Photography Archives - Page 104 of 115

Speaker Tips for Photographers

by Stanley LearyDecember 4, 2011October 3, 2022Photography

I just finished two days of presentations by photographers. There were some excellent presentations, but there were some poor presentations.

For the past twenty years, I have helped to put on photo conferences. When our team evaluates a meeting, we decide who we will invite back. Some of the group was at this event and critiqued the presentations. Why? Because we might want to ask some of the speakers to our conference to speak.

Over the years, there are some everyday things we have noticed. There are things that good speakers do that make us want to hear them. But, conversely, some things turn us off.

Here are some tips I would give to speakers on things we often raise:

Prepare your presentation. Put aside time and work on your thoughts and what you want to share. I have watched in the older days of slide trays, photographers are showing up with slides, not even in slide trays, and speakers are putting them together minutes before speaking. Today those same speakers have just thrown images into a folder and not organized them and edited them for the presentation.
Have a goal. What one thing should your audience know that you feel passionate about? If you don’t know, your audience will not know what you tried to tell them.
Refine the goal to something you can share in the time you have. One of the biggest mistakes is that some people want to tell people all about themselves and even what they plan on doing.
- Maybe share one story you did and what you learned from this experience.
- Maybe you have discovered you have a cheat sheet you work from for all your stories, and you can share those.
- Sometimes you discover something later in your career that most other people know about, but you wish someone had told you earlier about this.
Leave the audience wanting more rather than wishing you had stopped speaking a lot sooner.
- I have seen how someone took this to an extreme once in my career. We paid to fly a person out to speak, and they got up, read from their notes, and sat down in just 10 minutes.
- If you can point people to your website or blog to get more on your topic, then do that.
Got a secret? Why are you speaking if what you share isn’t like a secret and they already have seen your coverage? So instead, share something they couldn’t have gotten from your website.
- If you have a story on your website that you are proud of and even won a Pulitzer, don’t just show this package. Instead, share something that they wouldn’t know by seeing the story alone.
- Maybe you were arrested and detained by the police while covering the subject. Why did the police stop you?
- Maybe there are stories about how you found the story.
Something new. The Chris Matthews show on NBC Sunday Mornings has a segment called “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know,” The four panelists report to Matthews new information they gleaned from their reporting. It is successful for a reason–it works. Remember, asking you to speak was because they saw your work and are familiar with it. So don’t tell them something they already know; tell them something they don’t know.
- A lens that helped you
- A camera that you used for this project
- New App that you used to help make the project more successful
Use multimedia. You are a photographer whose imagery is consumed by an audience. Your clients and publications put your photos into a presentable form. Don’t give your audience the uncut or unedited version. Package your images.
- Put a slide show with audio together. Maybe you narrate the package over music. Then, please put together the visual story so that you can play this 2 – 5 minute package, and the audience will get what you did.
- Maybe you show 2 or 3 small packages and then either before or afterward explain some things about the package.
  - Why did you do the project?
  - How you and the editors worked together?
  - Did your project get reimbursed by the publication that you work for on staff?
- Maybe you do another multimedia piece by interviewing the subjects, and they tell the results of what happened after the story ran.
Don’t Rely On An Internet Connection. For example, if you are at a hotel trying to stream a video, you might make your audience wait. This happened this weekend.
- Put all your material on your computer.
Know your time limit. The conference planners have other speakers planned. Going over your time needs to be at the group’s invitation, not by you. We have a timekeeper who stands up off to the side of the room at 5 minutes to go. They come onto the stage when your time is up. If you still haven’t stopped, they take the microphone from you and will stop you. [Side note to those running the conference: It is perfectly OK to cut off a speaker going long, even if they are famous–everyone in the audience wants you to do so. You will not embarrass yourself by doing this, but might get a cheer as a hero from the audience.]
- We have other speakers: the audience, the speakers; everyone wants to hear rather than you drone on and on.
- If you cannot meet the time frame, you will only demonstrate how unprofessional you are and damage your brand.
- Demonstrate to everyone you know how to communicate effectively in your time allotment and allow for questions to clarify some of your points.
Plan for 5 minutes for questions.
- People may need to clarify something you said.
- You may have helped people think of something new and want to see if they are on the right track since you have been down that road.
Backup Copy. Has the entire presentation backed up on one of these in case your computer crashes? If this is your primary way of presenting, have a 2nd copy ready–digital Grimlins seem to appear right as you are presenting.
- Jump Drive
- External Hard-drive
- DVD/CD

I am attending the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar and you should too

by Stanley LearyDecember 1, 2011October 3, 2022Photography

The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar

I have three friends I have talked with in the past couple of days who are driving into the seminar today. All of us combined have more than 100+ years of experience, so why go to something like this when you have so much experience?

