Three weeks ago I celebrated my 44th birthday. It’s been more than half-a-lifetime since that afternoon in high school when I realized with the clarity of a bell that I wanted a life filled with books and music and movies; I wanted to make stuff.

Here are a few things I’ve leaned in the ensuing years. Some I’ve come close to mastering. Others, well, let just say a bit more practice is in order.

No one will ever care as much about your art as you do. Only you can know enough to answer the tough questions, like, is it worth the effort?

Find someone who can teach you what you need to know and stick close.

Conversely, if you’re not actively mentoring someone, you’re doing your community a disservice.

When hiring others, find people who know more than you, then trust them to do their job.

There’s always going to be someone better than you.

Other people’s success is not a mark of your own failure.

Everyone, no matter how experienced, on some level is faking it. That is to say, no one knows exactly how their creativity works. We make up rituals. Mostly though, it’s a mystery.

In the end, it comes down to love. If you love what you do, you’ll find a way to keep doing it.

Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

The War of Art:Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

I’m particularly fond of the Pressfield titles.

Undesired by Walter Astrada, a project I produced at MediaStorm for the Alexia Foundation was honored with a 2012 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and I couldn’t be more proud.

From the MediaStorm blog:

The duPont Awards, administered since 1968 by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, are considered to be the most prestigious broadcast journalism awards and the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes, which are also administered at the Journalism School. Selected by the duPont Jury for excellence in broadcast journalism, the award-winning news programs aired in the United States between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011. The honorees will be presented with silver duPont batons at a ceremony held at Columbia University in January 2012.

Congratulations to my MediaStorm colleagues and all the winners.

Watch Undesired here.

I’m excited to share my latest production from the MediaStorm Advanced Multimedia Workshop.

The talented team consisted of Martine Fougeron, Richard Kendall,
Frank de Ruiter and Simon Schorno.

From the description:

Joe Soll never met his birth parents. Raised by upper-middle class New Yorkers, he spent half of his life tormented by the death of his mother.

But then one day, that story suddenly began to unravel.

“I felt crazed,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do with it.”

What followed was a three decade search for the truth and a mystery that would haunt him for years.

Through almost unbearable personal pain, Joe has devoted his life to a single question, where did I come from?

The quest for that answer has redefined him, setting Joe on a mission to help others.

Broken Lines was co-produced with Jennifer Readfearn plus two awesome interns: Leandro Badalotti, who helped with post, and Tucker Walsh, who created some lucious visuals.

The piece was made better by the insights and audio assists from teacher-extraordinaire Bruce Strong.

See Broken Lines here.

Also, make sure to check out the other, excellent workshop story Voice co-produced by Tim McLaughlin and Rick Gershon.

Edit: I committed a huge oversight. I forgot to acknowledge Brian whose vision touches everything we do at MediaStorm.

The most striking thing about Errol Morris’ new documentary Tabloid, besides the literally unbelievable story, is the director’s decision to leave whole sections of interview footage uncovered.

Minutes go by without b-roll.

Instead, we see the exposed footage, jump cuts and all.

To complicate the matter, like many of his recent documentaries, Morris continuously tracks the camera when shooting interviews. So what might be a subtle right-to-left movement when seen in its entirety, in Tabloid becomes not only a jump cut but a startling shift with head shots jumping across the screen.

For transitions, the director simply fades to black before fading up again, sometimes to the same speaker.

Altogether, it’s a pretty dramatic technique.

At first glance, I’d say the decision to do this was made, in part, to combat a lack of archival material. Many of the scenes were simply never filmed. But Morris is no stranger to reenactment. He’s recreated scenes in many of his films. So why not here too?

It’s a good question; one that I’d like to hear him address.

The more pertinent question though is, does it work? I have to say, given the film’s reliance on point-of-view as a narrative device, I think it does.

Oddly, that just might be Tabloid’s most startling revelation.

Verve Photo has posted a nice piece on A Darkness Visible, along with an interview with Seamus Murphy.

Read the article here .

I’m hardly a stranger to uncertainty and self-doubt. So picking up a copy of David Bayles and Ted Orland’s slim volume Art & Fear wasn’t a difficult choice.

I’ve just started but already the author’s have begun to catalogue many of the doubts that swirl in my head each time I begin a new project.

Here are some early gems on the necessity of failing:

“You learn how to make your work by making your work, and a great many of the pieces you make along the way will never stand out as finished art. The best you can do is make the art you care bout – and lots of it!”

“Basically, those who continue to make art are those who have learned how to continue – or more precisely, have learned how to not quit.”

This one was a beast. Some numbers:

It was the most complex project I’ve ever undertaken. But now it’s done, and I am so very proud.

From the description:

Outsiders often see Afghanistan as a problem in need of a solution: a conflict region that needs more troops or another election. But in seeing Afghanistan as a problem, the people of the country, and their desire for self-determination, are often overlooked.

From the Soviet invasion and the mujahideen resistance to the Taliban and the American occupation, A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan examines thirty years of Afghan history. It is the story of ordinary citizens whose lives play out in the shadow of superpowers. There are tales of violence to be sure, but there is also love and even romance.

Based on 14 trips to Afghanistan between 1994 and 2010, A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan is the work of renowned photojournalist Seamus Murphy. His work chronicles a people caught time and again in political turmoil, struggling to find their way.

This was, at every turn, a collaborative project and special acknowledgement begins with Seamus Murphy and his luminous photography. At MediaStorm, the continued support of Brian Storm and the design skill of Tim Klimowicz; as well as a great epilogue co-produced by Tucker Walsh and a tremendous sound mix by Bruce Strong, without which subtitles would have been a necessity.

Fianlly, a special thank you goes to my partner in crime, Leandro Badalotti, who gave me guidance when I was lost and humor when I was in need. He made this project better in more ways than he knows.

Please watch A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan here.

I just returned from the Mountain Workshop in Somerset, Kentucky and, man, were the multimedia students talented.

For five days, I had the good fortune to coach Ligaiya Romero, Terri Flagg, and Catherine Spangler.

They produced three terrific stories.