The Technology Behind the Pictures

Traditional photographers shoot rolls of film or video in the field and then cart back boxes and boxes of film to be developed. Since we are interested in the instantaneous transfer of images, we needed a new technology that does not rely on hand-carrying film around the world.

Enter digital photography.

Digital cameras and camcorders record information in a digital format rather than on film. The pictures and videos are stored in the ones and zeroes that computers use as their "language." Since the information is digital, it is relatively easy to transmit via phone lines or the Internet.

While some of the people that have agreed to serve as remote contacts for us are accessible by the Internet, others are stationed on ships or in areas without any established phone lines. Given the variety of conditions facing our On Location photographers, we have developed several methods for capturing and transferring digital images to our office.

Digital still camera with image-processing software

The simplest of the three platforms, this system utilizes a Kodak DC-50 digital camera running Picture Works software to a PC or Macintosh laptop. This results in digital still images that are ready for publication to our WWW site.

Digital video camera with conversion to S-video analog output

Because digital video offers the versatility of high-quality video and still image output, we have configured a portable platform to shoot in video and transmit still images via satellite telephone. In this case, the images are actually converted from digital to analog files, the same format that standard camcorders use.

Three-chip digital video camera with FireWire output to digital frame-grabber

Tantalized by the prospect of pure digital imagery, we have developed and tested a portable solution for converting digital video imagery to still-frames for transmission as digital files.

Once the images or video has been captured at the remote site, we have several options for the transfer back to Maine. For the most remote sites, we are working on a connection using a satellite telephone and remote access software. We successfully demonstrated this configuration in the summer of 1996 by transmitting images shot by Bill Curtsinger on Rongelap Island in the U.S. Marshall Islands over 10,000 miles to our office. On the other hand, some people maintain access to their email while in the field and they can transfer images as an attachment.

All of this is a blend of new technologies and persistence. Even in the most pristine environments, equipment fails. Imagine what happens when you and your computers have been living on a boat for six weeks and it has been raining everyday! Sometimes the image transfer fails when the simplest components of this elaborate system fail.