Some of the workshops intrigued me. For example, I was interested in hearing from Deb Pang Davis on “Branding Strategies & Marketing Yourself.”

While I even teach regularly on this topic, I am interested in how others are seeing the industry and places for growth. With the economy so upside down and my industry taking a major hit these past years, many of the traditional avenues for income are not just down but gone. I hope to hear about how some photographers are remaking themselves and finding income.

I am not interested in copying their path, but how they discovered the new niche may give me insights into where some potential growth for my work could lie.

I find that everyone sees things much differently and that I grow and learn something new when I am open and listen. So I then try to see how to incorporate some of these perspectives into my life.

The other workshop, “Understanding the Changing Media Landscape,” led by Tom Kennedy, appealed to me.

Kennedy is on the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications faculty at Syracuse University as the endowed Alexia Foundation chair in the multimedia, photography, and design department.

I first met Kennedy when he was the director of photography at National Geographic. I remember showing him my work, and he commented that he didn’t see any surprises. My last blog can read more about this: “To break the rules, you must first know the rules.”

As co-president of the ASMP Atlanta Chapter, we invited Kennedy to speak. He packed so much in on this topic back then that I just about got carpal tunnel syndrome from that talk. So I am looking forward to hearing him.

If you come to the seminar, you will see more than the four old guys sitting in the room listening to some of these young folks. You will see more of us because we understand that you stop learning and growing.

Keep yourself vibrant and growing by attending a seminar or workshop. Then, come to the workshop. For example, if you are in Atlanta on December 2nd and 3rd.

By the way, Simon Bruty:: Sports Illustrated speaks on Saturday at 9:25 a.m. This presentation is free and open to the public, courtesy of Canon’s Explorers of Light program.

If you are an amateur, you are welcome to attend as much as any professional or student.

While the speakers on the program are outstanding, I can tell you from my 30+ years of experience going to these events that those in attendance sometimes are on the same level and sometimes better known than the speakers.

Come and hang out with us. My daughter calls these events that Daddy goes to “Nerd Fests.”

There will be Nikon and Canon gear to see and other vendors.

Hope to see you there. If you are there, come and say hello to me.

Why I photographed them this way

by Stanley LearyNovember 28, 2011Photography

Using lasers to study micro organisms.

Why did you light it that way and why did you compose it a certain way are questions I not only get asked, but ask myself as I am working.

In the photo of the two lady researchers, I was asked to photograph their micro organism research. Now when I get to these labs they do not have it setup most of the time. I first have a conversation and then I listen for the visual cues that can help tell their story.

The computer screen is actually a photograph through a microscope of what the laser is passing through and doing some measurements. So for their research they wouldn’t have this in the room setup like this. I asked to put it there so you could quickly read what they are working on. I also wanted to show the laser so I also made this show up in the photo.

I chose the blue color to set the tone for research, but also realized it would complement the red color of the laser.

Do you think the photo reads quickly and yet at the same time makes you stop to look at it?

Wearable computer research.

A cyborg is what this research is about. This is where the human and machine are intertwined with each other. The wearable computer small screen is at the eye where the subject can use the information to do something. Here the information is to help the subject navigate around a city with information.

When I showed up I asked to see the information on the screen. I then asked if the information can be seen on some other monitor and the researcher pulled out their small monitor. I tried to bring everything closer together to help communicate what the researcher is seeing in their heads up display.

How did I do with this one?

Another wearable computer

This was taken a couple years earlier than the photo above. One thing I was noticing is the wearable device was getting smaller.

In this photo I was able to show the operator using the device to help repair a circuit board where the schematic could be in the viewfinder.

If I could redo this photo, I would have had a small monitor maybe showing what was in the viewfinder. Do you think it works this way, or would you like to see the contents on a screen in the photo?

What I am discovering over time is each time I encounter the newer technology, it builds upon earlier research. I can this the evolution and this often helps me understand some of the nuances of the advances in the research.

While the story in each situation was about what is on the screens and how the wearable technology is being embraced in more and more industries, there is another aspect that the photo helps communicate over time–the size changes and maybe even how they are developing more style with each new device improvement.

Using virtual reality to help cure the fear of flying

Many of the research projects I get to photograph sometimes would work better as a video. However, your major newspapers and magazines primary audience is often the printed page. You still need to capture as much of the story in a single image and in a way that engages the viewer.

Combing elements into one image helps tell the story much better. Here the virtual head gear display with the computer screen in the background help communicate a little about what is going on for the subject. What would you suggest to make this more successful?

Injection mold research

Does it get your attention? Hey that is the first point with all good photography–it has to stop the reader. I put separate light and gel on the mold so you would be drawn to it. The grid light on the subject is also catching the front of the mold as well.

