The renaissance of the real-time photography storytelling via WiFi-ready mobile phones has seen important images shared and distributed around the globe within seconds. This is a good thing.
Perhaps it is true that photo-sharing apps are responsible for millions of meaningless photos of people’s lunches and the interior of international airports.
However the smartphone photography has entered a second phase, where it is now adopted by professional photographers to connect instantaneously with their audience, in a way that could never be done by print and broadcast media before.
Traditionally lengthy post-production process is now cut short via the app’s ready-made filters.
In short, a professional image maker equipped with Instagram is a one-man or woman mobile studio and broadcast channel ready to report from anywhere (with 3G connectivity) on this planet.
We are now only a Tweet away from discovering the great stories that are happening every day.
Photo-sharing app is a your brand channel
Photographers can start cultivating loyal followers using their own photo-sharing app channels, instead of waiting for publishers to run their stories.
This would give photographers direct communication access to their audience, own their archives and shape their story content through their unique brand channels.
The photo-sharing channel concept is great, provided the Terms & Conditions and copyright ownership of the contents are clear from the start.
Instagram is reported to have ironed out last December’s TOS furore which had caused a huge backlash from image makers.
On the other hand, the public need to be made aware that it is unrealistic to offer a reliable publishing or channel hosting service without sufficient funding.
We are now curators of our own channels
The fact that almost everyone has access to these mobile channels also means that people are becoming curators of their own experiences.
Social media aggregators such as Twitter and Facebook has taught the public how to edit and distribute messages.
That doesn’t mean we are protected from poor aesthetic taste, and the deluge of banal food and pet images.
Accomplished photographers should aim to be high level curators and reliable gatekeepers of information.
They should be armed with high aesthetic judgement, knowledge of ethics and unique point-of-view to attract a successful number of followings.
Now savvy publishers, such as Dirt Magazine, have successfully integrated Instagram channels as an extension to their content distributions, to strengthen their audience base.
Our first camera is now the mobile phone
For anyone who was born from the late 80s and onwards, the mobile phones are likely to be their first experience with photography.
Online photo-sharing plays an important role now in social bonding and sharing constructive experiences.
This is the beginning of accomplished storytellers of the next generation.
Not long ago, we sniffed at the idea of having a smartphone photography workshops. Now established news organisations have been known to hold smartphone reporting courses for their staff.
Popular photography website, Photojojo, has introduced the ‘Phoneography 101′ course, teaching photography fundamentals for the smartphone camera.
My former multimedia college, Kensington and Chelsea College in London, have been offering iPhoneography course since 2012.
This is an indication that smartphone photography is heading towards prominence in storytelling.
What do you see through your smartphones?
KL International Photoawards 2013 will be introducing a new Smartphone Story category to discover smartphone photography talents and the community they documented.
The theme is ’1000 Yards’ which is to encourage images and stories from local communities and neighbourhood within the walking distance from the photographer’s home or workplace.
Hopefully the focus on hyper-local subjects can provide a fresh perspective on community portraiture, and encourage a more intelligent way of seeing though smartphone cameras.
Zarina Holmes is one of the panel judges of KL International Photoawards 2013.
Story of Books has been publishing “5 Minutes With…” interviews since July 2011, a series of short conversations on the evolution of books, as a follow up to “Whatever is to become of books?” event at London Design Festival 2011. It is a collection of thoughts by those who are involved in books production and content creations; from academics, editors, technology innovators and authors, to designers, photographers and illustrators.
This month, Story of Books spoke to accomplished carpenter and web editor of Medicins Sans Frontierés, Pete Masters, about bookshelves. Follow other “5 Minutes With…” conversations here.
Professional Photographer Magazine today announced the shortlist for the Professional Photographer of the Year 2011 awards. Judges Dr Andy Gotts, Ben Duffy, Paul Sanders, Tom Catchesides and Professional Photographer Editor Adam Scorey sifted through over 6,000 entries for this year’s competition.
