JL's Blog of Blogs

And the immediacy of the Internet grows

2009-09-24T09:22:00.002-06:00

Mobile live streaming backpack for video...Who needs a live truck anymore?

Ami Vitale Interview

2009-09-02T11:21:00.002-06:00

Ami has absolutely followed her own path to photojournalism. Here's an interesting interview with her about her work and style.

Choosing Thomas

2009-08-29T10:04:00.000-06:00

Amazing work and story.

Have the content & audience, the rest will fall into place

2009-06-25T22:57:00.002-06:00

A post on the NYTimes photo blog LENS about a quarterly magazine that costs $25 an issue.

I've always thought that if you have a desired product that is of high quality that warrants a higher price it will work in the business sense. I bet this will work.

Competing with FREE

2009-06-09T10:07:00.002-06:00

Just another blog post discussing the issue of how newspapers are between a diamond and a very hard spot. As are many other "content producers." Found it in the wrath of links found inside this blog post on Time's website about "If the Journalism Business Fails, Who Pays for Journalism?"

There's a reason even MediaStorm has started doing commissioned work for the likes of Starbucks and now Global Governance Program.

Information wants to be free, still

2009-06-08T16:52:00.003-06:00

Found this link via my All Things Digital RSS feed this morning. It coincided with a discussion taking place on Facebook between some journalists I know and used to work with about the broken business model of the newspaper industry.

They were talking about former Rocky Mountain News ME and CEO John Temple's blog post about all the aspects the industry has been going about in a contradictory sense. Saying all the right things about building for the future but in action just holding on to the past.

Then throw on the grease fire this other post is talking about with the broken advertising model and Jeff Jarvis' thought that advertising isn't even needed anymore by the now penny-pinching advertisers.

There's a lot to read over and digest in these three or four posts, but they can all be boiled down to this: Because the monetary models of enormous margins of yore are broken and the recent history of the industry executives saying one thing while doing the opposite, the newspaper industry is a terminal cancer patient receiving huge doses of chemotherapy.

I hate cancer with a dripping passion, but this is the best way I can think of explaining the situation. Let's hope this thing ends sooner, rather than later. What's next will not come about until the institutions of monopolistic media and control –who are at the will of shareholders and double digit margins– have finally succumbed to their own demise. Then we can start talking about where journalism in the digital media age will go and flourish.

Recounting photographing Tank Man

2009-06-07T17:39:00.002-06:00

Twenty years ago a lone man stood motionless in front of a row of tanks in Tiananman Square in China. Here's a audio slideshow with Stuart Franklin recounting his iconic photograph. It's always good to hear from the photog about the background and what was going on as they work an image.

Jenkins is a very very smart guy on media users

2009-06-07T17:36:00.004-06:00

If you don't know about how people are using media these days, you might as well make steam engines from the 19th century for the 21st. Learn some media literacy by watching this video.

Henry Jenkins on Transmedia - November 2009 from niko on Vimeo.

An inside look at the sinking of The Rocky

2009-06-07T17:33:00.001-06:00

Long story in the Denver trendy mag 5280. Pretty slow start on the read though...

What's the new revenue model?

2009-05-25T09:43:00.004-06:00

Pretty interesting article talking about the changing landscape of Web start-ups as the ad revenue model is breaking down. How companies will be able to survive making money off of their audiences is of major consequence. Newspapers and magazines were just the start of the breakdown, finding the new way is key.

PDN Photo Annual

2009-05-24T18:02:00.001-06:00

Another great gallery of some fantastic images and sites. Lots of ideas to get new ideas from.

Colin nails it, again

2009-05-24T17:56:00.002-06:00

Gives more great advice on shooting storytelling video. There are a lot of elements to take into consideration when shooting and putting a video together. Have a read of his experiences and lessons.

Strong Photo Story on Pregnancy in Tanzania

2009-05-24T09:26:00.002-06:00

Story in the NYTimes about the death rates of mothers and babies in the dire conditions.

That's an awful lot of video

2009-05-22T14:29:00.002-06:00

Guess how much video is uploaded to YouTube every minute? Just a bit less than there are hours in a day. And this is a site that is losing millions of dollars every month.

Goes to show, online video is EXPENSIVE!!!!!

