October 2014 - Page 2 of 2

Broken foot, broken lens, and no place to stay helped remind me of community

by Stanley LearyOctober 14, 2014September 18, 2022Nikon D4

I sent this out as my e-newsletter, but I thought I would also post it here.

Nothing throws a monkey wrench into your plans than an accident like mine of breaking my foot yesterday in Charleston.

This trip was supposed to be an excellent weekend for our family in Charleston, SC.

This June, Dorie, my wife, started a one-year Clinical Pastoral Education working as a Chaplain at the VA Hospital in Atlanta, GA.

She missed out on going to the beach with my parents, sisters, and their families this past summer. The trip was to be a fun weekend. I was supposed to be at The Citadel football game photographing her firing the cannon during the game. Instead, my daughter Chelle will be there in my place.

Besides breaking my foot, the story gets worse. While in the ER, we got a message from Hotwire that our hotel was overbooked. No Hotels were available within the Charleston 25-mile radius. So Hotwire couldn’t find another hotel room.

We had to call AAA, and they found one last room. So now we have been on the phone with Hotwire trying to get them to cover the cost difference. We also bought insurance.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

When I fell, I not only broke my foot and had bruises in a few other spots; I fell on my Nikon D4 and 28-300mm lens. I broke the lens hood and the filter on the lens. However, the camera appears to be just fine. I have a protective cover on the camera.

I think the lens is not smooth as it was while working—so off to the repair shop.

We did not want to spend all our time in the ER and on the phone finding hotels this weekend—we were here to celebrate.

I guess you can see I am in the middle of the story of my life these past few days.

GUIDE/RESOURCE

When I fell, one of the Citadel parents rushed to take care of me. He was a trainer for many years in the NFL. He was checking me out. Someone ran and brought a bag of ice for me. The cadets got a golf cart to take me to my car. Most importantly, my daughter Chelle and my wife Dorie responded and cared for me in many ways.

At first, I thought it was just a bad sprain and only later went to the ER to rule out the break.

Where is this story going, you might be asking?

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1000, ƒ/9, 1/500

I took this photo this week on my trip to Honduras. We stopped to get gas, and this soccer team was all in a pickup truck, and I rushed to get the photo. They are what we call a team. It is a small community. You know because you all can see you belong to each other when you wear the uniform.

We also are all part of the community.

Do you desire a community as much as I do? I am guessing you, too, like to walk into places and feel like Norm on the TV show Cheers, where everyone greeted him with his name “Norm.”

I just loved this song, and even though the show is no longer on TV, the lyrics to this song do touch on the concept of the importance of community. In case you are too young to remember the show, here are the lyrics:

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.
You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

I want to tell you some key things I have discovered to help you find your community. Your community is where you will find your Guides and Resources to help you with your life story.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/4, 1/1700

You may see something like Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and wonder if this is my community. You may have to start here to establish where you will find your community.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/9, 1/35

One of the great places I have found to find a community is through houses of worship. This photo is in Santidad Catholic Church in Juticalpa, Honduras, where the community is gathering for worship.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 280, ƒ/14, 1/250

The first community, most of us, are a part of is our family. Here is Wilfredo Lopez in Cocalico, Olancho, Honduras, a gardener. The community created a seedling garden which then supplied the plants for 16 gardens to help the community’s families. They came together to help solve a nutrition problem in their community.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 1600, ƒ/16, 1/250

All animals have this instinct that community is key to survival. So here you can see how the cattle come together as a herd. Here are the cattle at Rancho el Paraíso (Paradise Ranch) that I was staying at in Honduras.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 450, ƒ/8, 1/100

“Birds of a feather flock together” is a true statement and will help you find your affinity group.

Find a group that has similar interests to you and join it. Get involved. Support the other people. When someone in the group’s life story does as mine and takes a turn for the worse—take this as an opportunity to build deeper relationships.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 200, ƒ/9, 1/180–pop up fill flash.

Here is the Northpoint Communities in Atlanta team that was in Honduras while I was there with the writer and executive director. They were there to go into the communities and help prevent diseases by building latrines, pouring concrete floors in the homes where dirt floors existed, and helping put in stoves with chimneys. All three of these tasks saved many lives in the years ahead.

While they were giving, they talked each night about how much they were receiving by giving.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 2500, ƒ/11, 1/500

Even before they went to the villages, they bonded at the hotel the night before work.

This weekend my wife and daughter have loved and supported me. I feel bad that I have to be on the receiving end of all their love and attention. I would much rather be healthy and give to them.

This bible verse sums up how wonderful my wife is to me. I am truly a blessed man.

