Dan Cathy, President of Chick-fil-A, enjoys playing in the Moo Cow Band at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast for the Chick-fil-A Bowl.  This is one sure way to be sure those in attendance were awake.  They are really good band and got everyone alert for the program. (Nikon D3S, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/125, 28-300mm)

If you don’t know the purpose of an event for an organization, then your photos will not communicate what took place effectively. Why are they putting on the event and what do they hope to accomplish is what you should be asking yourself if not the client.

This is an event I covered this week and let me walk you through what they did and the purpose of the event.

Putting on a breakfast during the middle of the Chick-fil-A Bowl week is a daunting task. Each year the organizers work to create an event that will make each of the teams and the schools involved want to come, because it isn’t a required event.

There is an art to event planning and those who put this event together each year plan throughout the year trying to find the right keynote speakers and other parts of the program so that the variety of the parts creates an overall enjoyable and memorable event.

Keynote speaker RV Brown takes the stage in a sports jacket.  He looks like a typical evangelist dressed like this. RV knows his audience and knows he has a very short time to get their attention. (Nikon D3S, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/400, 28-300mm)

We have seen the entertainers through the years that dress up to draw more attention.  Elton John had those wild glasses, KISS the rock band painted their faces and wore platform boots, David Bowie even wore makeup to get our attention.

All of those musicians also made it on the Radio long before MTV came about and emphasized even more the importance of the visual part of the performance to sell records. Later the ability to put together a total package of the audio and visual is so important that singers like Justin Bieber would launch their careers on YouTube.

RV Brown removed his jacket and revealed his guns. These were not gotten with steroids he said, they were done with weights, black-eye peas and cornbread. (Nikon D3S, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/400, 28-300mm)

RV knew that the room was filled with Auburn and Virginia football teams. They are all expected to eat healthy, lift weights and to get into the best possible physical shape to play the game. RV wanted to establish he too had not only been down their road, but continued to take care of himself.  He didn’t say it but this helped him to overcome how some people right someone off as a “has been.”

RV mixed humor with some life lessons that had the people laughing and crying by the end of his message.

RV Brown, Chelle (my daughter) and Charlie Ward. Chelle wanted a picture with the main speakers, which I enjoyed taking. Later on the ride home Chelle was talking about what each of them talked about. She knew which scriptures they used and was excited about their messages. (Nikon COOLPIX P7000, ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/30, Slow Curtain Flash)

I knew later after the event how well RV had done when my daughter is talking about the scripture references that he and Charlie Ward used in their talks.

Master of Ceremonies Ernie Johnson, Jr., Turner Sports inc., interviews Featured Guest Charlie Ward, 1993 Heisman Trophy Winner, Florida State at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Breakfast (Nikon D3S, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/500, 28-300mm)

Charlie Ward is a quite person who commands attention more from his actions than from his talk. To mix up the program they had Ernie Johnson from Turner Sports interview Charlie and together they helped tell Charlie’s story and how God plays a role in his life.

Dorie Griggs, Chelle, Regina and Mike London enjoying catching up. (Nikon D3, ISO 6400, f/2.8, 1/60, 14-24mm)

We were excited about this year’s teams. University of Virginia’s head football coach is a close friend of my wife Dorie. When they were at University of Richmond together they met each other through FCA.

Dorie Griggs, Mike London and Jimmy Lyles when they were students at University of Richmond

Having Chick-fil-A sponsor the breakfast really helps the FCA. What is a nice surprise each year is that Truett Cathy makes it a point to be there for the event.

Truett Cathy stands up when they said he was here.  Everyone applauded for him as well. I think people like Truett as much as they like his food. (Nikon D3S, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/40, 28-300mm)

Don Perry and Truett Cathy (Nikon D3S, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/30, 28-300mm)

Ernie Johnson Jr. always closes the event with the presentation of the Gospel. This year was a very touching time for him. He lost his father who was his best friend. Later he almost lost his son.  He spent most of October in the hospital with his son who has muscle dystrophy and was suffering with pneumonia. He received a phone call while on the road working with the doctor asking permission to put a tube down Michael’s throat. A matter of life or death.

Master of Ceremonies Ernie Johnson, Jr. closes the breakfast with presentation of the Gospel. (Nikon D3S, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/640, 28-300mm)

Johnson became a Christian late in life.  He remembers the date of December 10, 1997.  He says this is the date where he found a direction in his life. A year later his wife had a gift for him of a compass. It is to remind him of his decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

Ernie Johnson Jr. shares how the decision to follow Christ was very much like having a compass for his life. (Nikon D3S, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/400, 28-300mm)

If you have read this far and seen all the photos I hope you understand that the reason I put this here in my blog was two fold. First of all the most important thing in my life is my faith in Jesus.  Second I believe to be able to tell stories and capture those moments that show how much people with a faith in Christ are purpose driven you have to have walked with Jesus in your own life.

No matter the story you must be totally immersed within the story to engage the audience.

I will tell you the number one secret I have discovered in photographing people. My faith is in a God who loved us so much that he died for each one of us. He also taught us how to live. What I have learned through my walking with Jesus is that everyone is important.