The researcher is trying to help with making more accurate parts through injection molds. Depending on the materials a mold may have to be adjusted in size to make up for how the part either will shrink or get bigger through the process of making it. Many times these parts come out and then are put into a kiln and heated to very high temperatures. This is done a lot with ceramics, which is what is used a great deal in our products we use.

How did I do with this photo?

Value Established – Not Added

by Stanley LearyNovember 26, 2011Photography

Clients must feel they are getting value for their money or you don’t get the job. You don’t stay in business unless you get the job.

What values are clients considering? Most of the time the clients are not necessarily looking for the best photographer, rather they are looking at photographers who pass a good enough quality bar–whatever that is for them.

This means you might be the best quality shooter, but they can live with a level just below you considering all things.

Most clients that will hire you most likely will need to justify their hire to someone above them or just take into other things to make them feel good with their choice.

Your branding through all your materials can help set you apart. If you have a clean logo and design in all your materials this packaging of your photos will give you an X in your column if another photographer lacks this.

If they can remember you easily, it is most likely because you have defined your niche. He/She is the photographer that does X and thus this will go into your column again.

Clients will often direct others on their team or their superiors to the photographer’s website. This you can get an X if your website is something they would want them to see. You need to have a clean design that is easy to navigate and see your work.

Today having a blog is a way to help show your expertise in your line of work where a website alone is more of just an on-line portfolio. It also is something they may come to more regularly to see what you are doing and sometimes the posts will help strike a chord with them. Put an X in your column if you have a blog and post to it at least 3 times a week.

If you are on social networking like Facebook and Twitter give yourself an X. Take that X away if you do not post once daily or at least three times a week.

If you are personally marketing to clients by addressing things specific to them give yourself another X. Having a photographer write to a client and say you were thinking of them and had an idea for them. Your idea would be something specific like I know you have an event coming up or I noticed one of your employees just got recognized, how about a photo and story to let people know about them.

If you like to scout and have pre-consultation conversation or meetings with your clients give yourself another X. You are showing the client that you are trying to know all you can about their needs and taking this into account.

You like to keep in touch with your client. This could be through newsletters, emails, social media and traditional snail mail. Give yourself another X if you are keeping in touch in ways other than asking for more work only.

Clients like to get surprises. If you remember their birthday or add something that wasn’t in your estimate to your package that they receive give yourself another X in your column.

If your deliverable is professional like a printed DVD/CD and not just a sharpie on a disc for example, give yourself another X.

Hand written thank you cards are so rare today that this is another example of a way to separate yourself from the pack. You might choose to send one after a consultation and not just when you have finished the job.

If you have experience or a specialty that most other photographers cannot deliver, then give yourself an X if this is part of the consideration for a project.

Do your clients talk about you to their friends? If you have gotten jobs due to referrals in the past and continue to do so, give yourself another X.

Are you professionally groomed for the situation? You don’t need to be dressed in a black tie and sometimes being over dressed is as much a kiss of death as under dressed. So if you are fashionably conscious and well groomed give yourself another X.

These were just a few of the things that I know have helped me in situations get jobs and loose jobs to my competition.

When you buy fine jewelry they don’t just throw it in a plastic bag with the receipt.

The high end jewelers will clean the jewelry, place it in a very nice case that has their logo in the top lining. That case will go into a form fitting box that also has their logo on it. They will often put a ribbon and bow on that box. They will give you a signed certificate which puts their name behind the authenticity of the quality of the jewelry. They put all of this in a fine bag with their logo and often tie this off with a bow as well.

Compare this to how many photographers drop off a hand written CD with maybe Sharpie written text on it.

If you are struggling with your business model, what are things that you can do that really don’t cost that much, but give more value that the customer understands comes with every job you do for them. Establish your value and don’t try and add it later.

Do you know what you do best every day?

by Stanley LearyNovember 24, 2011Photography

Stanley’s top five strengths after taking the Clifton StrengthFinder Test.

The Clifton StrengthsFinder

As you may know, the Clifton StrengthsFinder measures the presence of talent in 34 categories called “themes.” These themes were determined by Gallup as those that most consistently predict outstanding performance. The greater the presence of a theme of talent within a person, the more likely that person is to spontaneously exhibit those talents in day-to-day behaviors.Focusing on naturally powerful talents helps people use them as the foundation of strengths and enjoy personal, academic, and career success through consistent, near-perfect performance.

Below are my top five themes of talent, ranked in the order revealed by my responses to the Clifton StrengthsFinder.

How well do you think these themes describe me?

Before jumping out a a plane Airborne Army will check the conditions. This is being strategic and being sure you have the highest probability of success. I do this in more ways than just with making photos, but being sure the conditions will result in the best success.