Proverbs 31:10-31
In Praise of a Good Wife
A perfect wife is the most precious treasure a man can find! Her husband depends on her, and she never lets him down. She is good to him every day of her life, [Click here to read more]

UPDATE:

The lens is off to Nikon for repair, and I met with an Orthopedist this morning.

I am rejoicing because I didn’t have to have surgery and have a boot that I can walk in. The only thing slowing me down the next few weeks is orders from the Dr not to drive.

Shooting scenics on dirt roads out of moving Toyota Land Cruiser

by Stanley LearyOctober 12, 2014September 18, 2022Photography

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/4, 1/1700

While in Honduras, I spent a long time in a Toyota Land Cruiser on dirt roads feeling like a bobblehead doll.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 2500, ƒ/7.1, 1/500–Raindrops got on the lens.

We would be on dirt roads like this one for a couple of hours at a time.

I was in the front seat riding shotgun because I was 6’2″, and the others were much smaller in the back seat. The others had been here many times before and were astonished that I was getting any usable pictures. They had terrible experiences in these situations.

So how was I able to get sharp photos?

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/7.1, 1/500

How I did it

1) Image Stabilization

I was shooting with my Fuji X-E2 camera and 18-55mm lens, which has integrated four-stop image stabilization that helps to minimize the appearance of camera shake normally inherent to low-light conditions and with longer focal lengths. The image stabilization made a huge difference and allowed me to use technology to compensate for my tossing around like a rag doll in the Land Cruiser.

2) Shutter-Speed

When you choose the Auto ISO on the camera, the camera automatically selects a sensitivity between the default and maximum values. Sensitivity is only raised above the default value if the shutter speed required for optimal exposure is slower than the value selected for MIN. SHUTTER SPEED.

Suppose the value selected for DEFAULT SENSITIVITY is higher than that chosen for MAX. The DEFAULT SENSITIVITY setting to the value specified for MAX. SENSITIVITY.

The camera may select shutter speeds slower than MIN. SHUTTER SPEED if pictures would still underexposing at the chosen value for MAX. SENSITIVITY.

I have set my AUTO ISO range of 200 to 6400. The one thing I do go to change regularly is the minimum shutter speed. I have it set for 1/500 when taking the photos from the moving vehicle.

Looking at the captions, you will notice that sometimes the camera would go even faster than 1/500. That is because I was in Aperture Priority and chose a ƒ-stop that bumped the shutter speed up.

I could have stayed in AUTO ISO and just gone manual, and the camera would then let me choose any shutter speed and aperture and adjust the ISO for a good exposure.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 800, ƒ/9, 1/500

3) Hold the Camera Steady

Do your best to hold the camera still. I tried not to rest my arms on the window but to float, so the camera bounced as hard as we hit a bump.

4) Depth-of-field

In general, you will not be close to subjects, so shallow depth-of-field is not a significant concern, but I recommend capturing the sweeping landscape to shoot high aperture as I did on some of these photos.

In the first photo, I shoot at ƒ/4, and some pictures ƒ/10. So experiment and be sure you are not shooting at such a large aperture that your shutter speed goes down.

5) Roll down the window

I see many people trying to shoot through glass, and sometimes you have no choice. If you can roll down the window or slide it open, do so. The glass will degrade your photos’ colors, saturation, and sharpness.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/10, 1/500

This would be difficult to do with your camera phone since most come with no controls such as shutter speed or aperture. Camera defaults will give you poor results, which is why you need to learn how to use your camera to adjust it to maximize it for each situation.

Honduran Dentist prefers education to pulling teeth

by Stanley LearyOctober 10, 2014September 18, 2022Nikon D4 / storyteller

Dr. Natalia Velásquez Alonzo is a dentist in the rural Agalta Valley of Honduras. She is at her main office at Rancho el Paraíso of Honduras Outreach.

I went with her and the rest of the mobile medical team to a small village El Pedrero two hours north of the ranch on these dirt roads. I felt like a bobblehead bouncing around for those two hours. About halfway there, the electricity to the area stopped.

When HOI started going to this community, they stopped before they crossed the river and crossed over in canoes. Today they have a bridge to get to the village. When they first started going, this was what most of the village people lived in.

The inside of their houses were dirt floors and walls. They let the wind and rain through.

Dr. Natalia Alonzo worked for the government as a dentist before coming to HOI five months ago. She went into the schools and taught as she is now for HOI. Here she is teaching the students about dental hygiene in El Pedrero. She prefers doing this to having to pull teeth.

