Renegade Photo Shoot Workshops
April 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Pros and pro-am photogs getting together to push creative boundaries. That’s the idea behind the Renegade Photo workshops; one-day shoot-fests. Created by a colleague of mine, Martha Blanchfield, these workshops have been a hit. While I have not participated in one (yet …) I can tell by the images being produced that there are high caliber folks going to work. 
In an industry that has typically been very fragmented with little to no communication between professionals I thought this was a great idea to get pro- and pro-am photogs together and learning from each other.
Photo District News has a write up: http://www.pdnpulse.com/2007/11/renegade-result.html
People Doing Good in the World
November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
People Doing Good in the World —- A friend recently handed me a copy of the commencement address that author and environmentalist Paul Hawken gave to the class of 2009 at the University of Portland. It’s one of those rare speeches that gives one hope, perspective, connection, and ultimately inspiration to achieve. He talks about how our society is in the midst of an unparalleled movement. He says, “No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen.” These days it seems like everyone of my friends and acquaintances is involved with a cause to improve life for people or the planet. That’s a good thing.
I want to alert you to one individual who right now is starting at the very grassroots level of this movement. His name is Zack Parker and his mission is simple, create better sanitary conditions (like clean water and proper toilets) for coastal dwellers in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He founded a non-profit organization called Walu International to carry out this plan. I’ve been to hundreds of places on the planet where dysentery caused by poor sanitary conditions kills people. That sucks. I don’t worry about disease when I take a crap, do you? After spending time dodging crocs in the interior of PNG I went to the coast and saw first hand what Zack is talking about.
Walu International’s pilot project will be installing self-composting toilets and water purification systems at the local elementary school in Lido Village, Papua New Guinea. This will go down in January 2010. Walu is holding a fundraiser in San Diego on November 18, 2009. I know a lot of the local surf community will be there to support the cause. Check out the site to learn more the event: http://www.waluinternational.org/?page_id=28
Give em a few bucks to build some toilets for kids.
Can you wrap your head around this?
November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Wingsuit fliers captivate. Besides the awesome, mind-blowing scenes here, this web video is a good example of a well edited and well produced web trailer for a NatGeo TV series starring Dean Potter. I stumbled on this by subscribing to the @natgeoscoop on twitter. Sender Films in Colorado are the creators.
Your Next Vacation… Summit of Mt. Everest?
May 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
At least reporter Lauren Sherman from Forbes.com thinks so. But hey, here’s a thought… your lungs slowly fill up with fluid, you begin coughing up blood, and then gently slip into a coma and die, or better yet fluid leaks into your brain causing swelling, hallucinations, psychotic behavior, and then of course the coma and die part. These are the symptoms of high altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema, which is what would likely happen to someone following Sherman’s instructions for the “four day trip to the top”.
In her article on the Hardest to Reach Vacation Spots, she reports the following:
“Whether you’re traveling just six or eight days to the base camp of the highest mountain in the world, or all 29,000 feet to the top, this trip is anything but easy. First, climbers must travel to Lukla and acquire a permit from the Nepalese government, which can cost up to $25,000. Then, to reach Everest’s base camp, you must climb to Namche Bazaar and across Kwangde River, eventually ending up in Khumjung, Nepal. Two days later, you arrive in the Imja Tse Valley and travel to Kala Pattar, which offers a stunning view of Mount Everest. A day later, you’ll reach the base camp. After two weeks in the base camp acclimating to the altitude, a trip to the top takes about four days. Most climbers spend between $1,000 and $2,000 on expenses.”
I enjoy reading the top 10 lists on all subjects that the folks at Forbes.com come up with, but this one gave me a good laugh. Why, well the author’s recipe for death is certainly entertaining and honestly, the words “vacation” and “Mt. Everest” don’t belong together in the same sentence. The trek to Mt. Everest base camp is one thing (and I encourage everyone to give it a shot), but her suggestion that a “trip to the top takes about 4 days”, while technically accurate (assuming perfect weather and snow conditions), completely misses the mark and is serves as a reminder of the many misconceptions about Everest.
For one thing, the 4-day trip to the top on the by the most common south side route is no picnic and is only possible after 4-7 weeks of an expedition style siege on the mountain by essentially climbing it multiple times (at least to Camp 3 at 23,500) feet while ferrying gear and stocking the intermediary camps (1,2,3 and 4) with food and supplies. Secondly, in condensing the information into requisite 150-word bite, the reporter mixes up critical differences between trekking to base camp and climb to the summit and in-effect trivializing the whole process and providing a recipe for near certain death (unless you are a genetic aberration).
Being in the broadcast media industry myself I certainly understand the reporters dilemma in trying to condense what may be a somewhat complex subject into a short, easy to digest, sound bite. If you really are interested in the Everest experience whether 2-3 week trek to base camp (which anyone can do) or dream of climbing Everest some day, here are some good resources to check out.
