Oct 20 2010

Using Multimedia to Sell Yourself (Not Your Images)

Category: Business & Marketing, Multimedia & Video — Ethan G. Salwen @ 3:16 pm

“You need to tell them who you are,” Lauren M. Rabaino suggests in her post yesterday at 10,000 Words, in which she is highlighting the importance of applying multimedia skills in non-multimedia jobs. Here, she is specifically talking about the importance of entrepreneurs (read: all photographers) selling themselves to clients with multimedia storytelling.

Photographers are doing an amazing job at harnessing multimedia to highlight their work, but how many (and how creatively?) are photographers using multimedia to sell themselves — entrepreneurial style?

Here are four example of photographers using multimedia to help sell themselves to potential clients. What’s cool is that this self-promotion was either an after thought (#1) or not a thought at all (#2, #3 and #4), but all do the trick — meeting the 2.0 reality of potential clients wanting to identify a cool, like-minded image maker to work with, not just someone who makes cool images.

#1. This video features Ian Shive:

Amazing multimedia, wonderfully highlights his work, but also really shows you want this guy is about. Not surprisingly, he’s told me that he’s gotten amazing attention (and business) from this series.

#2. This video features Gail Mooney:

Amazing multimedia journalism, this is just a rough that Mooney quickly slapped together after her travels for “Opening Our Eyes.” Yes, it wonderfully teases us with the quality of her work (we want to see more!), but it also shows Mooney up close and personal — something you’d never see in a portfolio-only piece. Mooney has told me that every time she has shown this teaser she gets amazing interest in her project, and that her viewers are most interested in what she has to say on camera.

#3. This video features Peter Krogh:

OK, this is not amazing multimedia, nor does it seem to be a super sales device, but I actually think it is. In this world of 2.0 sharing, we get to see super photo nerdy Krogh in a less photo-nerdy moment, sharing a bit of his life, showing us who he is, helping us imagine him out camping in his van, letting us know that Zippy Lives!

#4. This video features Mary Lynn Price:

If you can make a fun, excellent, educational multimedia piece that features you, and starts off you with you mostly naked, well. . . I think you’re doing a great self promotion sales job, even if wasn’t your intention.

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Jul 21 2010

Should Photographers Learn HTML and CSS?

Category: Technology Insights — Ethan G. Salwen @ 11:31 am

Even if you are not a reporter, as a modern photographer you very likely consider yourself an “independent publisher/producer,” and so the flowchart posted yesterday on 10,000 Words will be of interest.

AfterCapture Blog_100721_shouldilearnprogramming-sm

According to this chart, if you don’t want to spend nights crying over your keyboard, you should not learn programming. On the other hand, if you want to build Web sites, you should learn HTML and CSS. This seems about right to me, and it points to the fact that, these days:

1. The act of building Web sites can be as simple as lightly customizing a blog template (theme), which can seriously help photographers in self-publishing images, photo stories and multimedia projects.

2. Most people do not consider basic HTML and CSS serious programming.

Few photographers will want to or will need to learn Continue reading “Should Photographers Learn HTML and CSS?”

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May 20 2010

Easy Web Production Solutions from Mark S. Luckie

Category: Online Resources, Technology Insights — Ethan G. Salwen @ 3:44 pm

AfterCapture Blog_100520_Web Production_1“Web Production” might not be your cup of tea (and the term might even make you cringe), but every day sees a further blurring in the line between contact creation (e.g. photographs) and how this content is published in the digital world (e.g. posting photographs, a.k.a. web production). In a 10,000 Words post, Mark S. Luckie offers a quick, useful Q&A on web production that you’ll likely find interesting.

As Luckie writes in “Easy solutions to web production’s most common problems”:

“In my role as multimedia producer for California Watch and in other newsrooms where I’ve worked, I am frequently approached by reporters to help them with web-related issues. Often it’s how to post content on the web, how to edit something. . .”

Luckie goes on to very briefly answer a number of critical questions, pointing to a lot of cool online resources.

Sure, you might be a Photoshop wiz, but maybe you’re on the road and just need a simple, online solution to resizing an image. That’s when it would be good to know about the “free online tool Resizr“?

Other, non-photo-specific answers by Luckie will likely prove even more valuable and, just as important, keep your mind open to the increasing options in (easy) web production.


