It feels like the quiet before the storm, no pun intended. On Saturday is the start of a week-long multimedia workshop at MediaStorm. We will guide three teams through the process of reporting and producing stories using stills, video, and audio. (iPhone photo at right: MediaStorm is in DUMBO, or Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass…and that’s the Manhattan Bridge)

One day is training, two days are reporting, one day is transcription, the next is for any additional content plus editing. Thursday is going to be the super long editing day; at one workshop Brian Storm, President/Founder/Guru/Dude, said he stayed so late he saw the sunrise.

Since arriving on Monday I’ve been getting clinics on Final Cut Pro (FCP) from FCP brainiac Eric Maierson. I know a lot of the basics, but it’s such a complex application that I’m still learning, especially their work flow here at MediaStorm. Data management is ultra important, something I’ve found out the hard way with digital photography (and have thus developed a rigorous work flow). Additionally there are tricks MediaStorm has developed for syncing cameras or, in the case of the new High Definition Digital SLR cameras (HDDSLR), syncing cameras and audio. These new tools, a physical example of “convergence,” produce beautiful video with the depth-of-field trademark of film but are absolutely terrible with audio capture. Someone here said that the new HDDSLR cameras are like taking two steps forward, then one step back as you figure out how to modify them to make them useful.

Read more about the MediaStorm family after the jump.

But that’s simply the technical stuff. What I’ve really been doing is learning who MediaStorm is. We eat lunch together at the central table in an open, clutter-free office. With the exception of the editing suites, you can hear everyone’s phone conversations or the audio from their projects. In spite of this, everyone works intently on his or her computer, so the group lunch is a welcome moment to stay connected with each other. (at right: looking at an FCP sequence from a current project)

On Friday, just before I started, when Lu was here, we stopped by the MediaStorm office to meet everyone. Brian’s partner, Elodie, was there with their five weeks old daughter, Eva. We went out to dinner and shared stories of how we’d met our respective partners. Brian is a natural storyteller, full of energy and images to carry his narrative. How he and Elodie met, grew close, then got together elicits a far away look of fond recollection. Though that look is nothing compared to when he gazes upon Eva; the world simply disappears.

We talked child-rearing. I don’t know much about it, but I have Lu as the expert at my side. She and Elodie shared stories and I, the only non-biological parent, sat back and learned.

Eventually, I asked Brian when I should be in to work on Monday. He replied casually, “11.” I laughed, and asked if he was serious. Yes. He reasoned that since New York is three hours ahead of the west coast it made sense. Plus, they work until seven or eight at night. And then Elodie weighed in. “You can tell Brian is not a morning person,” she said with a smile. They shared a look, one of those I know you and love you looks, inspiring Lu and I to turn and do the same.

These are my initial impressions of MediaStorm. To say that Brian is an inspiration would be an understatement. To listen to him talk, in all of his brusqueness, it would be easy to say he is visionary. I was introduced to him years ago, when he was at MSNBC, and remember him talking about hand -held computers that would constantly link us to the internet. It was a prediction many foretold, but the way Brian said it was something else. However, he was only talking about a tool. What that tool means, to us as journalists, is a change in the distribution of our stories. More people want more content more of the time, and now they can get it anywhere. (iPhone photo at left: Jacky working on a website redesign)

That also means people are creating massive amounts of content to distribute via traditional means, like magazine or newspaper websites, and also through new aggregators, facebook, flickr, twitter, blogs, etc. It’s super-saturating the viewer, it’s data overload.

To hear Brian say it, “In the social networking world it’s either cats flying on a fan or really important shit. Everything in the middle is noise. So do something meaningful; let’s do something worth people’s time.”

There’s a figurative five gallon tank of MediaStorm Kool-aide by the office door, but I drank it long ago. So, it seems, have the rest of the staff here.

