I've gone global

A few weeks ago I noticed something interesting was happening with the hits on SLR. Suddenly I was receiving a lot of hits from India. Between 1 A.M. and 2 A.M. I saw the total site percentage of hits from India go from 0.01% to nearly 50%.

As it turns out, my virus story was picked up by a major newspaper in India. On February 3, 2006 the Mumbai Mirror picked up my story and in doing so exposed SLR to an audience that otherwise would probably never have noticed me.

There's probably some copyright issue here, but I'm going to let it slide.

It has died down a little since then, but it's just another sign on the global nature of the internet.

Filed under:

• sitenews
• technology
• online

Dai Sugano: The Forgotten People - Part II

I didn't want my own reflections to overshadow Dai's excellent work. So in an attempt to break up the focus, I've cut and pasted the second half of the post.

There is this school of thought in photojournalism, that in order to remain objective we must remove ourselves from the equation. The idea is that in order to get the most honest image we must be a fly on the wall. This, as photojournalist know, is the catch 22 of our profession. Just mearly being present changes the enviroment. The relationship of you and the interaction of those around you is different than if you weren't there at all, and introducing a camera exponitially rasies the effect.

Consider it in terms of a river. A river flows and rushes down with gravity. Throwing a photographer, or to illustrate the point a rock, into the mix changes things. Sure the rock is nothing compared to the might of a rushing river, but the rock is effecting the scene and the river is reacting to the rock. Water rushes around it, slows down approching it and speeds up on departure, any criters in the river will change course to avoid the rock. On the larger scale, the rock is negligable, but on the localized plain, it's becoming an active factor in the river flows dynamic.

In a similar way, photojournalist also change the scene on the smallest scales. It's a missconception to think anything else. Just our presence alone effects the scene.

What Dai has done with his project is tackle the issue head-on. He's accepted this hard fact and his project is better for it.

Ok... so I kind of went off on a tangent, but the point remains. Dai's project is a peice worth checking out for photojournalist and non-professionals alike. Go now!

Filed under:

• photojournalism
• newmedia
• online
• documentary

Things I wish I knew...

Well apparently Flickr has an archive limit on the free accounts. I learned just now the hard way, that limit is 200. Well there goes my portfolio...

I can't talk now... don't look at me!

Filed under:

• sitenews
• technology
• photography
• flickr

Dai Sugano: The Forgotten People - Part I

San Jose State University photojournalism alumnus and current San Jose Mercury News staff photographer Dai Sugano has recently wrapped up a 15 month long project documenting Hmong refugees.

According to photographer and educator Dr. Dennis Dunleavy's blog,

"Dai's work is always from the heart, but hearing his voice and seeing some of the personal pictures made of him with the family he reported on for so long really adds another dimension to the storytelling process."

(Full disclosure: Dennis is a former teacher at SJSU and an ongoing personal friend and mentor.)

That about sums it up.

The U.S. CIA recruited Hmongs to fight during the Vietnam War. Their efforts were kept out of the public eye and the US officially denied their existence. Subsequently their war became known as "“The Secret War."” Dai spent nearly two years documenting this truth and bringing it to light. It'’s an inspiring piece that shows the power of an image and gives a voice to those who the US government has decided weren'’t worth listening to.

Filed under:

• photojournalism
• newmedia
• online
• documentary

From the back section!

Sort of an update to my test article for Newsvine. Which I’m not very impressed by at the moment. The fault with Newsvine is that it strives to be a community discussion group with topics and articles for debate coming from independent writers like myself. The problem is, in order to get a decent back and forth going, Newsvine needs a large pool of readers with the desire to speak. I’m sure the service will get there eventually, and I love the concept, but it’s not there yet.

I’ve decided to have a little fun today and share some great music.

If you read the Newsvine article I wrote a few weeks ago, you already know why their new documentary is so monumental in terms of information flow and content generation. The band has taken the concept creative content creation and placed it square in the hands of the consumer of that content.

Great music and a documentary. What’s not to like?

What I said then:

“As technology has improved so has the cost come down of consumer cameras and media creation equipment. As little as ten years ago, such an endevor would have been deemed to expensive and far to distant from the vicinity of "the box." See, we say we want to think outside the box, but truth be told we'd be happy just in the shadow of the box.

There's been much made of the "I want it now culture" of new media, but no one has attempted it on such a level. (Full discloure time: I'm a long time fan of the band so I might have bias in my praise.) For the first time, on such a scale (not considering documentary films and similar news magazine stories), the consumer of media is creating the media. It should make for a fun footnote in music and technology history.”

On to the update. The “boys” have made there introduction of "Awesome" at the Sundance Premiere since the last time I wrote about the film.

If you’re interested, check out part 1 and part 2 of the Beastie Boys "Awesome" Sundance Q&A.

They’ve also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote the documentary. Once again they rocked it like only they do. Taking the concept of the documentary, the Late Show audience was handed cameras and the nights performance became a live clip for the larger work. Adding to the amusement, band leader Paul Shaffer and Letterman himself also grabbed a camera.

Of course no discussion is complete with out a fisheye shot.

But it’s not the first time Dave’s welcomed the boys or the last. In my book they had one of the greatest TV performances ever (it’s in a tie for first with Bruce Springsteen's takeover of Late Night with Conan O’Brien in my book). It's so good I've refused to delete it from my Tivo.

Enjoy!

Bonus hidden track: One of the greatest videos ever created!

And while we’re at it, I’d be remiss to forget MixMaster Mike.

Ah heck, one more.

