Meet Storyteller Hannah Bohrer

I walked over to Hannah Bohrer and asked her about her story. The night before, she had met her subject of the tale Marlen Talledo.

Marlen and Hannah at the premier showing of the videos. [Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM, ISO 3200, ƒ/6.3, 1/60]

Marlen’s story moved Hannah. When Marlen showed up for the event we had for the community to see the videos we had been working on our last night in Lima, Hannah was excited to see Marlen.

When we were working with Hannah on the story, she was passionate about the content and all that she had learned about Marlen’s story.

Hannah talks with Pat Davison about her story. [Canon EOS 7D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM, ISO 3200, ƒ/4, 1/60]

One of the hardest things each student struggled with and through was cutting their videos down in time.

Andrea Carhuachîn helped translate Hannah’s video. Andrea lives in Peru and is in college studying communications and joined our workshop for the week as a translator. [Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM, ISO 1600, ƒ/4.5, 1/60]

There were a few criteria for which we made our decisions. First, the missionaries picked people whose lives were changed by a particular ministry. We did stories on the seminary, a radio station, and the prenatal center.

Marlen Talledo is the director of Centro Prenatal Vida Nueva [english “New Life Prenatal Center”]. If the content didn’t help tell the story of how the Prenatal center changed her life, we cut that out of the story.

The other thing that was driving our stories was the audience. Why should the audience care, and how can they get involved? If the audience was to be at a conference where this video would be shown, we kept them in mind. If the audience were churches in the United States supporting the ABWE missionaries, we would be sure the content would engage them.

One way I helped teach this simple yet fundamental concept of storytelling was to ask people to think of communicating something to the mother or dad. Would how they tell the story change depending on which parent they were talking to at the moment.

Most of the videos were made for the United States churches that support ABWE and for the missionaries to use them with the Peruvian churches that support these ministries.

Hopefully, this gives you enough of the context for which Hannah made this video. Please comment below about what you think of the story.

If you want to learn how to have an experience like Hannah in a storytelling workshop, please consider joining us this June in Romania with Storytellers Abroad.

If you have a group that would like to have us come and teach you storytelling, then write to me so we can create a special workshop for your organization.

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Meet Storyteller Naomi Harward

I met Naomi Harward a couple of years ago at our Storytellers Abroad Workshop in Nicaragua. Naomi is one of the quietest people I have ever met.

Naomi working with James Dockery on her project. [Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM, ISO 1600, ƒ/4, 1/60]

Naomi said many times that video isn’t something she likes. She prefers writing. We continued to push her out of her comfort zone.

Pat Davison looks at Naomi’s project. [Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, ISO 1600, ƒ/5.6, 1/60]

Each one of the instructors is direct when advising students. We do not beat around the bush. They give their strong opinions because they want the best story possible for the subject and audience.

Naomi is the only workshop participant who did her story in English and then had it translated into Spanish for subtitles.

Listen to Sara Lu tell her story and see how Naomi captured it for you here:

If you want to learn how to have an experience like Naomi in a storytelling workshop, please consider joining us this June in Romania with Storytellers Abroad.

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Meet Storyteller Josiah McConville

First thing I noticed about Josiah is he was taller than me. I learned he was studying film at Liberty University.

Josiah was also pretty quiet. He was a listener.

[Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, , ISO 1600, Ä/5, 1/100]

We sat and talked about his subject for a while. In the beginning, Josiah’s most challenging part was finding the storyline thread he wanted to tell. He was asking great questions, but each question was making the story broader and not more focused.

Josiah McConville’s Story Lucho & Rosa Martinez, David Heim – Translator. Storytellers Abroad Workshop in Lima, Peru [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 800, ƒ/4, 1/200, Focal Length = 24]

After he did his first interview, I went with Josiah on the second interview. He did a great job. He was able to help the couple focus on how what the seminary had meant to their ministry.

Josiah McConville’s Story Lucho & Rosa Martinez, David Heim – Translator. Storytellers Abroad Workshop in Lima, Peru [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, ISO 1800, ƒ/7.1, 1/200, Focal Length = 24]

One of the difficulties perplexing not just Josiah but me, as well, was getting our heads around the way Lucho and Rosa talked about their ministry. Josiah dug a little deeper by asking follow-up questions like tell me how that felt when you went through that time.

Listen to the story that Josiah captured of Lucho and Rosa Martinez here:

If you want to learn how to have an experience like Josiah in a storytelling workshop, please consider joining us this June in Romania with Storytellers Abroad.

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