It’s a relaxed atmosphere, a place where Brian directs and guides people but doesn’t want to be boss. Jessica Stuart is the fixer, producer, get-things-done person, but she isn’t the boss either. It’s an environment where people work hard, exercising the self-discipline to simply get the job done. Not just right, but with finesse, perfection, and extreme attention to detail. (iPhone photo at right: assembling workshop binders)

And, while I’ve spent some time this week doing mundane things like assembling workshop binders or searching for cables in the gear closet, it’s not unheard of for Brian, our visionary boss-not-boss, to be seen sweeping the floors. At MediaStorm it is simply that there is a job to get done, and everyone here makes sure it’s done right. (iPhone photo at left: the Brooklyn Bridge as seen from the park beneath the Manhattan Bridge…a three minute walk from the MediaStorm office)

Come down to the Microsoft Auditorium in the Central Library at 2pm on Sunday, March 14 if you’re in town! 1000 Fourth Ave. 206.386.4636

Click on the image at right for the PDF invitation.

Click here for a PDF list of resources on human trafficking at the Seattle Public Library.

But my first weekend of this three month sabbatical was spent with Lu and we did things you do in the City. Including going out to a show. It wasn’t a Broadway show; it was something less traditional and more interactive. Something very Lu-like, which means very fun.

Fuerza Bruta (Brute Force) starts off with an announcement to the standing crowd that you’ll be asked to move about. The ticket office says to dress casual, that you’ll be standing for 65 minutes, and there will be strobes. And then, I overheard someone in the audience say to his friend “stand over here and you won’t get wet.”

In the darkness, an industrial fan and a spotlight came on, then shut off. Again, but in another part of the room. The music got louder and a lone man appeared on a treadmill, walking above the crowd, a lone light upon him. There are no words spoken the entire show, but it is his story.

He runs, he gets shot, he struggles up and runs again. He bursts through walls, he bumps through a crowd, he dreams, he searches, he meets people and joins them but, it seems, he is lying to himself. Finally, he risks himself and in that process he finds himself….at least, that’s my interpretation. It’s all very fluid and visually rich; a water-filled clear stage descends from the ceiling and actresses slide back and forth until they stare down at you, mermaid-esque, making eye contact with the audience. Touching through the clear barrier.

Finally, in the darkness, to a techno beat, the sky opens up and artificial rain pours down on the dancing audience. Happily, we were soaked.

We dried off (a little) in the theater’s bar where drinks were 2-for-1. In the bathroom Lu met part of the cast and later, when we went to the bar they went to, they reacquainted themselves with her. Somewhere around 3 a.m. we stumbled home. A true night out, with many thanks to Lu; I never would have gone without her.

And, yes, I do have a print in the show; the Inupiat Boat from my Spiegel Magazine assignment in Kivalina, Alaska. Read the Kivalina blog posts here and here.

Photolucida’s Critical Mass is a way to bring together photographers and photo buyers. 200 jurors–from high end art buyers to small galleries or online publications–review the work. On Friday you’ll have a chance to hear guest lecturer and juror Andy Adams of Flak Photo and to see the top 50 Critical Mass winners.

See the press release, address, and hours after the jump.

PRESS RELEASE

Exhibition Title: EXPOSED: Critical Mass 2009
Dates: March 5 – May 18, 2010
Guest Juror: Andy Adams, Editor/Publisher Flak Photo
Artists’ Reception & Juror Lecture: Friday, March 5, 6-9 PM (lecture starts at 7 PM)
Lecture Title: The Internet, Social Media & Photography Online, Andy Adams, FlakPhoto.com
Lecture Tickets: $6 regular, $4 PCNW members
Location: Photo Center NW, 900 Twelfth Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98122

Upcoming Exhibition: This year 593 artists entered Photolucida’s Critical Mass (www.photolucida.org), a program designed to expose the world’s best emerging and mid-career photography to the professionals (curators, editors, gallerists, etc.) who actually use it. After an initial pre-screening stage, the work of 175 Finalists went on to be viewed, and voted on, by over 200 jurors. The Critical Mass Top 50 is the result of this democratic process.

PCNW, Flak Photo, and Photolucida are proud to present EXPOSED: Critical Mass 2009, a celebratory exhibition of the Critical Mass 2009 Top 50 at PCNW. Juried by Flak Photo Editor Andy Adams, EXPOSED furthers the missions of all three organizations by exposing these artists to multiple enthusiastic art communities, in worlds both physical and virtual.