Filed under:

• music
• funstuff
• technology

Ch-ch-ch-check it out

Originally published on Sat Jan 21, 2006 3:40 AM PST at Newsvine. I’ve decided to repost the article here so that my next post will make more sense.

It seems fitting that the most famous purveyors of sampling also give it's concert goers the same privallege when it comes to a concert film.

It's no D.A. Pennebaker, but that's a good thing. The "concert film" has become an amalgamation of clichés, with standardized shot lists and routine camera choreography.

New York based hip-hop pioneers, The Beastie Boys are attempting to breath fresh air into the genre with a concert video from a show at Madison Square Garden. Fifty fans were given hand-held video cameras and little more.

No instructions, suggestions or advice. How to turn it on and off was the extent of the training and concert-goers were free to shoot to their hearts content. After the show the cameras were re-collected and the footage was pieced together to create, what one hopes, to be a unique musical experience. And they didn't stop there.

“Awesome,” was entered in the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, accepted and will be shown Saturday night. And they aren't even concerned with selling the rights. ThinkFilm already scooped them up last fall in the low seven figures, and the film will be released theatrically in late March.

For offical purposes Adam Yauch, known as MCA in the band, but who prefers the moniker Nathanial Hornblower, is credited as director. But this is truly a consumer created product.

MCA found inspiration on his bands message boards where a fan posted a concert photo snapped on a cell phone. “The energy of it looked cool, and I thought it would look interesting to document a whole concert,” he said in an interview with The New York Times.

As technology has improved so has the cost come down of consumer cameras and media creation equipment. As little as ten years ago, such an endevor would have been deemed to expensive and far to distant from the vicinity of "the box." See, we say we want to think outside the box, but truth be told we'd be happy just in the shadow of the box.

There's been much made of the "I want it now culture" of new media, but no one has attempted it on such a level. (Full discloure time: I'm a long time fan of the band so I might have bias in my praise.) For the first time, on such a scale (not considering documentary films and similar news magazine stories), the consumer of media is creating the media. It should make for a fun footnote in music and technology history.

The film reportadly will cost the Beastie Boys about $1.2 million when the sampling fees are added in. The record industry finally caught up with them. However, they're staying true to their roots, all the Hi-8 Sony cameras were returned to the stores where they were bought, in some cases for a full refund.

Filed under:

• music
• funstuff
• technology

Ode to the Cannon D2000, I still kind of hate you... old friend

The other night Daniel Sato reminded me of Dr. Dennis Dunleavy’s March 2005 post about my experience in Reno, NV for the 2005 NCAA WAC basketball tournament.

Dennis wrote:

"Tonight, while helping out on the Spartan Daily, we were waiting for Shaminder to email some images he made at a basketball tournament in Reno. When files finally arrived we couldn't open them because they were in a format that the newer computer technology couldn't read."

I forgot all about Dennis' post. That was a long night. I used so many minutes on my cell phone (note to any journalist, go for the plan with the million minutes) and was the last one to leave the media room, even missed dinner.

Yet for all the aggravation, I still look back on the Canon D2000 with fondness. I had some good times with the lumbering beast. For one carrying it around was great for the biceps. It was also a great conversation piece, I always got an odd look and the spark for a lively conversation was instantly created.

Imagine a baseline of 6-8 photographers on each end all shooting with Canon Mark II's and me in the middle with the D2000. You didn’t even need to see me to find me, just listening was enough.

A sea of Mark IIs going “Clickclickclickclcickcklcicckcick…”

And I’m the one going: “.........click............click..........click…"

And in between the shooting: the 17-year-old high school kid (how's Brooks kid?) is taking pot shots at your gear and the pros are wondering which museum you ransacked on the way to Reno. There’s an upside however, folks seem to take pity on you when they see what you’re shooting with and if you come though the pity quickly turns into kudos. All in all it was a great time. I met some great people and now I have this story to tell.

Filed under:

• photojournalism
• technology
• online
• history

New virus targets photographers

A new virus has been making headlines lately, and this one is nasty. It targets photographers who use Photoshop. Which means it targets 99% of us. (It also targets your Microsoft Office files, but we got file info for captions.)

It's a worm that users have unknowingly downloaded to their systems, and it's set to wreak havoc come this Friday. (Hopefully you read this before the third.)

The good news is, an update is available for virtually all virus scanners, so as long as you update and run a scan before Friday, your precious files should be safe.

Today, I posted on Spartan Daily Online a very in-depth report from Spartan Daily staff writer and webmaster Ryan Sholin. Read up on all the details and check yo self, before you wreck yo self!

There's also some free (as in legally) virus scanners out there. Dig around and you should be able to find one.

Filed under:

• technology
• online
• photography

OpenRAW survey looking for your feedback

The OpenRAW initiative is a photography-oriented group that advocates the open documentation of digital camera RAW files.

According to OpenRaw:

During the past several months, photographers have become increasingly aware of the actions of camera makers to conceal - and in some cases, to encrypt - information stored in RAW image files. These actions have raised concern about whether a trend toward more proprietary RAW image formats could lead to fewer choices of software to edit RAW files from new cameras. They have also shaken photographers' confidence that RAW files taken with older camera models will be supported in the future.

The survey was launched today in hopes of collecting "experiences, requirements, preferences, and concerns of digital photographers and other interested parties regarding RAW imaging technology."

OpenRAW is hoping for a large sample of photographers in an effort to finally get some hard numbers and documentation on user-end issues.

If you're a RAW shooter, be sure to help the cause.

Filed under:

• technology
• photography