Tim Gruber and Jenn Ackerman use both photography and video to tell stories for editorial and commercial clients. 
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Coming Soon! Every year we'll be publishing at least two magazines of our work. Look for our first issue soon.
As many of you know, one of the issues that is dear to my heart is AIDS and HIV. It is also one of the reasons I became a photographer.
I started a series on HIV in rural America in 2006 and part of the project is going to be screened at the AIDS ATHENS FILM FESTIVAL in Georgia, on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1st.
The Film Festival will be showcasing international and local short-films on HIV/AIDS to build awareness and understanding of the disease. It highlights people living with HIV, their challenges and victories, vaccine research, prevention and activism throughout the globe.
World AIDS Day Film Festivals are happening all over the country. Check to see if there is one in your area.
Click here to see the project, Positive Lives.
Moodstream by Getty Images is a nice time killer especially if you should be packing to move, but are looking for distractions.
Been enjoying the 2006 winner galleries on the Critical Mass website. Not all of it is photojournalism or documentary work, but it’s inspiration none the less.
It looks as if they have a page for the 2007 winners, but it contains the 2006 gallery. Hopefully that changes.
A few photos from the site:
Photo by: Beatrix Reinhardt
Photo by: Donald Weber
Check out the Verve Photo blog for the work of a new breed of documentary photographers. It’s a nice list that includes some work thats new to me. Geoffrey does a nice write-up of each photographer he profiles. He was kind enough to profile me a few days ago.(Shameless plug, sorry.) Thanks Geoffrey.
Geoffrey Hiller has created Verve to feature photos and interviews by the finest young image makers today. Verve is a reminder of the power of the still image.
While you’re checking out new work see the photo collective Aevum that includes fellow OU photogs Matt Eich and Yoon S. Byun.
My girlfriend, Jenn, posted her stunning magazine project that deals with mental illness in prison.
Jenn’s work is one of the strongest multimedia pieces I’ve seen in recent memory. From the featured project to the raw inmate interviews the pieces will leave you feeling for these men.
Of the project Jenn wrote on her blog:
My intention was to make a multimedia piece that made the viewer feel what I felt when I was there. There were days that I was extremely scared and others that I left thinking how much someone on the outside missed them. Some days, I had to remind myself that many of these men had done heinous things.
Great job Jenn. I’m so proud of you.
My magazine project is complete. (This is when I’m told it’s safe to breathe again.)
One main multimedia piece. One photo gallery. One embedded map. One time-lapse. One website. All in the blur of one quarter.
It was the class of ones for me.
One step at a time, I wore the many hats that the class calls upon you to wear. I was the publisher who wrote the mission statement for my publication. I was the assignment editor who researched and wrote up the shooting assignments. I was the photojournalist out in the field shooting, which was the highlight even if it left me exhausted. After shooting came the tedious world of production and editing. Days spent hacking away at php files and hours cutting audio and video.
It’s a great(well somewhat great not fully satisfied with things, but who ever is?) feeling to see the end product and how all the hats eventually brought us to one uniform package. It’s no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, but it’s a quarter I’ll never forget.
It doesn’t feel like I’m done yet, but hopefully tomorrow when we have our show and tell I’ll be able to look at everything my classmates and I accomplished and be proud of what we did.
Is it on caliber with the multimedia newspapers produce? Hopefully.
See what you think for yourself.
Spent all weekend buried deep in WordPress working on a redesign of my website.
Check it out here.
I’m hoping by using WordPress and a content management system to drive the photo galleries that I’ll actually update it more often now.
It’s not completely finished it yet, but it’s getting close. I need to get this blog integrated into the mix yet and finish up the multimedia page.
Everything look alright? I haven’t been able to try it on a PC yet. I’m a little fearful of the way it might render in Internet Explorer.
Any feedback would be great.
timg at timgruber dot com
MultimediaShooter is back in business and with new content to show for it. There’s a new podcast of Zach Wise, a former OU alum, who played a huge role in making Soul of Athens what it was and is now doing great things out at the Las Vegas Sun.
Welcome back Koci.
I haven’t updated in awhile thanks to running at less than 100%, but mainly due to the end of the quarter crunch. The good news is my project is nearly done. It needs a last minute coat of polish before it goes live. I know what you’re thinking, “Hey Tim, you can’t polish a turd.” I hear ya! I’ll post the link here in a couple days when everything is in place.
Minus my master’s project, which I’ll hopefully get to this spring yesterday marked the last day of my required classes at OU. It was a sad feeling knowing this was it. What can I say? I’m a sentimental sap. I’d imagine most students in other programs are excited by the thought and go on to burn their textbooks and get sloshed on the cheapest dirty 30 they can find.
For me though it was a sad day to know I’m leaving the best environment I’ve ever found as a storyteller. This is the end of classroom critiques and classmates/friends who constantly raise the bar. This is where I learned the importance of making images that make someone feel. There’ll be no more photo nights or getting 7 different edits of a project as contest season approaches. No more walking down to Baker to hear the likes of Scott Strazzante and Rob Finch. This is where I learned the importance of surrounding yourself with endless talent and passion. There is where, as one of our professors would always tell us, “Dare to suck.” This is where I lived and most importantly this is where I learned to love.
It’s going to be sad when I finally do have to leave what’s been an oasis of inspiration and passion to jump aboard the life raft of an industry that is fighting to stay afloat. Let’s hope I remember how to do the doggy paddle.
Came home from a weekend in Minnesota to find that MultimediaShooter had been hacked.
Richard writes:
RIP
I write this with a very heavy heart:
I am sorry to report that this website is down for the count. The site was recently hacked several
times this weekend and severe damage was done. I do not have the time or resources at this time to
continue. I wish you all the best. I only wish this hadn’t happened.
[To the ‘hacker’ I hope it makes you happy to destroy something that people put their
heart and soul into for years, for the sole purpose of learning and creating a small community
on the web. Just to have you destroy it for no reason. You win. There is a special place in hell for you.]
To those of you who supported the site over the years, THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
I don’t know what more to say, except, remember, it’s all about the STORY, not the TOOLS.
-r
I’m hoping Richard finds the strength to bring the site back. His work and site has been an incredible asset in both my storytelling and shear abundance of daily inspiration. It’s been an invaluable resource for me and our community and I hope his voice isn’t lost for good.
Thanks for everything Richard.
Send him an email(rhernandez at mercurynews dot com) and let him know what his site has meant to you.