Sell your own photos on your site

2009-05-22T14:24:00.003-06:00

A pretty smart photog I know, Gerik Parmele, shared this link on his FriendFeed a few days ago. Still need to investigate it a bit more, but I'm thinking it may just work for someone with a niché market and audience.

So, Mr. Anderson. Why not make it free?

2009-05-22T14:19:00.002-06:00

James Ledbetter questions why Chris Anderson – editor of Wired and author of The Long Tail, whose new book proclaims that giving things away for free is the "radical" new business model of the future – doesn't practice what he preaches with the analog version of the magazine.

Pretty good points in this column about how advertising works with regard to audience and magazines. But it doesn't take into account how the ad model is breaking down.

A short good read. Have a look.

Unique photo story

2009-05-22T14:14:00.001-06:00

Photo story from GOOD depicting personalities of people by what is in their refrigerators and freezers. Found this via 10,000 Words on Twitter.

Great variety of photography

2009-05-22T14:12:00.002-06:00

Here's a great gallery of images from the entire spectrum of the photography landscape. From photojournalism to fine art and everything in between.

Might open up your mind to some new ideas, really.

Making Art from the web

2009-05-22T14:10:00.001-06:00

Here is a very cool idea to take individual musical elements -that happen to be YouTube videos- and allow a user to create something new. It's called remix and it's pretty damn great.

Have a play...

Microstock and the devalued image

2009-05-22T14:05:00.002-06:00

When you see companies like this gaining traction of use and investment, it's a good indication for the overall value of images.

Digital cameras have made the creation of images climb rapidly. Now think of your simple business practices....supply and demand. If you have a ton of supply and there is not a demand to use the supply up, what happens? The goods get cheaper.

So, how do you separate your work in an effort to get a better ROI?

Fantastic Multimedia Production Post

2009-05-10T19:58:00.003-06:00

Eric Maierson's post over at the MediaStorm blog is money.

Read it.

Print it out.

Read it again.

Then tape the last tip on the base of your monitor and read it every time you sit down at the computer.

Simple Slideshows App for Mac

2009-05-10T11:34:00.004-06:00

If you don't have Soundslides or Final Cut and don't like iMovie you can use this free program, Slideshowmovie, to build quick and easy slideshows to be exported as a video file.

There's a ton of free apps on the Apple Downloads site.

NPR: How do you photograph Skid Row?

2009-05-09T14:20:00.005-06:00

Justin Maxon, 25, shooting a series of images on LA's Skid Row.

Pretty strong work. Had two days to gather photos for the production. NPR asks if it is worth covering something in a day, that typically should take a month of invested journalism? Have a look through the comments on the post.

Told you photo/video convergence was past tense

2009-04-29T13:44:00.001-06:00

They used the RED One to shoot the cover of Esquire magazine.

Bring on the Scarlet!!!

100 Days in Photos

2009-04-29T13:38:00.002-06:00

Pete Souza put together images from the first 100 days of the Obama administration and it's hosted on the White House's website. Interesting access issues to think about here.

Found via NPPA's RSS feed

SI's Slide Show book

2009-04-29T13:36:00.001-06:00

Really interesting to see how much images were cropped for covers. Goes to show even the best have to crop.

Depth of Field

2009-04-21T14:26:00.002-06:00

Interesting audio slideshows on AP photogs working around the world. Good images and nice to hear the behind the scenes or personal elements of shooting in difficult situations.

Holy Educational Linkfest Batman

2009-04-13T21:58:00.003-06:00

Here's 100 links to free online courses related to journalism, blogging and new media.

There's something for everyone in here. I'll have to carve out some time to take a few of them myself.

2009 BOP Judging Video

2009-04-08T18:37:00.004-06:00

2009 NPPA BOP Judging from Poynter Institute on Vimeo.

Interesting video about the judging of multimedia and video content for the 2009 Best of Photojournalism. Seems as though many people are capturing interesting looking video, but that storyline is lacking making viewers ask "what's this about?"

Still comes back to the storyline and the narrative. A bunch of pretty images and interesting sounds alone don't make for a quality production. The viewer/user still needs to be grabbed and drawn in to the story.

Eight tips for aspiring photogs

2009-04-08T18:17:00.002-06:00

Some pretty good advice in here. The key being that the character of the story didn't need to be prodded and shoved. She went out and did things and was able to get a bit of guidance for her passion and drive.

If you want something bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen. Period.

