Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 DG Art, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/2500

Capturing moments like this one in Togo, West Africa, is what I thought many years ago would be my full-time career today.

During a youth retreat in high school, I responded to what I believed was a call to full-time Christian ministry. My church licensed me into the ministry. This was the first step down a process I thought would have me do ministry/missions full-time. Full-time, meaning I would pay all my bills from being on the staff of a missions agency.

I received this call while a senior in high school. My father, a pastor/missionary, gave me counsel. My father mentored me and guided me to avoid some of his mistakes. Together, we determined that I needed a path in education.

You will open more doors with a master of divinity degree. This is required for most pastor and missionary positions. Before you can get a master’s, you need a bachelor’s degree. This is where my father gave me some wisdom from his experience. He said he worked a great deal in two areas that a master of divinity doesn’t prepare you well.

Most ministers and missionaries are an organization’s leaders, and a business degree would help you with administrative responsibilities. The second area was that of a counselor.

I decided to major in social work, and then I planned to go to seminary.

While in college, I discovered photography and, more specifically, photojournalism. In my senior year, while on spring break, I was offered a job as a photojournalist for a newspaper. I didn’t see this as a departure from ministry but a call to a specialist role in the church.

I met Don Rutledge during my senior year in college; he would become my mentor. Rather than telling that entire story here, you can read more here. Don was a photojournalist who worked for the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board as the primary photographer for The Commission Magazine.

A year and a half later, I would get a phone call from Don Rutledge about a photographer position on their staff.

I would spend five years working on the staff before they went through the financial crisis and cut my position.

This was a great time with Don Rutledge. Unable to find a staff job due to the economy, I believed seminary would help open closed doors. This was one of the best things I have ever done. I thought I would study and learn all this theology that would help me, and I did, but I didn’t know how much I would learn about education. I learned a lot about lesson planning and how people learn.

Upon graduating, I thought I was better equipped to help tell those missionary stories and a better communicator. However, no positions opened up for me in the church. I did find a job at Georgia Tech.

The assignments here stretched me in other ways. I worked with Gary Meek, and the two of us helped to tell the stories shared through all kinds of media. We have published in many national magazines and newspapers as well as all the public relations materials for the school.

I thought my time at the school was God’s way of further preparing me for something in missions. Well, it did help me in so many ways, and I learned many new skills I use today.

For the past fifteen years, I have been a full-time freelancer, taking any job in photography and communications to help pay the bills. I was assisting NGOs with web design. I had learned how to create my webpage to help me with freelancing, and others heard and asked me to help them.

I would make a mission trip every few years but never turned this into a full-time career. Last year, I made four separate mission trips, each for a week. The rest of my freelancing helped pay the bills, allowing me to do those mission projects.

I am still longing for the opportunity to do full-time ministry work.

Today, I am asking myself, did God call me? Why am I not working full-time for an organization doing missions/ministry if he did?

Most likely, I am limiting God with all my questions. Maybe I am doing missions and ministry, and my understanding of what defines ministry is more limiting than how God sees it.

The one character in the bible I can relate to the most is Joseph, the youngest son of Jacob. He was given a dream that wouldn’t come true for most of his life. In telling the story, it wouldn’t be fulfilled until the very end of the story, which took most of his lifetime.

His older brothers knew Joseph as their father’s favorite. For this reason, his ten older brothers conspired against the boy and sold him to slave traders while telling their father an animal had mauled him. Joseph had been given dreams of God’s plan for his life, so he endured this fantastic story in Genesis with confidence and strength.

He would be falsely accused and thrown into jail. It would be his gift to interpret dreams that would have him later become a leader for the Pharaoh of Egypt and lead them through a time of famine and for his vision as a young boy to come true.

Are you, too, feeling depressed and beaten down? Do you wonder if God ever called you to pursue your profession?

Did you know that scripture commonly associates those who minister for a paycheck as false ministers?