Strategic

People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Nelson, my step-son, graduated from Airborne School this week at Fort Benning, Georgia. Here you can see how marking this milestone with a pin and a close friend makes this journey rewarding in so many ways.

Relator

People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.

My friends and family all laugh at this photo, because of the guy on the right. We all have added our on caption comments. What this photo shows is how I try and capture the fact everyone is different. The key for me is celebrating the differences.

Individualization

People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.

Jumping out of the C-130 required the Airborne School participants to get up early. They reported at 1:30 a.m. and here they are just now jumping at 2:30 p.m. I believe those who achieve a lot, take the time to do those things that people do not see. While I saw the jump, I didn’t see the weeks of practice before this moment.

Achiever

People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

I really love this moment. I can feel the student trying and the teacher caring to be sure excellence is achieved. I think if I could I would be a full time student–oh I forgot for a second, but my career path has given me this opportunity by meeting people and learning about them so I can help tell their story.

Learner

People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

We devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. While you don’t want to go around ticking people off and you should address those things, you can spend too much time working on your flaws when you would get more results playing to your strengths.

This is why I recommend to photographers to find something you are interested in to photograph. It is amazing how much of a difference engaging your passion will have on the work you produce.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon

Be thankful for your gifts that you have. I recommend buying the book and taking the online test so you can discover your strengths.

What are your strengths? Are you playing to them?

ISO The Big Game Changer in Digital

by Stanley LearyNovember 18, 2011Photography

The ISO setting on D3S lets me choose ISO 12,800 or higher. Not only is it a choice the quality of image is as good as ISO 400 was in the film days for my work.

I think the greatest game changer with digital photography has been the ISO. There are many ways this has impacted photography.

Here is a list of some of the things I have noticed it changed for me:

Can change ISO from photo to photo.

Before you had to change film to change your ISO in the middle of a roll of film

In today’s cameras like the Nikon D3S the high ISO is higher than it ever was with film

Color film high ISO was around ISO 800
Black and White high ISO was around 3,200

The 12,800 ISO setting in the Nikon D3S gives me as good of results with noise as film’s ISO 400 did and maybe better.

With film we talk about grain and today while similar effect it is different and we talk about noise

AUTO ISO – WOW this really changed my life.

Nikon D3S – ISO 11,400 – F/5.6 – 1/100 – Nikkor 28-300mm

AUTO ISO

Since the quality of the ISO really has little impact on the quality of the image AS COMPARED to the major quality shift with film, I have my camera normally set to AUTO ISO most of the time.

I will go in to the menu and change this AUTO ISO settings.

Nikon D3S menu ISO settings

Nikon D3S ISO settings allow you not just to set the ISO you can choose AUTO ISO. I use this most of the time. You choose the range by choosing the low and maximum ISO. You also can choose the minimum ISO preference.

Sports

One of the settings I change in the AUTO ISO is the minimum shutter speed. When I am shooting sports I prefer shutter speeds of 1/2000. So I will set this and then shoot in Aperture mode.

The camera will override the shutter speed of 1/2000 and go lower if the ISO gets maxed out at ISO 12,800. If you prefer not to shoot at such a high ISO then you can choose something lower like ISO 5,000 and then shutter speed would drop from 1/2000 much sooner than it would for me.

This AUTO ISO setting isn’t taking creativity away, but rather I have set the tolerances that I would have been having to stop and think about to do anyway. This lets me get the moment sharp and in focus, which is critical in sports.

Flourescent and Sodium Vapor

When shooting under Florescent and Sodium Vapor I normally set the minimum shutter speed to 1/100. You see both of these type of lights are really like flashes. They are flashing about 60 times a second and if you shoot faster than 1/100 you will get color shifts due to catching the light in between cycles.

Nikon D3 – ISO 6400 – f/2.8 – 1/100 and Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8

Flash

I have discovered a couple of things about using flash with a high ISO.

With TTL flash and high ISO I can easily balance these so I can shoot with my 85mm f/1.4 for example.
When you use flash and it is illuminating most of the scene the dynamic range of the photo is compressed. What this means is most of the time the f-stop range of exposure from the highlight to the shadow is more compressed and therefore the noise is the shadows is much less than when shot without the flash.

Nikon D3 – ISO 200 – f/1.4 – 1/160 and Nikkor 85mm f/1.4. Also off camera flash using the Nikon SU800 to trigger the Nikon SB900 flash in TTL mode. The flash is set for -1 stop compensation. In addition I also was using the Radio Popper system to be sure the signal was consistently getting from the SU800 to the SB900.

Once I discovered the affects flash has on shadow, I started to shoot with it in situations where noise was a real possibility and I wanted to diminish the affect of it. I will often shoot with the flash -1 to -3 stops under on the flash compensation setting.

