Getting into the flow with 500px

A while ago, photo sharing site 500px.com launched their new interface. Where Flickr hasn’t updated their interface for years (that’s decades in internet time), it’s nice to see 500px set an example of where things might be going in the future of online photo sharing. The new interface looks decidedly fresh and has a couple of things I really like:

Flow

500px took a good look at what makes for a compelling presentation for images and came up with “flow”. Just like Facebook’s timeline, it’s based on the idea that a stream of information doesn’t necessarily look very compelling when presented in a straightforward grid or list. Instead, they use a dynamic layout that shows images in different sizes and aspect ratios. In this format, you get a nice presentation of your own images mixed with the ones you liked. But it doens’t stop there, which brings us to the next topic...

Curation

Online photo sharing is great, but there’s always the question of how to find photographers and images you really like among the millions of mediocre uploads. There has to be some mechanism to filter the good stuff from the rest. And not just the good stuff in general, but the stuff that’s good according to your personal taste.

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ICM art for your desktop

If you are looking for a cool wallpaper for your desktop, iPad or iPhone, head over to makaikemaui.com, where Shane Robinson offers a number of his amazing intentional camera movement images as free downloads. It was actually Shane's work that inspired me to start experimenting with ICM photography. The above image, titled "Cruising #3", is one of my personal favorites.

A new take on time lapse

It's always interesting to see what happens when two creative minds collaborate. Motion & sound designer Woob and time lapse photographer Samuel Cockedey took the genre of the time lapse film to a whole new level. The edgy soundtrack, creative processing of the footage and the timing all work together to create something very unusual and intrigueing. When it comes to music I often find a remix of a track more interesting than the original, beceause there's this extra layer of depth that comes from the creative input of the remixer. The same thing goes for this video as well. Great work guys, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of this kind of collaboration on Vimeo.

Sharing the experience

A few days ago we lauched HDtravel, a new online magazine that features our favourite travel experiences in large photos and high definition videos. The idea is to present the stories with a personal touch and to create an uncluttered experience in order to create visual and emotional impact.

Designing the interface

One of the most important considerations when designing the interface was that it shouldn’t get in the way of the experience. The flow of the story shouldn’t be interrupted by the user having to click on images to see larger versions. Nor should users be distracted by other information on the page. Ideally, I wanted the interface to have an app-like experience, focussing on one thing at a time. This would also make it intuitive to use on iPads and other mobile devices.

I came up with a clean layout that displays large images and video in a continuous horizontal row across the screen. In theory it would have been possible to have each photo or video fill the whole browser window, but that would create too much of a slideshow feel. When looking at one piece of the story, I wanted the next and previous pieces to be partially visible in order to create context and visual flow.

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Super slow motion awesomeness

I came across this short film/commercial by Norwegian director Howie Arnstad for eco clothing label FIN Feline. It was filmed on the Phantom HD Gold camera, which can record a 1000 frames per second in full HD resolution. It makes ordinary things look somewhat surreal, especially with the color grading and the slightly underexposed look.

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Mercedes-Benz interactive films

Mercedes-Benz recently released a couple of interactive films on their website, featuring their SLK and C-Class Coupe models. Although they are sometime struggling to bridge the gap between creating engaging entertainment and communicating information about the cars, I have to say the films are cinematically quite beautiful. The C-Class Coupe film is modelled after Hollywood-style action thrillers, whereas the SLK film is a road movie featuring... you, the viewer, stuck in the desert, when a beautiful and mysterious stranger pulls up in her fancy SLK.

From a user experience point of view I'm always on a fence with interactive movies. It has to do with storytelling. A good story needs a storyteller, who skillfully guides you through the twists and turns of the narrative. Introducing user input always makes me feel I might not be getting the best experience, the best version of the story. The point-of-view style cinematography in the SLK movie on the other hand is interesting and does kind of draw you into the action, making the interaction aspect feel more natural.

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Less experts, more exploration

A couple of days ago I came across a blog post on Stu Maschwitz' Prolost.com titled "Eschew experts, follow the curious", in which Stu explained his take on people sharing knowledge from a point of view that they are an expert in their field:

I’m not interested in hearing from “experts.” By that term I mean a certain type who seem to feel that they’ve crested the mountaintop of knowledge on a particular subject, and are now prepared to dole out this valuable accrual of information to whomever will politely listen. Experts tell you the “correct” answer, because they know.

He goes on to explain how it can be much more interesting when one approaches problems by openly exploring all the possible options, instead of proclaiming there's one "right" answer. I like the whole idea of exploring various options, solutions and possibilities. Taking things apart (sometimes literally), look at them from all sides and discover new insights unexpected outcomes. The cool thing is that this process becomes even more powerful if ideas are shared and bounced back and forth between several people. As Salomon Ligthelm says in this interview: don't just copy the tutorial litterally, but make it your own and expand upon it. We need less experts, and more exploration. But don't just take it from me. I'm no expert after all...

From the edge of the world

In two days arctic explorer Ben Saunders will set off from Cape Discovery in northern Canada to ski solo and unsupported to the North Pole and set a couple of speed records along the way. After two earlier attemps had to be aborted because of gear malfunctions and fuel contaminating his food, Ben has decided to give it another go, more determined than ever. Failure is not trying, so in that respect this expedition is already a success.

The cool thing (pun intended) is that filmmaker Temujin Doran is traveling with Ben to Canada and has managed to produce a couple of beautiful mini documentaries over the last few days. The one at the top of this post is an introduction to Ben and the North3 expedition. Watch the other episodes on Ben's website.

Although I've never visited the high arctic myself, I have supported various polar expeditions in terms of getting their story out to the world. One constant factor is the difficulty to get any information (a text or voice message for example) out of those remote locations via dodgy satellite connections, let alone sending out this kind of high definition, artfully crafted video poetry. What's even more impressive that new updates are released as things develop, not weeks after the fact, lending the whole thing an extra dose of excitement. So make sure to check back regularly over the next couple of weeks...

Stories from the arctic

At the moment I’m sending out daily updates on poletrack.com about a short expedition to the north pole which is taking place as we speak. It’s a fun thing to do even if it’s just for the fact that it involves receiving daily phone calls from the arctic ice cap.

Technology has advanced a lot since the days of the early explorers. It’s now technically possible to send voice messages, emails and photos from these remote parts of the world via satellite phone. During this expedition for example we’re having the team call in and leave voice messages every day, which subsequently get posted on the website. This is a relatively simple thing to do, but it gives a more personal touch to the whole thing to hear someone tell about their adventures in their own voice instead of me just writing about them.

I’m continuously looking for compelling ways to tell these kinds of stories from remote corners of the world, and things like social media and mobile web devices create some really cool new ways of doing this, both on the creator and the consumer side. I like to refer to this as “Exploration 2.0”. Almost anyone in the world might be soon able explore previously inaccessible locations through almost-live information and high definition experiences. I might write some more about this topic in future blog posts, as insights, ideas, and technology continue to evolve.

Producing The Edge of Africa

Knowledge is the only resource that increases when shared, and it's becoming more common recently for photographers and cinematographers to share background stories about their productions with the rest of the world. In that spirit I wrote a little piece about the production of "The Edge of Africa" for DigitalCinemaFoundry.com. The tagline of the site is "Learn. Capture. Share." and it's is a great inspirational and educational resource, not just for professional filmmakers, but also for others who want to find about the ideas and execution behind video productions.