We are doing a multimedia package when you can’t show the subjects’ faces.

Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 800, ƒ/3.5, 1/100

Hannah Strayer listens to James Dockery as he gives editing suggestions to her project on the Romanian Prostitution story she put together during the Storytellers Abroad Missions Multimedia Workshop in Bucharest, Romania.

Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 10000, ƒ/3.5, 1/100

Hannah, a recent graduate of Baptist Bible College who has been doing short-term missionary work already, was looking for the opportunity to do missions and learn how to put a multimedia package together herself.

Hannah’s assignment was a lady who had been a prostitute and is now working with prostitutes trying to help them off the streets. Unfortunately, she couldn’t show the prostitute’s faces and had to find creative ways to create a b-roll for her project.

Using music and some creative photography, she put together a great project. Please take a look at it here.

Hannah used many different techniques to create a mood. First, she adjusted the exposure on her photos to be sure she was capturing that night atmosphere of the women working on the streets. Picking music that fit the piece was also tricky.

I think she did a great job and can’t wait to see her next project.

If you think you are ready to learn to put it all together and want to learn how to do multimedia, then send me a note, so you are on my email list. I will be shortly putting up my workshops for next year. So here is my email [email protected].

Multimedia Workshop helps a participant navigate through the fog.

 
Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 280, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

I’m sorry, I haven’t the foggiest. But, in fog is how the story process was starting for Liz Ortiz. Liz’s thoughts were clouded by a thick fog early in capturing her story as a workshop participant in the Storytellers Abroad Missions Multimedia Workshop in Bucharest, Romania.

Many things were contributing to the fog.

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 1000, ƒ/5.6, 1/500

I could tell Liz’s questions during her interview with the subject that she was stuck. The subject didn’t answer the question the way she was anticipating, and it appeared as if the subject didn’t answer the question.

After a few times, Liz just moved on. Liz’s question assumed that her subject, Nicolette, understood how a story about her could help not just her but bring more workers and resources to satisfy all of Romania.

Liz was learning to move beyond her preconceived ideas of what she thought the story would be and understanding to help explore the subject through observation and questions.

The missionaries are working to help the Romanians think about more than just their church. For example, Liz grew up as a Baptist and assumed that all Christians believe in evangelizing worldwide. However, this is not how most Romanians think about their faith.

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 1000, ƒ/5.6, 1/500

So due to this, Nicolette never discussed the need to evangelize other communities or Romania. Instead, she saw she could use more workers for her classes at her church.

The missing part of Nicolette’s story was why the audience should care and how they could get involved. Liz initially produced the package to help a missionary raise awareness to the audience and ask them for support for children’s ministry in Romania.

After talking it through with Liz, she decided to add the missionaries to the package to help complete the storyline. Watch Liz’s first package that she did all by herself on Romania Discipleship.

Liz also had some other fun experiences while in Romania. One of them was getting licked by this cow walking down the street in the village of Herăști, Giurgiu, Romania.

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 500, ƒ/8, 1/500

Liz Ortiz just graduated from Liberty University and is doing an internship with ABWE this year in addition to the workshop. Maybe you are in a similar position, just graduated this coming year you are a Junior or Senior in a communication program.

If you do not have a multimedia package you produced solely by yourself in your portfolio, then you might be the perfect candidate for a workshop like this. If you are interested, then send me an email so I can put you on the list for the announcement of next year’s workshops that I am doing. Here is my email address [email protected].

Romanians Winning Their Jerusalem

 
Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 12800, ƒ/8, 1/320

Meet Rob Krieg, IT Director, who was one of the workshop participants in the Storytellers Abroad Missions Multimedia Workshop in Bucharest, Romania.

Rob had been a news photographer earlier in his career. He loved photography and wanted to add to his skills the ability to tell stories.

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 1800, ƒ/5.6, 1/500

Rob had the most miniature camera system out of everyone doing the workshop. Rob shot his entire project using the Fuji X-T1 or the Fuji X-E2.

photo by: James Dockery

Rob was knocking it out of the park, getting b-roll. But, he understood the visual side of storytelling just fine.

What Rob worked on the most during the workshop was understanding the audio portion of the project. He had never been responsible for asking the questions for the interview and helping to direct the story.

What made the story more difficult for Rob was while he was getting the story concept, the subject didn’t see how they fit into the bigger picture. No matter how he sequenced the interview, there was just something missing.

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 360, ƒ/8, 1/500

After taking some time to talk with Rob about the story of James Dockery, Jeff Raymond and I advised him to interview our host and missionary, Tom Graef. Tom is here talking with the priest for the Orthodox Church in Herăști, Giurgiu, Romania.

Now the most challenging thing was intertwining Tom’s comments with the subject Simon Bayrakcioglu. It would be easy to stay with Tom’s words because he was more articulate, but his remarks to Simon gave the story more power.

