Summer Workshop 1
duckrabbit’s first multimedia storytelling Summer workshop finished late last Sunday. It was a cracker. Hopefully I’ll be able to put up the stories in the next few weeks (when I come back off a well deserved holiday in France) but in the meantime here’ s a couple of pics by freelance journalist Emiel Elgersma who came from Holland for the training.
Emiel isn’t a professional photographer but I was really impressed by his work. His team focused their story on an old blues guitarist, Chick Young, who incredibly has been on the road for fifty years, which might explain why he has had five wives.
The workshop was centred around Birmingham’s fabulous International Jazz festival. duckrabbit would like to thank festival Director Jim Simpson for helping us out.
(C) Emiel Elgersma
(c) Emiel Elgersma
(C) Emiel Elgersma
Reading museum Carters installation – come on in…you’ll like the ride :)
I popped into Reading museum yesterday to see how the installation of our Carters steam fair piece is coming along.
The wonderful Catherine Roberts has been extremely busy hanging the 50 prints, sourcing various props from Carters,
and lining up the visual projection and audio install. The space is wonderful, and it is going to be a great environment in which to
get a feeling of what Carter’s steam fair is all about. The install will be open from this saturday for three months.
duckrabbit would like to thank Reading museum, and especially Catherine, for their interest and support on this project.
And just in case you missed the wonderful poster, here ’tis again:
Remembering Veterans
Its great to see Damian Drohan, (one of duckrabbit’s students at LCC) getting recognition and exposure on the BBC. This time on the photo Editor’s Phil Coomes’ excellent blog ‘viewfinder‘.
Damian has shown deep commitment in capturing the stories of the remaining veterans of World War 2 and its been a real honor to try and steer him a little bit as he attempts to capture their voices.
“I decided to use audio for a number of reasons. I believe that we react strongly to the spoken word, nuances in a person’s voice. Simple, appropriate text can add a powerful extra dimension to images also, but I favour audio. When I started this project I always saw it as having an interactive quality, whether that would be in a physical space or online, I hadn’t determined, but I wanted to give myself the option.
“I’ve also started using archival material, old photographs and pilot’s log books and so on. Together with the audio I think it will help the audience to engage more with the work than if it were a traditional printed image and brief caption for each veteran.”
Its great work. Well done Damian.
Open College of Arts Training
I’ve just finished a really inspiring two day training at the Open College of Arts. They want to use audio slideshows to illustrate good work to their students. What’s incredible is that two days after the training finished they’ve got their first audio slideshow online!
This is what Gareth Dent, Chief Executive of the College had to say about the training:
“It may seem fanciful to suggest that one can learn multimedia story telling in just a couple of days, but Duckrabbit gave us everything we needed from skills in interviewing and audio editing to image selection techniques in that short time. And did in such a way that left us with a passion to develop further. A transformative experience.”
The Herbal Notebook from Open College of the Arts on Vimeo.
Textiles tutor Pat Hodson talks about The Herbal Notebook, its genesis and the methods used and why. Or rather, how the why sometimes escapes articulation.
digital storytelling ’10
duck is looking forward to talking at this event.
You can sign up here (it’s free)
Any duckrabbitblog readers please do grab me for a pint afterward.
The Third Frame
duckrabbit will have a word or two to say at this conference which we’re really looking forward to. Some great and thoughtful speakers. Be good to see a few of you there.
March 10, 2010, 10.30-5pm
Main lecture theatre
London College of Communication
Elephant and Castle
London SE1 6SB
This one day conference at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, in collaboration with OPEN-i, POLIS at the LSE and One World Media, will address the problematic relationship of visual imagery and the majority world, focusing specifically on the interactions between practitioners, NGO’s and their audiences. The conference will include presentations from filmmakers, photographers, academics and NGO staff and will seek to critically engage with the stereotypes of development and the possible alternatives to them.
The conference will explore the shift from the two traditional approaches to the coverage of development issues, either that of the journalist or of the fundraiser, towards a emergent ‘third way’, where practitioners and charities work much more closely together, producing longer term bodies of work that question the stereotypes of simplistic media coverage of tear jerking crying children. However, there is a tension in this relationship, as the approaches of professional practitioners do not always align with the desires of the NGO’s, raising important questions about this new ‘advocacy’ approach and its implications for the independence of the practitioner.
