I often share my thoughts in meetings on the Kevin Smith vs. Southwest Air seating fiasco because I think it was a watershed moment and great example of a company using social media effectively to fend off a potential PR disaster.
The Smith vs. Southwest Air episode is a great example that demonstrated, 1) the social media communications channel of a company can’t just be open Monday to Friday, 9-5. It must be ready to respond at anytime to customer feedback – because that customers communication channels are open 24/7. …

photo courtesy i.shot7.com
Since getting my iPhone I have been thinking about a way to publish photos & news in the easiest and quickest way possible. Now, I wasn’t just talking about twitpic-ing photos or using posterous. I wanted to publish content to my own dedicated blog – because I wanted a better handle on analytics and control over the mobile design.
As well, the idea behind a lot of my news content marketing is driving traffic – somewhere. And I don’t usually see much benefit in just continuing to drive …

I like to say, I’m documenting pop culture along the way in describing my primary style and interests.
I decided in 2010 to introduce another style into my shooting arsenal – the documentary portrait.
Whether its street shooting, celebrity news, or documentary portrait – never hesitate to contact me about photography assignments.
photographer Steve Carty by Richard Budman

Even with the business of shot7.com being photographs – I knew a branded video strategy and shot7 youtube channel was something I wanted utilize. There would simply be too much good celebrity video content to not take advantage of. And recently – a shot7 video even got the blogs talking.
The opening graphic bumper was made from some Megan Fox video I captured during the 2009 film festival. I remembered video from that Fox night on the red carpet from the sounds – the intensity of all those camera …

Because of my previous (and hopefully, future) work on the Cadillac TIFFinsider campaign, I took special interest in one particular session at the recent PodCamp Toronto 2010 social media conference – the talk by Christopher Barger – the Director of Social Media for General Motors U.S.A.
Mr. Barger came to Canada for a weekend to discuss how GM made extensive use of online social media in a presentation titled, “The Social Web – Crisis Response & Reputation Rejuvenation.”
Chris started his talk by stating he was given one small problem – and …

During August and September of 2009 I was the TIFFinsider on behalf of General Motor’s Cadillac brand in a project for the Maclaren Momentum agency. Over the course of the film festival, over fifty blog stories were posted to the TIFFinsider.ca site.
I further developed the Twitter.com/tiffinsider account. Over the course of six-weeks, the Twitter account amassed over 1,400 followers. Hundreds of exclusive tiff photos were shot and uploaded to twitPic and Flickr which saw tens of thousands of views during the campaign. Also established the TIFFinsider YouTube channel, …

When we heard the future King, Prince Charles and Camilla would visit Canada on an official Royal Tour – it was something we had to get KayvonTV rolling for. Sure, the content was a natural fit for the underlying theme of the show, that is, Kayvon’s British heritage.
But in gearing up for the premiere of the show in early 2010 on cable TV in Canada – the shots I got from Kayvon’s meeting with Prince Charles provide the perfect content to mark-up with some graphics and provide …

shot7.com is a web-based source of entertainment news photos by a network of professional celebrity photographers.
I created shot7.com to showcase and share my news photography. I like to consider it the beginnings of a new type of photo agency – one where content is first thought in terms of how it connects, rather than just a means to commerce.
The shot7.com home page lets users know the latest photo news we’ve posted and images you can grab. Also, the blog is where we talk about the stuff that makes …

I’ll have much more to say on this one as this deal evolves. But it looks like our little online show – KayvonTV.com – is going to become a full length 30 minute show on the new AUX.TV digital cable television network in early 2010.
When watching this clip of Kayvon interviewing big-time U.S. rappers Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-tek – the questions Kayvon is asking become almost secondary, it’s the reaction of Talib and company to Kayvon that becomes the priceless stuff to watch. The wondering …

Did my annual gig at the Toronto Jazz Festival again this year. Pretty happy with most of what I shot. Jamie Cullum was the show that really blew me away and was my surprise of the festival.