Ask Anything

We are at the beginning of a journalism renaissance

“I do feel these are extraordinary times. I do feel that we in a sense are at the beginnings of a renaissance with regards to journalism,” he said. “I know that’s hard for many people to hear given the pain of the disruption to the traditional sources.”

via Google’s Richard Gingras » Nieman Journalism Lab.

Too much photography

Now it is almost impossible for me to shoot a photo where someone is NOT taking a picture or posing for one. So I am under the impression that no-one is really paying attention to the splendours and beauties of the site, as the urge to photograph is so overwhelming. The photographic record of the visit has almost destroyed the very notion of actually looking.

Martin Parr.

Art That Sucks At Marketing Itself

I’m a fan, personally, of art that sucks at marketing itself, that doesn’t have a cute backstory or a built-in ‘platform,’ that is not cuddly or ‘adorkable’ and doesn’t immediately lend itself to a hierarchy of ‘rewards’ for ‘backers,’ that is antisocial and prickly and deeply strange.

via photographsonthebrain.com.

If you don’t go out of business, you’re a hero

journalism is not being disrupted by better journalism but by things that are hardly recognizable as journalism at all. Stepping up your game is always a good idea, but it won’t save you.

via stdout.be | Fungible.

Then we'll kill our apps, too

We never discovered how to avoid the necessity of designing both landscape and portrait versions of the magazine for the app. We wasted $124,000 on outsourced software development. We fought amongst ourselves, and people left the company. There was untold expense of spirit. I hated every moment of our experiment with apps, because it tried to impose something closed, old, and printlike on something open, new, and digital.

via Why Publishers Don't Like Apps - Technology Review.

Art is a Popularity Contest, Not a Democracy

"Truth be told—I like seeing photographs that I don't like. It makes me question why I don't like them, which in turn makes me question why I like the pictures I do like!

Comment by Simon Robinson on The Online Photographer.

A solution: Get over yourself

There is a universal truth about creatives: At some point in his or her career, he or she will have an ego that far outweighs the depth of their experience and the quality of their work. It may last for decades or it could shrink the minute that person walks out of art school.

via CLREPS.

If you could change one thing in the creative industry right now, what would that be?

I would put the value back on to certain creative. It’s not about money, but it is about value. You can have it good, fast or cheap, but you can only have two. And people are leaving ‘good’ out of it and want it fast and cheap. I would like everyone to slow it down just a little bit to bring back the quality a bit. To have the appreciation for things that are of quality. Just want job done well and with passion. Nothing is free, the fact that seems to be lost lately.

--Cindy Hicks of The Martin Agency

Read more: Heather Elder Represents Blog.

Fear Of Failure

What is the key to producing constant, memorable work over a number of years?

A healthy fear of failure. You've got to get behind the mule every morning and plow.

via - Grids - SPD.ORG.

How Amazon Snuck Up On Mainstream Publishing In Plain Sight

The publishing world has been continuously startled by the announcements of Amazon’s new print publishing imprints, and this has been going on for a good year.  It’s quite funny that Amazon was able to sneak up on everyone, since this has been part of a chain of events dating back to at least 2005 and probably earlier than that.

via Startup Grind.