“No man can be the bondservant of two masters; for either he will dislike one and like the other, or he will attach himself to one and think slightingly of the other. You cannot be the bondservants both of God and of gold.”

– Matthew 6:24

The first missionary was Paul, who earned his living as a tentmaker. He said:

If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? Yet we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than put an obstacle in the way of the Good News about Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:12

Paul also instructed people to work and earn a living:

Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and wasting time meddling in other people’s business. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we appeal to such people-no, we command them: Settle down and get to work. Earn your own living.

2 Thessalonians 3:11

The biblical word “pastor” is the same as “shepherd” (which is simply a caring servant of God’s people), and Jesus Himself made this point clear when he said the following about such “ministers”:

“A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.”

John 10:12-13 (MSG)

Christians supported Paul’s travels financially, and Paul encouraged the Saints to consider those who spent their lives ministering the Gospel. Still, the gifts were given freely, from love and in response to need (ACTUAL NEED – i.e., FOOD AND CLOTHING).

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

1 Timothy 6:6-11 (NKJV)

I fully believe that IF God has ordained their service, He will also fully provide every legitimate need. But the minister should not have a high and mighty opinion that he is above the need to earn his living and provide for his family and ministry.

That provision may be having another job to pay the bills.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 

If you have the money and time to do missions full-time, then God wouldn’t get any credit, but if you lack money and time, then when you get to do missions, you know it is because of God and not your abilities that made it happen.

A shallow Depth-of-Field can help draw more attention to a subject and diminish things in the background. For this photo, I used my Nikon D5 and Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 DG Art lens with the camera set at ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, and 1/100.

You must adjust the exposure when shooting on snow or at the beach. I find that adding +1 stop using the exposure compensation dial gives the best results. Depending on how your meter interprets the scene, you may need more or less.

This is tricky lighting, but I could tweak the image before I shot it. I saw the results I would be getting, and in theater, the lighting changes so much that this is a blessing to shoot with the mirrorless Fuji X-E2. The electronic viewfinder lets you see what the CMOS chip is seeing and capturing.

The teams are practicing now for Spring soccer and baseball. Here are some tips for getting those action shots for soccer.

You need the right gear to get those peak action shots. Your camera phone is just not going to cut it.

For most of your action shots, you will need a lens to bring that action close to you. I recommend a lens covering the 300mm to 600mm range.

Here is what I use:

I also use the 1.4 or 2x converter with it.

This lets me get close to the action.

Now there are less expensive choices for you to use. I would recommend for the Sigma 150-600mm. It comes in two versions a contemporary and sports version. If you are a heavy user you would want the sports version.

You need to pair these lenses with a good camera body. You can use DSLR and mirrorless cameras to capture the action.

I like to shoot at a high shutter speed of 1/4000. This lets me freeze the action, which makes the photos even sharper. I also enjoy shooting wide-open aperture to keep a shallow depth of field.

When I bought my lens, Nikon had not made the 200-500mm, selling today for about $1250.

These lenses let you shoot from the end zones. I like to be not far from the net, capturing the player’s faces as they move closer to the goal and defend the plan.

Many people try to shoot this action with 70-200mm lenses, but they are not long enough for soccer. They work ok as the action gets close to the goal, but you need to be close to that goal.

Let me say that all of these lenses paired with the latest camera bodies of the major camera manufacturers will give you incredible results.

Here are some features that I would compare with camera bodies.

1. ISO – I recommend cameras with a high ISO of 12,800 or higher
2. Shutter Speed – you need to be shooting at 1/1000 or faster.
3. Motor Drive – I recommend 5+ per second
4. Buffer – The higher, the better. The Nikon D500 and D5 have a pad of 200 shooting RAW.

I believe that the Nikon D5 is in a class all its own for shooting sports. If you don’t want to shell out $6,500, look at the Nikon D500 for $2,000.

While I say all the time, it is the photographer and not the gear that determines a good photo–with sports, you do need some long glass, or you cannot capture the action.

Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art, ISO 100, ƒ/4, 1/320

Before you read this post, take a moment and look at all the photos. Then take a moment and think about what you think they are all about. Once you have done that, come back and pick up the reading.

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Why did I take this photo and the others I am showing you today? Let me talk about each one separately. Also, I would rarely not include some text with these photos no matter where I share them because I want to communicate what is going on.

I was accompanying one of the workshop participants I was helping teach in Togo, West Africa, on her story of a pastor. This was part of the story.

This is a Charlatan Witch Doctor of Fetishes in Togo, West Africa, going into the temple he built for the different gods he worships. In Togo, about half the population practices indigenous religions, of which Vodun [worship of fetishes] is the largest, with some 2.5 million followers.

Vodun cosmology centers around the vodun spirits and other elements of divine essence that govern the Earth, a hierarchy that ranges in power from major deities presiding the forces of nature and human society to the spirits of individual streams, trees, and rocks, as well as dozens of ethnic vodun, defenders of a particular clan, tribe, or nation. The vodun is the center of religious life, similar to doctrines such as the intercession of saints and angels that made Vodun appear compatible with Christianity, especially Catholicism, and produced syncretic religions such as Haitian Vodou. Adherents also emphasize ancestor worship and hold that the spirits of the dead live side by side with the world of the living, each family of spirits having its female priesthood, sometimes hereditary when it’s from mother to blood daughter. [Wikipedia]

I took this photo and how I took it to communicate the belief in many gods by the people of Togo. For many who become Christians, it is still common for many to still practice these Fetishes. The tradition has been so strong for so long in their culture that it is difficult for them to break away from these practices.

Here is the story that the student Hannah Teramura tells the tale of Martouka.

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Why did I make this photo?

Before we sent all eleven students out individually to go and work on their stories, we did a refresher on capturing the interview.

We walked around as a group and agreed on this place to do the interview. We did this based on the lighting, the sound, and the background. We then set up the camera with the subject to be interviewed, the translator, and the student asking the questions and doing the story.

We then practiced and stopped here and there to talk about the camera settings, the interviewing process, and the importance of the student listening with headphones and watching that the subject doesn’t move too much to put them out of focus or out of the frame of the camera.

Can you see how I composed and picked a moment to convey much of this information, but text helped explain who each person is in the photo and their role?

When did I figure out all this?

Before I clicked the shutter! Very important to think through what is going on in front of the camera and then distill all this into a moment that will convey the point you want to make.

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Why did I make this photo?

This is pastor Martouka Anani’s son. Now he was very interested and intense. You can tell he is a thinker trying to figure out why these white people are doing with those cameras.

As I brought the camera up to take her photo, I could see this intensity in his face and body language. I decided I needed to capture this tension. I also decided I wanted to isolate him in the corn field and hint that his brother was in the background.

I felt this girl was fearless, unlike his brother, who was playing. Like his father, this little boy wants to know more than he sees on the surface of people’s faces. He is peering into your soul with his eyes.

Now contrast this to his older sister, who, while still engaging with her eyes, has more softness with her gaze than her younger brother.

Martouka Anani, their father, fell deathly sick after years of growing up in fetish worship and remembered the gospel he had heard as a child. Even though his parents disowned him from walking away from the fetish religion, he pursued Jesus and devoted his life to sharing the good news with others.

Their next-door neighbor is the Charlatan Witch Doctor in the first photo. Just imagine living next door to a faith your father gave up and lost his family and all their day-to-day interactions with that family. I am sure the kids play together but imagine they have to understand why their parents are so different.

Maybe the reason for these looks of the children is they are not sure what we believe and will also be their faith for themselves.

Why am I taking this photo?

I wanted to capture how important faith is to the community we came to cover. This photo by itself doesn’t capture the whole story. But paired with the images above in a larger story helps me convey the culture’s intricacies a little more and helps the reader understand what they are dealing with each day.

