Friday, August 17, 2018, was my first-day teaching Intro to Photojournalism at The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

The night before, Dorie, my wife, thought as much as we always take pictures of the kids on their first day, she wanted to do the same with me this year. #ThingEmptyNestersDo

For us, this turned out to be our viral photo. We have never had 383 likes on an image.

The end goal of this class is for the students to learn how to communicate visually, control a camera, compose an image and capture a moment that others will understand. That last part? That’s the hard part!

One of the critical parts of the class is teaching ethics and specifically the ethics of photojournalism. We use the NPPA Code of Ethics.

What is remarkable about teaching at UGA is that the National Press Photographers Association headquarters is at the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

On December 19, 2014, it was announced that NPPA relocated its headquarters to UGA. Mark Johnson was the initiative’s leader in bringing the NPPA to UGA. Mark sold the idea to both the Grady School and NPPA. It was his enthusiasm that created a partnership that was a win-win opportunity.

Mark is the one who asked me to teach at UGA.

So on Friday, I had two JOUR 3330: Introduction to Photojournalism classes to teach, back to back. The class size is limited to 20, and I had 17 in one class and 18 in the other.

Being nervous that first day, I packed too much into that first class. I think in the following courses, I will be more relaxed, and the pacing of the content will be better for the students and me.

I am having lots of fun looking for content to share in the class.

This is one of the videos I came across that does a great job of teaching depth-of-field by explaining how it works.

This week we will be getting a little history of photojournalism. Here is a video about Eugene Smith I will be showing, and then we will discuss it in the class.

I love preparing for class and looking forward to helping another crop of students become passionate about visual storytelling.

This is my uncle Knolan Benfield who was the first to give me a camera and teach me photography.

Knolan talked with me over his counter in his studio in Hickory, North Carolina, in 1979 about how to use this range finder camera he gave me. It took 35mm film and didn’t have a meter.

No meter meant you had no way to measure the light and see what a perfect exposure was. He gave me a roll of film and then pulled out the paper that came with the film.

I learned about the Sunny ƒ/16 rule. This is where in direct sunlight, the Aperture is ƒ/16, and the shutter speed is equivalent to the ISO. So if you had ISO 64, your shutter speed would be the closest to that; for my camera, that was 1/60. Using the chart with the film, I learned how to properly expose Sunlight, Cloudy days, Shade, and backlit photos.

This is how I took photos when I first started. I dropped that camera while ice-skating when my dad bought me my first DSLR Pentax K1000 camera. I could change lenses, and it had a built-in meter.

Now in the days of film, you buy a film that would work indoors or outdoors. You didn’t change your ISO from frame to frame as you can today with digital.

I remember Knolan taking time to explain how Aperture and Shutter-speed worked.

One of the most important things he taught me was how the Kodak Brownie box camera worked and how my camera was different.

The original Brownie camera had one aperture of ƒ/11 and one shutter speed of 1/35-1/50 seconds.

Knolan pointed out that only using the sunny ƒ/16 rule outside meant I could have saved a lot of money and bought the Kodak Brownie camera rather than the Pentax K1000.

Besides controlling the exposure, Aperture and Shutter-Speed give you creativity.

Today I am channeling all those comments that Knolan taught me. If you only shoot at one aperture all the time, you are missing out on so much creativity that your camera can do.

Assignment to do

Depth of Field & Lens Selection
4 images with the same composition, altering the aperture and focal length
1. Widest focal length, widest aperture (~ f/3.5)
2. Widest focal length, aperture between f/11-f/22
3. Longest focal length, widest aperture (~ f/4.5-5.6)
4. Longest focal length, aperture between f/11-f/22

Some previous blog posts to help you:
Depth of Field Preview – A tool underused by many photographers
Depth-of-field is more than Aperture

The first days of school are happening this month all over our country. Our family always took a photo of the kids on their first day. We were all excited every year for that first.

