In May I visited Bamako, Mali in West Africa where I keynoted the UN’s Global Youth Summit on HIV. I gave a presentation titled “What Can The HIV/AIDS Movement Lean From Green/Climate Movement About Online Activism?” This was my first trip to Africa and my first time working with UNAIDS. To say that I learned a lot and had my horizons expanded would be an understatement. While I was there to share and teach, I feel like I’m the one who came away having learned so much. I was so inspired by the youth activists I met on this trip that I’ve gone on to continue this work throughout the year.

When Iceland crowdsourced its new constitution  to increase the transparency and legitimacy of government process, it inspired a group of people working at the UNAIDS Secretariat to explore a similar approach to its work with young people. Over the past several months I’ve been working closely with UNAIDS Social Media Officer Mikaela Hildebrande and a team of incredible engaged activists to help develop a digital crowdsourcing campaign focused on engaging youth and stopping HIV. In November we launched our first online experiment… a site called CrowdOutAids.

CrowdOutAIDS takes the form of eight online discussion forums in six different languages, each targeted at engaging a different demographic around the world. The forums live on a constellation of popular social networking sites—primarily Facebook, but also Chinese social network Renren and popular Russian site Vkontakte.

“We wanted to reach young people online where they’re already hanging out,” says UNAIDS Social Media Officer Mikaela Hildebrand. But “we’re not interested in just having a conversation for the sake of conversation,” she adds. “We’re not asking people to just ‘like’ a Facebook group. We want to use these tools to do something radically different for this organization. … We want to take them through a virtual policy process.”

Here’s some additional information about the project including articles by Mashable, Good & The Case Foundation.

Pls check out the project and get involved. Sign-up on the site, subscribe to the blog, follow @CrowdOutAIDS on Twitter and join your regional discussion forum.

Perpetual. Motion. Machine.

2011 has been an amazing adventure. I’m just wrapping up 8 weeks on the road and headed off again tomorrow bright and early to South America. I’m long overdue for a blog post so I thought I take some time to update you on what I’ve been up to and what I’ve got planned for the future. Starting with a quick trip to Palm Spring to photograph the ESRI Developer Summit and then roadtripping with the Jones Soda crew to South By Southwest in Austin, TX.

After 10 days of rocking out in the hawt Texas sunshine I flew directly to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. This is one of the most remote places in the whole world and definitely the farthest I’ve ever been off the grid. I was there with Chris Jordan and the Midway Journey team making a documentary about plastic pollution in the ocean. You can learn more about the issue and the film here in this CBC special I did when I returned.

A few days back in Vancouver to backup harddrive, charge batteries and clean my gear and then I headed off to Africa for the first time to give a keynote presentation at the UN Global Youth Summit on HIV. The youth activists I met there were such amazing lil warriors… front line soldiers in the worldwide battle to reverse the trajectory of the HIV epidemic. Really amazing stuff. For my keynote I was paired up with Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway. So incredible. I came away with new eyes, new perspective and a clearer sense of what’s going in the world outside North America. I hope to return!

GeeksOnAPlane is a business travel and cultural exchange program comprised of Silicon Valley, US & International entrepreneurs, techies, investors, and bloggers. We visit other geeks and entrepreneurs around the world, learn and share our collective experiences, and attend/host a variety of tech, startup, and social events & conferences. We help amazing geeks meet other amazing geeks, and have a great time.

Behind the scenes I’m on lots of other interesting personal projects and corporate jobs. One of the most interesting ones is this cool travel photography contest that I’m helping to spread the world out about. I’ve been making lil videos, tweeting, and blogging about the contest. I hope someone I know wins the $10,000. It’s easy just submit your travel photos and get your friends to vote them up. Thx to American Express for supporting my travels and photography through this partnership… hopefully more of this kind of stuff in the future!

Probably not unrelated to the big projects and crazy travel I’ve been involved with, 2011 has also turned out to be a year of transition for me. In the same week this spring I broke up with my girlfriend of 2 years and received notice from my landlord that he’s selling the Gastown loft I’ve used as my homebase and photography studio for the past 4 years. I’m in the process of tying up loose ends and am toying with idea of moving homebase to Galiano Island while setting up shop for the photography studio in Vancouver’s Waldorf Hotel. Lots of stuff happening. All good of course. Thx for following along and take a sec to send me a shout on the Twitter’s if you’ve made it this far along.

Big love! kk+

I was interviewed on CBC Radio’s ‘On The Coast’ w/ Stephen Quinn this week. Here’s the audio transcript set to some of my behind-the-scenes photos of the filming of the Midway Documentary.

Our future is being documented by us in our present. Each and everyone of us who has a digital camera, a cellphone, a computer or even a camera phone has the task of creating our living digital history in real time. Our digital landscape has changed drastically from the meaningless dribble that once was in a stream of collective consciousness that is being contributed to by all of us. Collectively everything that we capture is part of our digital footprint that will exist as a living breathing legacy of ourselves online.

A simple colloquialism that I believe in is “If you didn’t stick it on the Internet, it didn’t happen.” This often initiates laughter in many people but the truth and relevancy of its simplicity is not lost on anyone who understands how our world currently interacts with technology. The knowledge that is gathered and shared in any particular situation has a far greater value once witnessed and experienced by a much larger audience. Exponentially information spreads faster than expected and the Internet allows for the speed to multiply with an efficiency that creates a mutual experience with the world.