Adventure Consultants – Base Camp Trek: This commercial outfitter has a nice overview of the trek
www.mteverest.net – For Climbers: Some of the best Everest climbing info on the web
On Assignment to the World’s Highest Internet Cafe
March 10, 2008 | 1 Comment
In the Spring of 2003, the worlds highest internet cafe opened at Mt. Everest base camp at 17,500 feet. It was also the 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent of Everest. I went to base camp to check it out. With the help of my brother who had recently learned php programming language we built a live reporting tool (aka: blog) that enabled me to send photo and text dispatches by satellite phone from the Himalayas. I’ve re-published the 5 text+image posts that I sent out while on the trail.
4/26/03 : Intro Hi-Tech Everest
First – the assignment — In search of technology in this region of the world my plan is to trek to Everest base camp and hopefully indulge myself in a latte while surfing the net at the world’s highest internet cafe at 17,400 feet. A little background — From the New York Times to NPR reports of the construction of the world’s highest internet cafe have been surfacing over the last six months. A young, technically inclined Sherpa, named Tsering Gyaltsen is planning to create an internet cafe at the base of Mt. Everest. Servicing the thousands of trekkers and hundreds of climbers that pass through base camp, the cafe will raise money for the Sagamartha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC). The SPCC is the local environmental agency and is charged with keeping the natural environmental clean and healthy. It will take me about 10 days to get to base camp and I’ll be passing many, many villages along the way. I’ll see what other technological advancements are occurring in the area and report on them here. It’s also the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa. Everest base camp is reportedly packed with expeditions and it will be interesting to see the developments over the course of the season.
I plan on arriving in Everest base camp around May 6th and will stay for about five days. I’ll interview Tsering and hear the story on how this ambitious project came to life. As I’m equipped with a sat phone I’ll try and upload a few images each day.
The images from this story are available for editorial license. For more information please contact April Jenkins at the New York office of Corbis-Sygma.
4/27/03 : Khumbu Arrival
Watching the flies land on my arm to lick the sweat and realizing that had I had not the energy to shoo them away was a just a tad disconcerting.
On all my previous trips to the Himalayas I was part of a climbing expedition and had trained vigorously for that purpose. Since climbing was not a part of this trip, I had neglected any form of exercise. My ego had gotten the best of me and now I am paying for it by feeding these hungry flies. The morning started with a twin engine Otter flight into the border like town of Lukla where I was greeted by hundreds of Nepali porters looking for work. As the plane made a quick u-turn after dumping the passenger luggage at the end of the landing strip, I stared at my four bags and was forced to quickly make a decision as to which porters to pick. From 9,000 feet at Lukla my porters and I trekked to the town of Monjo, about 5 hours away.
To be quite honest I’m simply exhausted and I’m going to bed. Didn’t see much in terms of tech today. Mostly barefoot or flip flop clad porters carrying items to villages higher up the Khumbu. Beer, whiskey, a television, wood logs, rocks, and the backpacks and bags of the few trekkers on the trail.
# 030427_025 — From the safety of their home, two children entertain themselves by watching the foreigners trek by.
# 030427_001 — Porters with full loads round the corner with the Dudh Kosi river far below.
# 030427_031 — A porter with an empty load returns to the Lukla airstrip to hustle his next load.
4/28/03 : Rumor of the World’s Second Highest Internet Cafe
With the flies still hovering on each bead of sweat dripping from my forhead I plodded up the legendary, thigh busting Namche hill on my way to the Namche Bazzar.
Namche Bazzar is the largest village in the Khumbu and sits in a horseshoe shapped cirque cut into a mountainside. The sacred snow capped peak Kumbila looms above. In 1998 an enterprising Sherpa set up a computer with a 24kpbs dialup connection to Kathmandu. The computer was located in a small room next to the town bakery and thus the “World’s Highest Internet Cafe” was born. Since the local telephone exchange was notoriously unreliable and also blown up by the Maoists in 2001, no one really took the internet cafe seriously.
I figured the internet cafe would still be there, but in what condition, I did not know. I was surprised to find four desktop computers networked together serving up a “high-speed” connection at 94kpbs down and 64kbps up. However, at the time of my visit the place was empty.
There was a little more traffic on the trail today. Loads of porters carry anything that could be lashed down with a tump line around their forehead, and American, British, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and German trekkers. My search for tech on the trail did not yield much. A pair of trekkers operating a GPS unit was about it.
#030428_046 — Tenzing is the manager of the former world’s highest internet cafe. Business is slow right now and on this rainy day there’s not much to do except drink milk tea and watch the rainfall.
#030428_039 — Pasang is the mother in law of my Sherpa guide. Although she lives in another villae, she rents a small apartment in Namche Bazzar where she stays during the trekking seasons.