Brilliance at its best

2009-04-08T17:30:00.000-06:00

Here is another great moment in A.P. history. In its quest to become the RIAA of the newspaper industry, the A.P.’s executives and lawyers are beginning to match their counterparts in the music industry for cluelessness.

Travis Fox doing what he does best

2009-04-05T12:30:00.002-06:00

Slick looking photo project

2009-04-02T13:45:00.002-06:00

Tadd Meyers worked on a personal project about people who still make things with their hands, one at a time. The presentation of the images and copy is a really nice Flash package.

I guess I should have kept going on that similar theme I had about a year ago. Typical....

The NEW LIFE.com

2009-03-31T11:41:00.002-06:00

All the stories and images of LIFE yore in an online space.

One more time suck to play with.

Great Earth Hour Images

2009-03-31T11:38:00.004-06:00

Reuters went above and beyond to have shooters get frames of popular places before and after the Earth Hour event last week, then Boston.com put it all together.

Fun images and use of a simple crossfade.

Sweet Music Video Mashup

2009-03-24T11:58:00.002-06:00

Really well done remix and mashup of existing videos into a new one. Wish I had half the skill and forethought to pull something like this off. There are seven other vids on the site. Have a look.

Free Online video and Multimedia Training

2009-03-24T11:47:00.003-06:00

Angela Grant over at NewsVideographer put together a link fest of good resources to learn on the cheap.

On the money, and on photos

2009-03-24T11:41:00.002-06:00

Great blog post about how focusing on the piracy of photos is not the solution. Making it easier and more functional to use legal licenses of photos is the solution.

Remember, locks on doors and drawers are only there to keep the honest people out.

The best video advertisment I've seen in a while

2009-03-18T11:09:00.002-06:00

If you like visuals and sheep herding, this is for you. Some serious planning and skills to pull this off. Four Stars!!

Technology and trials

2009-03-17T14:33:00.002-06:00

There are starting to be more and more trials that are being tossed out as a result of jurors using technology to research from their iPhone or Blackberry resulting in mistrials. Because people have become so accustomed to using technology for so much of their daily lives, I bet many don't even realize they are breaking rules stipulated to the jury. How often do you automatically do some form of a search about something to have a better understanding?

Imagine if you are a juror on a trial and the prosecution or defense uses a term or talks about something you have to understanding of and you want to know more to be able to make a better decision as a juror. Or even when you are overly connected, much like myself, and you decide to send a Tweet out about something you are doing. It just so happens that you are in jury deliberations when you do send out a message as an instinctual process. You broke the rules of being on a jury.

I'm sure we'll see more instances of this as we go forward. What if it ends up altering the way in which trials are carried out? Might be something interesting to watch as we go forward with technology that becomes more omnipresent in our lives.

Dying newspapers and politics

2009-03-17T14:13:00.002-06:00

Assessing the consequences of the closing of the Cincinnati Post at the end of 2007, the researchers found that fewer people voted in subsequent elections, fewer candidates ran in opposition to the incumbents and that, as a result, the incumbents had a better chance of being returned to office.

IWantMyRocky to become InDenverTimes

2009-03-16T21:29:00.004-06:00

Former Rocky staffers are trying to put together an online news source with paid subscriptions. Should be interesting to see how this all develops. They need to get 50,000 subscribers before the end of April to make it happen.

I will be watching this one with hawk-like eyes to see how it all evolves. I hope they will be producing content that no other media outlet will be –other than some of the great writers and staffers that are bringing their talent to the table– otherwise why pay $60 for an annual online subscription when I can read The Denver Post online for free? Looking at the staff of INDT, I don't see any visual journalists yet either. Hope they rectify that as well.

We shall see. I hope it becomes a precedent, really.

Jon Stewart's Moral Majority

2009-03-16T21:26:00.000-06:00

Here's a really interesting column from The Week talking about how Jon Stewart could possibly be the most influential television personality after the build up to and subsequent dismantling of Jim Cramer.

It's a good read, and if you haven't watched any of the Stewart vs. CNBS/Cramer stuff, you should. Very interesting how the comedian has had to take over as the window to the deeper issues that have wrought havoc with mainstream media.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

How'd all this start? Watch these below:

The Beginning

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

In Cramer we Trust

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

In Cramer We Trust

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Personality Clash

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Battle Previewed

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Battle

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Then the three-part Finale above.

