Why it’s worth it to buy decent gear

We get questions almost daily from people interested in shooting/producing multimedia projects, wondering what they need to buy to do it well.  We have a suggested gear list on our website, but a lot of people come back with, "Wow, that all costs a lot.  What are some good, cheap options?"  MediaStorm Producer Bob Sacha offers his thoughts on why it really is worth it to go all in: Everyone wants to buy the smallest lightest video camera because we’re already carrying a lot of gear. But be careful not to short change yourself. Most of the palm-sized video cameras make it difficult or impossible to access basic controls like ISO and Gain and most do not allow an external microphone. For the still photographer, this is the equivalent of not being able to adjust your ISO (gain) and having to hunt three levels down in a menu to change the white…

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2008 Eddie Adams Workshop Multimedia Presentations

The 2008 Eddie Adams Workshop was held this past weekend.  All of the 100 students who attend shoot still images during the Workshop, and several are given the chance to also record audio for a final multimedia presentation. A team of producers, led by Brian Storm, Tom Kennedy, and Rich Beckman produced 9 multimedia stories this year. This year's multimedia team included:  J. Gwendolynne Berry, Tim McLaughlin, Meredith Birkett, Alexandra Garcia, Wes Pope, Alan Hagman, Bruce Strong, Elissa Eubanks, and Jim Virga (with graphics by Tim Klimowicz and digital tech support from Mark Gong). See the projects on the Eddie Adams Workshop site.  Congratulations to all of the students who attended Barnstorm XXI for a job well done!

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Check out kobréguide.com

"As major media companies are migrating their resources from print and broadcast to their online ventures, multimedia journalism stories are coming into their prime on the Web... Little by little, truly excellent work is starting to blossom and flourish -- the problem is, who has time to hunt for it?" If you're looking for some inspirational multimedia stories, head over to kobréguide.com. Ken Kobré (with help from some notable friends) has launched a new site compiling links to the best of multimedia from the web. Organized by channel, topic, award winners, and themes such as "Make You Wonder", this site makes it easy to find great stories from a variety of sources. You might want to wait to check it out until you have more than a few minutes of downtime- there are a lot of great stories to get lost in here (and they welcome suggestions for new stories).

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August Digital Journalist online

Ed Kashi's latest project, Curse of the Black Gold, is featured in this month's Digital Journalist.  The feature includes an introduction by Dirck Halstead, a gallery of images, and a video interview with Kashi. If you haven't seen this project yet, here's your chance. Another feature this month is on Walter Iooss' new release, Athlete. With introductions by Michael Jordan and Sports Illustrated Editor Terry McDonell, and extended commentary by Iooss interspersed throughout the gallery, this is a feature well worth checking out.

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MediaStorm Publishes Common Ground

Common Ground by Scott Strazzante On July 2, 2002, Jean and Harlow Cagwin watched as their home — the last remnant of their 118-acre cattle farm in Lockport, Illinois — was torn down clearing the way for a new housing development. Several years later, Ed and Amanda Grabenhofer and their four children moved into the new Willow Walk subdivision, their house just yards from where the Cagwin's home once stood. Common Ground introduces us to the lives touched by this land, as photographer Scott Strazzante takes us on a visual journey exploring the differences and similarities of these two families while simultaneously asking us to look at what is common among us all.

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