The combination of our collective task of documentation and incentive of sharing has joined forces with the thriving Open Source culture. Not only are we inspired to create and then share but we are also infusing the two into spaces, like unconferences and camps, which allow for both situations to transpire. These spaces are open to everyone, sustained by all and owned by none. It only makes perfect sense that our changing interaction with our present state would happen collectively in our own making.

In a world that is scrambling to understand the changing definition of journalism, we are the media makers making the news. What large corporations and traditional journalistic organizations are defiant against, our world is embracing. The tools of our future have landed in our hands with the energetic conviction of participatory learning. No longer are single people telling us the state of our world and the current story of the hour. We are telling our communities in our a horizontal effort to spread information worldwide and not from the traditionally oppressive top down.

This giant shift towards collective learning, open sharing and digital documentation is shaping not only our worlds but ourselves in such a manner that the future is relatively unknown. One thing is noted though – our future will not be static in any way now that we have asserted an active role in its outcome. Our world has finally moved from a place of static pages to a place of moving streams.

I think the ‘social media’ part of the ‘social media documentarian‘ description is a lil redundant insomuch as I’d use whatever the best mediums and tools available are do rich, immersive, engaging online storytelling but it definitely helps to use the buzz word when trying to describe the service to a budget-holder or other potential client.

Content is king and producing compelling creative content consistently is task not everyone is cut out for. Especially if you don’t want it to sound like advertising, marketing or promotional hype.

Some of the projects I’ve been lucky enough to play this role on are things like Geeks On A Plane, The Vancouver 2010 Olympics, The BP Oil Spill, Gowalla, The Waldorf Hotel and Eco Fashion Week. Coming up this year I’ve got some excited Social Media Documentarian projects in the works for SXSW, Chris Jordan’s Midway Journey, Make Web Not War, Tourism Vancouver and Jones Soda.

I’m also teaching two classes at Emily Carr Univesity of Art and Design in the area of ‘social media documentation’. The classes are “Photography for Social Change” and “Video for the Social Web” and are being offered as part of Alexandra Samuel’s new Social & Interactive Media Centre. Being an emerging ‘field’ I know it’s a topic others are thinking about as well and it’s something that I’m just wrapping my head around and would love to know your thoughts.

— Review past homework assignments. This is what I’ll be marking at the end of the term. Fill out profiles, add contact, publish content, link social networks together.
— Read through Klout scoring metrics – Klout score, True Reach, Amplification, Network.
— Create a Facebook Page for a) self as a brand b) or company you’re involved with or c) project you’re involved with.
— Come to class next week prepared to talk about ONE company who is using social media in awesome ways.

UPDATED: More homework

— Review homework – Amber story, Vanessa story.
— Northern Voice 2011 – personal blogging and social media conference. Opportunity to volunteer.
— SXSW Vancouver – tonight at the Waldorf. Meet new media, music and film geeks. Free.
— HOMEWORK: Create a social media campaign outline.

SXSW Interactive has announced a pre-event parties happening in Vancouver in January. The plan to throw a bash in as many cities as we can before the event happens in March but one of the first one kicks off in Vancouver at the historic Waldorf Hotel. If we’re lucky… the Waldorf’s ‘Five Secret World’s‘ art installation will still be installed.

What does this mean to you? If you are a current SXSW badgeholder (or are just interested in SXSW Interactive) and you live on one of the cities we’re visiting January and February of 2011, you should join us to meet others in your community and learn more about the event from SXSW Interactive staffers.

Here’s the logistical details:

Thursday January 13, 2011. The event will be at the
Waldorf Hotel on 1489 East Hastings Street

Town Hall – 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
Party – 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
RSVP here

I’m working on some thoughts for a fashion photography section for Matt Bamberg‘s upcoming book “Defining the Future of Photography“. These notes are really rough but are start for the chapter on “The Future of Fashion Photography”.

a) Models male & female alike will move towards an increasingly more distinct eurasian look as China’s middle class grows and western world brands look to have global international appeal.

b) Web sites like http://lookbook.nu/ have nearly made obsolete traditional fashion publications and have upset traditional power hierarchies and gatekeepers in the fashion world. Old models of advertising and distribution are being replaced with e-commerce, fashion blogs, and community sourced trends and fashions. Now is a bright time in history for emerging and independent creative photographers to get their foot in the door and launch their career.

c) Fashion photography industry thriving. when desktop publishing came around people theorized it would be the end of the graphic designer. Instead we’ve seen the opposite trend with professional designers being elevated to a class of creative elite. even in a day and age when everyone has a high-end SLR and Photoshop those with the best eye who are the most creative and master their craft will emerge artistically and financial successful as big advertisers look to penetrate new markets in our increasingly image dominated media environment.

d) Fashion photography cycles are speeding up. From design to production to marketing, distribution & merchandising… fashion trend cycles are speeding up. Thrust forward by advancements in each step of the supply chain and then accelerated further by digital photography technology, photo-sharing, online communities, the death of trade shows and exhibitions as primary industry networking functions. For the photographer this means you must have an increasing efficient work-flow yourself in order to keep up with the needs and expectations of fashion industry clients who are increasing moving at mach speeds.

What other emergent trends do you see? Androgynous models & designs. Photographers wrestling with new video capabilities of SLRs and trying to figure out how to work it into their business. Changes in our understanding of copyright, licensing & intellectual property.

Congratulations. After 6 weeks of blogging and Twittering and tinkering with social networks I’m convinced most of you are proficient in the concepts & tools we’ve covered so far. We’ve covered the big 5 so far and you should be actively using your accounts on WordPress, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google & Delicious.com.

