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

Most of the footage is from my favorite point n’ shoot on the planet; my orange, waterproof & bombproof, Lumix DMC-TS1. It shoots a type of “lite” HD. The remaining footage was shot by the official Whistler Heli-Ski photog, Duane who followed us around for a bit. I grabbed it from the daily DVD that Whistler Heli-Ski sells. Thanks to Cynthia for the music selection.

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.

When I saw a SanDisk publicity photo being used to illustrate Newsweek’s story, “A Decade of Destruction” and then again on the MSNBC.com homepage with the headline, “Decade in Review, How the Internet Ruined Everything” I laughed out loud because I think nobody at SanDisk could have predicted this.  In my opinion it is a great product photo. Here is my best guess as to how it happened.

Here is the photo published at Newsweek.com:

Screengrab of Newsweek.com from November 12, 2009

Here is same article on MSNBC.com article with a slightly different headline:

Screen-grab of MSNBC.com home page on November 12, 2009

A glance at the credit line indicates the photo was provided by Business Wire via Getty Images. Here is the link to the image with original caption at Getty Images and a screen grab below: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/51120725/Getty-Images-Publicity

Photographer John Canning was in Libya in 1994 when he created this image with Tourag nomads. He was trekking across the Sahara desert shooting photos with author Richard Bangs who was writing an article for Well Traveled on Slate.com. For this image, Canning thoughtfully setup and positioned his tech gear (logos are all perfectly position for Brunton portable power system, laptop, Lowepro camera bags, Pelican cases, and Indiana Jones’esque hat). He downloaded the images from his Nikon DSLR while the Touregs’ gathered around. Canning handed Bangs the camera who snapped the photo.

SanDisk got their hands on the photo via Canning. At some point down the road, either SanDisk or maybe one of their reps, used this photo along with a press release about something or other which was picked up by the Business Wire. Business Wire is in cahoots with Getty Images and anyone searching the Getty Images site will be served up Business Wire imagery when applicable.

Along comes a Newsweek story and the photo editor searches Getty Images. Viola’…. the perfect shot arises… a perfect juxtaposition of the old and new; rich and poor; black and white.  Was the photographer compensated for these uses? I have no idea. The moral of the story is that when an image does out on a wire service, kiss it goodbye as everyone will get a cheap and essentially unlimited piece of it. If you are the shooter, make sure you’re compensated for unlimited use on a wire service.

One of my images was sent to the Associated Press some years ago and published well over 1000 times. I never got a dime for it.

1. Using your preferred FTP program, log into ftp.johnckmedia.com with the username and password we provided to you.
2. Navigate to the folder with your company name and your file(s) will be there.
3. Please let us know when you’ve successfully download the files.

Instructions for FTP newbies:

1. Get yourself an FTP program. My favorite is the free FireFTP plugin for Firefox (donations accepted). Others for mac users I recommend Fetch and Transmit. For PC users I recommend WS_FTP and BulletProof.
2. Learn how to use the darn thing! It should only take about 2-5 minutes of your time reading the users guide or asking a friend to walk you through the steps to connect to a FTP server.
3. Using your preferred FTP program, log into ftp.johnckmedia.com with the username and password we provided to you.
4. Navigate to the folder with your company name and your file(s) will be there.
5. Please let us know when you’ve successfully download the files.

FTP and Browsers (Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera)

Give it a shot! Most browsers usually have some type of FTP support built in, HOWEVER, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. We can’t keep track of how FTP’ing works in all the different versions of browsers our there. For the smoothest, fastest, and error free transfers we highly recommend using an FTP program or Client as they are called.

1. Type ftp.johnckmedia.com into the url address window. Do not type www or http://
2. Hit return and wait for the server to respond with a pop-up window asking for a username and password.
3. Enter the username and password we provided to you.
4. The browser window will display a list of folders. Navigate to the folder with your company name to access the files.

Windows Explorer FTP Option

1. Open a Windows Explorer window (not Internet Explorer)…. open something like My Documents, My Computer, My Music, etc..
2. In the address bar at the top enter: ftp.johnckmedia.com
3. A pop-up window will prompt you for a username and password.
4. Wait a few secs while you connect to the FTP server (in WinXP the little flashlight will be waving around).
5. All of a sudden, viola, the contents of the FTP server will load will load. You can navigate around, drag/drop, etc..

What is FTP?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and it’s a great way to share files. The reason we use it here is because it allows us to easily and quickly electronically transfer image or video files that are too big for email. Another product we use quite often is You Send It. It’s not as fast a FTP, but it is secure and simple to use and they have a free account too!

Production Notes: Pulling off these groundbreaking interactives required a huge team of people. For more details and behind the scenes notes follow the links to: George Bush Exclusive, Democratic Debate Mashup, Republicans Up Close and Personal, and Condolezza Rice Exclusive.

Yahoo! News Underground was a regular Yahoo! News feature series that explored fringe culture in America with reporting brought to life with original songs and music.The series included produced video, photo and written reportage, and made in-roads in the social media space with user generated content and interaction. Here are just a few of my favorite clips from the series.

Production Notes: The majority of this show was produced by myself and the show’s creator, Brad Miskell (yes..2 people and one big budget… we got to know each other well).