Published work

UW Bothell Diversity Video | Seattle Photographer David Ryder

Diversity, Multimedia, My work, Published work, University of Washington, UW Bothell, Video

I’m happy to present a video that I recently created for the University of Washington Bothell about the commitment to diversity on campus. I believe that the Bothell campus is doing a great job in becoming a leader of diversity recruitment, outreach, and retention. Please have a look at the video below:

 

 
 

Teaching Math With Microsoft Kinect

Multimedia, My work, Published work, Tech stuff, University of Washington, UW Bothell, Video

I recently created a video for the University of Washington Bothell that tells the story of two outstanding Computer and Software Systems students and a professor. They are developing a computer program that allows high school teachers to use the motion and voice capabilities of the Microsoft Kinect video game system in order to enrich the high school mathematics learning experience. Have a look at the short film below:

 

UW Bothell – Wetlands Video – Cascadia Community College

Multimedia, My work, Nature, Published work, Sustainability, University of Washington, UW Bothell, Video

I recently directed a short film in partnership with producer Jim Perich-Anderson about the wetlands restoration project on the UW Bothell/Cascadia College co-located campus. The film highlights the remarkable transformation of a once heavily degraded wetland – which was essentially just a cow pasture – into an outstanding educational and environmental resource.  Have a look at the film below and check out the UWB/CCC building dashboard website, where the film is featured.

 

 

 

 

Google Maps Photojournalism | Seattle Photographer

Google Maps, Other people's work, Published work, Seattle, Still photography, Tech stuff, Thoughts

Is this the new face of photojournalism? Google Maps is certainly part of the future of photojournalism, like it or not. (Related: See my Google Maps photo essay.)

Below is a screen shot of SeattlePI.com and you can see how they have utilized a Google Maps Street View image for reporting purposes. It’s very sad that a woman was shot and in this case an actual human photographer I think would be able to cover this story quite well, but instead we have a Google Maps image taking the place of traditional photojournalism. Of course I’m sure the SeattlePI.com journalists would agree that using a human photojournalist would be ideal – and seeing Google Maps in this story probably comes down to a case of budget constraints.

I’m actually surprised that I have not seen more Google Maps images in the press, but I am wondering how the readers are responding to this. Right now there are four comments on the story but they all relate to the rather shocking content of the story, not the use of a Google Maps image. My guess is that viewers/readers do not care one bit. They probably do care that the image presented is pretty boring, but that is not necessarily because it is a Google Maps image. There are plenty of pretty and interesting Google Maps images out there, but just like traditional photojournalism it takes time, energy and expertise to find those images.

For me, I really am intrigued by the use of Google Maps images for photojournalism, reportage and photo essays, but the image below isn’t exactly a good supporting argument. Aren’t I afraid of losing my job? Not really. I actually think that the more that Google Maps images pop up, the more that media consumers will realize that their lives are constantly under surveillance. For this reason, and others, I think folks will begin to remember why they love images made by real, empathetic, human photojournalists. There is something great that people love about images made by other humans, and the screen shot below can help with understanding that. However, as a photojournalist myself I’ve found that using Google Maps can be rewarding. Part of my graduate school capstone work included a Google Maps Street View photo essay.