There’s a feeding frenzy going on right now in the world of social networking. Companies are being funded left right and centre and new tools are coming to market everyday. Some of the tools are in private testing, sometimes referred to as Alpha or Beta, while others are open to the general public.

This week I’d like you to spend your lab time and homework assignment time getting to know some of the new and emerging social networking tools. I’ve made a list below of some of the tools I’ve been experimenting with. Pls pick 6-8 of these tools and a) create a profile, b) connect with contacts, c) publish some content.

Next week during ‘circle time’ I’ll ask you to present about 3 that you’ve chosen and what like or don’t like about the tool. This list is not exhaustive. You can also choose tools from the ‘engagement prism’ graphic that I presented to you in the blog post from our first class!

Tumblr – blogging. remixing web content.
FourSquare – leading geo location app.
Formspring.me
Gowalla – location based social network.
Glitch – social game.
Flavors.me – create a personal landing page/aggregator.
SlideShare.net – presentations.
Jumo – connect with & support non-profit online campaigns.
Plancast – event sharing social network.
Path.com – new photo based geo social network.
Quora.com – Q & A social network.
EmpireAvenue.com
Namesake.com – professional networking tool.
Last.fm – music social network.
Blip.fm – music social network.
Posterous – blogging.
Dopplr- travel social network.
curated.by – currate Tweets into bundles.
SoundCloud – music, podcasts, audio social network.
hypem.com – music social network.
UStream.tv – live video streaming from your computer or mobile device.
Justin.tv – streaming video social network.
MixCloud.com
Honestly.com – reputation & resume.
Tungle.me – calendaring & scheduling social network.
DailyBooth.com – daily webcam girl self-portrait uploads.
Miso.com
Mubi.com

UPDATED: Last week I assigned as your homework the creation of 6-8 new emerging social networks profiles. I also asked you to have a review posted of Jean Hebert’s talk in our class. Pls post the Jean review for Thursday, December 9th. Due to today’s ‘extended social media lab’ class you I’d like you to go from the 6-8 social networks that I’ve assigned last week and make it 10. Due a week from today. Be prepared to talk about 3 of your favs for up to 5 minutes in class.

December is around the corner and Christmas is in the air. To transition out of fall and into the Holiday spirit I’m participating a classic Vancouver event… The Chrismas Wish Breakfast at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Here’s some details about the breakfast and toy drive. Let me know if you’re gonna be there and we’ll plan to meetup!

The Pan Pacific Vancouver Christmas Wish Breakfast is back for another epic toy drive benefiting the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau Tuesday, November 30, 2010. For the past 23 years, Vancouverites have began their holiday season with amazing generosity by bringing an unwrapped toy in exchange for a festive breakfast at the iconic downtown hotel between 6-9 a.m.

Some helpful hints from the kind folks at the Pan Pacific Vancouver:
• Vinci is offering one free hour of parking but if you can keep it green, the Canada Line, seabus and other
public transit options are a great idea!
• If you can’t make the breakfast you can still participate by watching Global’s live coverage, by listening to
JackFM and by tweeting with #PPVChristmas.
• Donations can be made online at www.lmcb.ca and a winner will be drawn for a four-night stay in
between Christmas and New Years at the Pan Pacific Vancouver.

Toys toys and more toys!
• Some areas of need are gifts for older kids to why not opt for a curling iron, board game or a cool
hoodie?
• Money donations go a long way toward costs such as delivery.

In class today we’re gonna watch my very favorite geeky film RiP! A Remix Manifesto by Brett Gaylor and featuring many hero-worthy geeks including Larry Lessig and Cory Doctorow.

We’ll use this film as a foundation for our discussions on copyright, sharing, remix culture, and Creative Commons.

“Created over a period of six years, the documentary film features the collaborative remix work of hundreds of people who have contributed to the Open Source Cinema website, helping to create the “world’s first open source documentary” as Gaylor put it. The project’s working title was Basement Tapes,[3] (referring to the album of the same name) but it was renamed RiP!: A Remix Manifesto prior to theatrical release. Gaylor encourages more people to create their own remixes from this movie, using media available from the Open Source Cinema website, or other websites like YouTube, Flickr, Hulu, or MySpace. (via Wikipedia)

HOMEWORK:
– write a 2 paragraph review of RiP!: A Remix Manifesto. include links, images, videos, etc.
– prep 25 photos, illustrations, screenshots, or other images for uploading to Flickr next week. come to class ready to work with these files.

Biography:
Dave Olson (@daveohoots) is the Community Marketing Director for social media dashboard maker HootSuite. He frequently presents at events including SXSW and Northern Voice, and appears in the media discussing technology, art, hockey and culture.

A graduate of Evergreen College (BA Inter-disciplinary Studies, 2004), Dave’s work is published in magazines and journals on topics ranging from Japanese agri-history to Telco de-regulation. A chronic documentarian from his earliest days, Dave currently creates static montage art, historical essays and renegade documentary podcasts. He enjoys listening to old vinyl albums on the back porch whilst gazing at North Vancouver’s mountains and trees.

HootSuite, Twitter, from The Next Web on Vimeo.

