Episode 43 – There And Back Again

The first half of this podcast was recorded in the company of Philip Campbell in March 2008 on a flight to Newark airport before going on to SXSW in Austin Texas.

The second half was recorded on the flight back to London.

We talk about hacking, podcamp uk, Seesmic, Qik, Blip TV, Pulver TV, social media and how to make Sloe Gin.

I edited it one month later in April, on another flight to Newark this time on my own and heading to PodcampNYC 2.0.

The song entitled HTML in the middle was emailed to me by Erin of the band ‘The Hot Toddies‘. I highly reccommend checking them out HERE.

If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in Itunes already, you can listen to the mp3 here

Ali Bongo And The Three Purple Hearts

I am writing this aboard an aircraft thirty odd thousand feet above the atlantic, halfway to New York on a ticket bought for me by Seesmic.com

After podcasting for over two years and blogging for nearly 6, it looks like the subject of money is creeping into more and more of my online conversations.

And why not?

Recently I have found an increasing amount of my working life is being taken over by the two activities I had thought of only as passing interests or hobbies.

In January of this year I found myself sponsored by the United Nations to go to Jordan to photograph the plight of Iraqi Refugees fleeing the war in Iraq. I now see this trip as a turning point in my working life as up until then I had operated primarily as a photographer. With the assistance of people I had networked with online like Bill Cammack this project crossed over into new media on many social levels. It was compiled, edited, uploaded, to then be viewed online, downloaded, blogged and, podcasted about, all in the space of a few weeks.

I was no longer thinking solely about taking photos to deliver on a CD. My hobbies had suddenly become combined with my trade. Two months later I was being sponsored along with Phil Campbell to visit South By South West (SXSW) in Texas to produce video content for Pulver.tv. Once again I had to take a step back and think about my job title and where I needed to focus.

Although I am yet to make any real profit out of social/new media, I feel that day is not too far away as more and more often I am approached by people who are taking an interest in me and my skills as a content creator.

I feel I am standing hesitantly at a crossroads looking at a few different options, a few different directions, a little uncertain as to which way to head.

Can my integrity be kept intact as I rent my opinions and time out to the highest bidder?

As I write this I am thinking that perhaps my fears are unfounded.. If i eventually do start to get paid to talk about something, surely it’s fine as long as I am honest whist doing it. Honest, but tactful with it.

Transparency seems to be the key. It seems to be the magical ingredient that social media has over all other forms of media.

I am not saying you have to expose everything to everyone, warts and all. You can still keep personal stuff personal and still be professional.

Maintain your transparency and you maintain your integrity, this is the key.

Right now I am heading to Podcamp NYC with the loan of a Macbook Air and a plane ticket courtesy of Seesmic. I have been using Seesmic’s video conversation site since just after they started pre-alpha testing in 2007.

I approached Seesmic and asked if they had anyone going. Vin Vin said no, but he’d be happy to send me over if i Seesmic’ed what was going on.

“Anything else?” i asked.

“No, just be yourself and cover what you want.” He said.

Fantastic. That’s the best brief ever. I really appreciate their support in helping me get out to New York for this conference.

During SXSW Phil Campbell and myself spent a good few nights within Seesmic’s hospitality batting around ideas and chatting about this brave newmedia world.

There are so many new and amazing people arriving everyday into my social media circle but it’s the original contacts I made in the first few months on Seesmic and Twitter that I really want to hang onto.. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but perhaps it is more like a hope that these inspirational few survive to ‘cross the chasm‘ that Seesmic is on the edge of and the ‘early adopters’ can make it to the other side and continue the video conversation.

…………………………………………………………

Reading this back, i think that Bloody Mary’s and Gin and Tonics at altitude have a tendency to make a blog post meander. Sat across the isle is Ali Bongo the famous Magician*. Sat intoxicated beside and behind me are two returning Iraq war vets, one with three purple hearts.

This is proving to be an interesting flight. I can’t wait for the next few days.

