MAXIMIZING THE VALUE OF CREATIVE CONTENT for impact
My goal to always make sure that the content I produce has meaning, matters, and realizes its maximum value in the hands of my clients and partners. Each project is unique—especially in today's dynamic media environment—but below is a list of a few of the things I can also help with.
An immersive video art installation featuring a fisherman in Philippines and a farmer in Colombia. Produced for Rare and installed in New York, Washington DC, and at South by Southwest (SxSW) Eco in Austin, TX.
• Photography:
Still photography is the core of what I do and will always be my passion. I've done everything from events to studio product photography, and for the last decade or so have focused exclusively on editorial assignments, NGO commissions, and personal projects focused on the human experience.
• Video & Film Production:
For several years I ran a video production company with clients ranging from book publishers and artists to companies like Whole Foods, and we also produced short independent documentary films that traveled to film festivals all over the world including four premiers at Mountainfilm in Telluride, CO and a video art installation at SxSW Eco. Today, I run eight16creative with my wife+life+creative partner and amazing filmmaker, Dewi Sungai, taking our ability to a whole new level.
• Writing:
Visual communications exist and are interpreted in context, and if the goal is influencing change, then that setup and the call to action—whether it's an exhibition statement or short essay supporting a photo essay or captions on Instagram—become critical to fulfilling the intention and realizing the full impact of the work.
A presentation at Blue Earth Alliance's Collaborations for Cause conference, about photographers working with NGOs to help explore complex issues and their solutions. (photo Matt Black)
• Story Identification, Development, and Assignment Planning:
The best communications doesn't just express 'what' or 'how' but dives deep into 'who' and 'why'—in other words, it revolves around character and story. Story brings good work to life and helps your audience see themselves and how they connect to issues that are important to them.
• Digital Asset Management:
Good asset management is directly related to the value the work has to support your efforts. Having run my own photography and video production for many years, through the transitions from film to digital, and as a photo editor at magazines and for books, I’ve gained tons of experience with the software options and developed processes that can help. I’m always happy to share those with clients to make sure they can access and use the content I produce for them as easily and as well as possible.
• Website Design:
Yep. I did this back when it was done in coded html. Nope. Didn't like programming. But all the new WYSIWYG platforms make it easy.
• Social Media Content:
It's hardly something different than just 'content' these days, but producing, designing, and curating still and video content for social media still has its own special requirements. And, it's also essential that you make those strategic considerations from the start.
• Exhibition Curation and Production:
Exhibitions and film festivals are often seen as a flagship opportunity to share your work with audiences, though the traditional, very exclusive, white-walled dark theater world they have existed in make it hard to plan on it as a strategy. But now, with the dropping costs of production and rising popularity of pop-up events, streaming, etc., you can easily design screenings and exhibitions to be amazing experiences and engagement opportunities you offer your audience.
A pop-up exhibition at Boulder's Adventure Film Festival featuring work for Upper Amazon Conservancy on indigenous rights and protected areas in the Amazon.
• Campaign Strategy:
Integrating strategic thinking from the start adds purpose and structure to the raw assets and aligns everyone on producing the best, most valuable content and deliverables possible.
• Workshops, Mentoring, and Training:
I often work with clients to provide guidance and develop inhouse capacity and basic skills so we can work together, complimenting and amplifying our collective efforts for a better world.
• Project Management:
Most projects I work on are with larger clients—budgetary realities always rule in the end—who have inhouse project managers. But sometimes small clients have larger projects or those larger clients have smaller, discrete projects. In those cases I can pull all of the above together and help oversee the whole project from start to finish.