24 October 2013

The Crossing Borders Project: Jamie Portland Homeless 2013

The Crossing Borders Project: Jimm Portland Homeless

The Crossing Borders Project: Jonathan Portland Homeless

The Crossing Borders Project: Justin Portland Homeless

The Crossing Borders Project: Michael Portland Homeless

The Crossing Borders Project: Portland Homeless Collective Men (+playlist)

21 September 2013

Facebook makes Alarming Changes in their Terms



Facebook has altered their terms of service to make it possible for companies that pay the social media network to utilize Facebook users’ content and likeness without compensation or permission. The changes are sure to alienate Facebook’s users in the creative community, who make a living from licensing their work and content.

Read more...

04 September 2013

Dali Lama on success

He is such a wonderful man. Here are his views and I think that it is important for those who want to get into photography and any other arts. Keep punching along!

28 August 2013

Communication?

I call this fragmented communication and so true.


Look at this Instagram...

This is my instagram
a photographers.....what?


10 June 2013

Downsizing of Photojournalism

I knew for quite some time that professional photojournalism was on the downslide, tumbling tumbling as fast as the rate of acceleration and not a bit slower. It does not surprise me to see yet another full staff "lay-off" due to corporate downsizing and profit making mongols in the newspaper industry. The Chicago Sun-Times is quoted as saying,

 "The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network."

 I understand that news video is increasing in demand for online news but it is not all that should be considered when reporting the news...unless people want just headlines and quick blurps without any real content. In reality this type of news leaves the population sort of ignorant as to what is really going on in the world and why whatever is going on is going on. Sure, one can use a still from a video to create a photograph but the quality is not the same, the angle is not the same and the story is not the same as a still. Will citizens of America see the difference in the quality of both the news and still image? Or will our citizens just turn a blind eye, stay silent and let what happens happen. Below is an image of the first freelance photographer assignment for the Chicago Tribune and tell me if there is a difference:


Nice photograph huh?

I have the feeling that the reporting will change around the same lines.  Pretty soon our news will be full of misspelled articles, unchecked facts without any responsibility for its' contents.  Just wait and see.

There is another problem.  As in most changes those who have "been around" know the difference but those that are young in the world will not know and thus, it will all be accepted as "normal" and good content.  We are building a less educated America and the news media insults our intelligence.  Yet, we allow it.

I can't believe that those who actually read the news enjoy waiting some time to change from one page with online news?  Turning a page takes time because it involves blocked cookies and spyware.  Good by turning a page with ease.

I would rather sit down with a cup of coffee and simply turn the pages any day.  I can take it outside, I can read it in bed, I can read it at a coffee shop and I can read it inside.  I can plop the good old print news and take it into the countryside, lay out a blanket and eat donuts and coffee to my hearts content.  I do not need to fight with the glare on my screen, plug in extension chords, carry around a laptop bag or worry about spilt coffee.

Bottom line?  The Sun-Times found other ways to acquire images without having to pay for them and they will get the quality as my example above.  I already posted a response to when CNN said that they no longer need photojournalists because they can relay on citizen journalism as a valid source for their news.  So does that mean if I have an iphone, or cannon point and shoot camera I am a press photographer?  Here is an interesting article in the NY Times:  "Do Newspapers Need Photographers?"

Or consider the fact that they want to use their reporters to double as photojournalists.  Let's consider this fact.  One, they will not get paid more for their double duty.  Two, they have spent their lives preparing to work with text, not image taking.  Three, they will miss the "action shots" because they will need to spend their time jotting notes about the event or the interview.  They will not have the time to engage in great photojournalistic shots.

Below is a great Blog from Rob Hart, who was laid off from the Sun-Times:

"Laid off from the Sun-Times"

One fellow photojournalist responded with this, "They're going to use freelancers - hire and fire policies, no need to pay for cameras, cars, pensions, health care - no moral responsibility to anyone providing images or video. Force reporters to shoot iphone pics/video, pay them nothing extra for the extra time and effort because as we all know, just as a photographer can do the job of a reporter standing on his/her head, so a wordsmith can easily do the job of a photographer - NOT! It all comes down to making the bottom line look as attractive as possible at time of sale to Koch brothers or any other taker. It's false economics, false accounting, short term, short sighted greed motivated policies. Such is the way of capitalism these days. Who gives a shit about real people? Just as long as shareholders, hedge fund managers and the banks are making their cut, the peasants can eat bread whilst the emperors parade around naked eating cake...............No need to look at what's happening in Spain, Greece, Turkey or anywhere else where the 'peasants' might just have had enough of this crap."