Website:
HootSuite.com

Twitter:
@daveohoots

The Waldorf Hotel
“The Waldorf is a creative hub in the heart of East Vancouver where contemporary art, music, food and culture convene under one roof. The programming for the space will be both artistically expansive and thematically inclusive. The complex consists of thirty rooms, two restaurants (directed by Ernesto Gomez and executive chef Ned Bell), a Tiki bar (restored and retrofitted with a vintage analogue audiophile sound system), a hair salon (run by Barbarella Hair), a gift shop, a nightclub and a live music venue. In the works are a multi-media theater space and recording studio (tied to a residency program for visiting musicians).The Waldorf joins a new wave of Vancouver businesses that are conversing with the city, setting a benchmark for culture and hospitality.”

The Beatty Street Mural
“The Beatty Street Mural Project aims to explore the effects of applying various social networking concepts to a monumental public art installation. Creating an interactive platform between the community, the artists, photographers, bloggers, etc”

I’m working on a cool photography project for Vancouver’s Lookout Shelters with Buschlen Mowatt Gallery and Joshua Dunford and have been thinking a lot about the ethics of photography on Vancouver’s downtown eastside.

The paragraph below is a first draft at some thoughts that I may include in the project. Looking for perspectives and feedback on photography in difficult situations such as the one in my neighborhood.

“What people need to understand about Downtown Eastside is that there is a long and sordid history to this part of Vancouver. When you make a photographic history of the place, you cannot lose sight of this fact, you need to be aware and you must be respectful of it. Jeff Wall’s oeuvre is preeminent in describing Downtown Eastside. His contributions have established themselves as key components of Vancouver’s contemporary, critical art lineage but by extension, have emphasised the dilapidation of the place.

There are only three ways of capturing the essential characteristics of Downtown Eastside on film. You can ask permission from residents explicitly, refrain from photographing them at all, or you can encourage their engagement implicitly, by way of the establishment of an affiliation that is both personable and considerate. Ultimately, the latter approach makes for a comfortable and mutually respectful atmosphere that will appropriately translate into photographs. When a resident refuses to be photographed however, the only ethical thing to do is to act in accordance with their wishes. People have stories to tell and they have histories that we want to see, but these will only be recounted when thoughtfulness and caring is shown them. When you want to document Downtown Eastside, all I say is – respect the area when you are there. Voyeuristic surveillance is not acceptable. I am not interested in that.”

Before we embark on this adventure I’d like to warn you about a couple of things.

First, the land of Twitter otherwise annoyingly referred to by TwitterHeads as the Twitterverse or Twittersphere… is awash with used car salesman, get rich quick dudes, snake oil peddlers, hacks, loudmouths & know-it-alls. Don’t let it turn you off. Don’t think that’s an ok way to act online. This however shouldn’t be any reason to not engage in the medium but instead probably some sort of proof point that there is in fact something new and special happening here.

Second, I want you to know that Twitter isn’t just people talking about mundane things. People all over the world are right this second sharing knowledge, ideas, stories, intimate details, connections, and emotions – to audiences known and unknown. Not just miscellania but real intimate discourse. By participating in some little corner of the Net, you are contributing to the organic growth of something much larger – a collective consciousness of info, art and emotion — and by doing this we are contributing to the overall health of the public domain and our culture.

@Replies
– a public message directed to an individual account. the equivalent of talking to someone and knowing others are listening.

Direct Messages (DM’s)
– a private message directed to an individual account. the equivalent of whispering in someone’s ear

ReTweets (RTs)
– Twitter’s equivalent of a forward, +1, or ‘ME TOO!’.

#Hashtags
– similar to a ‘tag’ generally but the ‘#” hash designation differentiates the tags from the content of the Tweet.
– good way to string a conversation together or add meta-data to the Tweet payload.

Twitter Clients:
– HootSuite
– TweetDeck

Twitter Search:
– realtime search on search.twitter.com vs. persistent searches in your Twitter client

Trending on Twitter:

Archiving Twitter:
– TwapperKeeper
– Backupify.com
– The Archivest
– http://www.tweetguard.com/

Twitter Lists
– a great way to organize followers or Twitterers by subject, geography, or any other designation

Homework:

– read “The Twitter Guide Book” by @mashable
– signup for HootSuite or download TweetDeck
– create 3 persistent searches in your Twitter client
– subscribe to 2 #hasttags
– send out at least 1 standard message, 1 @ reply, 1 Direct Message & 1 ReTweet.
– start 1 Twitter list
– follow 20 interesting people

Bonus:
– signup for either TED x Vancouver or BarCamp Vancouver
– start a Twitter list for this class comprising the Twitter usernames of each student in the class.
– find 2 interesting tools of the vast expanse of Twitter tools available out there and share them with the class next week.

“Welcome to MDIA 2045 at BCIT in the New Media and Web Development 1 year senior management certificate. This course will be informative, interesting, challenging and broad. There are a lot of things we are going to learn in the next 12 weeks. As your instructor, Kris Krüg, I will act as a facilitator, not a dictator. Education is being transformed by social technologies and in the course we will work to take advantage and benefit from this change.

Your education is longer restricted to this classroom or a school. Learning is lifelong and not based just in books and history. It’s based online in multimedia, connecting with others and learning to find answers to your own questions. Google can teach you more than I ever could. Education especially in New Media, Web Development and Social Media comes from great sites like NewMedia.org, W3Schools & Mashable.” (From Kemp Edmonds classroom blog)

Lab:

– create accounts on Google.com, WordPress.com, LinkedIn.com, Flickr, YouTube, Delicious.com, Twitter.
– create profiles on your new accounts – add avatar photo, bio information, links.
– create a post on your WordPress.com and link to your new profiles.

Bonus:
– include in your blog post links to other social network profiles.
– watch any 2 videos from TED Talks and write a 2 paragraph review of each.

