Goodbye to UWDV.COM, Hello to Immersive Video Journalist

[Cliff Etzel]

As some of you may know, I published a site devoted to shootng video underwater - UWDV.COM.

Well, I'm announcing at the end of February 2008, UWDV.COM is going offline for good.

As of yesterday, I have gone live with a new blogging portal entitled "Immersive Video Journalist".

Immersivevj.com will address not only shooting video underwater, equipment choices, etc, but will wax specifically on such topics as freediving while shooting video, content distribution, story telling techniques in the Solo Video Journalist Paradigm, web video journalism, dive trips and workshops for freedivers, freedive training and other related topics. The site will utilize the IM6 paradigm - Integrated Media 6 ways, combining video, audio and other forms of digital content to create a site that is engaging to viewers who will experience more than just reading static text.

Read what my cyber-colleague and VJ mentor David Dunkley-Gyimah has to say about the new paradigm of underwater video journalism.

I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feeds available through Feedburner and Technorati as a means to keeping informed about new postings. This is the new wave of content portals and I hope that you will chime in and let me know what you think. Tell your colleagues and dive friends.

I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Warmest regards and safe diving.

 

[fcallagy]

Best of luck with it Cliff hope all goes well. site looks very good with a lot of content to read.

 

[Cliff Etzel]

Thanks Feargus - more content is being added 2-3 times a week and covers the gamut of issues related to shooting video underwater - especially while freediving. I'm working out the specifics on dive trips especially for freediving videographers so check back and let others know about it. I'll hopefully be here more often to chat with others about shooting video while freediving.

 

[Jon]

Cliff,

What made you finally give up on still photography and switch to video?

A, scuba, friend of mine just did the same thing last year- sold off all the still photo stuff and went HD video instead. He said he couldn't keep up with all the changes in DSLR's and just went full force into video.

I've been thinking about upgrading to a DSLR, but the more look into it the more I realize it's way out of my price range if I want to do it right.

Jon

 

[Cliff Etzel]

Jon,

I have been a photographer since the age of 15 - that makes it 30 years now. It just became the same thing over and over. Video is a whole new animal. I just made the transition to a couple of SONY HC7's and a Light & Motion Bluefin HC7 with w/a port and HID lights. I don't use the lights much but I use the housing/w/a port while freediving (did that with my previous SONY/L&M setup).

I was a photoj shooter for 10+ years so I enjoy the challenge of telling a story with images - but now I work as a Solo video journalist and I enjoy not only shooting, but editing and delivering the final project.

Shooting video now gives me the same rush like it was when I shot stills 20 years ago.

 

[trux]

The site looks great, Cliff! I've added your RSS feed to the general Freediving Feed on APNEA.cz, into the video category. News from your site will be visible both in the main Freediving News APNEA.cz feed, as well as in the video category feed. Besides the RSS icon, there is also Add To Google button which simplifies reading of RSS news to those who are not familiar with the RSS technology - by clicking the button you can add the news to your Google home page.

 

[Cliff Etzel]

Thanks Trux - a new audio podcast has been posted on Immersivevj so anyone interested, please have a listen and let anyone who freedives out there to visit the site and subscribe to the RSS feeds. I'm going to cover other topics besides just shooting video, but these other topics will support shooting video while freediving.

 

[trux]

Yes, I noticed the new podcast already yesterday Thanks to the RSS feed it shows up in the news box on my home page practically instantly. I used your avatar as logo - so it is easily recognizable.

Thanks, Cliff, and keep up the good work!