*Ali Bongo (in the feature photos) was a magician that played a big part in my childhood. He seemed to be always on TV and was one of the main reasons I spent a large part of my younger years playing with magic tricks. I thought he had died years ago. It was so nice to meet him today (aged 79) and hear stories about his long and magical life.

Electric Empathy.

Attempting to stay offline.

I say attempt as as yet I am not able to succeed in any major fashion.

I have come away on holiday with family to Canada and really want to do my best for those who do not understand (or care much for) social networking and it’s incessant need to be monitored like a newborn baby.

With all the apps out there that assist me in maintaining my international links there is nothing I can (as yet) plug into my subconscious so I can monitor it without it eating into my ‘real life’ time.

The closest thing in the UK is my mobile phone but with international roaming as expensive as it is I pretty much have my phone turned off nearly all the time here in Canada. That is unheard of for me in the UK.

Wherever there is wifi.. if I am not going to be stared at like a freak by anyone who knows me, I am sure to be on Qik as soon as i can press the button.. Seesmic gets the final file after it has streamed but I have to wait till I have a decent enough window of time to get my proper Seesmic fix. I don’t like just popping on and popping off. I like to partake in a conversation. Exactly what Seesmic was intended for.

So.. in fits an spurts I close my seesmic browser, dam the twitter stream and then head out un-encumbered by any technology.. Not even my mobile phone.

Then what happens?.. I bump into and have a chat with Gene Simmons!.. Typical. Standing there talking to a rock legend without any of my documenting tools.

My social media world and my real life world exist on two very different dimensions at the moment. It’s very difficult for me to be in the two places simultaneously without causing a brief rupture in my space time continuum..

If i try to bring my real life into my social media world I feel i’m cutting away a life raft and heading into choppy uncertain seas. If i attempt to bring social media into my ‘normal’ old school, lo-fi life.. I quickly ostracize myself from those that have no intention of embracing the technological advances I have come to know and love.

It’s almost like I’ve found a TV that has over a thousand channels but all those around me would like to stick with the ones they are familiar with.

I guess this is the life of the early adopter and in many ways I do enjoy the exclusivity of it all. We all like to be part of a ’special club’ at some pont.. Even if only for a sense of validation.

When, if ever I experience some kind of convergence, I think a little part of me will have to be trimmed away as I assimilate the two lives I lead.

I definitely feel a little schizophrenic right now. Perhaps this schizomedia is making me sociophrenic..? With the million and one possibilities out there for connections, contacts and opportunities there are moments when I am really thankful of even a couple of hours of downtime. Some headspace in a low tech sanctuary where nothing beeps to tell me something I may or may not be interested in knowing…

But soon enough.. somewhere in a dark room a browser opens and I am instantly connected to a thousand other people, all perhaps feeling the same way.. Perhaps not. An electric empathy, no more or less real than this other world I am a part of. 

If I switch one off.. it takes messages till I get back.. a kind of suspended animation.. If i dial the other out.. that’s when life can really get a little complicated.

I am switching off now.. I will be in New York next week at Podcamp NYC 2.0 Plenty of time to saturate the social media half of my mind..

Talk later?

www.twitter.com/Documentally

 

Episode 42 – Life In The Shadows

Sorry for the delay in getting this into my podcast feed. I had some strange issues with the way i had encoded it and it took a little bit of time to get the file just right so as it would show up in my feed.

I am guessing many of you have already seen this. To you guys I say once again, thank you for your support and also for passing this on to others..

To those that haven’t, and I know there are many who download the podcast that never visit any of my sites, here is a brief outline..

The fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War has just passed, and there is speculation that the engagement may continue yet another five years, if not more. To date, approximately 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in combat.

While the loss of combat troops is certainly tragic, even more stunning is a recent World Health Organization report based on Iraqi Health Ministry figures which estimates that 151,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between March 2003, the start of the invasion, and June 2006.

Many of the reports of civilian deaths are disputed. What cannot be argued, however, is another grave consequence of the Iraq War: the displacement crisis as a mass exodus of Iraqis flee the instabilities and ever-increasing sectarian violence at home, tearing their families apart.