Watching your child grow in stature through the years was just one way of seeing positive changes for them and you.

When Nelson, our oldest, graduated from high school, he was now in charge of that next school choice and what he would take. Most of us have fewer choices about what to take up through high school. We had some say in which science course or English course we would take, but we still had few options compared to the next step–college.

When it comes to the first days at college, the experience varies greatly; we came to learn when our oldest, Nelson, decided to enroll at The Citadel. My wife helps other parents each year by assisting them in navigating military college life and teaching them how best to support their students without being helicopter parents.

When the youngest, Chelle, went to college, the experience was so different.

Both of them embraced college and all that it entails. They did a great job picking majors that perfectly suited each of them.

Others choose alternative education, like YWAM’s University of Nations in Kona, Hawaii. These students take one course at a time for 3 to 6 months. This is a group photo of the class I taught this past February.

Most colleges and universities have some “general education” requirements, forcing students to take at least a few math and science courses. Still, many non-science majors will take the bare minimum and work hard to put those off as long as possible. Disgruntled spring-term seniors who don’t want to be in the course but can’t graduate without it are a regular and unpleasant feature of “Gen Ed” courses.

I had a one-course requirement for statistics that frustrated me to no end. I took the class three times. The professor’s English was complicated to understand my first time taking it. Later, when I retook it, I realized this wasn’t the only reason I struggled with that course.

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

― Albert Einstein

I then retook the class at Brookdale Community College while home from East Carolina University during the summer. I still struggled. I finally passed the course during summer school at East Carolina. My motivation that last time was I needed to graduate.

In college, everyone is looking to take an easy or fun class that counts toward their degree. In these classes, students’ interest in the subject is often better than their interest in a “required” category, but from my experience, this is not much better than where their passion lies.

As an adjunct professor, I felt like this mom with a child on the back through the years at different colleges. I was carrying these students way too much. There was little self-motivation on their part.

I stopped teaching in a college’s communications program a few years ago. I had taught there for many years, but the problem was simple: the students didn’t care to master the subject.

However, I continued to teach photography workshops. There was a big difference between the two classes. In the workshops, every student I had wanted to learn the material.

I never had a student break down in the “college” courses in tears because they wanted to understand something wrong and were upset they were not comprehending the content. During my first time teaching at the University of Nations in Hawaii, I again fell in love with teaching. I cannot thank Dennis Fahringer enough for inviting me to teach Lighting and Business Practices.

Everyone seems excited when I teach the studio lighting but is not as thrilled with the business practices. Through the years, I have been able to help more of those students jump-start their professional careers as photographers. It had less to do with the lighting and more about the business practices.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

― Benjamin Franklin

Now, more than 12 years later, I hear that the reputation of the class teaching business practices has many eager to learn this topic. Still, many in the class are not as enthusiastic about it as I wish they would be.

The best students are those who are “knowledge‐seeking.” These are those who are emotionally engaged in expert work.

This photo of the two young ladies is so exciting to learn that they shared during their shooting in the Nicaragua workshop I did in the summer of 2016.

Since 2008, I have attended The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, to guest lecture on business practices for Mark Johnson. These were so different from the students I had taught at other colleges.

When Mark called me last fall asking if I would teach two sections of Intro to Photojournalism this coming year, I said yes. Since then, I have dug deeper into the program.

I asked if the class students were constantly engaged in the content. You see, that was what turned me off before. An instructor can only do so much to get a student excited. The student must also make an effort, or there will be no success.

Mark told me that there are two classes that they need Intro to Photojournalism to take later before they graduate. In those later courses, they must do photojournalism with videography, writing, layout, design, and posting projects on social media and blogs. If they don’t come out of the Intro class knowing photojournalism well enough to do it professionally, they will not be able to do those classes well.

Some of the students I have taught life worldwide are pretty successful today. Kongs has a successful photography business in Nigeria and West Africa. He was excited to take photography classes and kept in touch, letting me know all he was doing.

