Mattress Multimedia Musings

This is all prompted by the fact that I just got another multimedia posted on the Whitworthian website. It's a show about Once Upon a Mattress go enjoy it please!

But might I take this moment to say that as a photographer on the newspaper you rarely get recognized, but you contribute one of the most interesting parts to a newspaper. The photos. What catches your eye when you open the paper? An engaging photo. That's right. But how do you recognize a photographer? You can see which article gets the most online views....oh wait that credit goes to the writer. Word of mouth? Well who can measure that. Sadly it's the burden we bear as photogs. We get over it though.
A fun new outlet that I've discovered is multimedia . I have learned how to gather interview audio and edit it together, and take photos that come together in a cohesive story. It's quite amazing really. It's wonderful because you get to hear the source talk about their story. You get to hear their passion and hear things in their words. The visual aspect allows many more pictures to go with a story as well, not just the one that runs in print. Some things lend themselves to multimedia better than other. For example, my show on the Men's Chorus that I did last year. The music lent itself perfectly to audio clips. The photos end up working out but only because I spent so much time going to several rehearsals to get the right photos.
Another thing about multimedia. It takes time...so much time. I've done enough of these to safely say that for every minute I have of audio I spend editing.
For example. Three minute show-at least three hours of audio editing without fail. Hours staring at squiggly lines that move and move. The men's chorus one that was a little over four minutes-that took somewhere around five or six hours of audio editing. Then there's the photos. Take hundreds. Use about 35-50 depending. Hours more there editing them all to look just right. But wait...there's more. Production. It's not enough to have audio and photos ready to go. They have to match up. The photos have to be lined up with the audio that goes with them if possible. Picture times have to be determined and transition must be set. It's a lengthy process.
But in the end it's worth it. Especially if it's something people enjoy. People love the way it goes even farther in depth than a regular written story.
How did this all start again? Oh yes. How does a photog get recognition. This is how. We put in a heck of a lot more work, but if I may say so myself. People love the result far more :)