Static Photography has been very busy these past summer months. Every day is a constant hustle at our studio in Vancouver, BC but we get shoot some really awesome gigs. Photographer Kris Krüg has the ability to transform his photography and capture vital elements within vastly different experiences, from photojournalism to weddings, from flowers to live concerts. Here is a photo recap of some of the highlights that have come along our way in Summer 2010. 

In April the team at Static Photography had the opportunity to head down to Bolivia to document the World People's Conference on Climate Change. This revolutionary conference was spearhead by Bolivian President Evo Morales after the astonishing let down of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, otherwise known as COP15, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Over 15,000 people gathered in Bolivia to create a documents around the rights of Mother Earth and systemic effects with action based policies around the global issue of climate change.

While in Bolivia, photographer Kris Krüg and studio manager Danielle Sipple stayed an extra week to check out the world's largest salt desert in southern Bolivia.  Named the Salar de Uyuni, this 10,500 km sq. salt desert is a surreal sight of nature. Bright sunsets, empty island full of cactus, and white crystal salt as far as the eye can see, are just some of the breath-taking elements that make up this sacred space.

Vancouver-based ION Magazine is a culture, music and fashion print publication that taps into the vein of the newest and brightest. Photographer Kris Krüg has been shooting photos for them since they started printing. One of their spring issues showcased three Vancouver bands, Petroleum By-Products, Junior Major and the Sun Wizards. Each band was colorful, bright and was featured in the same studios that they make music in.

Getting a bunch of geeks together and throwing them on a plane for a technology/internet tour through Asia? Why that must be the official Asia tour of Geeks on a Plane, otherwise known as GOAP. This sensational event has been going steady strong for the last year and half, with tours through Asia, Europe and Hawaii. Kris has been on most of the tours and joined the geek patrol for a five city, four country whirlwind explosion of geekery, technology and friends.

Vancouver is very lucky to have some of the best original cuisine in all of British Columbia, with some of it being literally right around the corner from the Static Photography studio in Gastown. Such is that with the vegan-friendly Lebanese restaurant Nuba. There location in Gastown is one of three in the city, and they are continuing to expand. Yumminess!

The yearly Vancouver blogging geek conference Northern Voice was pushed back to later in the year due to the untimeliness of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Yet this year's conference was far bigger than previous years and attended by all the likely Vancouver geeks. Kris presented Photocamp, an afternoon workshops on photography related topics, as well as an overview of new media journalism from the Olympic Games. Danielle presented a panel around sexuality and technology, as related to the blogosphere.

Geek love was all around the city of Vancouver in June. Just shortly after Northern Voice, Wordcamp Vancouver was held for all the WordPress loving bloggers in the city. This full day event was full of all the tips and tricks from seasoned bloggers. The most notable presentation was by Static Photography's good friend Dave Olson. Presented in the theatrical story-telling fashion, Dave's talk gave insight to what he had learned from his journeys in life and how that has applied to his blog's digital presentation. Dave is a masterful storyteller with one of his best presentations being his 'Fuck Stats, Make Art' discussion at 2009 SXSW Festival.

When the Deepwater Horizon oil well sprang a leak this year, the world suddenly had all of its eyes and ears on the news that was coming out of the Gulf Coast. A few geeks came together and organized a TEDx event around the crisis in the gulf, called TEDx Oil Spill which was held in Washington, DC. A TEDx Oil Spill expedition team was pulled together to gather media for the DC event. Kris Krüg and Danielle Sipple were part of the team that spent five days on the Gulf Coast documenting the community, culture and wildlife that was being affected by this disaster. Static Photography published multiple photo essays that were picked up by other media outlets including National Geographic and TED.

Poptech is a conference that happens every year in Camden, ME that showcases some of the best and brightest in the communities of innovation, social change and world leadership. Kris has been the official photographer of this event for the last few years. The conference has started to expand into smaller salon events that will take place throughout the year, around the US. Kris had the chance to photograph their salon titled 'Science, Living Systems and the Edge of Change' which took place in Washington, DC in June.

In July Kris had the opportunity to photograph the musical artist Matisyahu at his most recent show in Vancouver, BC. This is the third time that Matisyahu has performed in Vancouver, the last two times being at the Commodore and at Livecity Yaletown for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Matisyahu is an amazing vocalist who specializes in reggae/hip-hop who had one of his songs chosen as an official 2010 Vancouver Olympic song.

Back to back shows in July, Kris also had the opportunity to photograph South African musical group Die Antwoord.  Defined as a 'zef-sound' rap group, Die Antwoord is a mixture of dirty beats and unmistakable lyrics. It is always great to photography live shows where the energy of the artists' onstage is unmistakable. Photos from this show were featured in ION magazine this month. 

Toronto is a great city all around, whether it is a professional or personal visit. Photographer Kris Krüg had the chance to spend some time out there while shooting some photos for Anthony Williams and Don Tapscott for their new book MACRO Wikinomics. This book is a feature followup to their book Wikinomics and addresses world crisis from a practical business point of view.

Collaborating with other artists is a great way to expand your creative perspective. It is also a great way to have alot of fun! Kris had the chance to photo-assist and second shoot a creative for Toronto-based photographer Maxwell Lander. Max' style and aesthetic is very particular and extremely detailed, so it was bound to be a lot of fun with a bunch of models' dressed as sailors. The sunset was a perfect backdrop.