Tom Kilpatrick is an excellent example of how you are never too old to learn. Tom had trained thousands of college students to help young photographers as a newspaper photographer. He taught a few of my closest friends who went to National Geographic.

Going from film to digital was very difficult for Tom. He told me a few times he almost gave up photography because of how complex the new technology was for him to understand.

After finally making the switch, he decided to go to the Storytellers Abroad Workshop at 72 to learn how to do video editing and storytelling in this new medium.

How we value the future affects our desire to learn.

Ever since Dennis Fahringer asked me to teach, I have been working with students who had a passion for using photography as a profession. Extraordinarily, few have ever been gifted and just got the content quickly. Most have a moment where you can see a real struggle with the content on their faces.

There is a fundamental difference between these students who come up against a wall they push through. When I went to pass statistics, I wasn’t interested in ever using it again. These students are overcoming all the struggles of mastering the content because they want to use photography in the future.

“It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.”

― Albert Einstein

I have autism, and I think Aspergers Syndrome best describes my situation. One of the traits is an obsession with specific, often unusual, topics for those with autism. It was all about G.I. Joe when I was young. Thankfully, I grew out of that obsession.

Over the years, I would find different topics from playing trumpet, chess, toy models, and today, photography.

I was blessed with Autism. This helped me overcome difficulties because my wiring wouldn’t let it go.

Try to learn the content in all your classes this new school year. You may not see it now, but this will help you live a better tomorrow.

“The most powerful words ever said to you are your own,” said Garrett Hubbard. The self-talk we do can be the most damaging or uplifting. We are in charge of which that will be.

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground.” – Wilfred Peterson.

I have some of my best friends. James Dockery, who currently works as a top video editor for ESPN, is leading the way in incorporating innovative editing and communication techniques.

James has me laughing as much as anyone these days. I love his teaching style, and most of all, I love his positive attitude and joy in living.

We didn’t drink all these by ourselves. We had a few students in the workshop help us with all these macchiatos.

When I first met Morris Abernathy, I knew I had found a good friend. No one has ever had me laughing as hard as Morris. He has helped me see the world in new ways.

Morris provided coverage for the Dallas Cowboys, the Tennessee Titans, the Texas Rangers, California wildfires, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and five U.S. presidents.

Morris and I have had so many heart-to-heart conversations. He was a good friend who helped me during tough times with work and personal life. He is one of the best listeners I know.

Everyone needs a Morris in their life.

For many years my agency was Black Star. Howard Chapnick had told me about Robin Nelson, another Black Star photographer, in Atlanta when I first moved here in 1993, but it would be more than ten years later that we would meet.

Robin has a passion for social justice and human rights issues, which I also have a heart for doing. I quickly realized how outstanding Robin is at capturing people’s stories. Robin always says, “Everyone has a story if you dig deep enough.”

Now my best friend of all is my lovely wife, Dorie Griggs. She has helped me grow in so many ways. Her heart for serving others is truly inspiring.

I have met more interesting people from all walks of life because Dorie has made it her purpose to be inclusive of people from so many different backgrounds.

Now, my family has also been a great support system for me. My and Dorie’s family have been there for us throughout everything.

Now with all this support, you would think this is the key to success, but people with this type of support and more have been depressed and even suicidal.

So every Friday on my Facebook feed, I see this:

Garrett continues to build up each other. He knows this can help each of us with our inner voice.

An old Cherokee told his grandson, “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth.”
The boy thought about it, and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”
The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”

– Author Unknown

If your self-talk is negative, then it needs to change. One of the best ways to do that is to surround yourself with positive people. I have done this all my life.

Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you. – John Wooden

Surround yourself with the right people, and realize your worth. Honestly, there are enough bad people out there in the world – you don’t need to be your own worst enemy. – Lucy Hale

“Be a star in someone’s dark sky.”

― Matshona Dhliwayo

While finding your support system, also remember to be the one who lifts others.

