WASHINGTON, DC, 18 March 2011 — While embedded with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24thMEU) in Afghanistan in 2008, I made a brief video of New York Times Photojournalist Tyler Hicks as he prepared and then transmitted images from one of the most unforgiving locales on earth to the Times photo desk in New York. […]
PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C., 9 March 2011 — A film made by two American University students with whom I traveled to the Galapagos Islands has been selected for screening at the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. Mark Petruniak and Chris McMorrow are heading to California to attend the show of “La Pesca Vivencial,” which they shot […]
WASHINGTON, DC, 1 March 2011 — I conducted a Backpack Journalism Workshop for eight new fellows at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in the nation’s capital prior to their departure for assignments overseas. During the all-day workshop, we discussed Controlling Idea, Dramatic Arc, the ABCs of the visual language, character-driven documentary and other components […]
WASHINGTON, DC, 26 February 2011 – The technological advances driving the revolutionary model that we refer to as backpack video journalism enable a single practitioner to exchange ideas and information as never before in the history of mankind. But there is a dark side to this methodology, which empowers lone practitioners to document and disseminate […]
WASHINGTON, DC, 23 February 2011 — I got a query this morning from a person inquiring about my “Backpack Documentary Expedition: Nicaragua,” coming up this summer. She was concerned that her lack of experience with new digital cameras might be a stumbling block on the journey. Here’s part of my response: “The methodology that we […]
WASHINGTON, DC, 9 February 2011 — The “Backpack Documentary Expedition: Nicaragua,” is a 10-day immersion in the craft of character-driven documentary making. We follow American volunteers with a leading U.S. non-profit to the Nicaraguan town of Ticuantepe, just outside the capital of Managua. For me, it’s not just about teaching backpack video journalism, or documentary. […]