You see, the one thing that Rob learned was the whole point of getting someone’s comments recorded is the power of the first-person narrative to give authenticity to a story.

Listen and watch how Rob blended Romania’s visuals with Tom and Simon’s interviews.

 

Rob discovered that he had to have someone speak into the story. What also Rob learned was the importance of persistence.

By the way, Rob was one of the perfect candidates for the workshop. He had already mastered photography and was looking to add the storytelling skill using multimedia.

Email me if you are interested in taking a multimedia workshop next year. Here is my email address for you [email protected].

Romania Orphan Ministry

 
Fuji X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/3.6, 1/2200

Last year I met Korinna Waggoner for the first time. She was one of the participants of the Lisbon, Portugal Storytellers Abroad Multimedia Workshop.

She liked the experience so much that she wanted to do this again, so she joined us in Bucharest, Romania, this year.

While hearing all the content for teaching mainly was a repeat, hearing it for the second time was beneficial to Korinna.

Fuji X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/2.8, 1/60

Last year Korinna experienced more bumps in the road with access to the subject. With all the preplanning we do, there is still a chance scheduling may need some adjusting. However, Korinna’s subject was more accessible this year and made for a much better story.

Here is her story from this year on Orphan Ministry in Romania.

 

When asked the most important things learned she learned this year, Korinna had three that rose to the top:

  1. Video/Storytelling Confidence
  2. How I can do storytelling on my own
  3. Social Media
After doing this 2nd workshop, Korinna was saying sign me up for storytelling for missions.
 
I believe that after two of these workshops, most people would be ready to adventure out on their own. However, if you are a mid-career in the communications field or towards the end of your career, you could probably take just one of these workshops and be ready.
 
Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 12800, ƒ/8, 1/250
A critical aspect of a successful workshop is feeling like you can just be yourself. Now I hope this was taking place as we drove to different locations. I think Korinna was having fun. Ha Ha, Well, I was at least.
 
Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 2200, ƒ/4, 1/100
Here Korinna is talking with James Dockery, senior editor with ESPN, about her story. Having these one-on-one times with each workshop participant is where James and I feel like we were able to help the most.
 
photo by: Jeff Raymond
We also did some lectures, but this was only about 10% to 20% of the workshop. Only a small percentage of classes is because we needed everyone to be hands-on and learn from doing rather than by being lectured.
 
You can go online and listen to all you want tips on how to use software and see lots of examples of how to do multimedia projects. The workshop helped all these students by having someone walk beside them every step of their journey and having someone who pulled from all their experience and not just doing it alone for the first time.
 
Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 900, ƒ/3.2, 1/500
Here is Korinna shooting in the village of Herăști, Giurgiu, Romania.
 
Korinna’s advice to those considering a Multimedia Workshop:

Do it! What you will learn on this trip is far more than you can ever expect!

Email me if you are interested in taking a multimedia workshop next year.

Romanian Camp Ministry

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 1800, ƒ/5.6, 1/500

This photo is how I see Keziah Khoo. She is always having fun and making lots of friends all over the world.

Here she is with her new friends in Bucharest, Romania. I first met Keziah in February 2014 at the School of Photography 1 class at the Youth With A Mission campus in Kona, Hawaii. She went with a group that I was teaching on an around the Island tour before the class started.

Fuji X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/7.1, 1/600

She just exudes fun, so much so that even the horses like posing with Keziah. As you can see, Keziah is all about everyone having fun, so I wasn’t surprised when she chose to do a story on camps in Romania.

Here is her finished package.

 

Throughout the process, Keziah would get tips from the leaders.

Nikon D750, Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8G, ISO 500, ƒ/1.8, 1/100

James Dockery, ESPN Video Editor–James works as a lead video editor for ESPN and operates his own business in Charlotte, NC, where he is a photographer/ videographer. James has been a photographer for over 30 years and a videographer for over 20 years. He is helping Keziah with her edits in Adobe Premier Pro.

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 2200, ƒ/5.6, 1/500

Jeff Raymond, ABWE Director of Visual Communications–Jeff works closely with ABWE missionaries to train them to use visual storytelling as the basis of their communications strategies. He also has a passion for investing in others with creative skills and creating an avenue for them to serve the Lord in missions. He is shooting beside Keziah on one of our b-roll gathering adventures in Bucharest, Romania.

Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR,  ISO 1800, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

We drove out to Herăști, Giurgiu, Romania, a small village outside of Bucharest, about an hour by car. Here Keziah is taking a photo of some of the local guys.

So what did Keziah think of the experience:

The teaching was really good and covered everything I needed to know about creating a multimedia piece.

Keziah listed to list 2 or 3 of the essential things she learned. She said this:

Patience – When technical stuff went wrong

Focus – in pushing through, finishing the edits no matter how frustrating it was

Flexibility – plans

It has been fun watching Keziah grow in her skills. She has also taught me how valuable it is to have photos of yourself with those you meet along your journey.