An Unlikely Weapon - The Eddie Adams Story

2009-03-12T15:56:00.002-06:00

An Unlikely Weapon Trailer from senshi on Vimeo.

"Pictures are very important because people believe photographs, and the picture can be a lie, but that person will look at that and it’s real, it becomes a real thing, people might say the written word, bullshit, the picture is what does it."

The Economics of Giving It Away

2009-03-11T12:42:00.003-06:00

Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson on how the advent of digital bytes has changed several business models and the need to find new models in the now land of free on the Internet.

In a battered economy, free goods and services online are more attractive than ever. So how can the suppliers make a business model out of nothing?

Found via Macloo on Twitter

Sometimes it's all about timing

2009-03-11T12:38:00.003-06:00

You gotta check out this sequence of frames capturing a suicide bomber detonating himself in a crowd of Sri Lankan Muslim men during a religious holiday in Akuressa.

Wow

POYi Documentary Project Winners

2009-03-11T12:34:00.002-06:00

The Roanoke Times beats out the likes of Los Angeles Times and National Geographic for first place. Lots of other interesting outlets in the honorable mentions.

Will have to come back to this and get a better sense of all these productions. Too much to look at right now, holy crap.

Flickr Clock

2009-03-11T12:32:00.002-06:00

Pretty cool visualization of Flickr video postings.

Found via Journerdism

Documentary Advertising, the future?

2009-03-11T12:28:00.002-06:00

Pretty well done production from Honda. The cinematography is nice and the lessons behind the veil of the ad are good too. So do you feel like watching an eight minute video ad makes you want to consider buying a Honda the next time you need a car?

JL's Blog of Blogs Turned 1 year-old

2009-03-09T19:42:00.003-06:00

It was a year ago, March 8, that I started posting all kinds of these – in my humble opinion – interesting links.

At the start of the blog it was more about the imminent destruction of the newspaper business. I used it as a self-medicating soapbox. I didn't really advertise this blog for quite some time. Just figured it would be found by a few people sometime. It was mainly for myself in many ways.

Since then it has morphed a bit into more of a catch all of digital media nuggets and unique stories with my at times senseless musings. Many of my opinions have changed since the inception of copying and pasting hyperlinks and HTML. Some for the better and some that have ultimately driven me away from the notion of what I hoped to accomplish as a visual journalist.

The future is evermore unknown, but that is also of a major benefit. There are so many possibilities with digital media, as seen in the ramblings and linkage of the past 266 days. Where things go, who knows, all I do know is there will be some fantastic things that develop. Both for the realm of journalism and for me.

Might have to get some new wheels like this

2009-03-09T19:13:00.002-06:00

The Google Way

2009-03-05T21:48:00.002-07:00

This is a very good read and poses some issues that many are fearful to face or comprehend.

Simply put, photography is becoming a devalued practice because of the simple prevalence of imagery.

Then you can follow that up with a rant about the notion of Creative Commons licensing eating away at the value of photography.

Where is the industry and the craft heading? Who knows, all I do know is that pricing for photography was stuck in neutral for over a decade before the flooding of the market with cheap digital camera equipment and tools and photographers. I'm thinking the yoke for the photo plane is pretty much stuck in the forward position and picking up G's.

Seattle P-I could be an interesting test

2009-03-05T21:37:00.003-07:00

Seems as though one more two-newspaper town will soon see a drastic change in the media landscape. Hearst only offered a select few of present staffers opportunity to work on an online-only version of the historic newspaper. Those offers don't look at that appealing, regardless of the market trends and current national and local economies. You'll have to take a peek and see what you think.

According to Castro, Riddick said Hearst plans to start the site the day after the paper quits publishing, which Hearst has said will occur on a date not yet specified if no buyer has emerged by March 10.

The P-I site has already been evolving towards the notion of a news portal rather than a news source of information for Seattle and King County, by linking to alt-mags and other news outlets in the area. Could be an interesting science project.

Still haven't heard much on the media radar about the experiment in Detroit with the reduced home delivery days. At least those to markets are trying something that spineless Scripps Howard didn't even want to attempt in Denver.

