[Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, ISO 5000, ƒ/5.6, 1/250]

If you don’t know what you want to capture in a moment, then the odds are that you will not capture that moment.

Take this dance scene from the musical Oklahoma! I wanted to capture all the dancers in a peak moment where they were all in step together, and the light was good on their faces. Just as important was getting the best expressions possible.

It is difficult to capture the moment when all the dancers are in time together, and all their body parts, hands, and feet are in sync. As you can tell, I have a definite moment in dance numbers that I am looking for.

Peak moments with people almost always are where I can see their expressions, and the word brings more to the photo. I remember studying the cowboy art of Russell and Remington. The most significant difference between their work compared to other western artists was in the details of the expressions of their characters.

One of the photos I took, even my daughter’s friends, had fun with by creating a meme where the reference to this photo of Aunt Eller chewing out Ali Hakim looks a lot like Michelangelo’s painting of The Creation of Adam on the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. My point here, pun intended, is that significant moments are what artists throughout history have captured.

If you want to know what you need to capture, then study the master painters. The more you become familiar with these iconic images, the more you will recognize those real-life moments.

Now laughter and smiles are a good thing to always look for, but please don’t try and make all your photos “happy.” This is the fastest track to looking fake if you overdo it. You will have coverage that looks like the “Stepford Wives” movie.

Now the other thing you will notice in most situations is the lighting isn’t always perfect as in this photo. Will Parker is in the light, and Ado Annie is not as well lighted. Again you are going for the best moment.

In a musical, the actors do all they can to over-emphasize moments. In real life, you must really pay attention to people and feel their emotional state. This will help you anticipate moments.

Being easily deceived or tricked and too willing to believe everything other people say means you are gullible. You are easily deceived because you haven’t taken the time to observe people and pick up on those body language moments that tip you off.

All I can say is you must immerse yourself into storytelling. Watch movies, musicals, and plays, which will give you insights. To see moments study the masters in the arts.

An association is a conglomerate of professionals engaged in the same profession working toward goals that promote the best practices and ethical behavior and provide services for the general welfare and common benefit of all members.

But what happens when an industry starts losing jobs, as in photojournalism?

Photographers, artists, and videographers have experienced a 43 percent decrease in jobs since 2000, dropping from 6,171 to only 3,493 jobs in 2012 — the most significant difference faced by newspaper staffers, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). Reporters and writers were next in line, dropping jobs by 32 percent. Copy editors, layout editors, and online producers lost 27% of all jobs.

However, while there are parts of the industry, shrinking photography usage is at an all-time high.

This year, according to the market research firm InfoTrends, global consumers will take more than one trillion digital photos.

The number of photos taken each year is exponential: It has nearly tripled since 2010 and is projected to grow to 1.3 trillion by 2017. The rapid proliferation of smartphones is mostly to blame. Seventy-five percent of all photos are now taken with a phone, up from 40 percent in 2010. Full-fledged digital cameras now represent only 20 percent of the tally and are expected to drop to just 13 percent by 2017, InfoTrends said.

Photographers produce and preserve images that paint a picture, tell a story, or record an event. To create commercial-quality photographs [photos people will pay you to take], photographers need technical expertise, creativity, and the appropriate professional equipment. Producing a successful picture requires choosing and presenting a subject to achieve a particular effect and selecting suitable cameras and other photographic enhancing tools.

I think each professional photographer either consciously or subconsciously looks at an organization as a way that will help them grow professionally and socially. The question about these organizations is whether they can meet those needs/wants and relationships that professional photographers desire.

NPPA, ASMP & SWPJC provided: [they didn’t do all these each of them, but collectively for me, they did]

1. Education
2. Advocacy
3. Networking
4. Benefits
   1. Health Insurance
   2. Camera Insurance
   3. Discounts with vendors
5. Benchmarking

EDUCATION

Before the internet, these organizations were pretty much it when it came to those services; after the internet and when it became easy for people to create their websites and share photos/videos, there was a lot of World-Wide competition.

Here are some people that put more on their websites for free photography education than the organizations ever offered:

1. David Hobby – The Strobist
2. Improve Photography LLC
3. FStoppers

Others came along and took their production of the content up to higher levels and then charged for their services. Scott Kelby was the biggest name in photography doing this, who started PhotoShop World and KelbyOne. More recently, Jeremy Cowart tells you not to spend money on a four-year college but spend it on his online See University. By the way, that isn’t an accredited school.

ADVOCACY

While I have been appreciative of all the work ASMP and NPPA have done on copyright protections, none of this helped me keep any staff job or assignment.

Professional Photographers would be lining up to join the organizations if the advocacy was helping the average photographer.

I am sure the lawyers and leaders of those organizations can point out how protecting copyright is necessary. However, for the last 20+ years, more and more clients are now more copyright-savy, asking for all rights or asking you to work for hire. We did a great job empowering those hiring us and had little to do with protecting our incomes.

I am also sure that without all this help from the lawyers, we would be even worse off. But then, Advocacy is seldom realized in a tangible way for a professional photographer to join an organization. They need help getting jobs and knowing how to keep them.

NETWORKING

Today with social media, we are more connected than ever before. We can organize with other photographers in our communities for free.

An organization/association can offer some requirements to be a member and, due to those standards, offer a quality environment for its members. This is one of the enormous benefits of an association. There is a filter so that those in the group are what you want to meet up with.

Benefits

It is difficult to get discounts without an organization that can negotiate this with vendors. The vendors want access to the membership, and the members need help keeping their costs down.

WHY?

The question people must ask is, “Why?”. Why do I need an association? Do associations need to be asking why they exist?

Once an organization can tell you in a sentence its purpose, people can quickly decide if that purpose meets their needs to survive.

Associations today haven’t caught up with where their membership lives. They lack focus that services their member’s needs.

BIG SECRET!!!!

The one thing people are looking for more than anything else is relationships that are genuinely enriching their lives. First, they want to be accepted by people as they are. They want those relationships to help them grow. Challenge them to get better and be there when things are difficult for them.

When an organization works hardest at treating people with honor, dignity, and respect–It will grow in membership.

Why did so many photography associations shrink? First of all, many jobs disappeared in traditional places. Second I believe the members were not all treated with honor, dignity, and respect.

People want in a relationship not so much to get something but to be allowed to give. Not everyone was welcomed or cherished.

The big secret is that people are looking for relationships. How respectfully will we be to nurture this so they and the organizations will grow?

Associations are greatly needed but cannot be like your father’s association.