Brian Storm posted this to his Twitter feed; my partner, Luciana, had mentioned it to me. And, because I talk about this when I give presentations (even pointing to my computer and holding up my iPhone), I thought it was worth a post all on its own.

Consumers–us–we buy products but many of us don’t ask our retailers to talk to the manufacturers to ask them to track their materials all the way down the supply chain, and to do so with a high level of transparency. That means, when we buy our electronics (or tomatoes or chocolate or…whatever) we often have no idea if slave labor, human trafficking, or war have tainted the products we buy.

It is a big challenge, but I believe corporations can hold their suppliers accountable, working with them to ensure there are viable and profitable options for them to supply conflict and slave-free materials for consumption. I believe the biggest part of the challenge is for consumers, like me and like you, to begin asking for this.

I wish I could point to my Mac and say “This is certified slave and conflict free.”

But I can’t. At least, not yet.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Check out this Q&A piece at the NYTimes Lens Blog by Michael Kamber of Tim Hetherington. Both are war photographers, but Hetherington just released the documentary film “Restrepo” which he shot and directed with writer Sebastian Junger.

The interview not only looks at war photography and the making of “Restrepo,” but at cross-platform, long-form visual storytelling; ie. the evolution of documentary photojournalism. Hetherington operates in multiple mediums, using each as an addition to his storytelling tool kit, in order to reach as broad an audience as possible–something I identify with. He started with a Vanity Fair article, produced a fine art exhibit, gave to broadcast television, a book, and now a feature length film.

He and Junger self-funded the editorial production of “Restrepo.” I identify with and have much respect for that too. Together they are showing how important long-form, time-intensive documentary work by professional news gatherers is to informing the public; how those professionals must now be capable of using all the tools available to them, be it a still camera, video camera or whatever; and have the ability to distribute that media through platforms like Vanity Fair, a newspaper blog, a Facebook page, or through industry discussion like my re-posting commentary.

It is one of the reasons I spent the last three months in New York, learning to be a better producer, emphasizing multi-platform distribution, and working with visual journalists like myself–but from a production standpoint. The insight I received, not only from people like Brian Storm and Eric Maierson at MediaStorm, Pamela Chen at Open Society Institute, and from the projects I worked on, only reinforces what I believe, and what Hetherington is saying.

Click through to the jump for some excerpts from Hetherington’s interview, but I encourage you to read the whole piece at the New York Times Lens Blog.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I received an email from Sara Terry, founder and director of The Aftermath Project, about the upcoming release of the film Restrepo, directed by Sebastian Junger (author, The Perfect Storm), and Tim Hetherington (photographer/cinematographer, four-time World Press Photo winner) who spent a year with soldiers in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. The purpose of the documentary film is to show us what our soldiers are experiencing in what is becoming a decade-long war.

I am re-posting this for one reason: as our interest in our two wars continues to wane, films about them are received poorly by the public. Therefore, they have a limited run-time in theaters. I am encouraging you to show your support for the film, the filmmakers, and the story–because this is our story.

Sara Terry included an excerpt from photographer Tim Hetherington:

“After many years, our feature-length documentary film Restrepo is finally opening on general release in US theaters from 25th June (..UK/Europe to follow..)
As you may know, the film business is precarious and the movie now needs your support at this critical time to reach as many people as possible.
You can help by viewing the trailer at:
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/restrepo/
and if you feel inclined, then please forward this link to your own mailing lists to help spread the word.

You can also sign up to support the film at our facebook page at www.facebook.com/restrepothemovie

Thanks for your help
Tim & Sebastian
www.restrepothemovie.com”

Also of note from Sara Terry is the 2011 grant application for The Aftermath Project, which will be available in mid-August.

To Do:
• Sign up for The Aftermath Project Newsletter
• Go see the film Restrepo.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Not only are they pictures of my sweetie, they’re a great guide to light modifiers and how they can shape your images.

I’m prone to using one light and a homemade snoot, simply because that’s what I have and that’s what travels really, really light, but having an online guide like this is a great contribution to the photo community.

Check out the light modification guide by Zack Arias here.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Aaron Huey is a Seattle-based photographer with a personal project he’s documented for years. It is the story of the Lakota, a Sioux Indian tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. Recently, Huey gave a TEDx talk in Denver on his work, drawing parallels between the story of the Lakota and indigenous people around the world.

I wanted to re-post this TEDx talk on my blog out of respect for Huey’s work and commitment to following this story, to help him honor the journalist’s commitment to his or her subject–that being to tell their story–and for you to hear his TED wish.

