Abstract Christmas

Holiday lights, from beebo wallace on Flickr.

The demise of the professional photojournalist

Dan Gillmor at the Center for Citizen Media: The demise of the professional photojournalist. (Video above: UCLA police taser a student.) Excerpt:

The pros have a problem. They can’t possibly compete in the media-sphere of the future. We’re entering a world of ubiquitous media creation and access. When the tools of creation and access are so profoundly democratized, and when updated business models connect the best creators with potential customers, many if not most of the pros will fight a losing battle to save their careers. ...

In a world of ubiquitous media tools, which is almost here, someone will be on the spot every time.

And there will be business models and methods to support their work.

Today, YouTube is the site of choice for all kinds of videos, including newsworthy ones such as the recent abuse-by-taser of the student at the University of California, Los Angeles (more than 764,000 viewings as of today), and the racist nightclub rantings of Michael “Kramer” Richards (more than 1.2 million viewings). Both were captured by mobile-phone video cameras.

Others will make their way to sites like the newly announced projects such as YouWitness News (a joint project of Yahoo and Reuters), or operations like Scoopt or NowPublic. ...

Is it so sad that the professionals will have more trouble making a living this way in coming years? To them, it must be — and I have friends in the business, which makes this painful to write in some ways.

To the rest of us, as long as we get the trustworthy news we need, the trend is more positive.

I agree. I, too, have many photojournalist friends in the news business. Their work will continue to be important, but increasingly, they will no longer be the first eyewitnesses on the scene of a news story.

60 all-time great photos

Clipmarks has 60 of the greatest photographs of all time.

Beautiful day in SF

Gorgeous day in San Francisco today. Met with Julia and Lisa to begin planning a conference in the spring. More details anon.

Shoot your self

Derek Powazek and Heather Champ have published the seventh issue of their hip magazine JPG. The 2-year-old "magazine of brave new photography" has been completely redesigned and relaunched, sporting a bigger size, more articles and an innovative website that empowers anyone to contribute. The new issue explores self-portraiture.

Says Derek: "JPG Issue 7 is the product of thousands of people. There were 2,400 submissions by 1,434 people. Over 120,000 votes were cast by 3,000 people from all over the world. The result is an amazing selection of inspirational images. At 112 pages, it's our biggest, bestest issue yet."

Photos of the Vloggies

Here are some photos of last night's Vloggies, the first videoblogging awards to honor the top vlogs.

Among those I hobnobbed with during the night: Chuck Olsen, Jonny Goldstein, Lori Erickson, Robert Scoble, Dave Toole, Morty Wiggins, Mary Hodder, Steven Starr, Colette Vogele, Steve Garfield,  Scott Beale, Thomas Hawk, Irina Slutsky, Bill Streeter, Enric Teller, Kent Nichols, Josh Leo, Richard Show, Ted Tagami, Chris Ritke, Micki Krimmel, Dina Kaplan, Valerie Cunningham, Kevin Rose, Andrew Michael Baron, Sean Gilligan, Bre Pettis, Jory des Jardins, Stowe Boyd, Jodi Williams,  triple-winner Rox of Beach Walks with Rox, and many others. 

Two categories that should have been included but weren't: Favorite Mash-up, and Favorite Citizen Journalist. And Steve Garfield didn't get the recognition that he deserves.

Robert Scoble has the rundown on all the winners and more. Plus, photos from Scott Beale and Thomas Hawk. And more coverage from PodTech, Renee Blodgett, and others.

The joy o' pumpkins

Creative Commons + Flickr = 22 Million Sharable Photos

Mark Glaser at PBS's MediaShift: Creative Commons + Flickr = 22 Million Sharable Photos. Mark looks at the growing pool of sharable Creative Commons licensed photos on the photo-community site Flickr. There are now 22 million photos that are searchable by CC license, and bloggers, photo editors and journalists are now discovering it as an important resource. He talks to photographers and the creative director of Creative Commons to learn more about the explosion of CC-licensed content online and the growing acceptance of flexible copyrights online.

And he quotes me: 

“More websites are using these photos, and people are becoming aware of the power of Creative Commons to share material without feeling guilty about it,” Lasica said. “It’s a way of fine-tuning copyright. A lot of people think it’s about giving up your copyright, but it’s not. It’s fine-tuning and tailoring your copyright to your needs. The other thing is that journalists and editors are becoming aware of the power of Flickr to find some amazing, amazing photos. And you can do searches for Creative Commons photos. You know right up front that here are the ones you can use and take.”

... But the concept of giving away your artistic works in order to get paid at a vague time down the line isn’t an easy sell to everyone.

“There’s something Zen about it,” he said. “You let go and it’ll come back to you. Visibility and attention are the cornerstones of success on the web. The more people know about your work, the more you can steer them to other things that can derive income, whether it’s to drive them to your blog or creating new contacts to sell your work directly.”

Photos from Idea Festival

Here are a few photos from my trip to Louisville's Idea Festival. That's author/big thinker Ray Kurzweil, above.

JPG seeking photo submissions

JPG, the magazine of brave new photography, is seeking submissions for Issue 7 on three themes: Big, Hometown, and Self-portraiture. You can submit an entry at JPG.com.

Photos must be 72dpi JPGs, 2200px wide/tall. You can submit one to each theme. Plus, you can help them decide which photos to print by voting on the other submissions. If your photo is chosen, it will appear in Issue 7 and you'll get $100. More on how it works.