When the New York Times came out on Tuesday - the size and scope of the article was a bit of a surprise. But the quality of the reporting and the concern for detail was to be expected, after all it was The New York Times.

What was interesting, and worth retelling - was the Times video shoot. At some point after the reporting for the print piece was done, I got a call from Erik Olsen who was the video producer for the Times. He said they wanted to do a video segment, and would i sit for an interview. A few days later i was sitting with a one-man-band crew from the Times (actually Olsen with a Panasonic MiniDV camera).

He did a thorough interview, and clearly had consulted with Glen Collins, the Times Reporter who had interviewed Pam and I for the paper. But Olsen wasn't a photog with a list of questions. He was a reporter in his own right... asking questions - pushing a bit - and then shooting B-Roll and collecting footage for the piece.

I didn't know what to expect - given that all of my prior experiences with Times TV had been through Discovery/Times and tended to be with full crews and TV folks.

But Olsen is a true "Platypus" a phrase created back in 1997 by Dirck Halstead - then the Senior White House Photographer for Time Magazine (www.digitaljournalist.org).

What Dirck saw back then has come true. The coming together of stills and video, and the need for newspaper photographers to develop a wide range of storytelling skills to participate in the coming multi-media world.

The result of my first experience with a Times Platypus was noteworthy. The actual Video Segment is narrated by Collins, shot and editing by Olsen, and far more than a re-telling of the print piece.

See for yourself.