NPPA Announces Short Grants for Photographers

The National Press Photographers Association is pleased to announce the 2011 Short Grants program, five grants of $3,000 each that will be awarded to support photojournalists who are creating compelling picture stories in their communities. "Budgets for newsrooms are shrinking and one of the greatest victims is the community photo story," NPPA executive director Mindy Hutchison said. "Photographers often don’t have the time or the funding that they used to have to work on compelling stories in their community. So NPPA is bringing back the community photo story project through the NPPA Short Grants, with five awards of $3,000 each. The grant is designed for funding projects small enough in scale that the bulk of the work can be accomplished in two weeks or less." NPPA's Short Grants Program was made possible by funding received from the Authors Coalition of America (ACA), the organization which distributes royalties for overseas copying of works…

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Job Opening: Multimedia Producer at MSNBC.com

MSNBC.com is seeking an experienced Multimedia Producer / Picture Editor in the NYC area. We are looking for a picture editor who can edit under limited supervision using the highest journalistic, ethical, and esthetic standards. The ability to multi-task and work under tight deadlines while within budget is a must. The ideal candidate will work with the newsroom to formulate coverage and collaborate with internal teams, parent companies and content providers. Proven news judgment, high ethical standards, writing and interpersonal skills are necessary. A successful candidate will have broad knowledge and curiosity about news of all kinds and show a keen eye for spotting interesting and newsworthy visual content as well as generating story ideas. An understanding of industry tools and techniques, an innovative spirit, a passion for digital and social media, and the ability to solve problems in a fast-paced environment are highly desirable. Must be organized and able to manage…

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FCP X – Initial Reactions

This is the second in our series of MediaStorm producers responding to the new FCP X. If you missed the first response, from Eric Maierson, you can check that out here. Well it's amazing how much difference a day makes.  Yesterday I had prepared a blog post about my qualified, yet upbeat first impression of FCP X.  Of that blog post, here's what I'll include; "I've been working in FCP X since it launched, and I've tried to approach it for what it is. A new piece of software that will have significant limitations, like all version 1 software.  In doing this, I've come to see the potential of the program. It's a young buck, but as it matures, I think we're going to be surprised at how robust it is.  Using metadata to organize and find assets is amazing. It's fast and efficient. I've been able to organize content quicker than…

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MediaStorm Interview: Lucy Nicholson

Lucy Nicholson is a senior staff photographer with Reuters. She was born in London and is based in Los Angeles, having worked as a photographer in Mexico City, Chile, and Northern Ireland. You attended our Advanced Multimedia Workshop in 2008 and produced “One Man Brand.” How has that workshop influenced your work since? I think MediaStorm creates some of the best multimedia out there, so just picking up their way of doing things was valuable. There's no one correct way to mix audio, stills and video for the web, so it was good to have people who really knew what they were doing give me a formula to start with. The course gave me a lot of confidence, and set a standard for me to emulate. I learn more every time I produce a multimedia project.  Your piece “Homegirl cafe” was a 2011 Webby Awards honoree. How did you find the story?…

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Final Cut Pro X First Impressions or “FCP, I Hope You Feel Better Soon”

With the major changes in Apple's new version of Final Cut Pro X, we've had a lot of people asking if MediaStorm is making the switch, and what we think of the program. This essay is the first in a series of MediaStorm producers responding to FCP X. Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. And with the release of Final Cut Pro X, Apple did a lot of both. Among the missing (at least for the moment): the ability to import FCP 7 projects. the ability to export only a portion of your project multicam support the auto-save vault And on and on.  To be fair, Apple recently promised to reintroduce absent functionality in future versions. It’s still painful to work with an incomplete toolset, particularly given that the toolset was doing pretty darn well just last week. Yes, FCP X is a 1.0 release but Apple is not new to this…

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