Want to be a better photographer or storyteller? Take Multimedia & Marketing Workshop

 
James Dockery saw this little boy on the steps as we went to buy some water at this corner convenience store in Bucharest, Romania. After asking his mother if he could take a photo, I captured him and the boy. [Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 1600, ƒ/7.1, 1/100]

Take on more responsibility than just taking photos for your projects; this will improve your photography skills.

Today you can take on more responsibility with a project, whereas that just wasn’t possible in the past. In addition, you can easily be in control of the entire project from start to finish today due to the access we now have.

James Dockery works as a lead video editor for ESPN and also operates his own business in Charlotte, NC, where he is a photographer/ videographer. Here he is teaching the class about sliders and how they work. [Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 1000, ƒ/4.5, 1/100]

Due to computers becoming less intimidating and easier to use, barriers no longer exist. Before the Internet, you had to use print media, radio, or TV to reach your audience. Most of these mediums require you to gain the trust of those gatekeepers to use your content. Getting their faith took a lot of time, and you not only had to have outstanding work, but they had to like you.

In the past, you shot your images and handed these to someone like an editor, designer, or publisher, who would then take it from that point to reach the audience. Today you can find your audience and get them literally with just a few clicks.

Workshop participant Liz Ortiz interviewed a small village; and was her first interview, and was having to work with a translator as well. [Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 1000, ƒ/5.6, 1/500]

By creating your project, you can control the entire process. Today learning how to do this for yourself will improve your skills in any of these parts, like photography. I know from editing a project it is rare that I don’t realize I could have used more b-roll. Had I not been responsible for the entire project, I would not be the one yelling at myself to do a better job.

Nothing beats you holding yourself accountable.

Pictures alone do not tell a story. All these years as a photojournalist, the only way my photos communicated the story entirely was when accompanied by text or audio. If you wrote your own story, shot the images, and laid them out in a newspaper, it didn’t take long to see the holes you left while covering a story. Understanding the role of the producer would help you the next time to have a better checklist to be sure your account was even better than your last one.

On our last night in Bucharest, Romania, the workshop participants and hosts got together for a premier of the projects shot that week. While they are not the primary audience, they live there and see this firsthand; they are the ones that will use these stories to help tell their mission supporters back home what they are doing. [Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/25]

The biggest mistake made today–forgetting your audience is not there.

We too often spend all our time with a subject and think this is our story. Instead, we need to take responsibility for the account connecting with the audience.

Why should the audience care? If you know your audience, you will not only be able to answer that question but also learn how to engage them; by the way, your cover the story. If the audience is kindergartners versus working professionals, they will have different interests in the take on the story.

Here is my advice. Take on a personal project that an audience will be interested in or should be interested in and do the story from start to finish.

Maybe help a local nonprofit tell its story and help them raise funds. The key here is not to say to the report, but be sure it is put on the web or in some printed piece and gets to the audience. Then you need to measure the success of your story. Did you help them raise more money than they did last year without your help?

Keziah Khoo, the workshop participant from Singapore, listens to James Dockery giving some editing tips in Adobe Premier Pro to help polish up her project. [Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 12800, ƒ16, 1/50]

In telling the story, you need to do it all. I recommend using multimedia. Multimedia is where you can interview subjects and capture them telling their stories. Use great b-roll to support their comments. Then put this on the web. Be sure you are promoting it as you are producing it.

When you take a photo of the subject on the first day, write a small paragraph and put it on social media. Then, tell people to stay tuned to see the whole story.

This photo is an example of a still image in that you would write a small paragraph about the lady and her community. Then you would say stay tuned and look for the story on your blog or YouTube feed, for example. [Nikon D750, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/100]

After you have taken on a project, you will start to see how all the pieces fit together. You will understand how to ask better questions in the future to help you do your role better when you are just part of the team and not doing it solo.

If you are used to just taking pictures of a story, will your photography suffer by doing it all? YES! However, will the project have more impact? YES!

I just got back from Romania, where the workshop participants I helped teach with James Dockery and Jeff Raymond for the first time did the entire project from start to finish.

Please take a look here at what Jon Franz did with his story. I know Jon’s work is helping because I didn’t just “LIKE” the package; I am “SHARING” it.

Does all this sound too intimidating? I recommend taking a multimedia workshop like the one I led in Bucharest, Romania, and last year in Lisbon, Portugal.

More than 80% to 90% of the time you are in the workshop, you produce the package. 10% to 20% is formal class time. James Dockery and I have discovered that getting people doing it hands-on works better than lecture. We then come alongside you and advise. We found that each workshop participant is different.

This approach lets the workshop participants draw upon our years of experience.