This is a 15 minute video of his lecture. It is rich in imagery; I thought I could just listen while I worked on other stuff, but instead I found myself unable to look away. Take the time to view it, over morning coffee, lunch, or in the afternoon when you need a break from work. It is a powerful indictment of Manifest Destiny. Remember that from that your junior high US history class?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Today the 2010 U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons report was published online. It’s a weighty tome (printed) and a sizable download (22mb). I am honored to be one of the few photographers contributing to this important report, with an image from my work on the Cambodian border (work I am currently seeking funding to continue).

The TIP Report evaluates every country in the world for its efforts in combating human trafficking. Most notably about this year’s report, it is the first time the United States has also evaluated itself. From the report:

Secretary Clinton (June 14, 2010): “The 10th annual Trafficking in Persons Report outlines the continuing challenges across the globe, including in the United States. The Report, for the first time, includes a ranking of the United States based on the same standards to which we hold other countries. The United States takes its first-ever ranking not as a reprieve but as a responsibility to strengthen global efforts against modern slavery, including those within America. This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it.”

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Past intern Dan Depew said he was heading to Seattle last weekend to help produce a workshop for his new boss Zack Arias. In a following email he asked about models and, as it turns out, Lu has moonlighted as a model for the past few years. So we were booked for Sunday morning where we got to see the full-production of this CreativeLive broadcast (live) of Zach’s workshop. Chase Jarvis and Creative Techs came together to create these online, live and interactive productions which are, as far as I can tell, pretty sweet.

We had fun talking with musician Zaac Pick and his wife, a great makeup artist with killer boots, watched a young woman dunked in a fish tank, a ballerina eating donuts, The Fences getting a band portrait…

I had fun tweeting the event (as it pertained to Lu and her pix), as I’d never really done that before, and snapping some iphone pix. Check out my timmatsuiphoto twitter for some of those pix and visit my Tim.Matsui.Photo Facebook Page for some more iPhone pix when I add them in a bit.

The kicker for me was Arias taking the time to introduce me to the live audience, getting my web address out there, and within a minute one of the techs said “and we’ve managed to crash his website.” I checked my server logs and found traffic peaked at 50,000 hits before they put up a 403 denial page. Thanks Zack, and thanks everyone for checking out my work!

More pix after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

On Friday, June 25, I will be speaking at the opening reception for the exhibition “Our World at War” hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Seattle Red Cross, and featuring images by photographers for the VII Photo Agency. Space is limited, so if you’d like to come to the opening please RSVP as soon as you can.

There are a series of lectures throughout the duration of the exhibition; you can find the exhibition lecture schedule here.

I will be speaking with VII photographer Christopher Morris and the Deputy Head of the ICRC Regional Delegation to the US and Canada, Martin de Boer, about the use of photojournalism in telling stories of war’s impacts. My talk will focus on the legacy of psychological trauma in post-conflict Cambodia.

Please come down, if not for the opening, then for any of the subsequent lectures or simply to see the photographs on from one of the leading editorial photo agencies in the world.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Inupiat Whaling Boat gets nominated in the International Award Honoring Color Photography’s 4th Annual Master’s Cup.

Seems to be quite the popular photograph. I’ve also sold a second one through the Photo Center Northwest Critical Mass Top 50 exhibition and, if you’re going to their fundraiser in October, you’ll see yet another print of this boat.

Maybe I should start a boat series?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

With a lot of planning, waiting, and hard work, the MediaStorm website gets relaunched. It was fun to be in the office (I’ve been back in Seattle for about a week now) to see this process unfold; Tim and Jacky’s late nights coding, discussions about content, weighing in on the new logo design, being inspired by James Gundersen’s After Effects wizardry and being pleasantly surprised to learn that Eric Maierson wrote and directed “Three Women.”

A whole lot of work went into the re-design and it’s great to see it live. And now…you and I can embed the content on our sites. I’ve long wanted to be able to share MediaStorm content, enabling visitors to simply click-and-play. Today we can!

Three Women:
Brian screened this for us without telling us two things: first, that it was fiction and second, that it was by Eric. It’s beautiful, troubling, and ultimately inconclusive, but so are many things in life. That Eric can speak the language found in the themes of these stories, I think, speaks highly of him.

Airsick:
The treatment of this piece, with its 20,000 images and quick cuts is pretty damn cool. Gundersen, or “gunderstud” as he was nicknamed, did the design and animation.

Take Care:
The MediaStorm workshops are challenging, which I can say now, having helped produce one on my second week in the office. In one week, people with different skills are brought together to find, shoot, and produce a multimedia piece. Not to negate the other two from this workshop, Close to Home and Johnnie Footman his piece, Take Care, is my favorite.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!