had photographed many of them previously. But, one structure in particular, I had not been able to photograph. The Tomoka Turpentine Still. This 1924 still is the only known still open to the public.

Lighting was not ideal as the sun was directly overhead and provided extreme contrast. An approach for making a decent photograph in difficult conditions is to use a composition concept called framing. This involves using objects in the photograph to frame the main subject. It creates depth and interest and draws the viewer's eye into the scene. After a quick walk around the still, I decided to use some tree branches as the framing device.

Creative thinking, at least photographically, has become second nature. It begins, very quickly, by asking myself the trigger questions: "What if?" and "Why not?" Applied to any circumstance, these triggers can start the creative process.

Need updated marketing materials? "What if .....?"

Want to reach out to a community connector? "Why not...?"

Want to implement a new networking strategy? "What if...?"

The creativity trigger questions work best with brainstorming sessions and allowing all possibilities to be considered.

Think something different.