Each event has its own special energy that must be captured in the resulting photos. Weddings tend to be laced with the high intense energy of passion, family and celebration. It is a rarity for Static Photography to have the opportunity to document a couple's special day but when we do, it is always a fun-filled event. Photographer Kris Krüg had the pleasure of documenting the rock n' roll styles of Dean Hudson and Lauren Ray's ceremony on the beautiful Whidbey Island, WA. 

While documenting the wonderful nuptials of Dean Hudson and Lauren Ray, Static Photography had the chance to convene with nature at the wonderful Fireseed Catering on Whidbey Island in the state of Washington. Fireseed hosts an extensive flower garden that was in full bloom during this rock n' roll wedding. Photographer Kris Krüg had the chance to do some macrophotography and capture the essence of these beautiful flowers.

Professional portraits can be used for a variety of things. Sometimes someone needs a new headshot for film/tv or they simply need to update their personal website. Whatever the situation, Kris has the ability to capture a quality essence in people that makes their photos spark. In July Static Photography shot some new head shots for Maria, a young Vancouver actress. The neighborhood of Gastown was the perfect backdrop for this photo session.

A slightly different type of photo shoot, Static Photography also had the chance to work with local Vancouver radio station CKNW to shoot new head shots for all of the online hosts/personalities. This photo shoot spanned a couple of days and including over 20 different hosts. Each of them had a very dynamic visual persona which created excellent portraits. Though not used to being in front of the camera, each host was personable and worked well with the downtown Vancouver backdrop.

For the past two decades a summer staple in Vancouver has been the Under the Volcano festival. This day long event is a mixture of activism, music and community all spun together into a family atmosphere in North Vancouver. This year was its last year of festivities but all the attendees were in high spirits. Kris checked out the scene and snapped some photos of the Carla Bergman and Sylvia from the Purple Thistle.  

Reel Youth is an international organization that facilitates claymation and filmmaking workshops for youth. Kris had the opportunity to accompany Mark Vonesch from Reel Youth on a three day film-making workshop in Terrace, BC.  Reelyouth workshops are focused around issues that the youth want to give a voice to and range from personal, to environmental to social. One of the main issues in Terrace is the creation of an oil pipeline that would connect all the way to the Alberta Tar Sands, which was a huge influence to the three films that were made that week.

Freshmedia is an organizational event in Vancouver that brings together engaging speakers with delectable topics to share with new media audiences in the city. They just started up their new series called Remixology which had its debut in August with Kris Krüg speaking about the possibility of collaboration between old media makers and new media makers. Kris spoke about his experiences in the Gulf Coast as well as its close ties to the work he did with Reelyouth in Terrace, BC. Overall, the night was a stellar success and a great final chapter to the many months of work that had just happened.

During the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics the city of Vancouver had some major changes applied to its landscape in anticipation of the large event. Some of these changes included the destruction of long-standing cultural pieces in the inner city. Unfortunately an art mural that spanned a block and half of Beatty Street in the downtown core was destroyed. This mural has been in the process of being repainted and reclaimed as a cultural presence. Photographer Kris Krüg has been documenting the process of the reclaiming of this mural space by Vancouver artists, starting with the cover of the Georgia Strait and lately, with the actual re-painting of the mural. 

So we have been super busy this summer of 2010 but the warm months have well worth the work. Keep Static Photography in mind for any of your upcoming creative photography projects and make sure to check out Kris Krüg's flickr photostream and this website for more photography updates. 

For more photos:

Music Photography

Portrait Photography

Event Photography

Wedding Photography   

Once again that time of year has sprung upon us. If you haven’t noticed a strange influx of SXSW chatter on the internet, then you are one of the lucky ones. Geeks all around the world clamored for three strenuous weeks to pull together amazing and awe-inspiring proposals for potential panels during the 2011 SXSW Festival that takes place in Austin, TX every spring. This festival is a pure landscape of geek heaven with a 4 day Interactive portion of the festival geared specifically towards technology, geekery and all things ‘internet’.

So a few weeks ago panel proposal submissions were due so the main SXSW committee could review them all in a deep selection process for their Panel Picker. The radical thing about SXSW is that despite the immense size and overall geek importance of this conference/festival, it still gives audience access to helping to decide the final programming schedule. The Panel Picker is a voting system that allows people to cast votes for favorite panels and leave comments for proposal submissions. This system of voting constitutes a rough 30% of the overall vote for each panel which may not seem a lot but can be a major break for certain proposals.

Every year the city of Vancouver has a strong representation at the SXSW Festival, particularly the Interactive section. These four days of networking, workshops and presentations seem to vibe well with the West Coast Canadian crowd. Our big little city of Vancouver seems to be on the map of players in the technology scene year after year. With this large amount of Canadians present at the SXSW Festival it is no likely wonder that we would also stake a notable claim into the Panel Picker selections process as well.

I wanted to pull together a up-to-date list of panel proposals from Vancouverites that have been selected for the Panel Picker process. There are some pretty awesome panels proposed this year, roughly around 2500 hundred panels. With the voting process open until August 27th, it is nice to have some handy guides to sort through the endless pages of geekery proposed for 2011. The cool feature of the Panel Picker is that you can vote as many times as you want for as many different panels as your heart’s desire.