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Apr 19 2010

Craig F. Walker Wins (the New) Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography

Category: Photographers, The Industry — Ethan G. Salwen @ 9:19 pm

AfterCapture_Blog_100419_Pulitzer_1On April 12, the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Feature photography was awarded to Craig F. Walker of “The Denver Post.” As the prize citation notes, Walker won the award “for his intimate portrait of a teenager who joins the Army at the height of insurgent violence in Iraq, poignantly searching for meaning and manhood.”

Winning a Pulitzer is a big deal. There is no doubt that Walker’s work is  worthy of recognition. What is more confusing is exactly what makes photography eligible for a Pulitzer Prize, how this relates to digital journalism and how Pulitzer judges chose winning images in relation to online presentations.

This post is about the Pulitzer Prizes in photography — thus “(the New)” I put in the title — and not about whether Walker’s work deserves the prize. I want to make that clear. For more than two years Walker photographed a young man named Ian Fisher as he went from considering joining the military and his induction into the Army through his training — which included a number of personal problems — to his eventual deployment to Iraq and his return to the States.

Not only did Walker photograph Fisher at key moments during a 27-month period, but he recorded his family, friends and many aspects of the modern military not often seen. It is a truly compelling body of work.

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The main reason I know that Walker’s body of  work is compelling is because of an online, multimedia site hosted by “The Denver Post.” By heading to “Ian Fisher: American Soldier” I was able to delve into Walker’s work far, far more in depth than I could have by merely viewing the 20 images presented in the “Works” section connected to Walker’s citation on The Pulitzer Prizes site.

Confusing Evolutions in Pulitzer Eligibility

I first heard about Walker’s winning work from a post on 10,000 Words. The post’s introduction says: Continue reading “Craig F. Walker Wins (the New) Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography”

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Mar 31 2010

Inspiring Portfolios from Photojournalists

Category: Business & Marketing, Creative Process — Ethan G. Salwen @ 11:05 am

A great post from 10,000 Words from last year features a number of excellent portfolio websites. “20 Photojournalists’ fantastic portfolios” is not just for photojournalists, but will be of interest to any photographer who is continually searching for for new ways to present increasingly diverse bodies of work.

AfterCapture_Blog_100331_Photojournalist Websites

As the post’s intro points out:

The digital era has revolutionized photography. Photojournalists not only have access to high-end cameras with a seemingly infinite number of features, but their photos can be presented in many different ways, including slideshows and multimedia packages. However, it doesn’t matter the technology that powers the photography, what matters is the eye and innate skill of the photographer, as evidenced below.

The inclusion of multimedia along with still photography is one of the hallmarks of the best portfolios, such as that of Chris Jordon, which is straight forward, but which excellently concentrates on the story of the images presented — whether stills or multimedia presentations.

The 10,000 Words post suggests that all that “matters is the eye and innate skill of the photographer.” I disagree. The point is not the skill of the image maker, nor their skill in editing their best images (not easy) but, ultimately, how they best take advantage of technology to best show off those skills.

Check out the portfolios featured in the 10,000 Words post, and let these photojournalists inspire you in ways you can continue to improve your own presentation.

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Mar 01 2010

Panoramic Photos and Videos on Steroids

Category: Multimedia & Video, Technology Insights, The Industry, Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 12:05 pm
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Still from "Haiti 360º"

“Panoramic photos and videos and how to create them” is a great post that “10,000 Words” featured on February 17. The featured video panoramas — in which you can pan 360 degrees, zoom and pause all while riding on the car or head of a journalist — are truly incredibly, at least from a technological point of view.

As always with “Wow!” technology, I find myself asking, “What’s the point?,” or, perhaps less cynically, “What is a real, applicable use for this technology for working non-journalist photographers?”

While I couldn’t come up with a good, clear answer to this question, you should still really check out the “Wow!” technology featured in this post. After all, technological innovations always come before practical applications, and so my posing (let alone trying to answer) the “why?” question is probably inappropriate.

Wedding photographers may or may not be able to market panoramic videos. What’s important is to understand how quickly this technology is advancing. I myself was startled. It really is amazing. Continue reading “Panoramic Photos and Videos on Steroids”

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