Ami Vitale Interview

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

Choosing Thomas

Amazing work and story.

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

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.

Recounting photographing Tank Man

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.

PDN Photo Annual

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

Great variety of photography

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.

Fantastic Multimedia Production Post

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.

Eight tips for aspiring photogs

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.

IWantMyRocky to become InDenverTimes

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.

An Unlikely Weapon - The Eddie Adams Story

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."

Transform

'nuf said.

Functional Photography Art Project

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.

Ira Glass and storytelling

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

Cellular Obscura

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

Fantastic stop motion video

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.

Sweet Group Photo Project

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.

Exactitudes

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.

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

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.

Seattle P-I Year in Photos

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

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.