Winner, Reportage Weddings: Adam Riley
Below are the lists of winners and runners-up:
WINNERS
High Fashion – Chee Loon Jericho Soh
Street Photography – Mihail Kopychko
Wild World – Radek Vik
Commercial – James Neale
In the studio – Rossella Vanon
On Location – Marko Mestrovic
Sporting Action – Bjorn Stig Hansen
Reportage Weddings – Adam Riley
Still Life – Jen miles
Student of the Year – Luise Hannah Reichert
Editorial News – Fabio Bucciarelli
Breaking the Mould – Martin Stranka
Portfolio Award – John McMurtrie
Winner, Breaking the Mould: Martin Stranka
RUNNERS-UP
High Fashion – Maksym Finogeiev, Nikola Borissov & Marko Mestrovic
Street Photography – James Gourley, Paolo Inglese & Kate Passaro
Wild World – David Tyrer, Simon Ellingworth & Laura Jane Vest
Commercial – Rich Cooper, Irene van der Meijs & Al Veryard
In the studio – Florence Leung, Radu Carnaru & Luise Hannah Reichert
On Location – Florence Leung, Vladimir Tochanenko & Radek Vik
Sporting Action – Graeme Hutchison, Jeremy Rata & Craig Mitchell
Reportage Weddings – Mihail Kopychko, Mark Wallis & Andy Griffin
Still Life – Simon Ellingworth, Sebastian Schofield & Parth Sengupta
Student of the Year – Harley Jo Maloney, Diana Grigore & Martins Melecis
Editorial News – Jemima Marriott, Paul Hackett & John McMurtrie
Breaking the Mould – Jenny Brough, Julian Clune & Pavel Tereshkovets
Portfolio Award – Maksim Djackov, Rich Cooper & Tany Kely
Winner, Portfolio Award: John McMurtrie
The shortlisted photographers have been invited to the PPOTY awards night in London on 29 March 2012, where a winner and three runners up of each category will be announced. The magazine has also announced that there will be a “surprise award” on the night. Twenty tickets to the event, which will be held at theprintspace, London, are available to readers on a first-come-first-serve basis. For tickets, email: Kathrine.anker@archant.co.uk with the message line entitled: PPOTY READER TICKETS.
Today is World Read Aloud Day (WRAD). And what more could we write on this auspicious day than to let you hear for yourself TS Eliot’s own reading of “The Naming of The Cats”, from his book, O’Possum’s Book of Practical Cats?
You can read more on social media’s celebration’s of children’s books on WRAD, which saw the participation of major authors, poets, publishers as well as Google in Education, on the Story Of Books website, published by Sojournposse Purpose. Chuck Follett, CEO and President, Follett, also contributed to WRAD by reading an illustrated book by Mo Willems on YouTube.
REPORT: “Whatever is to become of books?” at London Design Festival 2011. Ebook generates 15% of the revenues for some publishers, with the romance genre having a huge slice in the market share, says Angus Phillips, Director, Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies at Oxford Brookes University.
Although digitality has turned the publishing world upside down, Phillips stressed that it is “an exciting time for everyone” as the ebook offer so many opportunities in terms of innovations. The talk, delivered at the London Design Festival event, “Whatever is to become of books?”, at University College London on 17 September 2011, also introduced us to the new classifications in books: ebook, pbook, vanilla book, mook, byook and so on.
In this video, Phillips presented the byook – a format of ebook which is deployed on the smartphone – to the audience.
The event was supported by UCL Anthropology and co-organised by MSc Digital Anthropology students of UCL.
To find out more about the event and to get involved with the 2012 book project by Sojournposse Purpose, visit the Story of Books, the official website, at www.storyofbooks.com.
★ Innovative Interactivity(II):"One of top 70 multimedia company websites to peruse for inspiration/internships/jobsin 2010"
★ Nissan Design Europe: "Sojournposse outlook on society and life is inspiring and energizing with that je-ne-sais-quoi multi-cultural angle that makes it unique. Nissan is proud of having hosted them as part of their East Meets West event." East Meets West event at London Design Festival 2009.
★ Samsung Galaxy: "Maverick". Aesthetics as A Means to Heal event at London Design Festival 2010.
★ Digital Anthropology, UCL: "Today's event was something to be super happy with — a great combination of speakers, nice use of the space, professionally choreographed, and just generally a lot of genuinely interesting topics being discussed." Whatever Is to Become of Book event at London Design Festival 2011.
★ The British Library: "Great seminar on eBooks organised by@sojournposseF8 : I look forward to attending next year's event! #StoryofBooks"
★ Digital anthropologist, UCL: "Fantastic to witness Sojournposse team at work whipping this up from nothing." Whatever Is to Become of Book event at London Design Festival 2011.
★ Not On The Wires:"Inspiration"
★ NUJ Journalist Magazine:"Smaller collective more agile than mainstream company"
★ BBC World Service: "I saw your Uzbek photos and felt very nostalgic. It is great how you spoke about things as they are."
★ Digital anthropologist, UCL: "I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your workshop yesterday, it was definitely one of the best I've attended." Whatever Is to Become of Book event at London Design Festival 2011.
★ Deshan Tennekoon, photographer: "Its rapid ascent from the hip underground to the hip overground scares the hell out of me."
