Aaron Paul Vogel

Well there's been little updating to do, but I thought I'd share a few quick things I've been up to.

Project #1: Brooks NPPA website redesign

I've been working hard this last session to finally get the Brooks NPPA redesign I've been attempting to get done for about a year now. Inevitably some school project or another got in the way, but this session I have an HTML class, meaning it gives me perfect opportunity (I already know HTML) and mindset to get the damn thing done already. I'm a big fan of blogging CGI's for content management. Any site that has no more than 2 levels (top and secondary) of content makes a perfect candidate for this. Example: The photographic content on Brooks NPPA's site can be broken down into top level (Photography) and secondary level (Week in Pictures, Contests, Etc..) trees. Any further break down is done on an individual entry basis. So, I'll be using Movable Type, lots of CSS, Javascript and SlideShow Pro to put it all together.

Project #2: Moab travel project

I've twice traveled to Moab, Utah, now and I've put together a package of about 40 images involving most of the travel activities found in that area: 4-wheeling, mt. biking, hiking, camping, climbing and kayaking. On of my instructors, Rick Rickman has graciously offered to pass the project around to some people to try and generate some interest in it for purchase. In order to put out the best possible product I picked up Aperture a few weeks back. It's been a steep learning curve but I'm getting a pretty good handle on how to use the program, and it's been a huge help with this project. I've found gems that I missed using Photomechanic and I feel like I'm much, faster toning with the RAW controls Aperture provides. I had one particularly troublesome image that I just couldn't get right using the tricks I knew in Photoshop, but in exploring Aperture I found a setting (the Blue Levels option) that totally took care of the slight blue cast I just couldn't get out of my mid-tones.

I'll also be putting this project up on my Photoshelter.com space and soon offering them for sale along with my Laguna Seca Red Bull Moto GP photographs from earlier this year.

I have to say I feel kind of bad leaving Photomechanic because Camera Bits, the company that makes the software, and particularly the company President, Dennis Walker, has been incredibly good to myself, Brooks NPPA and the photojournalism community in general. There may be a future for it in my workflow when I import, but that'll only be found when I start shooting again - I haven't been lately.

Project #3: Resume and portfolio

I've been really behind when it comes to getting on the internship wagon. I have a few opportunities come my way recently - discussions with editors, publishers etc. that boiled down to, "yeah, we could use you. Send us something." I lost my resume recently when switching from my laptop to new iMac desktop - though it was probably for the better as it needed to be completely re-done anyway - so I've been working on putting that back together. I've also never had a really solid portfolio, and particularly one that included my two solid video pieces. So, I'm also working on developing either a DVD or Flash presentation of my stills, video and web work. I have to get that done with in the next week or I could loose these opportunities.

So that should pretty much get everyone up to date as to what I'm working on. Hopefully I'll get all these done in a timely manner and have a few hours left over to get my blog moved over to my new Movable Type server (I'm using Typepad, a trimmed down version that I've simply outgrown) and add new features like SlideShow Pro galleries of my work and links to my Photoshelter account.

Photoshelter is one of many websites that have cropped up in the last few years that allow photographers to post their wares online and sell prints. One thing that makes Photoshelter different from sites like Smugmug, Printroom, et al, is the ability to sell rights-managed content as well. The site is aimed squarely at photojournalists and offers some pretty cool features; not the least of which is the ability to upload your photos right from Apple's Aperture software.

As readers know I've recently made the jump to Aperture after trying out Lightroom and previously using Photomechanic in conjunction with Photoshop. And I love it! I won't go into another rant, suffice to say that I'll be sticking with Aperture for quite a while.

Getting back to Photoshelter, I just now am starting to use the service for a small fraction of its full potential. I had previously uploaded photos with the Photomechanic plug-in, just to test it out, but hadn't really explored what else I could do. I'll soon be setting up my Paypal account to accept orders of prints and licensing, and I'll be using Photoshelter rather than Flickr to display my work. The reason for that change is a little fuzzy to even me, but it mostly revolves around the idea that putting your work on Flickr is very similar to publishing it. And if you want to charge publications or advertisers for "exclusive" rights you might not be able to do that if your content is up on Flickr. I'm still debating that in my head, but for now better safe than sorry.

I just finished editing my first quality picture package and handed a CD of it off to Rick Rickman to toss around and see if I can't get some buyers for it or at least a few singles. In the mean time I've also posted the package on my Photoshelter account. You can view the gallery here: Moab Adventure Travel.

Guess I'll wait to get a hair cut.. What's that?... Oh Berbers? Gotcha.

