Yesterday I attended the ASMP ‘Copyright and the New Economy: Issues & Trends Facing Visual Artists’ seminar in New York. The event was part of ASMP’s initiative to encourage photographers to register their work, and explored the issues, challenges and trends associated with copyright. One thing was very clear. What constitutes copyright, specifically ”fair use”, is a complex, baffling issue, and the copyright law is in desperate need of a major overhaul to protect the use of photography in the digital age. Copyright tutorials and steps for registering works is available on the ASMP website.

The highlight of the day for me was a presentation by Brian Storm, president of MediaStorm regarding Storytelling in the Digital Age. MediaStorm is a multimedia publication that utilizes still photography, video, audio and animation to “publish diverse narratives that speak to the heart of the human condition”. MediaStorm uses all aspects of social media as a highly effective marketing tool, encouraging viewers to share videos by readily providing links and codes to embed in blogs and websites. One of the many powerful stories on the site is ‘Driftless: Stories From Iowa’ by photographer Danny Wilcox Frazier, documenting the struggles, isolation and tension of a group of people living in rural Iowa. I encourage you to check out the many amazing stories showcased on MediaStorm.