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Deep Hanging Out at Collaborations for Cause

Posted 11 May 2012 by Sara in Announcements, Exhibits and Presentations

I’m happy to report that Collaborations for Cause, Blue Earth’s first annual storytelling retreat for photographers, nonprofits and communications professionals, was a huge success! Over a hundred people from places like Seattle, British Columbia, South Carolina and New Mexico joined us on Whidbey Island for two days of “deep hanging out” (see Scott Macklin’s four Rs of storytelling below).

Benj and I shared six case studies from recent projects. Benj also moderated a fantastic panel on publishing, partnerships and environmental advocacy, featuring Hellen Cherullo from Mountaineers Books, Dan Ritzman from the Sierra Club and Gary Hawkey from ioColor. The group discussed To the Arctic, an inspiring new photography book by our friend Florian Schulz. Florian himself gave a powerful keynote later that evening.

There were too many other amazing speakers and topics to list in this post, but here are five bits of storytelling wisdom that I came home with:

“Engagement first, stories second… Don’t just tell stories, give them something to do.”
— Dan Green, Gates Foundation

“Vision is more than a collection of opinions. It’s what ought to be.”
— Milenko Matanovic, Pomegranate Center

“Don’t dumb it down, break it up.”
— Suzie Katz, PhotoWings

“Hope is not a strategy, but it’s core to our work.”
— Helen Cherullo, Mountaineers Books

And here are the four Rs of storytelling according to Scott Macklin, Associate Director of the Master of Communications in Digital Media program at the UW:

• Relationship: Don’t just create stories about people. Make stories with them.
• Relevance: Ensure your story is relevant through “deep hanging out.”
• Rigor: Practice your craft.
• Result: It’s not all about getting an “A” on the first draft.

Finally, Cathy Britt (@CathyABritt) from the Burke Museum put together a comprehensive summary of key points, tweets and case studies:
storify.com/CathyABritt/collaborations-for-cause

A big thanks to everyone who came out. Get ready for an even bigger and better retreat next year!

All photos © Tim Matsui.

Collaborations for Cause

Posted 15 April 2012 by Benj in Announcements, Multimedia, Photography

Collaborations for Cause: A retreat for nonprofits, change-makers and visual storytellers.

This May 4th and 5th, Blue Earth is bringing together photographers, NGOs and communications professionals to explore best practices, synergy and the collaborative future of storytelling. Whether you work with an organization that’s trying to reach new audiences, or are a photographer interested in cause-driven projects, you’ll leave the retreat with new ideas, strategies and connections.

We helped put together the program and if you’ve been interested in taking a workshop with us, this will be even better. We’ll present the backstory to a few of our recent projects during an event packed with folks from Braided River, The Gates Foundation, FusionSpark, Pandau,The University of Washington, Blue Earth and more.

The retreat will be hosted by the Langley Center for New Media on Whidbey Island, just an hour north of Seattle. Enjoy an early bird registration discount through April 25.

Full details at blueearth.org.

Oyster Country

Posted 15 April 2012 by Benj in Facing Climate Change, Field Notes

Over the last month we’ve made three trips to the wet and windy Washington Coast for Facing Climate Change. Our focus is ocean acidification and how that is changing the operations of small, family farmers on Willapa Bay. (You can learn more about recent research in Craig Welch’s article in last week’s Seattle Times.) This story will be released as part of our new series on climate change in the Pacific Northwest.

A huge thanks to the folks at Goose Point, Harrolds Fish & Oyster Co, and Taylor Shellfish for all their help!

UPDATE: Here’s a fantastic article from Crosscut that explains the issue in more detail.

Impossible Bird

Posted 10 April 2012 by Benj in Announcements, Photography

My brother and our musical collaborator, Nick Drummond, is about to release a new CD! The self-titled EP, Impossible Bird, is a new project with Tyler Carson. I contributed all the album photography and design. Read The Seattle Weekly’s review, listen to a sample track below and then join them for the Seattle CD release party on April 28, 2012.

 
Impossible Bird: Here I Am

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Back to Swinomish

Posted 9 February 2012 by Benj in Facing Climate Change, Field Notes

Last week we were back in the field for Facing Climate Change. We’ve been chipping away on a climate change and coasts story with the Swinomish for the last year. On this trip we sat down with Larry Campbell, Brian Cladoosby and Ed Knight for closing interviews. We also spent time exploring the tribe’s economic development zone that’s perched just a few feet above sea level. We’ll release this story, along with seven others, this coming May. Thanks to our good friends Libby and Rusty for providing a perfect Skagit home base.