Month: November 2008

  • Friday Photo: Contact/s: The Art of Photojournalism

    contacts picture

    Tomorrow is the last day to see the Contact/s: The Art of Photojournalism at 3333 M Street, NW, in Georgetown. This great exhibit is part of FotoWeek DC and features twenty-five contact sheets made since 1976 by the photographers of Contact Press Images. The contact sheets have been enlarged and hung from the ceiling so that you can really good a close look at the individual photos. Plus, the exhibit, which is in a former furniture store, also has tons of really cool books on photojournalism that can be perused at your leisure. 

  • FotoWeek Seminar: The Nature of Transition

    Last night, I braved the cold to attend a seminar entitled The Nature of Transition by photographer Steve Uzzell. It was part of FotoWeek, the seven day celebration of photography in Washington.

    The theme of the seminar was on transition in our lives, how it is something to be embraced rather than feared. After all, as humans we’re constantly in a state of change as we live and evolve. Uzzell, who primarily shoots commercial work, got the idea for the presentation after hearing from clients that their organizations were in transition. As someone who received their last regular paycheck in 1975, he thought he had something to say on the subject – and he had the photos to communicate his message. 

    For lack of a better term, I’d call his presentation a “magical slide show.” After an introduction to set the stage, he turned down the lights and talked in a conversational tone about the universal nature of transition while he showed iconic pictures from his work over the years. We’re drawn to transition, for its promise of growth, movement and clarity. It’s the most dynamic place to be. But how do we get in transition and best take advantage of it? (more…)

  • Eurabia is Semifinalist in 2008 Screenwriting Expo Screenplay Competition

    Eurabia, my screenplay about what might happen if the US lost the war on terror, was a Semifinalist in the 2008 Screenwriting Expo Screenplay Competition. The Screenwriting Expo is a huge conference in LA for screenwriters.  

    Always a bridesmaid, never a bride…

    Actually, this script has done really well, making it to at least the semifinalist stages in the Austin, Writers on the Storm and American Screenwriters Association contests.

    You can read the first ten pages online.

  • Friday Photo: Save Darfur Protest

    dardur protest

    I was out last Friday and just happened to run into this protest. Students poured up from the Dupont Circle Metro then marched down Massachusetts Avenue to the Embassy of Sudan. There were around a hundred protesters, some of whom carried signs with the names of Sudanese villages that had been ethnically cleansed. I followed along on my bike and fortunately I had my camera with me.

    I like this picture because it shows the motion of the cab and the number of people at the protest. I took it with my Canon Digital Rebel XT with a Canon 55-250 IS lens. I ran it through the “aged photo” filter in Adobe Lightroom to fade the colors a bit.

  • Will Obama Empower Government 2.0?

    There’s a really interesting article in the New York Times on how Obama tapped the power of social networks to fuel his run for the presidency.  Here’s the nut graph:

    Like a lot of Web innovators, the Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans. (more…)