Radio, video and more media events

New Feature in Print

Whew - a lot happened this week. My story about orchid pollination hit the stands in the September issue of Australian Geographic. If you can get hold of a copy have a look at the “Queens of Seduction” feature.
Not all the photos I shot could be included in print, so you can view a web gallery of extras.

New technology

Here’s the coolest news of all. The story in the magazine is “magical”. Yes! I’m not kidding. When you “look” at one of the pictures it suddenly starts playing a video. OK, I should mention there’s a step in between. First you download an app onto your smartphone and it’s the phone that does the looking. I’m in awe of the pure magic of the technology. Imagine yourself travelling to work on a train, leafing through a magazine. You come across a symbol which indicates a certain picture is coded to respond to your phone. Voila! You’re instantly watching a video while listening through your headphones. How cool is that? It’s called “augmented reality”. Try it out by going to page 57 of the issue. Or you can view it now by going to the link below under New video.

 
Hold your smartphone over the picture on page 57 --------> and a video starts playing.

New radio appearance

But wait, there’s more news. I also appeared on ABC radio this week talking to Scott Levi. We chatted about photography, nature and how I got onto the weird little orchid flies. I know - I should have told you ahead of time so you could listen live. But honestly, it’s been such a busy week. However, I sweet-talked the radio station into letting me have a recording and here it is (a bit over 15 minutes long - you’ll want to be doing the dishes or something).

 
New video

And finally, I’d love for you to see the video I produced. This is my first one, using the phenomenal capabilities built into the latest DSLR cameras. They can do high definition video - quality good enough to project in movie theatres. But you won’t see that here; this video has to be downsized for the portable handheld gadgets most of us are using these days. It’s only about 2 min long.

I’m definitely getting into video and multimedia production now. It’s the new way to get informed and to relate to our world, don’t you think? Combining writing, still photos, movies and audio makes for such an immersive experience. I’m embracing the change and the opportunities.