Multimedia
For those licensing images to textbooks National Public Radio published an interesting report recently that is
worth a listen. It was pointed out that prices for college textbooks are often over $300 and climbing faster than the cost of food, clothing, cars and even health care.
After Hurricane Sandy many news organizations will be thinking hard about covering breaking news events with iPhone’s and delivering the images via Instagram. Kira Pollack, Director of Photography for Time Magazine, hired five professional photographers to cover the event with their iPhones rather than their digital SLRs. By delivering the images via Instagram Time was able to show customers a more comprehensive report faster that would have been possible with a traditional approach to the assignment.
The
Aurora Multimedia Workshop designed to prepare photographers for creating effective multimedia projects will examine the challenging new world of visual storytelling from May 29 through June 1, 2012 at the University of Colorado campus in Bolder.
AudioMicro, Inc., which operates a network of digital content licensing marketplaces, has announced that
ImageCollect.com, its celebrity picture marketplace launched just five months ago has more than 1,500,000 mostly “red carpet” images available for download. The company expects to have more than 4 million images on its site before the end of the year. The collection includes archival imagery from companies like Globe Photos and current content being supplied by top entertainment photographers.
Have an idea for a photo project but short of money to get if off the ground? Try Kickstarter.
Most still photographers say their best pictures tell stories. To a limited degree, this is true. But photographers need to start thinking about more complete and complex stories, not just the best story they can tell in a single frame. This is where the opportunities lie.
The December issue of U.S. News and World Report will be the last printed on paper. Beginning in 2011 and marking a three-year transition to a new business model, the publication will go entirely digital, though it still plans to continue printing a series of print products.
The traditional market for single images is under intense pressure. However, the demand for imagery that hangs together as a story is increasing in both editorial and commercial arenas.
I
had already been a still photographer for over 20 years when I started
exploring digital video and the motion medium ten years ago. I had
built a successful career shooting editorially for magazines like
National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian, Travel & Leisure to name
a few, as well as producing annual reports for major corporations.
When digital video hit the scene in the late ‘90’s, I was already
starting to feel a slight frustration in trying to tell certain stories
with a still camera. I was beginning to think and see in terms of
movement and sound. At the same time, technology was making it
possible and affordable with digital video cameras and non-linear
editing software for me to use this medium to tell my stories. The new
tools were a means to an end.
“National Geographic Interactive adapts the analog magazine to be more
easily and logically experienced in a digital form,” reads the
description of the new products. The publisher also promoted longtime
director of photography David Griffin to the newly created position of
executive editor, electronic publishing. Such changes at one of the most venerable titles may be a
preview of the publishing industry’s future—and, in turn, the future of
the images it uses.
One of the leading producers of short form business profiles (videos of 45 to 75 seconds) is
TurnHere.com. The company has a network of over 8,000 freelance videographers
working in over 70 countries. It has produced more than 27,000 short
videos (7,000 within the last 6 months) for local business around the
world.
The topic of future career opportunities in
photography has engendered a lively discussion on several Linkedin groups. Do such opportunities still exist or should most of those entering the profession consider other avenues?
In the next few years, there will be two major trends in the education
business: There will be less demand for books as a teaching resource.
Electronic “learning objects” will be used to a much greater degree in
classroom and online instruction. Photographers
who agree that these changes will occur, and who supply images to those
producing materials for educational use, should begin to restructure
their businesses and produce content that will be in demand by this new
educational delivery system.
The opportunity to interact with editors from publishing companies, picture researchers, stock agents and photographers at the American Society of Picture Professionals' Reinvention Weekend in Boston provided a clearer picture of where the business of producing images for publication is headed.
For those who think that the use of photography in education will remain the same, here are some numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
More and more still photographers are getting into video because of the
appeal of the hybrid still cameras that also shoot video.
Photographers love the visual coming out of these big chip cameras –
what’s not to love? But they quickly find out that if they aren’t just
going to be laying visuals down to a music track, they will need to
start thinking about their audio – specifically a narrative track or
one driven by sound bites from interviews. I work in the corporate
sector, as well as create documentaries, so I do a lot of interviews.
The interviews, along with a scripted voiceover comprise my audio track
and drive the story.
I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago and stopped by
Zacuto.
Zacuto
is a business that has made outfitting DSLR cameras for video a
specialty. They have cleverly engineered an assortment of their party
add-ons that take these cameras to a higher level. They have also
provided solutions to overcome some of these cameras shortcomings.
Depending on the genre you are working in, documentary work, corporate,
indie films or photojournalism will ultimately determine which way
you’ll need to “trick” these cameras out.
After great success at producing and selling traditional rights-managed and royalty-free imagery for more than 25 years, Ron Chapple started producing microstock in 2006. By 2008, he went looking for new opportunities, and in 2009 -- the year when many other photographers struggled to survive -- he doubled his income compared to the previous year.
While the transition from still photographer to television commercial producer is difficult, David Scott Smith's odyssey illustrates that an image creator and storyteller can find satisfaction in shooting and producing video.