Panels for the Interactive portion of the 2011 SXSW Panel Picker

To start off the list I wanted to tell you about my Interactive panel that got accepted -

(photo by Robert Scoble)
Kris Krüg – Killer iPhone Photography: Tips from the New School

For many years I have been teaching workshops about photography tips for aspiring and professional photographers. These workshops revolve around skill sharing that is useful in our constantly changing world of digital photography and the internet. This presentation would be the next level to these such workshops and would be dealing with the camera that everyone carries around with them, their phone. This technology has become such a common aspect of your daily lives that it is great to have tips on how to become better photographers with the camera that is always in our hand. I just recently co-authored a book on this same topic called Killer Photos with Your iPhone, which will be available to buy after my workshop.

and from fiercekitty herself:

@fiercekitty- SXSW 2010 - Austin, Texas by kk+, on Flickr">@fiercekitty- SXSW 2010 - Austin, Texas" />
Danielle Sipple – The Internet’s New Peek-a-Boo: Sex Positivity

Sex is often the first element to be separated from anything involving technology, in basic discussions and conferences. The reality is that sex is everywhere and the internet is revolutionizing the idea of sex positivity in a digitized format. From sex positive campaigns, to sex positive online identities, the internet is evolving into a sexual landscape that is welcoming to everyone. This panel presentation will include discussions with panelists who are pioneering digital artforms, campaigns and revolutions that create an understanding of sex positivity.

Onto the rest of the list…

Dave Olson – Art and Technology are Old Pals

Dave Olson’s love of art inspired life documentation mixed with the nuances of geekry is infectious. His presentation style of artifact discovery mixed with accessible messages for every creative and non-creative in the audience are always crowd-winning and awe-inspiring. This year Dave will discuss the prolific history that art and creativity have had with the evolution of technology. This panel is sure to not be missed for if you have had attended his Fuck Stats – Make Art presentation at SXSW 2009, you know for a fact what a wild and inspiring ride Dave weaves in his masterful art of storytelling and public presentation.

John Biehler – Create Time Lapse Movies Without a Flux Capacitor

John Biehler is a really awesome Vancouver photographer who has created a great skill at producing time-lapse films with his photography stills camera. This panel presentation would be a skill-set learning session where John teaches the tips and tricks to producing stellar time-lapse movies. I’m hoping he will also be including examples of his own work especially some of them from the Vancouver Winter Olympics!

Grace Carter – Das Stiletto: Discovering Ladykind in the Social Web

There is a notable separation of the sexes in internet land. Whether it comes from marketing aspects or misrepresented information, there is often a disjunct when trying to reach out to a more female-oriented audience, especially in the social applications area of the internet. This insightful presentation by Grace Carter and Nadia Nascimento will be an informative journey down the marketing pathway of attracting female audiences. Both of these stellar ladies have years of experience in creating dynamic social application campaigns that are welcoming and geared towards women. Their knowledge is clearly valuable and not to be missed. Plus they will be serving tea.

Jason Sanders – Social Media Therapy: Therapy for the Socialist

Have you ever wanted to vent loudly to someone about the Twitter glitch that makes DMs go public? Or perhaps you have lost one too many insightful pieces of writing through a social media hiccup-refresh page? This panel will be the place in which you can safely and respectfully vent your concerns. Jason Sanders is a tech geek from Vancouver who understands the issues that everyone has with social media because he is not exempt from them. This could turn into a major smile-cracking bitchfest or an insightful discussion on how to handle the unnecessary stress of wayward social media. Either way, sounds fun to me.

Ryan Holmes – Big in Japan: Outreaching to a Unique Market

Have you ever wondered what the web market might be in a foreign country, say perhaps Japan for instance? Despite our best guesses, the developed technology in other countries varies differently than North America’s system. User interfaces, mobile services and internet connectivity sometimes have growth and power beyond our own product’s ability. CEO of Invoke Media and Hootsuite Ryan Holmes will be sharing his knowledge in a panel discussion about the particular technology market that is based in Japan. If your company or product will be making the journey out to Japan, this is a panel to not be missed!

Michael Fergusson – Social Games: Manipulating Your Brain Chemistry, For Good

I know most of us have either been annoyed by the onslaught of social games on networking sites like Facebook. This way of gaming can be considered a time suck and general waste but Vancouver game developer Michael Fergusson is here to tell the tale that there can be more to social gaming. Fergusson will be discussing the lost elements of present social games that when included, could be socially benefial on a scale that transcends annoyance. For gamers new and old this presentation is sure to be knowledgable in the next step that gaming can aspire to for a more uplifting social experience.

updated: Nadia Aly – Social Media Business Etiquette: Do’s & Don’ts

The world of social media is a developing landscape and sometimes we as media-makers don’t have the best handbook on how to navigate it. This panel discussion would be a safe space to learn from the successes and mistakes of other users’ experiences. More of a skill-sharing from some of the best in the field, this presentation will be lead by Vancouver social media strategist Nadia Aly. Just her knowledge alone of tips and tricks in social media will make this presentation a valuable skill sharing session, for newbies or professionals.

Panels for the Music portion of the 2011 SXSW Panel Picker (yes the Music portion has panels! who knew?)

Kris Krüg – Building Your Own Community Through Photography

Building community is a huge element in any artist’s career. When an audience is engaged into a collective community, the response to an artist/musician can be monumental and game-changing. This presentation will be practical knowledge on how to create engaged fans through the accessible medium of photography. Whether it is photo contests, collective photo pools on social networks or direct engagement with you audience through their photography, there is a vital pulse that every artist/musician can tap into as a means of connecting directly to their fans. Despite this panel being in the music portion of the festival, the knowledge I will present will be variably usable for any artist in most creative mediums.