If he was willing to die for all of us then each of us is worth getting to know. I spend my time listening and getting to know people and what I have discovered is for the most part I am truly blessed by each person I meet.

I hope my photos not only introduce you to the people I meet and their stories.  I believe I honor God by treating everyone with honor, dignity and respect.

Photos used by permission of Chick-fil-A

Your friends are giving you Christmas ornaments each year.

Twas the night before Christmas and I was sitting in my recliner by the tree. I looked over to enjoy the season when it hit me I am a photographer because I have so many ornaments to remind me.

Somewhere on your Christmas tree you have Santa with a camera.

I was enjoying my coffee in my Nikon mug and it tastes so much better when I have logos around me. Not just any logos will do for it is always Nikon and can never be a Canon. 

You have a picture of Santa in a slide mount.

There are also ornaments to remind me just how long I have been in this career. I have a slide of Santa from another Christmas eve.

You have a What The Duck Christmas ornament

Today I have a cartoon character that helps me laugh and laugh really loud. What the Duck has given me much glee this year, helping me make light of the moments which use to get me all up tight.

You don’t just have Christmas ornaments but coffee mugs with cameras or camera manufacturer logos.

Nikon 24-79mm f/2.8 Coffee Mug.  If you have one of these you have it pretty bad.

Merry Christmas!

I like to arrive early and scout possible camera angles to use later. Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm, ISO 6400, f/4, 1/200

This is the time of year for Christmas parties and New Year events.  Through the years I have screwed up and here are some things I now avoid.

1) Arrive on time

If a client asks you to arrive at a certain time, it may be right at the time of the event, giving you no time to scout the location. Always arrive early to give yourself some time to look around and know where some good camera angles might exist later in the event.

While I found a good angle, I later tried it and it wasn’t as spectacular as I thought it would be. I did however shoot from this angle with a different lens later. Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm, ISO 6400, f/4, 1/100

2) Don’t get caught off guard

If I can I always bring more than I will need, because I have been burned more times than I can count.  Over the years I have bought a lens or two that I don’t use a lot, but the costs of renting them over and over verses the time I do use them made sense to buy them.  Having a backup flash helped me this year when my SB900 got over heated and later needed repair. I am glad I had the SB800 there to continue to get the photos.

Some things that I recommend in that list of items to have:

1. Backup camera
2. Backup lens or two. 
3. Backup Flash
4. Extra Fresh batteries
5. Tripod

While I had to go to bed early so Santa would come when I was young, now I had to be ready at a moments notice to get the photo of Santa coming down the elevator.  I could of been up five floors when this happened or just under the elevator, but no matter where I was that night, until he came down I had to be in position with a lens to get the shot. Nikon D3S, Nikkor 24-120mm, ISO 12,800, f/5.3, 1/80

 3) Relying on available light

I started shooting years ago and prided myself on shooting in almost any situation without a flash.  As it says in the Bible pride comes before the fall.

Using a flash to be sure you see your subjects face is important at times. I now use the flash to be sure I am not cursing myself as I am trying to fix it in post.

Where the pianist was sitting and how the light was on his face before I added the flash made him more to be a silhouette than anything else. My trusty “Voice Activated Light Stands” (my daughter or wife usually) pointed my Nikon Speedlight SB900 with the Radio Poppers PX radio system helping relay my Nikon Speedlight SU800 signal to the flash for TTL off camera flash. I balanced it to the room light.  Nikon D3S, Nikkor 24-120mm, ISO 2000, f/5.3, 1/60.

4) I’ll Fix it later in Post

If you look closely you will notice I used two of my “Voice Activated Light Stands” for this photo. I had no idea if there was going to be one or more folks with Santa getting an award. I had my wife and daughter holding the Nikon Speedlights off to the camera on either side pointed at the subjects. By the way to not look light just a lot of light I had one light turned up a stop more than the other to give some shape to the faces. The cool thing is with the Nikon Speedlight SU800 I was doing this from my camera and never had to go over to the “VALS” and change the power on the flashes themselves. Nikon D3S, Nikkor 24-120mm, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/400.

I cannot tell you how many times I have sat at my computer and wish I had done something with the lighting in the camera. You cannot fix everything in post. You have got to do everything possible to get the best possible image in the camera. Your goal should be that you have nothing to do to the RAW image other than convert it to a JPEG for the client. Anything more than this is compensating for a reason that you were unable to get it in the camera.

I used two of my “Voice Activated Light Stands” for this photo. Nikon D3S, Nikkor 24-120mm, ISO 10000, f/4.8, 1/320.

Same photo but different color balances, cropping and exposure.

Which photo above would you use? Now unless you see them side by side you might not be as quick to make changes to the photo before sending it to the client. However, if you are meticulous you will give the client the best possible photo.

While the client may not have four identical photos like this to choose the photographer they would hire again, I know from what I have seen photographers put on their blogs, websites and even given to clients are all these and more.