Nikon D3S – ISO 6400 – f/4.8 – 1/100 and Nikon 28-300mm. Also off camera flash using the Nikon SU800 to trigger the Nikon SB900 flash in TTL mode. The flash is set for -1 stop compensation. In addition I also was using the Radio Popper system to be sure the signal was consistently getting from the SU800 to the SB900.

Nikon D3S – ISO 6400 – f/5.6 – 1/100 and Nikon 28-300mm. Also off camera flash using the Nikon SU800 to trigger the Nikon SB900 flash in TTL mode. The flash is set for -1 stop compensation. In addition I also was using the Radio Popper system to be sure the signal was consistently getting from the SU800 to the SB900.

What is the take away?

Before the digital camera, to use ISO in a creative way meant to change film stock. You also could not shoot AUTO ISO. Due to this no longer being a hindrance I now see the ISO setting the way I see aperture and shutter-speed. It is another creative tool giving me more options to get photos that in the past were not possible.

Are you using ISO to its fullest creative possibilities?

Nikon P7000 bailed me out when my Nikon D3S couldn’t

by Stanley LearyNovember 16, 2011Photography

Nikon P7000 ISO 1600, f/5.6 1/40

Today one of the most dreaded photo shoots happened. I arrived at the client’s location where I was asked to photograph a class of students in class and then afterwards we are doing their Christmas card photo.

The videographer needed no shutter noise on the video so I am using the Nikon P7000 ISO 1592 f/5 1/250

The client didn’t realize they had a problem booking a still photographer and videographer to shoot in the same classroom at the same time. I was not told about this situation nor was the videographer.

This is the first time in a while I had been put into this situation and this time I had a new solution for the problem. You first need to know the problem. The biggest issue for still photographers shooting with videographers is all about sound. Our cameras make a mechanical noise when the shutter is fired that microphones pick up even more than the human ear or at least Murphy’s Law seems to say so for the end result.

Nikon P7000 ISO 1600 f/3.2 1/130

On movie sets the still photographer often uses a blimp to eliminate the sound of the camera. The costs start about $1,200 for one of these. I would typically rent one rather than buying one.

Jacobsen Blimp that you put your DSLR Camera into and put the tube over your lens to muffle or eliminate the shutter sound. I couldn’t use it because I didn’t have one or know that I needed it. So thankful that I always have my Nikon P7000 with me.

But today I had another solution. My point-and-shoot Nikon P7000 makes no noise at all when it fires. You actually can turn on and off a shutter noise. They make this for those who want to hear their camera. I turn it off on mine.

The first time my friend, Dave Black, told me a few years ago he had used a similar Nikon camera during a PGA tournament and had the first photos of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in their back swing for Sports Illustrated. Dave Black surprised the editors so much they almost had a heart attack. You are not suppose to take any pictures of the golfers until they hit the ball. The reason is the motor drives and shutter noises can distract the golfers.

Nikon P7000 ISO 1600 f/5.6 1/35

Dave Black had to quickly pull out his camera he used and fire it to show the editor. Click here for that story.

This story was in my head this morning and so I pulled out the Nikon P7000 and saved the day.

No question I would have preferred to shoot the photos with the Nikon D3s and have even cleaner looking files, but this was a good compromise to get photos and let them video at the same time.

By the way I did use my Nikon D3s for their group photo. They wanted themselves in a circle for a particular design purpose. Nikon D3s ISO 200 f/9 1/50

Taking my own advice

by Stanley LearyNovember 13, 2011Photography

http://www.stanleylearystoryteller.com/bloggalleries/MountainTrip/index.html
This past week I have taken some of my advice about getting out of a creative rut.

November 9th Taylor turned 21 and the family headed downtown to Fat Matt’s Rib Shack. You could have probably called this a black hole for photographers. Very little light and I just took my point and shoot Nikon P7000.

Everyone was just having fun and so I just tried to capture the mood we were all in that night. I like being sure I have my camera with me for moments like these. They are first in the slide show. I enjoyed the band to help lighten up the mood that night as well as the good BBQ.

We then enjoyed some cake at the house. I just enjoyed capturing the moments of family life at our household.

After eating BBQ on Thursday, we were inspired to return to our new favorite BBQ joint in Blairsville, GA–Jim’s Smokin’ Que. I wrote about our first visit and want to say they are consistent. The food was just as good this time, plus we also had for desert some peanut butter pie.

The road we took from Roswell to Blairsville was filled with twists and turns. Sine this was making our daughter car sick we took a different way than the GA400 and Hwy 19. We took the Appalachian Hwy over to Blueridge, Georgia.

