Monday, October 19, 2009

Why Still Photographers Need to Make the Transition to Video

From In the New Media World, Photographers Who Embrace Change Will Succeed, by Wayne Ford (pictured), on the "Black Star Rising" blog.
As an art director, I can certainly envision photographers utilizing their skills across a number of emerging sectors to broaden their commercial base and fill the voids left by declines elsewhere.

For example, it was predicted at the recent Online News Association conference in San Francisco that by 2012, 95 percent of all online content will be video. Even if that figure proves optimistic, that is certainly the direction we are heading. And that presents opportunities for photographers.

A photographer assigned to produce a portrait for a magazine, for example, could easily produce a short sound-bite video of the portrait subject to accompany the story online. Using a camera like the video-enabled Canon 5D, there would be no need to bring additional equipment.

Taking advantage of this access gives the photographer an inside track as the market for online video continues to grow.

2 comments:

Nader Khouri said...

I have very mixed feelings about your post. Of course, it is quite true the trend is going toward video online, yet I think 95% is exaggerated. I'm surprised to see so many photographers going to video. Did they value still photography in the first place? I'm happy being a still photographer. I think the most important thing for still photographers to survive is for them to differentiate themselves through their vision.

Unknown said...

Ken, thanks for continuing to provide the photo community with up to date information. I attended the first Platypus workshop for still photographers transitioning to video in Norman, Oklahoma in 1999. I am sure our Guru Dirck Halstead is even surprized how fast everything has changed. Ink on paper is dead and in order for us to stay in the industry we need to adapt and change. The Canon5D Mark 11 is making it possible to do it all in one piece of equipment.