Losing Teams vs Winning Teams

I think we have all heard the loosing coach after a team looses saying we just didn’t execute very well. I don’t think I have ever heard the coach say we just didn’t have a game plan.

The golfer who wins the tournament is normally the golfer who performed consistently each day. Rarely do you see a golfer with poor scores one day and the great scores the next win the tournament.

Just the other day I asked my friend Mark Miller and the author of The Secret of Teams: What Great Teams Know and Do and the book The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do, how a company remains competitive as more and more people are copying their formula.

Miller said it is the execution of their formula that makes the difference. He went on to use the metaphor of the West Coast Football. Who hasn’t seen it by now? The thing is who can execute it well?

Contact me if you are interested and I will answer your questions.

Getting all the expressions in one photo can be a challenge. Nikon D3S, Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/60, Alienbees 1600 at 1/32 power triggered by CyberSync radio remote.

The sun is lighting all the scene well, but the Alienbees 1600 firing at 1/32 power is giving just a kick for fill-flash helping with a catch light in everyone’s eyes. another benefit of the flash is it helps with the color temperature and giving good skin tones.

Don’t attempt this alone as I did, unless the person you are photographing can really trust you. I was lucky, I was able to photograph my good friend Yaniv with his bride to be Shannon and her son Aidan.

I worked at getting everyone in place creating some nice triangles for composition. I prefer not to have everyone’s head in a straight line. 

Yaniv, Shannon and Aidan had great smiles and needed very little help giving great expressions. It was like working with professional models.

The hardest part of the entire photo shoot is getting the dogs to have great expressions to compliment them. 

I am holding the camera making squeaking noises, whistling and doing all I can to get the dogs to perk their ears up and look attentive.  Honestly, unless these are dogs trained to work for modeling and TV you are not going to have lots of moments.

What I recommend is a team for these photos.

• Animal person – someone off camera who’s sole responsibility is to get the animals to look their best.
• Wrangler for the small children – you need someone other than the mother holding a baby getting the attention of the child. Usually this person is playing with kids before the shooting begins. They are building a relationship and finding what will work for them in the photo.
• Photographer or one more person – to get the expressions of the adults. 
• Stylist – can be great to have help. They are paying attention to wardrobe malfunctions, hair and makeup. 
• Photo Assistant – this person is being sure the flashes are firing, moving them and help changing the power on the flashes to help the photographer.

 The key is planning and everyone understanding their rolls. Shoot lots of photos and then you will have trouble picking one image when everyone does their best.

Scott Wallace, National Geographic writer, talks to Dorie Griggs about his latest book The Unconquered.

Scott Wallace with Stanley during his book tour in Decatur, Georgia.

I had the opportunity to meet Scott Wallace a freelance writer who is regularly published in National Geographic Magazine. Dorie Griggs, my wife, met Wallace through The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Wallace is a Dart Center Ochberg Fellow.

Wallace is on a book tour promoting The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes.

He is working on another coverage for National Geographic with photographer Alex Webb.

I asked Wallace a few questions which I thought you might want to know about.

Keep your gear dry

His first tip is for those traveling in rain forest or extremely high humidity locations. It is important to keep your camera dry as possible. He recommends taking a water proof case like the Pelican 1504. You will want to buy some Silica Gel packs that you put into the case. You can put it in your oven at 300 degrees for about 3 hours to dry out the Silica or just put it next to the campfire to help dry it while on location.

Whenever you go to bed, put the cameras in the case to help dry them out each night.

National Geographic writer Scott Wallace interviews Sydney Possuelo while on expedition in the Javari Valley Indigenous Reserve, Brazil. © Scott Wallace

Get Permission

Another tip is to get permission of the subjects before photographing them. This is not always put in a question to the subject, but by being aware when they don’t want you to photograph.

Over time you will become more aware of their body language which is telling yes or no. The other thing is to be aware of the local culture. Wallace often asks his guides about the local protocol before taking photos.

As a general rule you are seeking to remain in good social standing so the indigenous people will want you to stay. This is very important for the National Geographic writers and photographers, because they are not like a tourist and just popping in and out. They plan to stick around for a few weeks or even months to get the story. Even if they are not coming back to this location their reputation of how they work will spread quickly through the region one way or another. They need a reputation in the community to be positive.

Matis scout Kwini Montac  © Scott Wallace

Patience

Wait for your turn. We learn this in kindergarten, but I think sometimes writers, photographers and videographers who work together need to be reminded of this basic respect for others.

While we might like the writer to stay out of our shots, we need to wait our turn and sit quietly through interviews. While some may see this as a time to day dream or do something else, I can tell you from my experience the best photographers learn to listen.

After the writer is finished I might then ask a few questions myself that the subjects comments made me think about.

Take this time to make either a mental note or actually write down all the possible visuals you hear during the interview.

Kanamari returning from the hunt (Márcio center, Wilson at right)  © Scott Wallace

I find that when I work with a writer on a story, I prefer first letting the writer interview the subject while I listen and maybe make some photos of them talking during the interview. I want to listen as much as I can, because this will lead to better photos.

The book is available through Amazon as hardcover or Kindle eBook.