I remembered my friend from Showcase many years ago had moved there to open a Wine and Cheese shop with other fun things to shop for. So I looked up Sara Auman on my iPad and then we headed over to her store “Out of the Blue.”

The best part of walking in the door was Sara remembered me by name. I always thought she was one of the best camera salespersons I ever knew.

What was rejuvenating about these past few days? Spending time with family. Enjoying good food and music. We changed the scenery and drove through the mountains. I visited an old friend.

I already feel better and encourage you to also take time with your family and friends. I recommend going to Blairsville for some great BBQ with Jim at Jim’s Smokin’ Que on the Gainesville Hwy.

Overuse of the smile with photos can lead to feeling of setup

by Stanley LearyNovember 10, 2011October 5, 2022Photography

I find people who smile all the time creepy. I also find people who are in the same mood all the time just as disturbing. When I say I have a real friend, I see all the sides of my emotions with them. They smile, frown, tear up and even get mad in our relationship.

Take a moment and look at your communications, especially your photos. Is everyone only smiling in all your photos? Are they all sad? Do people ever have puzzled looks on their faces?

Maybe your company is slipping because your communication style is creepy and disturbing on some level.

I have been working with higher education for years and even have my master’s in communication through the education department of a seminary. I see my role as an educator as much as a communicator and storyteller.

I want to chase a rabbit here, so you might see where this thought came from.

Lev Vygotsky believed children’s thinking is affected by their knowledge of the social community. As a result, one of the things he helped to develop was the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is the distance between a student’s ability to perform a task under adult guidance and peer collaboration and the student’s ability to solve the problem independently.

The concept also applies to adult learning. When you look at what you can do right now with no one’s help and compare this to what you could do with someone who is an expert on the subject, you see the gap between the two. Vygotsky believed the teacher’s role is to be the scaffolding to help the student reach things alone they would not be able to do in the present moment.

I look to others who are experts to help me process the material I want to understand. I love going on tours of places and having tour guides give me the information I wouldn’t have gotten without them. It enriches the experience.

Many organizations I see have a gap between their present communications and what they could be doing. One of these areas is the overuse of the smile in photos.

Sometimes I walk into a classroom with a person from the school organizing the photo shoot, and they will tell everyone why we are there and please look natural. Then after a couple of minutes of shooting, they stop everything and ask everyone to smile and look like they are having a good time. They may be dissecting a frog in a biology lab, but they must smile.

This example is when I am reminded I see the bigger picture, and they are just starting the journey of using images to communicate.

Now I want to contrast this with a recent photo shoot. The client gave me the class schedule, and I was to walk around and get photos of the classes. But instead, they told everyone I was there and to go on as usual.

They even said you know what you are doing, and I trust you. The client wanted what I produced for other clients and let me have the freedom to gather the content for them.

I went from classroom to classroom with my photo assistant. Everyone was natural, and occasionally I had to use some flashes to get photos, which I knew were disturbing the class a little, but everyone was great.

The school was a seminary, and this was where people were stretching their comfort zone. The students come with perceptions and thoughts guided as much by pop culture as by their scripture. The seminary will challenge their faith system and help them construct one built on scripture, not pop culture. The students are often not smiling or perplexed, and I show this.

Since my wife and I both went to seminary, and in my family, we have more than 30+ who went through seminary, I consider myself more of an expert on how people pick a seminary.

I want to look for an academic school that presents me with information that challenges me. I want to go to a school where I can relate to the professors and the students. Finally, I want to go somewhere where the student population seems to be a family and enjoy one another.

People looking for a seminary tend to be much more profound in their thoughts than the general population. They are choosing to go to school, and when they graduate with this master’s will, most likely mean, their salary will go down and not up. To determine this path, one must feel called.

I wanted the photos at the end of the day to communicate some of these emotions, thoughts, and content that I had felt while there. So I think the pictures look like more than all smiles and the people look real to me.

Why is this so important to me? If I were to capture only the smiles, I would have made the seminary look more like a school for a cult than a seminary for those who will be leaders of the Christian faith.

As professional communicators, we need to understand the “big picture,” which is often beyond the reach of the present audience. We are to help them by providing those step stools to get them to reach their goals. We have to help to inspire them to look up as well.

When your creativity becomes stale

by Stanley LearyNovember 9, 2011Photography

Stanley’s new profile photo.

There are times when I look at my work I see things getting stale; there is just nothing that pops. You want your work to have visual surprises so that your work engages the audience.

While your work may still pop for your audience because not everyone has seen your work everyday like you, this still doesn’t remove the feeling you have about your own work. If you wait to address this when you clients are thinking your work is stale then you have waited too long.

Through the years I have tried many different things to get me out of those ruts. Here are some things I have used and continue to use at times to help get my creative juices flowing once again.

