Month: December 2012

Christmas Holiday Moments

by Stanley Learyphotojournalism
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fly On The Wall

Ever heard someone say that they would like to be a fly on the wall during that conversation? This means you would like to overhear the conversation as if you were not there. You want the situation to be accurate and not know you are there.

Being the Fly-on-the-wall also refers to the documentary style of photography where you work as unobtrusively as possible to capture those candid moments.

In the first photo, I captured the newest addition to our family. His older cousin and great-aunt are entertaining him and loving his reactions.

Body Language

I love this photo of the nieces and nephews getting measured to see who is taller while their aunt looks on. What makes this photo fun is that this isn’t all that is happening; you have the youngest boy being held by his mother and looking at me.

The body language tells the story that most likely happens during the holidays at many homes where the children are measured to see how much they have grown since last year.

Leaving some things out

You don’t need to see everything in a photo to work. Here the proud mother holding her child comes through clearly. Do you need to see all of the kids for it to work? I don’t think so. You may want more in the photo, and if you took it, you would include more. The strength of sometimes leaving something out makes you want to know what is going on. By leaving something out, you help pique the curiosity of the audience. Keep everything in, and often you lose that curiosity.

Details

So often, the small things around the holidays help tell our family story. For example, how often does your family talk about something grandmother cooks during the holidays? Do you have photos of this to pass along to your family?

My sister makes these rainbow cookies every year, so I thought I would document this for our family history. I keep talking about gathering our family recipes and creating a book. Now imagine this photo with a photo of the recipe card in the original family member’s handwriting that started the tradition. Maybe you have a picture of them as well on the page of the family book.

The Patriarch Speaks

Every year my dad likes to remind us how important family is to us. This year he read The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis. Here is a link to that poem if you want to make it part of your family tradition.

Crawling on the floor

Please don’t walk around the room and take all your photos from the standing position. Instead, get down to the little ones’ level as I did here. What happens when you are at eye level with the family’s baby? Well, the last time most of us saw things from this perspective was when we were just children.

When you get down on the ground, you help the audience feel like they did when they were children.

Have some fun

Here my daughter on the right with her friend is making music with Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A. He had these shakers with egg-shaped cow spots. During my daughter’s Christmas break, she had fun with her friends and Dan Cathy.

Where did you go?

We drove just a few miles from the grandparent’s house to where they filmed some of the Hunger Games.

You may recognize this photo as the baker’s shop.

Maybe you remember Katniss running here in this scene.

Holidays are about memories; here, my daughter is excited to be in front of the waterfalls where Katniss ran across.

How did you do with capturing your family this Christmas?

Workshops can be better than new equipment

by Stanley LearyPhotography
Reading Time: 3 minutes

If you are still looking for a present for the photographer’s friend, consider a gift certificate for a workshop. If they don’t have one, give a VISA or AMEX gift card with a printout of the website to tell them you are giving them the funds to go to the workshop.

Difference between Photography Workshops/Seminars and College Programs

First, most photography workshops and seminars are held by working pros. Second, most college programs have people teaching who have academic credentials.

Some college programs do have working professionals teaching, but this is the primary advantage of a workshop and seminar. You can talk to the pros shooting for National Geographic Magazine or Sports Illustrated.

They will teach you tips for improving the use of your existing equipment, and their recommendations for new gear will help you make your next purchase.

I continue to attend workshops and help organize them. I just participated in the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar earlier this month. That was an excellent refresher and a chance to talk to other pros doing what I am doing.

Advice to Students

If you are in a college program, you must attend a workshop or seminar to meet people in the industry. You may find an excellent place for an internship.

I have learned more in a week-long workshop doing nothing but photography than I did in college classes. One of the best reasons for this is that photography is all you do when you are there.

You don’t stop after an hour and then take an English and later a history class. You don’t work on other papers and projects at night unrelated to photography.

One of my favorite programs is the Youth With A Mission’s School of Photography. This 12-week photography program features guest speakers who give the students hands-on training.

Many of the students have gone on to create businesses in photography and have incorporated photography into other careers.