“Some say, “Once you learn to be happy, you won’t tolerate being around people who make you feel anything less.” My Christ says, “Your job is to get off your self-righteous butt and start reaching out to the difficult people because my ministry wasn’t about a bunch of nice people getting together once a week to sing hymns and get a feel-good message that you may or may not apply, depending on the depth of your anger for someone. It is about caring for and helping the broken-hearted, the difficult, the hurt, the misunderstood, the repulsive, the wicked, and the liars. It is about turning the other cheek when someone hurts you. It is about loving one another and making amends. It gives people as many chances as needed because God gives them endless chances. When you do this, then you will know me, and you will know true happiness and peace. Until then, you will never know who I am. You will always be just a fan or a Sunday-only warrior. You will continue to represent who you are to the world, but not me. I am the God that rescues.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“It’s gonna take time, a whole lot of precious time.”
– George Harrison

In the age of instant everything, speed often gets mistaken for quality. Businesses reward those who can move quickly, and journalism is no different. But when it comes to storytelling—especially in journalism—it is essential to get it right. Speed without depth risks creating shallow stories that lack integrity, like “parachute journalism” and sensationalism. For those who aim to tell impactful, authentic stories, here’s why patience and precision are indispensable.

The Drawbacks of “Parachute Journalism”

In the military, airborne troops can be deployed almost anywhere, often with little warning and minimal preparation time. This concept, known as “parachute journalism” in the media, involves reporters dropping into unfamiliar territories and trying to cover stories without in-depth knowledge. This approach, often rushed, can lead to errors, misinterpretations, and a lack of understanding about the community or subject. The result? Stories that miss the mark and ultimately erode public trust in journalism.

Similarly, “yellow journalism” prioritizes attention-grabbing headlines and sensationalism over well-researched, accurate news. While both approaches differ in form, they stem from the same issue—rushing without prioritizing the time and effort needed for accuracy.

Essential Ingredients for True Journalism

True journalism requires far more than quick dispatches and viral headlines. Here’s a breakdown of the vital ingredients that make stories resonate with the public and stand the test of time:

1. Truth through Verification
   Journalism is built on the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. Rushing to publish before verifying can lead to misinformation and damage to credibility. Thoughtful verification is at the core of storytelling that people can rely on.
2. Commitment to Community
   Great journalism serves the community first, not advertisers or click-through rates. The audience consists of everyday citizens who trust journalists to present facts responsibly. Serving the community over profit helps build credibility and trust in the long term.
3. Objective Methods
   Journalists must consistently test information objectively. Unlike social media, where “trusting your gut” may prevail, journalism’s backbone lies in systematic verification, minimizing bias to maintain integrity.
4. Independence in Reporting
   Independence is crucial to avoid bias, whether pressure from influential figures, advertisers, or even internal influences within a newsroom. A journalist’s loyalty should be to the truth, not any organization or crowd.
5. Watchdog Role
   Journalism is crucial in holding institutions accountable by keeping the public informed. From fact-checking public statements to investigative reporting, the journalist’s role as a “watchdog” helps citizens stay informed about issues that may demand social change.

The Challenge Today: Fighting “Fake News” and Mistrust

With sensational stories and unchecked information rampant online, the public often turns to friends or unverified sources rather than professional journalism. This preference has contributed to a rise in “fake news,” exploiting the erosion of trust in established media. Unfortunately, the actions of a few unethical journalists have cast a shadow over the entire profession, just as isolated scandals have in other fields. Now, many journalists find themselves in an uphill battle to restore trust.

The Takeaway: Great Stories Require Patience

Good journalism doesn’t happen overnight. When you rush, you risk distorting stories and letting assumptions shape the narrative. Take the time to understand the subject, research meticulously, and verify every detail. As George Harrison sang, “It’s gonna take patience and time.” You can only deliver stories that genuinely resonate, inform, and inspire change.