Featured Artists: Jenn Ackerman, Jody Ake, Leslie Alsheimer, Jane Fulton Alt, Carl Bower, Andrea Camuto, Manuel Capurso, Alejandro Cartagena, Pelle Cass, Edmund Clark, Victor Cobo, Caleb Cole, Scott Dalton , Dorothee Deiss, Mitch Dobrowner, Jade Doskow, Ed Freeman, Lucia Ganieva, Judy Gelles, N W Gibbons, Toni Greaves, Jessica Todd Harper, Jessica Ingram, Mary Shannon Johnstone, Jimmy Lam, Laurie Lambrecht, David Leventi, Larry Louie, Benjamin Lowy, Simone Lueck, Sarah Malakoff, Rania Matar, Tim Matsui, Mark Menjivar , Brad Moore, Kate Orne, Ara Oshagan, Rachel Papo, Bradley Peters, Alexis Pike, Birthe Piontek, Ellen Rennard, Betsy Schneider, Peter Sibbald, Christopher Sims, David Taylor, Phillip Toledano, Will Steacy, Serkan Taycan

Lecture Description: Despite its limitations, the Internet is changing the way we consider photography and the medium is undergoing remarkable transformations. No longer relegated to the gallery wall or the printed page — photoblogs, online magazines and digital galleries have exploded in recent years — photography now regularly (and sometimes exclusively) appears on computer screens. More significantly, the new media is influencing contemporary photography culture around the world: connecting international audiences to art experiences, enabling the discovery of new work and presenting never-before-seen channels of expression and communication. Today’s photographer surfs the web, subscribes to blog updates, uses search engines to access photo websites, and interacts with a global community of colleagues by participating in social networks like Flickr, Facebook and Twitter. All of this results in a collaborative experience that’s dissolving international boundaries and creating a community of photographers that interacts and shares their work more spontaneously than ever before.

Juror Bio: Andy Adams, FlakPhoto.com
Andy Adams is the editor / publisher of FlakPhoto.com, a contemporary photography website that celebrates the culture of image-making by promoting the discovery of artists from around the world. An online gallery and social media magazine, the site provides opportunities for a global community of artists and photo organizations to share new series work, book projects, and gallery exhibitions with a web-based photography audience.

In support of EXPOSED: Critical Mass 2009, Flak Photo will highlight a photo a day from a selection of these photographers in a concurrent online exhibition, published weekdays at www.FlakPhoto.com from MON, MAR 8 – FRI, APR 2, 2010.

I don’t recall a lot from early childhood, which makes me wonder what T will remember about his childhood. He’s six now and, while at the museum, all I could think about was how much fun he would have–even if there is no Robin Williams version of Teddy Roosevelt (he’s a statue outside) nor is there a display featuring Lewis and Clark or Sacajewea. There never has been (we asked).

However, there is a giant blue whale, chunks of meteorites, crystals bigger than your head, and much to my pleasure, a northwest coast Native American dugout canoe hanging dramatically in a large hall.

Luciana and I walked through the museum, seeing as much as we could but quickly realizing there was way too much to absorb in one visit. It was impressive; the quality of the displays, the breadth of the work…and we didn’t even make the special exhibits or the Imax films.

The one unfortunate thing about the trip is how far the museum is from where I am living in Prospect Heights. It’s nearly an hour by subway, though I’m sure if I could navigate the system better I could cut a few minutes off the trip. However, on the way back home we managed to add a few minutes…and take a new train in the process.

As I was getting off the train Lu, who was a step behind me, had the door close on her. As the train picked up speed I pounded on the train, creating our own little Hollywood moment, and pantomimed “I will come to you.” We laughed when I caught up with her. From the sounds of it, this isn’t so rare.

Not knowing for sure if my Craigslist housing ad was for real, we arrived in Brooklyn, near Prospect Park, to meet my new roommate. Shore had taken the day off from work to welcome me and meet Lu and, much to our surprise and delight, had flowers on the dresser and two folded towels with the apartment keys on top. It’s a beautiful apartment, well appointed and well located, and I’m looking forward to getting to know Shore and our other roommate, Clay.

Shore took us out to the local deli, showed us the grocery store and the coffee shop. And then, just to keep things real, somewhere along the way we stood too close to the road and…yes, we were completely soaked by a passing SUV splashing through a slushy puddle. Ice water in our noses, down our jackets, across our legs. Soaked. We laughed it off and, shrugging, I finished my water logged sandwich.