Presentations will include Ed Kashi, Professor Lilie Chouliaraki LSE, Professor David Campbell of Durham university, Jessica Crombie of Water Aid, Olivia Arthur of Magnum, Rachel Palmer of Save the Children, Jennifer Pollard of LCC, Ben Chesterton of Duckrabbit and filmmaker Sandhya Suri. There will be a ‘world café’ style session over lunch for debate and discussion. Charlie Beckett of POLIS will chair the final plenary session of the day
Places are limited so please rsvp to thethirdframe@googlemail.com
duckrabbit at ICP
Benjamin and David will be in New York to take part in a special symposium organised by the International Centre of Photography.
The emphasis of the symposium is to examine new ways of telling stories in the digital age. We’re delighted to have been invited to this event, which unfortunately is closed to the public, but will feature some of the most interesting people working in this field.
I’ve been told that ICP will record the event and the videos will be available to see on their website in the next month or two.
duckrabbit teaching multimedia at LCC
duckrabbit are teaching a short module focusing multimedia storytelling on the Masters photojournalism degree course at LCC
Paul Lowe, who heads up the course, is a great supporter and advocate of digital storytelling. The fact that he wants to prepare students for life after print is rare amongst university educators (nudge, nudge Newport).
The aim of the module is for the students to produce their own multimedia piece of between 2 and 4 minutes long with up to 40 images. All images and audio to be collected by each student.
Training MSF
Ben and I have just finished a very rewarding three day training session with the wonderful Olivia and Jean-Marc from MSF UK’s press office. The picture below shows them both ( and some other dodgy geezer on the left) towards the end of the long third day. They were really getting into the construction of their piece on the street performers of Covent Garden, which we will be showing you soon.
Thanks to all at London’s MSF office for being such great hosts, and thanks Olivia and Jean-Marc for your hard work.
Olivia and Jean-Marc from MSF getting into the groove.
And here’s another pic…and a great one at that…this one is by Olivia, and shows a Covent Garden street performer after his stint…his act is to stand still atop a box and then to move when anyone gives him money…a tough way to make a living.. you can see in his eyes where his head is at…
Human Rights In the Frame
Amnesty International is an organisation that duckrabbit fully supports. One of the best ways of achieving a more equal world is to stop human rights abuses and that’s exactly what Amnesty sets out to do.
Brilliant then to see how highly they regard photography as a tool to achieve social justice. duckrabbit will be speaking at a debate on the 29th of October about the continuing importance of photography in the digital age.
Please spread the message about these events.
F@$%^&g NORMAL!!!
I spent yesterday with a couple of young offenders, aged 15 and 17, trying to teach them a bit about photography.
I was working through the Trinity centre, as I did when I was teaching the NEETS a few months ago. I didn’t have long enough with the lads to really teach them much, just to introduce them to what photography has to offer.
We decided to take a trip up to the Banksy exhibition in Bristol City museum. It is a great exhibition btw…transforms the dull and lifeless museum into something other. If you can, go take a look…but beware the queues are up to 3 and a half hours long…..!! I managed to get in past the queues due to my slippery personality 
I will be working with another set of young offenders tomorrow, and a fair few more in weeks to come. It’s tough, but rewarding.
Upon seeing this shot for the first time, the author shouted out “That’s f*$%^&g NORMAL!!” very loudly; much to the chagrin of the dusty exhibitions officer who was festering in the corner. I didn’t think much of it, until the lads’ probation officer told me that is the highest compliment a lad his age could pay. Apparently I am also ‘normal’, as is my ancient amazon…which wasn’t until the lads realised I had a rather large sound system hidden in there somewhere…
David White
The Trinity Sessions – audio and photography training
duckrabbit training presents The Trinity Sessions, a series of fun, hands on workshops for forward thinking photographers who want to get to grips with digital storytelling (multimedia, audio slideshows).
We’ll teach you how to use a digital recorder, record powerful interviews, then edit the audio and produce audio slideshows.
Taking place in one of the UK’s most iconic arts venues, a Seventeenth century church turned arts centre, The Trinity Sessions seek to baptise an exciting new generation of digital storytellers. The training is for photographers who understand the economic and creative importance of presenting their work in fresh ways.
‘LEARN FROM THE BEST’ ADAM WESTBROOK
Meet the Trainers
Benjamin is a former BBC Radio documentaries producer profiled by the Observer as ‘one of radio’s biggest turn ons’. David is an award winning editorial photographer represented by Horton-Stephens. Since forming duckrabbit last year they have picked up a POYI multimedia award and most recently have been nominated for an Amnesty International Media Award.
Benjamin and David have designed and run training courses internationally in Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan and in the UK.
The first Trinity Session will run over a long weekend from the 10-12th of July. There will only be six places on this course. We strongly recommend that you book your place early due to the small number of places.