For the photographer I recommend trying shooting all day with an extreme wide angle lens like a 20mm or even wider. If this is your normal lens of choice try something different like a macro or extreme telephoto. It is forcing you to look at the world differently than you are doing now.
Change your routine. If you eat your breakfast always in the same room, take it outside on your deck or go to another room. Drive a different route to work.
Change your food for a while. Eat at different restaurants or even try a new ethnic food you haven’t had before.
Plan a trip. The process of looking for somewhere to go, planning the logistics and who to go with can help inspire you.

Plan a day trip to a park, an event, or a historic location.
Plan a weekend trip to the mountains, beach or just a bed and breakfast in a town nearby.
Plan a big trip somewhere.

Take a Workshop, Seminar or Class. This can be something in your profession or just something different. If you are a photographer you may take a painting course or go to a college to hear experts speak on something new for you. Enroll in a community college class and learn something totally new and different.
Read something new. To find something to read ask some friends what they have read lately. If you like biographies—Google the topic and put in date ranges to see what pops up. Maybe go to a local library and talk with a librarian for ideas.
Watch some movies or go to play/theater. Look into documentaries or classic movies. Put out a request to your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn connections to have them recommend something to you. Don’t just consider what is in the theaters.
Change your diet/health. I joined Weight Watchers after years of going to a gym. I lost 50 lbs and that made a huge difference in the way I see life. I put some of this back on so I now am adding other activities to get back to my ideal weight. It is amazing how much being out of shape can adversely affect your creativity.
Take up a new hobby. Maybe you sign up to learn how to fly a plane. Maybe you volunteer to help with boy scouts or some other civic group. Get involved somewhere that will expose you to people who think differently than you. It is here that your emotions and brain will stretch in new ways of thinking and feeling about the world.
Start trying to make a photo a day. Quickly you will discover that you will have to live with mediocre to accomplish this goal. Maybe the thing holding up your creativity is failure. Take on a project that will be OK if you fail, but give you ample room to have success as well. Maybe the creativity is blocked not by lack of desire but the unwillingness to live with less than perfection.

Most importantly do not measure your life by what you do only—learn to measure your life by learning to just be. For me having my friends around doing nothing, but just there is more rewarding than them always doing for me.

What one week of mine looked like in September

by Stanley LearyNovember 2, 2011October 5, 2022Photography

I have been using the Nikon NPS pocket calendars since 1983. The calendars might be more telling of my camera preference than anything else.

My mentor Ken Touchton called to tell me that I needed to show what I might do during a week of my life. He knew that what we do as freelancers, if you are successful, takes more time than a 9 to 5 job with occasional evening events.

I decided to start with a busy shooting week for you and then contrast it with a slower week. I want you to see how some weeks you have no time to yourself. I am not doing this every week, but you must be willing to take on weeks like this to be successful as a freelancer. It is feast or famine in this line of work.

One Week of Shooting

August 29th, Monday

6:00 a.m. Getting up, shower, eat and pack the van
- Check emails
7:00 a.m. Leave the house with Photo Assistant
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. photoshoot
- During the day, the CEO asks to get photos for a PowerPoint slide the next day. ( I contacted the person who would be getting the images that night to process the next day to meet me at the meeting and start processing all the photos early. By the way, this person was going to watch my daughter while my wife is out of town)
9:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. editing and creating PowerPoint slides from all the day’s images to email to the CEO for him to have three choices to pick from. Put batteries on chargers. Reformat cards and clean cameras.
- Check emails

August 30th, Tuesday

6:00 a.m.
- Getting up, Shower, eat and pack the van.
- Help be sure your daughter is up and ready for the school bus.
- Check emails
7:30 a.m. leave house with Photo Assistant
9:30 a.m – 5:30 p.m. cover meeting again.
6:30 p.m. arrive home, cook dinner, and hand over all images to photographer/assistant to process. She will process all the RAW images from the last two days. Edit out bad moments and make JPEGs. These will be burned to DVDs and put in a FedEx package (which I have already prepared) to drop off to be overnighted to the client on Thursday morning.
8:00 – 10:00 p.m.
- Unpack van and charge batteries, and then pack for the trip tomorrow
- Check emails – Create an Invoice and send the PDF to the client with a W-9 form

August 31st, Wednesday

6:30 a.m. Up and getting daughter off to School. My photo assistant stayed over to get the daughter off to School and be there to meet her later in the day when she came home. (wife is still on the trip)
- Check emails
9:00 a.m. leave for the airport
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 Sit at the airport checking emails and corresponding about today’s trip. Also, send thank you notes to the clients on Monday and Tuesday. Check with a Friend/Assistant watching my daughter.
12 – 3 fly across the country
3:30 get to Rental Car location 45 minutes after putting in an address to GPS on the road for 2 hours to place.
5:30 p.m., drop by the site. I will be shooting the next day, meeting the people, and talking for an hour to get an idea of the place.
6:30 – 8:30 go to each with the writer on the project
8:30 – 10 check hotel, unpack and set up a computer as a workstation, check emails, and respond.