In mid-January 2008, with the support of the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR), I traveled to Amman, Jordan to photograph and record a few of these families trapped in a no-man’s land; asylum seekers looking for refuge, too afraid to return to their blood-soaked country.

Here are a few of their stories:

The film can also be viewed as a .wmv file here.. http://www.unhcr.org/video/iraqi-refugees-in-jordan.wmv
…and downloaded as a real media file here.. http://www.unhcr.org/video/iraqi-refugees-in-jordan.rm
For more information please check out.. The UNHCR Multimedia pages

To download this film to your ipod or mobile device please subscribe to the podcast at The Documentally Podcast Feed

Photoshoot with the band ~ Talc

I have just finished uploading a few of the photos of the band Talc to my Flickr stream.

For most of Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of hanging out with the two awesome funksters Dr. Fun and The Gift.

They had imaginatively arranged for us to visit their local beer making establishment so as we could take some photos for their up and coming concept album and at the same time not be too far away from tens of thousands of pints of beer. (Probably more).

I have photographed these guys before and every time we meet we have a great laugh, always managing to bag a few decent shots in the limited time we have.

The Fullers Brewery (London’s last remaining traditional family brewer) was an amazing place of historical pipes and brass, leading us into a sci-fi setting of ceramic and chrome. They are obviously proud of their history and bent over backwards to see we had the freedom to take our photos unhindered. We worked our way through the factory, stopping to snap when we thought the setting inspired.

Our shoot wound up underground in a little private bar where, given a sleeping bag and a few pies, I could quite easily have spent a good few weeks sheltering from the outside world and saturating my body and mind with the various ales made on site and piped into this curious bar with no till and no way to take your money.

Paradise?

Even when my camera was back in the bag and we headed to the local (attached) pub for a debrief, our friendly guide saw that the round was free and we were to order what we wanted.

It’s just a shame i was riding the bike and had to maintain some form of sobriety as otherwise I would have had to stay and help the guys with their debrief lubrication.

Besides.. I had had more than enough motoring action earlier in the day to risk any more altercations with angsty London road users.

Thanks Talc for a great days photography and thanks to Fullers for not only letting us take photos but for going all out to make us feel as welcome as we possibly could.

Talc’s new album ‘Licensed Premises Lifestyle’ is due for release in July and will be touring Japan in September.

..for more information on the band check out www.TalcOnline.com (soon to be updated).

And here is the band talking and moving..

Money for nothing or your pix for free.

I love music photography. It’s just not that easy to make a living from it unless you work for an agency or a glossy mag.

I have two rates normally, one for mates and unsigned bands (unless i am doing a trade for trade kind of deal) and then a more corporate rate for the big guns.

This may sound weird but musicians are always skint.. and i love the work, so it seems only right that if i can be flexible and it helps a band out on their way up.. then so be it.

You never know, they may just remember me for it too.

It’s only recently i have started to put my photos up on Flickr. This has been a help and a hinderance as i am inundated with people asking for copies of my photos for one reason or another. This would not be so bad if they were paying clients. But they are not. Everyone seems to think if you have pix on flickr you are a hobby snapper and that you would be more than happy with a little flattery and perhaps a link on some site as payment.

They don’t see the week spent in the mud, or the top spec camera broken through some fan throwing a beer, or the temporary loss of hearing, or he cost of a ticket (even with a photo pass at places like Glastonbury).

Yes music photography is fun and i really enjoy the adventure leading up to grabbing a selection of shots of a band that i either like or maybe even love.  But it would still be nice to get some kind of financial payback without churning out one of the thousands of yearly books or calenders that flood our bargain book shops.

Right that said. I am just about to upload a few pix of Lisa Hannigan (of Damien Rice fame) as some guy on a island somwhere has a music agency and would really really like to have one of my pictures on my wall.

Take a peek at my flickr music section by clicking HERE

I think i will ask for a donation..