#030428_039 — A busy morning at the internet cafe. Three tourists emailing and one computer blasting music.
4/29/03 : Lighting Storm Wreaks Havoc
Wreaks havoc on the internet connection that is….. After repairing the recently crowned “World’s Highest Internet Cafe” at Everest base camp, Tsering Gyaltsen ran down to Namche Bazzar yesterday arriving late in the evening.
While enjoying a cup of fresh coffee at the bakery this morning, Sunosh informed that Tsering was in town. I was expecting to meet him at base camp so I wondered what was up. We sat down in the living room/office of his company, Namche Technical Services, and he explained the situation. Speaking in almost perfect English, although so fast I hard a hard time understanding him, he told me of the lightening storm that blew up one of the Cisco radio transmitters postitioned on the side of a small mountain called Kala Patthar. It had been a scramble to reestablish the internet connection on a different route, but it was accomplished. Immediately after he ran 30 kilometers from Everest base camp to Namche Bazzar.
The good news is that I can now report that indeed the internet cafe is up and running at Everest base camp. I will meet Tsering there around May 6 to see the entire operation.
#030428_018 — Relaxing in his office, Tsering Gyaltsen recounts the lightening storm which knocked out the internet cafe at Everest Base Camp.
#030428_039 — A busy morning at the internet cafe. Three tourists emailing and one computer blasting music.
#030428_045 — The Cyber Cafe advertisement in Namche Bazzar.
4/30/03 : Ethernet Cable Severed
Up here the dog ate my homework doesn’t quite work, but maybe the yak stepped on my modem will.
Seriously though, my ethernet cable was severed this afternoon by a well meaning trekker playing with a sharp knife (note to self: Benchmade knives and ethernet cabling don’t mix) that I had loaned him. The ethernet cable connects my computer to the sat phone and allows me to send data (images, etc.) back to the states. Now I am uploading this dispatch from the cyber cafe in Namche Bazar. Depending on my skills in splicing tiny colored wires back together again, or finding a spare cable, I may send more images tomorrow. Otherwise my next dispatches will be May 6 to 10 from Everest base camp.
5/09/03 : First Morning in Basecamp
Arrived in base camp yesterday afternoon to thousands of prayer flags flapping in the wind.
After getting settled, I made my way over to the Cyber Cafe which was packed with trekkers sending email and surfing the web at a buck a minute. The temperature last night was a chilly 8 degrees fareinheit, however, with the door of my tent shut and the sun beaming in at ten am this morning, the high could reach amost 70. FYI-This dispatch is being uploaded directly from the cyber cafe. Photos to come momentarily.
5/10/03 : Images of the Cyber Cafe
This internet cafe or cyber cafe as Tsering and assistant Dinesh like to call it is fully operational.
With three laptops and a desktop trekkers and climbers drop in on a regular basis. Tsering’s wife Yangji serves up fresh coffee, tea, steamed momo’s and noodles (all complimentary), while Dorje the cook takes the orders.
Everest and Lhotse are lit up as the sun sets over Everest base camp
Bob Hoffman, expedition leader of the American Commenmorative Everest Expedition, pays a visit to the cyber cafe.
From noon to 2pm the cafe is usually busy with trekkers making the day trip from nearby Gorak Shep. Dinesh oversees the acitivity.
Three climbers huddle over the computers checking their hotmail accounts and downloading the weather reports.
Climbers outside the internet cafe.
Working for Yahoo! Media
October 1, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I’m happy to announce I’m now working for Yahoo! as a Senior Content Producer in their Media Group. I’ve been freelancing for Yahoo! for a few years and there were always talks about going in-house, but the timing was never quite right. What does this mean for the future of Johnck Media? My capable partner in crime Cynthia Jacobsen will be running the show here indefinitely. She’ll continue to handle all stock photo and footage requests and any assignments as well. As far as my role at Johnck Media I will still be involved, however on a much smaller scale. I won’t be taking on any major assignments or projects, but I will be available for smaller projects and consulting services as long as their is no conflict of interest with my current employer.
***UPDATE*** As of Feb. 2009 I’m no longer with Yahoo.
Yahoo! News Underground
April 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I’m happy to report that I can keep one less secret from all of you. I’ve been combing the subcultures of America (at least the ones with a Los Angeles presence until the travel budget is beefed up) shooting, producing, and essentially building a small archive of content for a new channel on Yahoo News site. This new channel is called Yahoo News Underground and it officially launched last week. Some of the subcultures we covered so far include SciFi Fandom, Gay Rodeo, Tribute Bands, Import Scene (Drifting), Krumping, Bollywood Dance Competions, Rocketry, Art Cars, Seduction Community, and Graffiti Artists.