Stewart calls out the media so easily AND so well

2009-03-05T21:25:00.003-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

CNBC's Rick Santelli – the "reporter" that went ape on the trading floor complaining about bailouts – was supposed to be a guest on The Daily Show, but was a no show. Well, like when McCain bailed on Letterman, you don't bail on high profile talk show hosts. Jon Stewart opens up a can of whoop @ss on Santelli and the entire network. Still find it amazingly saddening that it takes a comedian and parody show to reveal any freaking honesty in the media-on-the-media realm about issues that are impacting every single one of us, everyday now.

Transform

2009-02-24T21:44:00.003-07:00

'nuf said.

Multimedia Stock Agency

2009-02-24T16:11:00.002-07:00

Aurora Photos is launching a multimedia production company. The voracious appetite on the web for video and other multimedia elements could open up a very good opportunity here. Be interesting to see who mimics and who makes the model work effectively. Maybe there's a future there for somebody I know...he'll require he telecommute though. There's not enough open land and mountains in L.A. for the guy I'm thinking of.

Functional Photography Art Project

2009-02-11T13:06:00.002-07:00

Photog JR has been creating a unique project in Kibera, Kenya - on of the largest slums in all of Africa.

Really cool idea and functional in how it helps the community the project is literally on. Check it.

Web 3.0?

2009-02-07T12:21:00.001-07:00

Pretty interesting tool under development at Mozilla for better web usage. Should be interesting to see the lines start to blur more and more between web spaces.

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Ira Glass and storytelling

2009-02-06T19:02:00.003-07:00

Pretty interesting video of the This American Life producer and host explaining storytelling and the important elements needed for good stories at the Gel Conference.

Too bad it's not embeddable.
Found via Journerdism

Newsprint is REALLY expensive

2009-02-03T18:26:00.002-07:00

"...we're trying to say is that as a technology for delivering the news, newsprint isn't just expensive and inefficient; it's laughably so."

The Kindle retails for $359. A rough estimate for the NYTimes's delivery costs would be $644 million per year. Do the math and selling a Kindle to the 830,000 loyal subscribers would cut delivery costs in HALF.

Cellular Obscura

2009-02-03T18:18:00.003-07:00

Love this notion of getting back to making interesting photos and away from the hellbent technical and technological drive to have perfect pretty pictures.

Colbert Report spoofs NPPA and Amtrak

2009-02-03T16:16:00.002-07:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - Amtrak Photographer

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Paul McCartney Appearance

Funny Political Videos
More Funny Videos

Gotta love it when a real issue gets turned into comedy. I guess you can always laugh at it all. Here's the NPPA story with links to the real issue.

Fantastic stop motion video

2009-01-28T11:31:00.002-07:00

Serious pre-planning here and attention to detail, but very cool production. Lots of possibilities with these cheaper tools (digital cameras, NLE video suites, etc.) to make content.

Life after newspapers

2009-01-28T10:39:00.002-07:00

Pretty lengthy article about a non-scientific survey of former newspaper journalists. Lots of things to pick through in there. Some things are tough to take.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' count for all newspaper jobs -- from reporter to delivery truck driver -- shows the payroll shrinking from 336,000 at the start of last year to 313,600 through October, a drop of 22,400 positions. What happens to all of those laid-off and bought-out journalists?

Some folks are certainly struggling to find new work, even more so in the present economy. But there's also the seemingly consensus that most of those that were forced out of the newsroom, they might miss the idea of what it was to be a journalist at a newspaper, but that there is life after newspapers and it can be pretty rewarding.

Another site of collaboration

2009-01-20T18:42:00.002-07:00

Some pretty good journos, including Meghann Ackerman, have compiled a collaborative site "after quitting my job a few weeks back, I got involved with some friends who started a site where we're putting up video, photos and stories that we've decided are worth telling."

Sweet Group Photo Project

2009-01-19T19:31:00.002-07:00

Here's a link to A Photo A Day's blog posting about a group photo project on cyclocrossers in Portland by some rockstar photogs. They not only have a fantastic site but they compiled a book out of the sweet images. Just may have to see if there's a way to create such a project here in the 303. Not on psycho-crossers per se, but something with a passionate following.

The funniest Star Wars video ever

2009-01-19T09:34:00.002-07:00

A video mashup of the plot and storyline based on a girl that has never seen the original Star Wars trilogy. Gotta watch this if you like Star Wars even just a little.