Tips to make the most of a workshop/seminar

  • Always have business cards. This allows you to share with the speakers and those in class.
  • Always have a portfolio with you. With iPads, Laptops, and photo books, you should not have your most recent portfolio to show for feedback and to help you grow.
  • Eat with the instructors if you can. Ask them if they have meal plans and take them to lunch. This will be your best investment ever. Ask questions and listen. Please don’t take them to lunch to tell them all about you.
  • Take notes.
    • Write down notes from speakers.
    • Audio record them if they will let you. Always ask first.
    • Take notes with your camera. (Again, ask)
  • Get to know as many of those in your class as possible. Sometimes, the people sitting next to you are just as valuable a resource as the teachers.

Cost-saving tips

  • Register earlier to take advantage of discounts.
  • Find the workshops’ social media pages. This is a great way to share rides or even rooms. Many college students can fit a few people into a hotel room and save money.
  • Find out if Nikon, Canon, or sometimes a camera store will provide free camera cleaning. They may limit the number of items they clean, but cleaning two cameras can save you $30 to $50 for each camera.
  • Try eating at the meeting space rather than driving for lunches and dinners. Many of the speakers eat right on-site to save time. You can pack a sandwich and get something small to sit at their table with other attendees.
  • Always let people with potential jobs in the area know you are going. If you go to a college, be sure to check to see if any of the sports teams are playing nearby. Going early or staying late may allow you to tag on a paying assignment, which will help lower your costs.

Southwestern Photojournalism Seminar’s
2-Minute Shows 

This is March 1 – 3, 2013, in Fort Worth, Texas. They still have some slots left for the student practicum from February 28 to March 1.

2-Minute Shows: The conference has a great opportunity that I don’t know any other seminar or conference offers. The first 45 to sign up can show their work to everyone in 2 minutes or less. This is a great tradition, and everyone loves seeing everyone’s work.

If you come to SWPJC and do not sign up for the 2-Minute Show, you will miss a great opportunity, especially if you are trying to get jobs or do this professionally in the long run.

My suggestion to any photographer who wants to be sure their loved ones know what they want for Christmas is to forward this email and suggest a workshop you might want to attend.

Photography: Assignment Details

by Stanley LearyPhotography

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Photographers can learn a thing or two from other businesses. You go to just about any business and if you are receiving any services they are going to fill out some forms.

When you go to college they get all your information and put you into their system. Hospitals do the same thing and get information about where you live, phone numbers and most of all payment information.

When you get your car repaired the same thing happens. You will not get service before they gather information in most service providers.

Mistake Number One

When you get that first call from a new client there is a tendency to rush through your business practices. Your fear of loosing the client can cause you to miss some vital information which is done during the intake process.

You are setting the tone for the relationship going forward. The clients are generally understanding of you asking some questions to then later be able to give them a quote.

Create a form for new clients

One of the best things early in your career is to have a physical form you fill out so you can be sure you do not miss information which is critical to meeting their expectation and you getting paid.

Information you should get:

  • Contact Information
    • Name
    • Company Name
    • Mailing Address
    • Phone numbers
    • email
    • website
  • Project Details
    • Name for project
    • Deadlines
    • Usage Rights
    • How will it be used
    • What are the deliverables
      • JPEGs, RAW
      • CDs, DVDs or hard drive
      • Online Gallery
      • Prints
      • Contact Sheets
    • What is the style and approach for the project
    • Location
    • Contact names
    • Names of different people on project
      • Creative Director
      • Client contact
      • Location contact
    • Examples
      • Shot List
      • Sketches/Diagrams from Art Director
  • Information about location
    • Lighting
    • Crew (Will you provide or them)

These are just some of the things I often am asking for during my intake process. You may need to add some more or take something off, but either way having a physical list near your phone or on your computer that you can reference in the first contact will help you be successful.

The Power of Questions

For the most part each client that calls you will be getting a customized price for their needs. If you are just letting them choose from a price list you are more of a commodity and therefore not as service oriented as transaction based.

The accuracy of identifying the specific problem that the photography will help solve will give you a clear objective to meet.

When a new client calls and wants your price for doing head shots you can clarify how they will use them and how this helps their company. If the head shots are to be done of all their upper management to put on their website asking a few more questions can determine a more accurate pricing and meeting of their objective.

They may just want to show their people so when their clients call in they know who they are talking to or to expect when they come to them. This is more of an identification photo. However, lets say they are trying to help people get to know them to leverage themselves against their competition. The photos are to help them with branding and showing how personable they are as compared to the competition.