Many government dentists do not have enough supplies, and so many patients have many teeth pulled with just one shot or none. So Dr. Alonzo likes working with HOI, where she has enough supplies to use what would be standard procedures to those in the United States due to the giving that supports the medical team.

Here is the medical clinic in the village of El Pedrero. The Toyota Land Cruiser is their mobile medical truck. North Point Ministries helped other groups to buy this vehicle through their “Be Rich” campaign. The idea started at North Point Ministries five years ago and caught on quickly. The message from the pulpit was straightforward–you have it, they don’t.

Teams are regularly going from the US to help transform Honduras through HOI. Their work over the past twenty-five years has gotten the government’s attention. As a result, next month, President Juan Orlando Hernández and First Lady Ana García Carías of Honduras are coming to Atlanta to present HOI with an award for outstanding service to their country.

Honduras in Context

by Stanley LearyOctober 9, 2014September 18, 2022Photography

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 10000, ƒ/5, 1/100

This young Honduran teen is hanging just outside the door and watching the leader for Young Life lead the group of youth. Michael Aguilar and his wife, Daniela Perez, lead the Young Life program. They have only been in Honduras for less than five months from Nicaragua.

I love this photo because it symbolizes a new youth program where they have many teens peering in from outside and not sure about if they want to join or not.

I learned this technique from Don Rutledge.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 400, ƒ/6.3, 1/100

Here I am showing one of Honduras Outreach Inc’s schools at Agalta Valley, Olancho, Honduras. Again, I stepped back with the 14mm lens to capture the two classrooms going on simultaneously and help the audience see how they teach in an open-air building.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 500, ƒ/9, 1/100

Here I chose to shoot through a window and a door rather than just two doors. Again, I am trying to place these students in these photos in context.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 280, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

Here is a photo of Ubaldo Ponce teaching how to rope cattle. He is also one of the drivers for the Honduras Outreach program.

See how I am not using left and suitable composition elements to show the context, but now a front to back where the cattle help show what Ubaldo is doing.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 5600, ƒ/6.3, 1/250

While this photo is a little tighter shot, it, too, has some context. You see the girl in the background watching the other girls at the board. Hey, I want to know if she is impressed, cheating, or what?

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 5600, ƒ/6.3, 1/250

Here you can see another girl in the classroom working. I love the expression of her sounding out what she is reading. I also like the repetition of her classmates behind her in the class.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 7200, ƒ/5.6, 1/250

This little boy was sitting so still and behaving himself while we waited for more than 2 hours for a program to start. I love his expression.

Now here, I didn’t give you many contexts in the photograph. You don’t need it in every picture, which would be a problem if you did. Mix it up.

Shooting in Honduras and need my flash in the sunlight

by Stanley LearyOctober 6, 2014December 11, 2021Off Camera Flash

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 125, ƒ/14, 1/250, -1.0 EV—Off Camera Neewer TT850 using the Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel to control the flash.

I am down this week in Honduras working at capturing some stories for the NGO HOI. This is just a quick example of what I have taught a few times on the blog about how off-camera flash makes a HUGE difference in your photos.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 125, ƒ/14, 1/250, -1.0 EV

This is what a lot of the tourist capture because first of all they never use a flash outside. There is enough light here why use a flash is their thought.

If your photos look like the one without a flash why would anyone hire you, they can do that without an expert photographer.

WHY? is the key to great storytelling photos

by Stanley LearyOctober 3, 2014September 8, 2024Photography

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/2.8, 1/6

Great Photos Often Ask WHY?

Looking at the photo above, I want to know what they are doing. The more critical question is: WHY?

My mentor, Don Rutledge, talked about how photographers must approach their work like a child, asking, “Why is the sky blue?”

I have written a few times on this blog about the importance of WHY.

When I meet photography students, I like to ask what interests them other than photography. I am asking this because when I look at their portfolios, none of the photos have a passion in them. I don’t feel the photos.

We choose what we are going to photograph. If you understand WHY you like to photograph something, you are understanding what is the core emotional connection between a subject and the audience.

I recommend watching this TED talk by Simon Sinek on the importance of WHY

I like the simplicity of understanding and reversing our usual way of talking. Getting to the heart of the matter is what he is saying.

When I meet those college students, they often tell me what they like to do and how they like to do it, but they seldom tell me WHY.

This key to not just storytelling is at the core of finding the PURPOSE in your life. Once you understand why you like to do something, it is much easier to chart the course for the rest of your life.

Key to a successful story:

Why should the audience care?
Why does this matter to the subject?
Why does it matter to you?

Here is the Law of Diffusion and Innovation that Simon Sinek talks about in the video

Storyteller

Month: October 2014