Had we just taken photos only in the church buildings, the images are not different than here in the United States. Yes, the building is a little different, but the expressions in prayer look similar. However, with the other photos showing this pastor living next door to a Witch Doctor and that this is the life he left for Jesus, we can see what maybe is something different that they pray about that we don’t have to deal with here.

Summary

I hope you can see that I must take the time to think about what is happening around me. I then have to consider what I want to share with someone through my photos.

If you take photos without knowing what you are trying to say, then your audience will have no clue as to what you are trying to say.

Here are some places to start thinking about the photo that you want to make.

1. What is my emotion right now? Are you happy, sad, melancholic, joyful, etc
2. What is the subject? What is the noun if I put this into a sentence?
3. What is the verb? Thinking again like a sentence, what is going on that I need to show? What would be the verb in the penalty if I were writing this all down? Your shutter speed may help communicate motion, for example, or freeze something.
4. What should I include or exclude? You may do this by composing by moving around and picking a particular lens to capture the content. You may also decide how much is in focus on the subject. You may even choose to not just go from a wide angle to telephoto, but super close with a macro lens.
5. Do I need to alter the light to help with capturing what I need? Do you need a flash? Do you need to wait till the subject moves into the light?

You can ask many more questions to help you determine what to capture with your camera. 

Great photographs are like great poems. The differences are in the nuances. Finding the perfect balance of grammar, simplicity, intricacy, feeling, imagery, and rhythm is one of the most difficult challenges a poet will face. In some cases, a poet’s work might never be done. For example, he might spend several years, or even his entire life, trying to perfect one single poem. He might often omit a word or two here or change some terms there.

The photographer is always looking for ways to improve. They work to understand the technology to help improve their images. They study the subjects to see those nuances to give more understanding.

My challenge to you is to be intentional. Know why you are clicking the shutter, or your audience will not know.

This year we are getting our PR for musical Oklahoma! Started much sooner than last year’s production of Into The Woods. About two months before the performance with the 12′ x 8′ banner.

Last year we were up just a little more than a month before the performance.

Last year the banner was 9′ x 6′. When I put the flag up the previous year, I can remember feeling it wasn’t big enough. I believe the 12′ x 8′ is plenty big for the space.

Every 2 feet, there is a grommet to help you tie the banner to posts like I am doing here. If you are putting this outside and not on a wall, you need to use every one of those grommets. When you do, and wind comes along, each grommet has less tension than if you used just the corners. Your banner will do better in the wind if you tie it well with all the grommets.

You can get an idea of how massive the banner is from the back with me on a 6-foot ladder.

HOW TO MAKE A BANNER

1) Select your source to make the banner. I use AllStateBanners.com. Here is a link to their specs to give you an idea of what you need to supply as file size. https://orders.allstatebanners.com/design-specs

2) Select your image. I recommend shooting in RAW and Lightroom or PhotoShop, resizing the image to the size of the banner. I did it here and exported the photo as a JPEG to 12 feet on the long side. You need to check with your banner source to see their specs. They said 150 dpi or more.

 3) Open the large JPEG photo in PhotoShop and then put text over the photo.

4) All State Banners can take most file types. The first time I sent them, the PhotoShop file was saved as PSD. The last two banners I just exported out of PhotoShop as JPEG. Again the size is the exact size of the banner at 150 dpi. As a PSD, the file is a 1225.1 MB file. As JPEG, it is 66.1 MB file size.

The total cost this year was $229.44. I only paid $206.50 because they were running a 10% discount.

Now, this is only part of our PR. Here are two Facebook Cover size photos for the people to post on their pages to help promote the musical.

Stay tuned to see other ways we use photography to help market the musical.

Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 DG Art, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/800

I can relate to these boys in so many ways. What they are thinking I am not sure, but they do make me think of feeling alone even tho there are people around me.

The reasons these boys may feel isolated is quite different than my own isolation. They are living in one of the poorest nations on earth–Togo, West Africa. When you go into their homes they don’t have a closet with many outfits and shoes. This maybe the only thing they have to wear or maybe one more outfit.

When I would peek into their kitchens I saw no food.