Exactitudes

2009-01-17T14:03:00.002-07:00

Really interesting sociological documentary project using simple photos. Gotta look at the design and visuals of the site as well as the complex yet simple idea of people.

Finally a step in the direction

2009-01-16T09:33:00.002-07:00

I get asked all the time what I intend to do when I get done with graduate school at the University of Denver. I really haven't been able to show anyone an example and I struggle to constructively describe the creations in my skull.

Here is one of the few examples I can point someone to when they ask that question again. The Las Vegas Sun has been making some of the most complete and creative multimedia experiential productions that I have seen. Many outlets seem to feel that putting video, text, audio and photo galleries into a page will be effective enough. And while that could be argued, they are all just stand-alone elements in the same coral. Thirst in the Mojave takes all those elements and makes each one act and react from the others.

One of the producers, Zach Wise who is now at the NYTimes, posted on his blog about the production as well. He was the brains behind Soul of Athens as well.

Obama's People

2009-01-16T09:20:00.003-07:00

Here's a really interesting multimedia piece done by the NYTimes. As usual right? There's a gallery of the portraits made of the officials that will make up the new administration, but there is also a gallery documenting the creation of the portraits. There's some great photos all around and the premise is pretty fun.

Now if I only had an army the size of the 3rd Regiment to pull something off like this as well.

Front-Row View

2009-01-16T09:13:00.002-07:00

Here's a NPR interview with Pete Souza, who has been announced as the the official chief White House photographer, talking about covering Barack Obama during the last several years.

Has a nice photo gallery as well.

Lawrence Lessig vs. Stephen Colbert

2009-01-13T23:54:00.003-07:00

Really interesting argument about copyright from a recent show. It's funny as hell.

I see aspects of both sides of the battle. I'm not sure that one side or the other is absolute, the future is most likely a blend of something in the middle. And it will be based on the type of the content and the content producer.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Lawrence Lessig

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Found this via a photography business blog that is hellbent on copyright protections.

One in 8 million

2009-01-08T21:53:00.002-07:00

Really nice multimedia player from the interactive gurus at the NYTimes that is set to be updated weekly with a short piece on one of the 8 million people in New York. Everyone has a story and an opinion, it should be interesting to see what characters are found.

Fresh sparks from being a "one-man-band"

2009-01-08T21:40:00.003-07:00

A good interview with CNN photojournalist Bethany Swain talking about how she and some colleagues created an outlet for natsound pieces on all the CNN platforms. No "talent" standing up yammering in front of the scene or someone talking over good imagery.

Just good storytelling.

End Times

2009-01-06T16:43:00.002-07:00

A really solid story on the eminent tsunami of newspaper deaths to come, probably sooner than we expect.

____

If you’re hearing few howls and seeing little rending of garments over the impending death of institutional, high-quality journalism, it’s because the public at large has been trained to undervalue journalists and journalism. The Internet has done much to encourage lazy news consumption, while virtually eradicating the meaningful distinctions among newspaper brands. The story from Beijing that pops up in my Google alert could have come from anywhere. As news resources are stretched and shared, it can often appear anywhere as well: a Los Angeles Times piece will show up in The Washington Post, or vice versa.

____

Kobré's Top 20 Video Productions of 2008

2009-01-05T09:48:00.003-07:00

Haven't had a chance to view them all yet, but I'm sure there are a few that are pretty well done looking at the names of the outlets.

I'll be curious to see what the average length of all the videos after reading Mindy McAdams' post this morning.

Tools for News

2009-01-01T10:35:00.001-07:00

A pretty good beta database for all kinds of journalism tools to use. Register and you can add to the growing list.

One last hurrah for newspaper competition

2009-01-01T10:07:00.003-07:00

An awesome story about how an intern at the Chicago Tribune won a Chicago Sun-Times contest.

Too bad in the decline of competing newspapers we don't get to see great ideas like this anymore. Radio doesn't even do this much anymore considering they are all owned by the same company these days. Too bad, might be one way to increase readership. You know, actually competing on stories that the community wants to know about rather than sharing the same freaking content.

Seattle P-I Year in Photos

2008-12-31T13:28:00.001-07:00

I always love the P-I's YiP. The staffers pick their favorite 10 images and explain the back story to the photos. It's always fun to learn a little more about why or how a photo was made.

