Award winning photojournalist Spencer Platt on the new Getty podcast with questions by Co-Founder and CEO Jonathan Klein. Earlier this year Platt received first place honors at the 2007 World Press Photo Awards in Amersterdam.

You have to be into the question, “is there a time when you put the camera down”. For photographers everywhere and photojournalists particularly this can be the crux of any shoot or day or life. Props to Getty for putting this together, be good to see what the future holds here.

During extended travel time (Judith Gap wind farm below) recently my mind was left to wander and inevitably consumed itself with considerations of possible shoots, workflow and new ideas. Being away from studio connects and camera for hours or days at a time does one good with the right mindset. This break, or fracture, I’ve come to find essential in the process of my own mental process – creative or not. Typically, however, the creative side benefits more than I ever expect.

For example, I am just now underway with a new multimedia project that I began developing during this fractured creativity. This break in ruts of idea generation and thought processes is accomplished by nearly any sort of extended distraction. For many of the athletes and professionals I work with it’s in the form of exercise but it could be anything from knitting to vacation. Ever tried to simply visit a new place right in your own backyard – someplace you’ve passed by a million times but never given the time of day? As long as it breaks your routine and allows the mind a fracture between multi tasking necessity and genuine idea spawn.

The oft noted father of adventure photography, Galen Rowell, talks about this in one of his essays/books. Scheduled to head abroad to shoot for a client for two weeks he had all affairs in order for departure. At the last minute the client opted for his stock imagery instead and left him with two completely open weeks. (His rock solid contract guaranteed his full payment either way). So, with clients and friends thinking he was gone he suddenly had a chunk of time to explore his Berkeley area home with a whole new head. The results were something he talked about as extremely valuable.

With a large fracture coming up this weekend (more later) I should have an array of ideas fleshed out after this single minded endeavor.

Find your fracture.

If you’re anything like me you’re constantly wondering how things get done, made, created, elevated, etc. Reverse engineering is a top hobby. In that spirit here’s a great glimpse behind the scenes with a recent Sprint commercial using stop motion or a kind of ‘flipbook’ style photography. The light and artistry here is damn good – and notice the size of the production staff.

Speaking of behind the scenes, for anyone out there on this side of things Moby has made his music available, with certain limitations, for legal multimedia projects. On his site you’ll find mobygratis where independent filmmakers, students and non-profits can listen to select pieces and then register and submit requests for use.

With our day of independence in front of us here in the US and far too many freedom issues across the world today paramount it seems only appropriate to highlight imagery loosely based on that. Our friends at Magnum have put together a powerful video called Point & Shoot of work and voice by Philip Jones Griffiths and spot on tunes by Wink Applebee and the Medicinal 9. The images are all powerful, especially those of the youngest boys. It only makes you wonder about the power of freedom and violence.

Celebrate wisely.