Lu is here for a long weekend to meet the folks at Mediastorm, my roommates, and help me get settled. I love traveling with her. Though professionally stimulating, it’s going to be a long three months away from the family.

Yes, I entered. No, I didn’t win. Maybe next year.

Click on the image:

(at right: click on image to see video of mosquito zapper in action–scroll down to 3rd video)

Intellectual Ventures, an outfit run by Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft’s former chief technology officer, is re-purposing concepts in an spare-looking lab that is a tech-head’s equivalent of a souped-up garage workshop. Check it out in this PDF of a Seattle P-I article. It sounds like a cool place to work–lots of interesting projects.

Take, for instance, the mosquito zapper. Technology developed for laser printers is coupled with digital camera sensors and imaging software that can differentiate the size and sex and species of insects flying through the air. It then fires the laser, searing the insect, and killing it.

Apparently all of this was assembled from parts found on eBay.

Still, something tells me that tried and true methods like insecticide impregnated mosquito nets and awareness building advertising campaigns might be the best thing for the near future. Like in Brasilia–we used a net to keep T from getting bit at night. And I couldn’t help but notice all the bright advertisements at bus stops. Empty out all standing water, they were saying, to deprive dengue fever infected mosquitoes a place to breed. Pretty simple solutions…but still, I always like a good bug zapper.

…as a side note, this just out: Boeing shoots down a ballistic missile with an airborne laser. It only took two decades.

At that time I was still coming to understand what “the climbing life” really was, an all-consuming lifestyle with a level of commitment rarely found in anything else. When I think of the moments I have pushed myself to the edge, when the only thing keeping me from collapsing, giving up, or possibly falling to serious or fatal injury, I realize it was my mind. It was my will. I put myself there, and I got myself out, and for this I feel a sense of personal accomplishment. With a climbing partner, it built camaraderie through shared experience; shared suffering, shared success, and shared failure.

Then I look at these friends of mine, Colin Haley, Dylan Johnson, Joe Puryear, David Gottlieb, Jesse Huey, Kate Rutherford, who have pushed even further. Some, to contrast the sport’s all-consuming reputation, even pursue professional lives and maintain relationships and marriages. They and their climbing partners have the vision, the will, and the skill to challenge themselves in the mountains; pushing the limits of the sport, and lifestyle, that much further. For this, the Mugs Stump Award recognizes them. I wish them success and the best of luck. That, and to come home alive.

Read about the 2010 award at Alpinist.com
Read about the Mugs Stump Award

There is still a lot to think about from this trip; the cultural differences, the stories of her youth, the trips to the countryside, and, predominantly, my growing role as a step father and member of Lu’s family. But I thought I’d start by sharing some travel photography.

Brasilia was carved out of the plains of central Brazil 50 years ago. It was designed, planned, and plunked down in row-upon-row of concrete and steel. The “Plano Piloto” was created by urban planner Lucio Costa; shaped like a plane or a bird in flight, the north-south axis is filled with housing super-blocks anchored to the highway, each of which could be city unto itself. The eastern tip of the east-west axis is dedicated to symmetric rows of uniform government ministries, the presidential palace, supreme court, and congress. Graceful curves and towering spires were predominantly the work of architect Oscar Niemeyer and the extensive green spaces belong to landscape architect Burle Marx. The city was planned for fewer than 1 million, but suburban sprawl and satellite cities, like Guara and Aguas Claras, have sprung up, bringing the overall population to around 2 million. However, when leaving the city by car the urban infrastructure quickly falls away, leaving wide valleys and vast mesas covered in soy, corn, or cattle.

I often found myself in the front passenger seat, as a guest for the views. We never took the metro, we never rode a bus; her father, as the family driver, wouldn’t let us. So I began taking pictures through the windshield and stealing snaps out the side. This series, rather loosely edited, is taken from within the car or very near the car (with a couple exceptions). It is my initial overview of Brasilia and the surrounding countryside, including Caldas Novas with its water parks and natural hot springs, and the Chapadas dos Veadeiros, a national park with some of the oldest rock outcrops in the world, at 1.8 billion years old.

Brasilia, Brazil: Through the Windshield – Images by Tim Matsui