This is where maybe environmental portraits of their people not in their workspace, but rather with their hobbies may fit the bill better.

To get to the real problem being solved with photography requires some questions. Your questions maybe met with uncertainty. This is where you are helping them define their problem. You are also showing your expertise.

Mistake Number Two

Miscommunication is more common than anyone of likes, but it happens. The time to see if you were on the right track to meeting their objective is not when you are totally done.

Too many photographers forget that the best way to clarify the deliverable is with examples. If you have something you can send to them which is similar to what you plan to deliver then you are way ahead of the problem of miscommunication.

Take a moment once you have a good photo of the first thing you have and show them it. “Is this the right direction?,” is a great question. Often clients who have a lot to do will often leave once they see you are going the direction they want and let you take it from there.

If you have a number of locations on a job, take a moment and send them the first shots you can before continuing.  I had a few photographers who I gave a series of subjects to photograph and the photographers shot a few of these over a few weeks and then sent me the results. They were not what I had asked them to do.

Mistake Number Three

Too many photographers shoot for themselves and not for the client. This shows up in a few ways to the client.

The photographer will crop the photographs to the way they like them. I have seen way too many photographers not paying attention to the way the client will use the photos.

The client needs the photos to put into a video. Most videos are designed to fit a TV screen. The photographers are providing squares or verticals which means there is a lot of black that will need to be used around the photos.

The client may need to put these in a layout of a publication that the client has approved of a specific layout design. If the photographer crops too much the photos become unusable.

The photographer also needs to provide several options for the client. Clients do not enjoy having just one photo that could work to have to use. Do your best to give the client a few options for any photo they need to use. Unless their are some pretty extreme circumstances preventing this, always make the effort to provide options.

Dialogue

While you may have some great questions you need to clarify their answers. You need to solicit their questions. The more you peel the onion of the assignment the closer you get to the core and meeting of those objectives.

While you may loose the bid to someone else, you are still auditioning for a future assignment. It is quite common that clients will use a friend or try to give someone a break and get burned. They will remember you as the one they should have gone with to do the job.

Covering Tragedy

by Stanley Learyphotojournalism
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Jesus & Gloria say good-bye before the funeral service for their son Jesus Fonseca, Jr.

The recent events in Newtown, Connecticut have lit up social media and forums about how will we go forward and change.

Photojournalism

While photojournalists and journalists have trained to cover tragedy nothing truly prepares you for the actual event. An event can be gut wrenching and can trigger Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for the journalist. Even if the journalist doesn’t suffer long term from PTSD they are never the same after experiencing events like the school shooting in Newtown.

Often journalists are sent to cover events and because of the shock it is difficult for them to get their head around something when the emotions alone are making it so difficult to concentrate.

I believe one of the best things a journalist can do is to feel the situation  I think too often in order to make it through an event journalists tend to try and shut down their emotions and cover the event logically.

Always ask yourself two questions whenever you pick up the camera:

  1. Why am I taking this photograph?
  2. What am I trying to say with this photograph?
If you shut down your emotions and not ask these questions truthfully you can end up traumatizing the subjects you photograph and your audience needlessly.
 
In the photo above I asked the family about covering the funeral for the Catholic Newspaper.  They wanted to share their experience with the community. I wanted the community to experience the loss of the family. I wanted them to want to respond. For this audience praying for the family would be an appropriate expectation for the Catholic Newspaper.
 
 
In the lower photograph I was working at a small newspaper and shot this image. Showing the child getting out of the car for me was a relief. While you can see the mangled car you also see hope of the child being rescued by the man.
 
The best photos I make in these situations are when I feel my emotions and learn to help them guide me to help the readers experience what I am feeling. I also am careful not to needlessly shock for shock value.
 
Today’s News Media are young
 
The last few years the media has been laying off all the veterans and hiring younger and younger people to fill the roles of the journalists.  The downside to this is many of them are covering some of their first traumatic events. Most all of them have not been trained like our military that goes through classes to help avoid PTSD.
 
If you find the journalists not quite sensitive, they might just be traumatized and having a difficult time themselves. Just look at how many journalists during 9/11 and just this week have broken down while covering the story.
 
Take a moment and pray for these journalists that they understand their role and are in touch with their emotions. Pray that they are asking what is the story and what are they trying to say so we stay informed.