Well, I guess I'll get that hair cut after all then. And while I'm sitting in the chair I'll do some more reading on the country recently featured in Brad Pitt's latest flick, Morocco, because that's where I've landed an independent study gig this coming January! Well by buddy Jospeh "Alk" Hollak has announced my travels on his blog, so I guess I'll put up some details lest I disappoint those who actually followed his link here.

Details...

First, a little about the assignment. It's actually an independent study that I built around an assignment one of my instructors, Rick Ray, brought to me looking for people to fill. Ray has his hands in a bunch of different endeavors, not the least of which is producing documentary/travel films about the Middle East and Far East countries so many of us know so little about. Perhaps his best known film is The Soul of India which has been lauded as the definitive film on the country; so much so that the current President himself is said to have watched it on Air Force One before he visited the country.

Ray came to me asking if I knew anyone who'd be interested in shooting similar video for a similar project he's started about Morocco. He seemed to want someone who'd recently graduated or would be soon. My immediate thought of course was myself, but I told him I'd think about it. I did, and I also checked my schedule to see what the next few months held for me. A few days later I called him back and said that I'd love to do it for him. We had a few more conversations - during which he seemed to be holding back, still hoping to work with someone more in need of a job (my inference, not his words) - and to make a long story short I finally kind of pushed him into agreeing to let me do it as an independent study next session. I think ultimately this works out well for both of us and he seems genuinely pleased with the choice, so I don't feel bad about kind of steamrolling him... I prefer to call it aggressive business negotiations. Grin.

So that brings us up to the present, in which I'm researching the country - something I'll be doing for the next few weeks during winter break - and studying the photographs that have already been taken in the area. I'll mostly be traveling the coastline of the country from Casablanca to Tangiers, east towards Algeria, then down to Marrakech, the southern areas before the Sahara, then back to Casablanca. I'm expecting to spend 3-6 weeks there depending on how far I cans stretch the very tiny budget I've been given to work in.

I'll be keeping a DSLR on me the whole time and taking photos when opportunity presents. The video is of course my primary concern and the photos will come secondary. I'll also be keeping my GPS close at hand to mark places I like for visit at a later time if I don't get exactly what I want right at that moment. Technology... love it. Oh yeah, and I'm doing all the shooting in HDV, with the equipment Ray provides me.

So there are the details I have to share. Part of the deal to make an independent study is that I have to keep a journal of everything I learn each week. So you can bet your boots I'll be blogging the whole trip. Whether or not I have constant internet access is up in the air, especially when I'm in the eastern part of the country, so updates might be on a weekly basis. But check back and I'll have a whole special category of posts called Morocco for you to keep up with.
If you should know anyone in Morocco, or who's traveled there in the past I'd love to hear their experiences and their takes on the country!

Note to self (and anyone who flies):

US Airways over books their flights and if you just happen to be one of the last 6 people in line even if you have a confirmed seat (but not through US Airways, like you got the ticket on Orbitz or something) you're probably not getting on the plane. And god forbid this happens on a holiday weekend because you're gonna have a helluva time getting another flight. That's the situation I find myself in at the moment. My mother had ordered my ticket home through the US Airways website and I had a confirmed seat. I got to the ticket counter about 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time (something I do all the time when I fly out of Santa Barbara) only to find two other people at the counter with the clerks trying to find them different flights; one to Finland and one to somewhere out east. After about an hour of waiting while the clerks sorted out how they were going to get these two guys to their respective destinations a third clerk showed up and started working on my schedule. To their credit they were ready to put us on pretty much any seat on any airline. Sadly EVERYTHING was full until tomorrow. So now I'm waiting for a ride home with a flight "confirmed" for tomorrow and a travel voucher I'll never use because there is no way in hell I'll ever fly this airline again!

ADDENDUM: So Condé Nast Traveler has an article about this very issue in their December 2006 issue. Long and short of it is this: all the airlines do this to some extent. The best solution is just to be on time and get a boarding pass as quickly as possible (online the night before if possible). If thou are bumped insist on cash or check, not a travel voucher because as CNT says, "cash doesn't have blackout dates." all this comes too late for me, but you can bet that I'll be checking each airline's policies before I travel again so that, god forbid this happens again, I'll have the upper hand in getting everything I can out of the overbooking bastards. Or maybe I'll just take the train.

There's also good advise for those inclined to voluntarily give up a seat: demand cash or check, ask for a first-class upgrade and anything else they'll give you. Airline clerks are allowed to do pretty much anything to get a flight out on time so push them to get the best deal for yourself.