| Dear ,
In January's newsletter, I asked your plans for growing your business in 2009. I was impressed by the flood ofresponses indicating your anticipation of this economic slowdown and the steps you've taken to help your business thrive during difficult times.
Several photographers indicated placing an increased emphasis on video and multimedia as both a new creative outlet and revenue source to compensatefor waning assignment availability and stock sales. One photographer commented photographers were well poised to make this transition successfully asthey are accustomed to telling stories visually through a series of images, like through a multi-image layout, a slideshow or a rich mediaproduction.
Given your willingness to share your plans for 2009 with me, I think it is only fair to share with you my plans.
Despite the bleak economic forecast, I'm optimistic about the prospects for this year. I've relocated my home and business from Boulder, CO to SaltLake City, UT for a change of pace and new business opportunities. On a creative level, I'm excited to be closer to skiing, Moab, Zion, the SanRafaelSwell and the unique landscapes of the desert southwest. Additionally, this move allows my wife, Jessica, to partner with me to grow the business andserve our clients more effectively. With her background in project management, writing, communications and marketing, her skills will help meconcentrate on developing new training programs and resources for photographers. I am very excited about what this year will bring. Like many of you,I'm expanding my skills into video, motion and multimedia as a tool for telling compelling stories. As I wade deeper into these new mediums, I find myself thinking differently about photography--in the way one imagerelates to another, how text can complement a still image and how we're just beginning to use the Web as a platform for photographers to showcasetheir talents. Two people at the cutting edge of this movement, Jerome Thelia and David MacLain of the MergeGroup, combined their expertise in video,motion graphics and filmmaking, and photography to create compelling ad campaigns. Read a transcript of our discussion on multimedia and therecommendations for photographers venturing into the world of multimedia in the Tech Brief. This issue also features a video tutorial on building audio slideshows using Soundslides, a powerful, andversatile application allowing photographers to create multimedia presentations simply and elegantly. Please continue sending your suggestions andtutorial requests. I look forward to seeing what the rest of this year brings. Best regards, Jay
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| The Chance to Break Free
The talented Dai Sugano created another excellent multimedia presentation, The Chance to Break Free, thistime showing thepositive effects the Foundation For Excellence, a SiliconValley non-profit, has on talented Indian students.
Patagonia Tin Shed
Immersive Web design brings site visitor's experience to the next level. Instead of a series of static pages, these Web sites allow site visitors tonavigate in, around and through a constructed environment to find information or entertainment. One example of immersive design is Patagonia's Tin Shed, a home for customer outreach andinformation throughvideos, slideshows and writing.
Once you're inside the Tin Shed, clicking on any of the links takes you deeper into the material, not just to a new page. For an example, check outthe audio slideshow near the back of the shed. To the left of the goat and the sleeping bag is a chalk drawing on the wall above the band saw. |