It’s way different than probably anything you’ve seen. The on camera host, sings the voice overs and narration in much of the videos, which also has a custom produced soundtrack with original lyrics. The creator of the concept, Brad Miskell, got the project underway last year and I joined the crew sometime thereafter. Miskell who started the whole thing as a one man band, or SoJo as the acronym goes, has been around the block more than once. In addition to the video pieces that we both work on, Brad will a write a couple of feature articles on each subculture which is seriously entertaining and informative. On the still image side, there is a slideshow which is a combination of frame grabs and actual photos. I don’t expect everyone will get it, but take a look at this wackier side of entertainment and let me know what you think.
Photos from Video?
January 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment
As someone who frequently creates a still image by grabbing a frame a video from my digitized footage, I’m always mulling over the implications of this type of workflow and what it means for the future of still photography. When a friend of mine forwarded a press release of this yet to be released video camera called Red One (www.red.com), which is capable of producing 12 megapixel stills from the video footage I was interested to say the least. And did I mention it’s somewhat affordable? Still images have been made by doing most people call frame grabs of video or motion picture film stock for ages. There are significant limitations to that process (the details of which I won’t go into) but suffice to say motion picture studios continue to hire still photographers to capture the set and publicity photos.
I went to the red site and checked out their camera and in addition to looking like a weapon out of Battlestar Gallactica the frame grabs from the footage this thing captures are pretty much awesome. At $17k, it’s still a bit much for me, but it makes me wonder about the future of still photography as technology of video cameras get better and better.
In Search of Sea Gypies
December 23, 2005 | Leave a Comment
The moment I step on a plane I usually feel a sense of relief. In the confines of a plane, nobody can call you, nobody can email you, and nobody can make demands of you. I’m a one-man band for the most part. As small business owner, I not only do the shooting, but also am the marketing and sales departments, accounting and archive departments, IT guy…. The list goes on. If you’ve ever worked for yourself you know what I mean when For better or for worse most of my time is spent dealing with the aspects of running a business than shooting photographs.
It’s Nov. 18th, 2005 and I’m writing this on a plane heading home. I’ve been in Thailand for the last few weeks doing a story on the tsunami survivors; specifically the Moken people who are also known as the sea gypsies of the Andaman Sea. The client was Yahoo.com and they will publish the story on a new adventure channel called Richard Bangs Adventures. The Moken come ashore during the wet season and build temporary homes on the beach, only to leave for the sea again in the dry season. With all the loss of life caused by the tsunami it was amazing to find out that the Moken people lost almost no one.
Photo Caption: Living on the sea as the Moken people have done for generations, this husband and wife pay a visit to our boat in hopes of getting some free gasoline for their outboard motor. Photo (c) Didrik Johnck.
These stories are incredibly media rich with photos, audio, videos, and writing. Over the course of the assignment we sent up 5 dispatches to the editors at Yahoo. Each dispatch consisted of a day or two of shooting, after which the team hunkers down for about 6-8 hours while the writer writes, and the photographer and videographer edit. I’ll send everything out over the internet to my editor, who reviews and publishes the material almost immediately. This online format allows for stories to be published almost immediately and with an amazing diversity of material. Previously the same story in a print magazines would get published 6 months (or longer) after the field work and with a few images. When it’s all said and done this Thailand piece will publish about 11-12 videos, 100-120 images, 5-10 audio clips, and 5000 words of writing. I’m not just talking about quantity here, as everything is highly edited for quality. Check it out at: http://adventures.yahoo.com/thailand.
Gear wise I was traveling a bit heavy with almost 110 pounds of gear (about 105 pounds of equipment between three Pelican Cases and 5 pounds of clothes…). I’ve had bad experiences with camera/electronic equipment being affected by salt water and I brought backups of almost everything.
Biggest Wall in the Alps
October 11, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Just wrapped up 3 weeks of 12-16 hour days (and in some cases 18 and even 20 hour days) of shooting in the Swiss Alps. Yeah, yeah, quit yer bitchin’ as my friends say. Not many people get to spend time in the one of the most beautiful mountain environments on the planet. I was working for Yahoo.com and in partnership MacGillervray-Freeman Films who were making an IMAX format film on a climbing team attempting the biggest wall in the Alps. The cold north face of the Eiger at about 5,500 feet is pretty much as gnarly as it gets. Loose, falling rock and ice, constant wet storms is pretty much the norm. Check it out at adventures.yahoo.com/eiger
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WHERE PEOPLE ARE CLICKING
- 100% Climbing Everest with Blind Climber Erik Weihenmayer
- 62% Extreme Australia
- 60% On Annapurna with Ed Viesturs
- 44% On Assignment to the World's Highest Internet Cafe
- 31% Renegade Photo Shoot Workshops
- 31% Interviewing President Bush
- 31% Bridging the gap...
- 29% Working for Yahoo! Media
- 26% Yahoo! News Underground
- 23% Your Next Vacation... Summit of Mt. Everest?