Workshop Schedule
Friday Evening
Friday evening is a chance for us all to get to know each other and prepare for the following two days. We’ll share a meal together, have a drink and introduce our work to one another on the big screen (projector).
(Please note participants can take part in the workshop without being present on Friday night.)
Saturday
The morning will be spent learning the basics of recording audio in the field. We’ll then split you into groups, assign you your story, facilitate a brief discussion on ways of presenting it, and then go out to shoot and record.
David and Benjamin will work with the groups in the field, feeding back through observation.
At the end of the day we’ll discuss the material we’ve gathered, how we might edit it and what elements of our stories, if any, are missing.
Sunday
The morning will be spent exploring how the features can be edited, selecting the photographs and gathering any additional material that is needed. The rest of the day will be spent producing the features.
Everyone will spend time editing the audio and photographs, as well as pulling the two together.
The workshop will end with a showing of the work, followed by a debrief and a warm feeling of satisfaction.
This is a participatory workshop in which the focus is on learning through doing.
Costs
£300 – Individuals
£250 – Students
£350 – Individuals funded by their employees
Equipment
Laptop, digital camera, and an audio recorder (although exceptions may be made).
Accommodation is not included although there is plenty of choice to suit different wallet sizes in Bristol.
To reserve a place or for more information email training@duckrabbit.info or give David a call on 07866361695.
Amnesty International Media Award
duckrabbit are thrilled to announce that we’ve been nominated for an Amnesty International Media Award for our work on the aftermath of Kenya’s post election violence.
The awards, designed to recognise ‘excellence in human rights reporting’, feature just ten categories spread across print, broadcast and online journalism. Other nominees include the BBC, CNN, The Guardian, Channel 4 News and The Times, as well as Lefteris Pitarakis, Eugene Richards and Jim Goldberg in the photography category.
They’ll be a do at the British Film Institute on June the 2nd where you’ll be able to see Benjamin and David in lounge suits. Come to think of it, just what on earth is a lounge suit?
Sadly we won’t be joined by the rest of the team who worked on the entry. Amazingly we are drawn from five continents. Dolphine Emali (Africa) Yasuyoshi Chiba (Asia) Eliza Barclay (America) Jack Picone (Australasia) and duckrabbit (Europe)
You can see our entry here.
duckrabbit would like to point out that there are tens of thousands of displaced people in Kenya, almost eighteen months on from the post election violence. Our hearts go out not just to them, but all the people who live in fear and threat of violence.
(c) Dolphine Emali
Photography workshop for disadvantaged youth
I have been out this week working with disadvantaged teens and NEETS (not in education, employment or training) running a documentary photography course.
None of the students had worked with a camera before, and Canon had VERY kindly lent me a few decent compacts for the duration of the course. We only had a few hours each day to work on the pics taken the day before…I was working with gimp (amazing…free) software on the computers at the Trinity Community Arts centre in Bristol.
The idea was for the students to choose a subject that they thought they could illustrate, then go off and do it, with guidance from me. There was not really time to teach much more than how to work the cameras, but I think the students did an amazing job, I am really proud of them.
This is a big thankyou to Dwayne, Dani and Brenton for the effort they put in. I think their work is amazing, better than many professionals I know, and I’m not joking. Have a look at the pics…remember…no previous experience…just following their creative urges, and staying on subject….enjoy
Self portrait by Dwayne...part of his essay on sexuality.
Shop front, Stapleton Road, Bristol, part of Brenton's essay on Stapleton road's diversity.
Journey....Part of Dani's essay on journeys...she is very into travelling about in whatever way she can
I will be getting these pics and more from the sets published in the local media, and I hope to put on an exhibition in Bristol of the work. The only bad thing to come out of the week was the fact that Dwayne has fallen in love with photography and wants to pursue it, but can’t afford a camera. He deserves one, he is a natural. I will be running more photography courses in Bristol in the near future, watch this space…
DAVID WHITE
duckrabbit wins a POYI award
duckrabbit are very pleased to announce that our audio slideshow ‘Praying for the rain’ was placed third in the News Multimedia awards of the recent Pictures Of The Year International Awards.
We’re dead chuffed.
Congratulations to all the other winners.
David White on The Today Programme
The Today programme is according to wikipedia ‘ the most influential news programme in Britain’, which makes me wonder why has it taken so long to get David White on the show?
Fingers crossed he’ll be making an appearance tomorrow morning at 8.40.
David is a founding member of duckrabbit. If you haven’t noticed he’s a bloody good photographer and he’ll be talking about his passion for shooting the architectural legacy of Brunel (Britain’s most renowned engineer) using a reproduction of the camera famously used to photograph Brunel in the 1850′s.
Sweet.