Photojournalists get the job done

2008-12-31T13:12:00.004-07:00

A NYTimes story about the Mumbai attacks detailing how two working photojournalists had the images and reportage that mattered. Though there were many "citizen journalists" posting photos on Flickr, Twitter and other social networks as the attacks unfolded Sebastian D’souza and Vasant Prabhu have hundreds of images documenting the events and ability to describe some details they witnessed.

Granted these two put themselves in dire situations to make the resulting images, the point is that a citizen journalist is not going to willingly put themselves in danger for the sake of journalism. We could then get into the credibility debate as well, but that would take hours. A working professional has a base of experience and knowledge to work from in tough situations that most citizen journos won't. When you need something done right, best to use a professional.

10 Questions for Journalists in the Information Age and info-overload

2008-12-31T13:02:00.004-07:00

Here's some great notions to consider in this overwhelming era of easily accessible information. Having the right information available in functional and engaging access points will be a major component of successful journalism. Too bad most newspapers just shovel all their content into a big bucket on the web and expect readers to "find" what they need to know. Newspapers were barely able to accept the notion that television was a competitor by the time the Internet began to steal even more of their audience. Glacial pace won't work in the instantaneous realm of the Information Age.

Boston's BIG Picture year in photos

2008-12-29T09:27:00.004-07:00

This is only the first of three gallery pages. Gotta love those GIANT photos. Looking back at 2008, you will find several newspapers that "borrowed" the Big Picture idea and turned their daily galleries into similar productions.

MSNBC's Year in Photos for 2008

2008-12-29T09:24:00.002-07:00

Good blend of audio and visuals from the year. MSNBC always puts together good multimedia. Just wish they would go easy on the music sometimes. But when you go back and see what photos are the most popular, you will understand what the major audience type is. Still good stuff to look at.

2008 Year in Pictures by NY Times

2008-12-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

Nicely done gallery with full-screen mode. Lots of photos that you really don't get to see when you just read the stories on the web.

50 Things we learned in the last year

2008-12-26T09:54:00.003-07:00

There's a bunch of great stories and links in this compilation by TampaBayOnline. There's a few things I had forgotten and a few new ones listed.

What a wild and crazy year. I still feel that exponential theory as applied to the technology of our daily lives is speeding up our society at breakneck speeds. Every year it seems as though everyone makes the statement –"So many more things happened in the last year than the year before."

Well, here's hoping 2009 doesn't break us all, in so many different ways.

Brian Storm: Passion

2008-12-22T11:21:00.004-07:00

Here's the text of Brian Storm's –the brain behind MediaStorm– commencement address to the journalism graduates at the University of Missouri.

Lots of good ideas, thoughts and advice. Read it.

Prisoner of War

2008-12-12T14:59:00.004-07:00

An interesting read from Men's Journal about journalist Michael Ware –a reporter first for Time, now for CNN– and his demons of covering the stories of Iraq for the last six years.

It's a unique look into the mind of a journalist that's been on the front lines probably too long but highlights what it takes to be there in the first place. The best portion from the piece as a photojournalist:

_____

Among his maxims was that it’s one thing to film a soldier firing his weapon, but it’s a whole other thing to shoot the expression on his face as he does it.

“If you think about it, to get that expression on his face, what do you have to do?” Ware asks. “You have to break from cover and expose yourself. You have to get in front of the man who is shooting and being shot at. Because that’s where the story is, in that face.”

_____

Keep it short, sweet and interesting

2008-12-09T21:00:00.003-07:00

So data mining is starting to show that online video consumers are the ultimate ADD
patient. (Yes, I know that could be taken as an oxymoron, but back to the point.)

Nearly half the audience of any video has an itchy trigger finger around 60 seconds into the show. So if you are going to be showing anything longer than that, it better be pretty darn compelling to keep them around. You are going to have only 23 percent of your audience sticking around past the two minute mark based on the study.

Web video services provider TubeMogul report after measuring 23 million streams on six top video sites over two weeks.

That's 23 percent of the people that even bothered to click play mind you. So like the fishing guides in Belize say about setting the hook on bonefish on the salt flats: "You gotta rip his lips off mon!" Then you take advertising into account, if it's not a pre-roll, it's not getting ANY eyeballs.

Typing Without a Clue

2008-12-07T09:31:00.003-07:00

This is a great column about the absolute crap that gets published under the flag of writing. The author basically demands that actual wordsmiths have an opportunity to be published rather than the likes of Joe the Plumber or Barbara Bush's dog.