-Well said!

23 May 2013

crossing borders project: Kickstarter: Portland's Homeless Shepherd's Door Fourth Roll

crossing borders project: Kickstarter: Portland's Homeless Shepherd's Door Fourth Roll

These are the last of the selected images for the workshops and we are moving forward!  Now, we gather the images into a short film to create the represented stories.  Keep in tune.

18 April 2013

crossing borders project: Shepherd's Door: Women's First Roll Images

crossing borders project: Shepherd's Door: Women's First Roll Images

Click on the link above view three images from each participant and watch the stories and styles develop!

16 April 2013

Photography Workshop: Tuscany/Chianti!

I just want to let you know that I am working on setting a five day photography workshop in Italy from the 5th through the 11th or the 13th through the 17th!

I have a few slots to fill and some folks who are flexible with the dates!  We have a great time and the more the merrier!  Look at the workshop website:
Photography Workshops in Italy

Pass the word around will ya?




22 February 2013

Bad news with Getty and IStock Photos



I was really disappointed with Getty and istock when I read this article.  It is a reminder to make sure that we read ALL of the fine print for stock photo and agency contracts.  Remember instagram?  Photographers beware.  We work hard to build up our photography portfolio costing us years and years in development, not to mention the prices of our equipment, gathering model release forms, archiving.  We cannot allow these agencies to take our work and sell them for pennies then drop us like we never existed.

No matter how hard it is for us to compete with the cell phone point and shooters, we must hold strong and keep our art at top value.

Reposted from PhotoStockNotes

Lauren Margolis: “Earlier last month, we learned that Getty agreed to license some 5,000 stock photos to Google, and paid the image creators a one-time fee of $12. Many members of the Microstockgroup forums planned to deactivate images on iStockphoto (a counterpart of Getty Images). 
Stock photographer Sean Locke - who has contributed more than 12,000 photos to iStockphoto and sold nearly 1 million licenses - criticized the deal early on and now Getty isterminating his account in 30 days.” http://blog.photoshelter.com/2013/02/istockphoto-terminates-top-contributor-in-aftermath-of-gettygoogle-deal/ 

TAKEAWAY: Photographer Locke has announced that he will migrate to other venues with his microstock photos. The dismissal of Locke (for expressing his opinion) turns out to be a hidden blessing for all microstockers. It’s a reminder that as a microstocker, you can simply migrate your photos from one site to another without missing a beat as they all (all millions of them) seem to come from the same catalog.

30 January 2013

Needs, Wants and Art in Florence


Hi everyone,

This is my first "real video" and I made it for One Day on Earth Project!
Gemma my intern and I worked on this together and she did a ton of work, plus all of the editing!
Clap Clap Gemma!

Please view the video at this link, share to spread the work and provide feedback!

Also, the CB Project is now preparing to conduct workshops with homeless men and sheltered women in Portland, Oregon!  We have a total of 18 participants.



Needs, Wants and Art in Florence from Susan Brannon on Vimeo.

19 January 2013

Visual Storytelling: 14 Tools for Journalists

This is a great and informative article!

A list of just 14 tools that journalists might find useful to tell stories in visual ways, inspired by the visual storytelling session at the latest news:rewired event

Reposted from Journalism.co.uk

Over the past year here at Journalism.co.uk we have reported on a number of new tools and platforms which have been launched or updated, which offer journalists different ways of telling stories visually.

Our news:rewired events have also highlighted a number of those tools, most recently in a dedicated session on visual storytelling at news:rewired - digital stories, which was held last Thursday (6 December).

Here is a list of just 14 tools that journalists might find useful. Some launched this year, while others have been around for some time now but continue to be used by news outlets today.

Timelines

1. Timetoast

Users simply sign up to Timetoast and then they can create embeddable timelines.

Each event added to the timeline can have an image and link added to it. Timelines can be saved as drafts until ready to be published, at which point they can be customised and embedded into news sites. The timelines can be viewed as a table or in timeline format and the final timeline is also given its own URL for direct linking.

At news:rewired last week Paul Rowland, deputy head of content (digital), Media Wales, recommended using Timetoast to build timelines, showing one he created on "Wales' rise and fall since Rugby World Cup 2011" as an example of the tool in use.  more...