Here endeth the lesson- and a mission statement

After ten weeks of blogging about weekly guest lectures we have received as part of our training, I am now going solo into the world of online media and blogging. No more speeches by industry experts to provide subject matter and inspriation- it's just me, my laptop and whatever topic takes my fancy.

I have decided to stick with what I know and am most passionate about- journalism and media more generally- but will blog on things I find interesting, outrageous, or just things that catch my eye. I aim to keep a close watch on all things 'online', and hope this will still form the backbone of my posts, but hopefully in a more varied way before.

So there's my mission statement. The first thing which has caught my eye was something I saw in The Sunday Times' Spectrum magazine. I love the Sunday Times, and this recent addition to their magazine showcases photo journalism from around the world each week. So now I love it even more.

Their centre spread this Sunday was a picture (above) taken by Brazilian photographer Christian Cravo of a Haitian vodoo exorcism. The picture was striking, and on reading the blurb I found it was nominanted for a new photo prize called the Prix Pictet. The prize, launched this year, is the first photographic competition to focus on issues of global sustainability, and this year's entries focussed on the theme of water. I've come to this belatedly as the winner was announced back in October, but some of the pictures are wonderful.

I particulalry like Malcolm Hutcheson's series (left) looking at the horrendous waste water situation in Lahore where 90% of the country's sewerage pours untreated into the local water supply, but the other 18 shortlisted entries all tell fascinating stories. The BBC put together a great slide show (in the style of a digital storytelling narritive) of the best of the compeition with commentary by the head of the Prix Pictet jury, so check it out.

In relation to the global effort to save our environment, media communications must play a key role in getting the message across and challenging apathy. These untold stories do just that and I agree with sustainability blog Inhabitat when they say "one must appreciate the visible power of such well crafted, critical, visual communication".