I am working on two workshops right now for next year. One will be in Roswell, Georgia, and one more in a foreign country. These will be 5 to 6-day workshops.

The workshop will match you with a local nonprofit to create a powerful photo story about their mission. We will have lectures, hands-on instruction, and business skills seminars throughout the week. Finally, we end with a public slideshow.

You will work directly with nonprofit staff and clients with an end project designed to be a call to action for the audience. You will have 1-on-1, personalized editing for each student happening every day. Our lectures will contain some of our work with storytelling, teaching storyline, how to interview subjects, getting that all-important b-roll, and how to put it all together using Adobe Premier Pro.

If you are interested, contact me at [email protected] so I can put you on the mailing list for more details.

Should I buy primes or zooms?

Nikon D4, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 2200, ƒ/5.6, 1/500

Primes vs. zooms. Well, that is not a simple one-size-fits.

Don’t be the photographer who always says prime or zoom–you will be like the guy who uses a hammer to fix everything.

If you know what and how you like to shoot, it is much easier to find the best lenses.

To get a lot of variety with a prime lens requires you to move a great deal more with a subject to get a variety of images.

For example, a prime works excellent if you are looking for a portrait lens. You have more control of the subject. You can have them stay still, and then you can shoot wide open and get that silky bokeh. When shooting wide open apertures like ƒ/1.4 and the closer you are to the subject, just taking a breath can cause you to move and miss your focus.

Nikon D4, Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D, ISO 12800, ƒ/1.8, 1/250

However, if you are shooting more photojournalistic and you need to capture a story in which you cannot stop the people and have them pose as well as needing more variety of photos you might want to consider zooms over primes.

I shoot a lot with a 28-300mm lens which lets me move quickly and not worry too much about do I have the right focal length on the lens. In other words, I get the shot more often than had I been switching lenses.

Not all primes are better than zooms, and with today’s lens profiles built into software like Adobe PhotoShop and Lightroom, the software can practically make what was inferior glass due to chromatic aberrations perfect. For example, lens Profile Corrections is a tool within Lightroom’s Develop Module that allows fixing such lens problems as distortion, chromatic aberration, vignetting, and perspective correction “non-destructively” without leaving Lightroom.

My point here is that it is not as big of an issue as it was in film days.

 
Here you can see the scores on zoom lenses. While overall, the scores are lower than primes, as shown below, not all zooms are inferior to heights.
 
 
Notice that Sigma 18-35mm ƒ/1.8 is the sharpest of all these lenses.
 
 
Here is my favorite lens the Nikkor 14-24mm ƒ/2.8.  It is exceptionally sharp.

The primary issue that most photographers consider is the variety of images they like to shoot. If you are shooting all these photos, for example, a couple of zooms would make it easier to get the pictures than primes.

Opener: Sets the scene for the story
Decisive moment: The one moment that can by itself tell the story
Details: Besides being like visual candy to the story, help often with transitions–especially in multimedia packages
Sequences: give a little variety to a situation
High overall shot: Gives a good perspective to how the elements all fit together
Closer: Besides the classic shot of the cowboy riding off into the sunset there are other visual ways to help bring the story to a close
Portraits: These photos are great for introducing the characters of the story

Nikon D4, Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D, ISO 400, ƒ/1.4, 1/125

However, if you are shooting a headshot, then a prime like the Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8 would be my choice.

If money is of significant concern, I will go with zooms because I can have more focal length choices.

Zoom or Prime?

Photo A

Here is the same situation with the other lens

Photo B

Now here is one more that you need to compare even more

Photo C

These two lenses, the 1) Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D or 2) AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, shot these three photos.

  • Photo A – Nikon D4, 28-300mm (300), ISO 100, ƒ/5.6, 1/25 – Off-camera fill-flash using the Nikon SB-900. The Flash is on the hot shoe of the Pocketwizard TT5. They are triggered by the Mini TT1 on the Camera with the AC3 to control the output of the Flash. Flash is -2 EV, and the Camera is -1 EV.
  • Photo B – Nikon D4, 85mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 100, ƒ/5.6, 1/50 – Off-camera fill-flash using the Nikon SB-900. The Flash is on the Pocketwizard TT5 and is triggered by the Mini TT1 on the Camera with the AC3 to control the output of the Flash. Flash is -2 EV, and the Camera is -1 EV.
  • Photo C – Nikon D4, 85mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/50 – Off-camera fill-flash using the Nikon SB-900. The Flash is on the Pocketwizard TT5 and is triggered by the Mini TT1 on the Camera with the AC3 to control the output of the Flash. Flash is -2 EV, and the Camera is -1 EV.
Summary
 
Which lens is best? Well, that depends on the photographer. Some photographers could make just about any camera and lens look great, while others can do just the opposite. However, some lenses best fit you based on your shooting style and subject matter.
 

If you are still confused, then rent these lenses before buying.

By the way, I own both.