While I was at the checkout lane of the grocery store there were a couple different celebrity rags laying on an unused lane that had signs of being read and consumed. All I could think about was the news of just two days earlier about the Rocky being put up for sale – only a token notion to close it mind you. Why do people have enough interest to pick up a National Inquirer to read quasi truthful stories about Hollywood hacks, yet choose not to be informed about their community and their government's actions?

Is it because that is what media is giving readers? Or are do publishing companies dictate consumption more than we really perceive?

Bigger dominoes beginning to fall

2008-12-06T09:43:00.003-07:00

This last week was graced with the unpleasant announcement that E.W. Scripps has put the Rocky Mountain News up for sale. The flagship newspaper for the company that has won four Pulitzers in the past eight years.

This, in the midst of a month where more than 500,000 Americans lost jobs. Those are just the ones that filed for unemployment mind you, there could be many more undocumented.

Then two days later reports are that The McClatchy Company is putting a FOR SALE sign on their flagship The Miami Herald.

Denver will most likely become a single newspaper town, as there will probably not be someone crazy enough to buy a property that is losing over $1 million a month in a competitive market and in a declining industry. Sadly, hundreds more will be added to that skyrocketing unemployment statistic, but those additions will be people I know. People I respect. People that care about the Fourth Estate.

Scary thing is I didn't think all these troubles would come this soon. I knew that the first quarter of 2009 was going to be a bloody mess, but before Christmas bells had even begun to ring? The acceleration in the decline of the newspaper business, as well as the economy in general, is speeding up much faster than many thought would be possible. The first quarter of 2009 may just look like the basement of Leatherface's Texas Home.

Photo Workshop

2008-12-04T19:21:00.002-07:00

Been working over the last few weeks to build a working and functional website for Kenn Bisio as well as for my final project in one of my grad school classes. Had several coding issues but I think it's got a green light now. Take a peek and let me know if you find any issues. Or sign up for a trip to Ireland!

Travel documentary and photography

2008-12-03T21:16:00.001-07:00

Was tipped off about this site by a fellow photog, thankfully. There's a ton of things to look at on this blog!

I'm sure I'll link some of them soon, but in the meantime check out this one called SocialDocumentary.net

Leibovitz interview

2008-12-01T17:33:00.003-07:00

Annie Leibovitz is on a book tour for her book "Annie Leibovitz at Work" and there are a few places that have posted interviews. This is a longer interview in Seattle.

She's really created her own career and carer path in the realm of photography. It should be interesting to see what she included in the book and the back-stories. She also included who influenced and what images stand out to her.

NPR also has an interview and some photos.

Need help with some photo biz works?

2008-12-01T17:27:00.002-07:00

John Harrington's book "Best Business Practices for Photographers" has been uploaded to AmazonOnlineReader. You can read it there for free to see if you want to buy it.

Listened to John speak at a workshop a few years ago. He's a smart guy and must know what he's doing considering the photo empire he has created.

Old School film, I mean old school

2008-12-01T16:47:00.002-07:00

A post on APAD about the lone Kodachrome processing lab in the world with a audio slide show.

Platon talking about his portraits

2008-12-01T16:38:00.002-07:00

This has been out there a while, but this is a solid audio file to listen to. Great stories and insight.

Faces of Sunset Blvd

2008-12-01T15:37:00.001-07:00

Great portraiture work and idea out of California for a book. Fun site as well. The video about shooting the LAPD chief is pretty cool. Check it out.

Found via 10,000 Words Twitter Feed.

Tilt shift video playground

2008-11-26T10:36:00.002-07:00

Metal Heart from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Keith Loutit produced a pretty cool video using a tilt/shift lens on a DLSR shot at intervals. Pretty cool look. Kind of limiting at times I'm sure, but nonetheless a fun trick to play with.

10,000 Words and Photojournalism

2008-11-19T16:35:00.001-07:00

There's some fantastic links in this blog post of the best places to find the best photos.

Happy viewing.

MTV's Gideon Yago putting the smack down on Journalism

2008-11-19T12:46:00.003-07:00

Gideon Yago worked with The IFC Media Project to create a series about journalism and how news sausage is made. Should be interesting. Hopefully it's available online!