In May, I came across this gem on Ken Burns. “On Story” delves into what attracts him to stories and shares his own about how his mother dying has effected his path. I’ve always liked Ken Burns (as an American history major, you spend a lot of time watching his documentaries) but this video made me like him even more.

Ken Burns: On Story from Redglass Pictures on Vimeo.
Partially, it’s a great video because Ken Burns knows how to tell a story, even about himself (anyone else notice he talks about manipulating the viewer in the beginning and then how he manipulates with his personal story? Sneaky.) But the editing really sets it apart. The Atlantic did a great interview with the filmmakers on how they approached the video. The piece does not necessarily lend its self to a visual format but they found ways to make it compelling. The pacing, archival footage and beautiful shots of a projector to mix up the visual worked together seamlessly.
Last week a video on David Remnick, the editor in chief at New Yorker, came out timed to his profile on Bruce Springstein. Remnick’s impressive output and work on Israel has given me a bit of a fangirl complex. This video, however, did not pull off the same feat that the Ken Burns piece managed.

STORYBOARD: The Art of the Profile with David Remnick of ‘The New Yorker’ from Tumblr on Vimeo.
In truth, the videos were very similar. Both were short documentaries on people who tell stories for a living. The content was equally compelling and the length (important for my internet attention span) are about the same. Perhaps the Tumblr crew behind the Remnick video didn’t have as much time for post-production (or someone doing After Effects) as the Ken Burns team did.
But there were a couple things that stood out to me as easy fixes. Their mains shot, a tight one of Remnick, is not lit well, could use another half stop at least of light and some of green tint pulled out. Footage of someone sitting and talking is not all that interesting, but if that’s what you are working with, make it beautiful. Secondly, they did the classic no-no of “monkey see, monkey do.” When Remnick is talking about how he’d rather write than go to the beach, they show a New Yorker cover of a beach scene. This is very literal and not needed. Videos for the web are best when they give us as much information as possible in the shortest period of time. Other imagery could have been used there to illustrate the story. I would have loved to have seen Remnick’s desk, the New Yorker office or some more Springstein footage. Regardless of these issues, I watched the whole thing. They did a great job with the audio, keeping it snappy, and Remnick was a great interviewee.
In May, I came across this gem on Ken Burns. “On Story” delves into what attracts him to stories and shares his own about how his mother dying has effected…

I got published on TheAtlantic.com with what I’m calling “a thought piece on a campy vampire show.”

I asked Mantoani about the project a year ago this week, and it’s great to see that he didn’t run out of the gigantic, expensive Polaroid film he uses.

I could edit for hours without any true sense of time or weather. It felt a lot like living in the analog darkroom I used as a student.

The White House Flickr photostream makes President Obama look like James Bond.

I don’t know about you guys, but all these protests are awfully exciting. The Libyan photos were actually feeling especially romantic, which was pretty alarming until I realized that they were reminding me of some of my favorite photojournalism from the Spanish Civil War.

I had about 12 hours from interviewing Evan Gregory from the group to having to send the piece into my editor. A bit nerve-wracking since I haven’t written anything since July but it went exceptional well.

Recent months have seen a ramping up of my writing activities, something I’m happy to see joining my photos in various outlets, or even standing on its own.

Flickr posted in their blog a “success story” of a member licensing his photo to Getty, whom have their fingers in every photo kool-aid around, and having it sell. Not only did it sell, but it was for an ADVERTISEMENT, which is the bread and sweet, sweet butter of all sorts of photographers.

My lack of distinction between a busy, underpaid freelancer and a semi-busy, way underpaid general assignment reporter was exactly what got me the interview.