Humans tell stories. We are really good at it. Both the telling part and the receiving. A good story says so much more than the volume of words or visuals used.
While stories fills much of my day the greatest storytellers I respect are those on the front lines of combat. People enduring real physical risk to tell stories that need to be told. Rather than the stories somebody wants to tell.
The Imperial War museum currenlty has a powerful exhibit by iconic war photojournalist Don McCullen - Shaped by War.
On Saturday fresh off the plan from six months in Afghanistan British Army photographer Sergeant Steve Blake along with the head of photography at the museum talked about covering 21st Centruy Conflicts.
His story of covering modern conflict is one of the most compelling stories I've heard in recent years.
Firstly, with extreme forensic distance the head of photography chronicled the shift int he past 20 years from film to digital photography and its moral and operational implications.
Followed by Steve pragmatically detailing the team structure and how despite being a photographer he is a soldier first. A soldier who must engage a population with a thing most have never seen - his camera.
Most interesting to me is their team structure. Steve works in a group of three. Himself on stills, another on film and their leader, a superior, who serves as the official media voice and is responsible for all radio content.
These three, with their individual equipment adding 50 points to each's back and a shared satellite uplink operate as a self contained mobile news room that delivers against every single possible medium.
Some stuff they shoot goes on TV, some on Facebook, some in newleters and some in magazines. They don't worry about the medium, just getting the story.
I loved the brutal simplicity of three people getting all possible required content for any medium.
When lives are at stake, no time for messing around.