Dave Olson – Rock n Roll Photography

Photography is an integral part of the music industry. This artform allows artists and bands to create visual personalities on and off stage which translates to relatable/memorable identities to their audience. The symbiotic relationship of photographer to musician can be a beneficial partnership. This panel discussion will offer perspectives from well known music photographers who have been capturing memories of musicians on and off stage for decades. A time down memory lane full of highlighting visuals from past SXSW included, this panel is sure to to be the highlight of many creative music geeks out there.

So this is merely a guide and information resource to all things Vancouver for the 2011 SXSW Panel Picker. Make sure to check out the panels, vote for your favorites and leave funny/interesting/inspiring/hysterical comments in the section below each panel! If you have been left out of this list and you are a current Vancouverite with a proposal in the Panel Picker, please leave a comment and I will update the list!

And the SXSW madness begins…

Who? Featuring Kris Krug, acclaimed photographer – TEDxOilSpill and National Geographic

Topic? Toward Cooperative Media Making: How can professional and citizen journalists collaborate?
What? Presentation of groundbreaking photos, Discussion, Brainstorming, Networking.
When? Thursday, August 18 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm+
Where? W2 Storyeum Salon, 151 West Cordova
Why? Because inquiring minds need to discuss! Because connecting and collaborating matters. Because Vancouver needs a community and launch pad for media innovation.

Re-Mixology is a new series presented by Fresh Media, where we come together to sample and share ideas in discussions lead by some of Vancouver’s best and brightest media remixologists. For this first event, we’re excited to feature Kris Krug, with the topic: Toward Cooperative Media Making: How can professional and citizen journalists collaborate?

An acclaimed photographer and social technology expert, Kris Krug will share photos and thoughts from his recent trip to capture the BP disaster through TEDxOilSpill. Following this, we’ll open up to a broader dialogue that considers, “How can citizens, professional media makers, and everyone in-between collaborate to produce media for social change?” Finally, there will be an opportunity for participants to do a “collaborator’s callout” where they do a 30 second introduction to a current or future project relevant to the group. The gathering will close with a social/networking session including a cash bar and music.

Registration limited to 50 people: http://remixology.eventbrite.com/

Inspired by the growing energy around the ways in which technology, art, media, and participatory frameworks are spurring innovation in the not-for-profit, journalism, and social change communities, Re-Mixology is a great opportunity for citizens and media-makers to come together and connect over timely discussions and presentations that showcase fresh and imaginative examples of media innovation.

RSVP for August 18 is limited to 50 people, — eventbrite here: http://remixology.eventbrite.com/
$5 cash suggested donation, a portion of registration proceeds will be donated to the BP cleanup effort.
Cash bar and light snacks will be served

6:30 Welcome
6:40 Introductory speaker/interview
6:55 Dialogue / Salon
8:00 Project callout
8:15 Social / Networking

Join media innovators, technologists, artists, citizens and the online community at Fresh Media – a celebration of innovation and independent media, and a re-imagining of media and journalism.

Fresh Media is a project of OpenMedia.ca

Someone turned me onto a new tool called Klout that more or less manages your reach and influence on Twitter. They’ve got a fancy methodology for doing so… it’s very detailed. I only understand the basics and realize that these kinda things can be hard to measure and that a tool that ranked people based on their kindness or touchiness or hawt sexy awesomeness would be a lot more interesting… nonetheless I’ve tinkered with the Klout tool a bit and generated this list of Top 20 Vancouver Twitter Peeps Based on Their Klout Score.

@greatdismal — William Gibson 75
@kk — Kris Krüg 67
@smuttysteff — Steffani Cameron 61
@VanCityBuzz — Van City Buzz 59
@Miss604 — Rebecca Bollwitt 58
@thenetworkhub — The Network Hub 56
@kulpreetsingh — kulpreet singh 54
@DougCoupland — Doug Coupland 54
@MichaelTao — Michael Tao 53
@hummingbird604 — Raul Pacheco 53
@AnthonyFloyd — Anthony Floyd 52
@KyeGrace — Kye_Grace 50
@raincoaster — Lorraine Murphey 49
@hosea24hours — Hosea Cheung 48
@ColleenCoplick — Colleen Coplick 48
@Kardboard — AJ 47
@digitalkvan — Nadia Aly 47
@jason_baker — Jason Baker 45
@gayvancouver — Gay Vancouver 45
@JohnChow — John Chow 45
@mozy19 — Richard Loat 44
@jeremylim — Jeremy Lim 44
@sjagger — Stephen Jagger 44
@trishussey — Tris Hussey 44

Criticize as you may… I don’t post this for any sorta ego stroke but because for power-users of Twitter the data yielded by Klout is fascinating. Who influences you? Who is influenced by you? Which the topics you talk about online do people engage with the most?

I also noticed that Hootsuite just recently added Klout scores next to all users profile information. Useful way to at-a-glance figure out what some is all about.

A couple of notes:

a) Scores change over time so this list will date itself. Click through the links to see current scores.

b) This list is generated by the location field filled in by Twitter users. The script used to generate it isn’t perfect so it’s possible someone who should be on this list isn’t. If you let me know I will update it.

Thanks to Greg Narin and Megan Berry of Klout for helpin pull this lil expirament together.

UPDATE: Missed @gayvancouverwith a 45 Klout score. Have updated the list.
UPDATE: Missed @greatdismalwith a 75 Klout score. Have updated the list.
UPDATE: Missed @vancitybuzzwith a 59 Klout score. Have updated the list.
UPDATE: Missed @raincoasterwith a 49 Klout score. Have updated the list.