So we might interpret their expressions as related to their poverty and hunger for food. However, I believe that people hunger for true friendships that are deep with roots that bind them to others.

 They are looking for nourishment that comes from deep within people.

When people have deep relationships with friends, they have wells within them that are overflowing and able to glow and give to others. Here you see these guys who are friends that exude happiness.

I continue to find those with wells complete in the houses of worship. These people search beyond what people can give to them for even a relationship that will sustain them even more.

What I love about my profession is capturing all of this and helping to direct people to know where to find that living water that refreshes the soul. It comes from being able to be open and honest with your friends. They know your flaws, and you know theirs. It comes from God, who forgives and seeks a relationship with you.

When people see me as a photographer, I feel isolated. When they see me for who I am and not what I do, I really connect.

I use many different skills from my studies of Social Work, Education, Theology, and many experiences to help people connect to the world in which they live. My ultimate goal is to connect people to deep relationships with others, and I also hope to God.

Who am I? I am looking for another person to go through this life together. I will need many people to make this journey exciting and new.

This is a marketing tip I learned about websites. When people come to your website, they need to know what you do and then have an action item you are encouraging that they take.

This is my website, and the action item is at the top of the menu. “FREE Download” is what I want people to click on to be able to get their email address and contact information. They are then enrolled in my monthly e. Newsletter and I give them the FREE Download of the “Tips for Better Photos” PDF.

They fill out the form you see here and then get an email with their download link.

I am not expecting a ton of signups for this FREE Magazine/Book, but I am hoping I get some engagement from my website that I can measure with something I can then use.

Go to my website at StanleyLeary.com to experience this and see if you think you need to do something similar for your website, and then I hope you enjoy the FREE “Tips for Better Photos.”

Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 DG Art, ISO 1400, ƒ/1.4, 1/200

If photographers would take photos the way, they write, all of their images would most likely be ten times better in quality.

So many people pick up their cameras and point and shoot. Just try and do that with writing. Go ahead and try it. Pick up the pencil or pen and write.

How is that working for those of you who use the “Spray & Pray” methodology? Your percentage of a photo you like is probably better than just clicking one time and moving on.

The famous photographer Ansel Adams’s first chapter in his very first book was about the concept of previsualization in photography, where the photographer can see the final print before the image has been captured. Adams often says, “Visualization is the single most important factor in photography.”

Adams was referring to not just what was in front of the camera but rather his interpretation of what was in front of him to the print before he clicked the shutter.

Most photographers are not producing work like Ansel Adams because very few have taken the time to think about what they are trying to capture and say with their photos.

Previsualization is applied to techniques such as storyboarding, either in charcoal-drawn sketches or digital technology in planning and conceptualizing movie scenery makeup.

The advantage of previsualization is that it allows a director, cinematographer, or VFX Supervisor to experiment with different staging and art direction options—such as lighting, camera placement and movement, stage direction, and editing—without having to incur the costs of actual production. The directors work with actors in the visual effects department or dedicated rooms on the larger budget project.

At the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, they have displayed the sketches, which then are turned into models like here.

After they have done this then they make the actual set that will be used in the movie as you see here for Diagon Alley.

Now compare this set to the street of Cecil Court that most likely inspired J. K. Rowling for Diagon Alley.

This is why Harry Potter the movie is a little more exciting than the just point and shoot of the tourist that I was on Cecil Court. The street has been the inspiration and then the artists create their vision of what they want to use to convey a mood for a story.

Even in sports, the creative photographer is anticipating. I am downfield, waiting for the action to come to me. I have thought about where I need to be and what I want to capture.

TIP FOR BETTER PHOTOS!

Treat the camera like a pen. Before picking it up and putting it to your eye, have some idea of the sentence you will write. If you don’t, you will only have gibberish, which is why your photos don’t work. You didn’t know why you took the picture, and no one else will.

Take this one step further and consider the caption that will also accompany that photograph. This will help you know what you are trying to say with your photo.