September 1st, Thursday

6:30 am up ate and checked emails. (Still planning a photo shoot of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff in a couple of days)
8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Shooting stills and Video interviews of story
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. go eat
8:00 – 11:00 p.m. editing of images and video

September 2nd, Friday

3:00 a.m., get up and drive 2 hours to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight back to Atlanta
Noon – touch down in Atlanta
- Get bags and go to the parking service to pick up the van and drive home
1:30 p.m., finally home
2:00 – 9:00 p.m. Edit video and still images into a 2:30 minute package and send to client for changes and approvals.
- Checking emails and phone calls about the next day. Scan all receipts, create an expense report, and email this to the client for the trip.

September 3rd, Saturday

9:00 a.m. Slept in and am exhausted
11 a.m. Wife, Daughter, and I eat lunch
Noon drops daughter off at friends, and my wife and I drive to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game. Dorie, my wife, has been volunteering in the press box for 18 years, and for a much shorter time, I have covered the games for clients like the teams, wire services, and corporate clients.
1:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m. cover the pre-game events and the game and then leave

September 4th, Sunday

8:00 a.m. – noon, edit all my images from the day before
1:00 – 4:00 download images from two other photographers, putting together sights and sounds in a 2-minute slide show with audio. Send this to the client to have published on Monday morning.

During that week of shooting, I was still checking my voicemail because I couldn’t take calls while shooting, but the moment I had a break, I would listen and see if I needed to respond. It would help if you reacted quickly to offers or clients moving on to someone else.

I still like to use the moleskins and NPS calendar even with today’s new technology, which lets you sync your phone, iPad, and computer with your calendar, notes, and contacts.

Non-Shooting Week

September 19, Monday
·      6:30 a.m. Shower, breakfast
·      8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. drive to Visual Consulting client’s Corporate Offices
·      9 – 10 a.m. checking emails and talking to folks in the office by seeing how they are doing. Building relationships
·      10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. two meetings back to back. I listen in on editorial meetings. I am listening to see what they have planned for visuals on projects. Occasionally I ask about what they have planned. Many times I have a list of ideas that I am ready to offer as suggestions. But most of the time I am trying to think more strategically and offering observations when appropriate in the meetings on workflow and procedures.
·      11:30 – 1:00 p.m. eat in the corporate dining room. This is actually another long meeting. I try and sit with new folks when I can or sit with some of the team that I work with to get to know them better. I find out what they are working on and see how they are doing.
·      1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. more one-on-one meetings with different people in departments around the company trying to be sure they are all aware of how we are there to serve them.
·      3:30 – 5 commute home
o   Making and taking phone calls along the way. Often following up on a conversation earlier in the day.
·      5 – 6 p.m Checking on emails and working on connecting with clients
September 20, Tuesday
·      6:30 a.m. Shower, breakfast
·      8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. drive to Visual Consulting client’s Corporate Offices
·      9 – 10 a.m. checking emails and talking to folks in the office by seeing how they are doing. Building relationships
·      10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. meetings
·      11:30 – 1:00 p.m. eat in the corporate dining room.
·      1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. more one-on-one meetings
·      3:30 – 5 commute home
o   Making and taking phone calls along the way. Often following up on a conversation earlier in the day.
·      5 – 6 p.m Checking on emails and working on connecting with clients
·      evening sometime – write this blog and post it.
September 21, Wednesday
·      6:30 a.m. Shower, breakfast
·      8:00 a.m. – 11: 30 a.m.
o   Often posting blog or working on the next one.
o   Going through my database of 5,000+ contacts and seeing who I have not contacted. Often this then prompts me to categorize those and write an email that I can then blast out to a group that appears to be very personal, but is often to similar audience. An example might be a letter to all those who are at magazines, working for education or maybe church organizations.
o   Check my analytics on my blog and website
·      11:30 – 1:00 try and get lunch with my wife who works from home as well
·      1: 00 – 5:00 p.m.
o   Similar to the morning, but now checking to see how many emails bounced, what links they clicked on if any.
o   Responding to the responses from the emails. Sometimes they have something else in mind and my email just prompted a call.
o   Removing people from my database that have lost their job or moved on. Creating a new contact for these companies. This requires some investigation through their website often or a phone call to see who is the best new contact for me.
·      5:30 – 7:30 Wednesday evening meal and bible study at our church
o   Side note. Because of my profession and working in the past on the staff of church organization, I have been asked to help curate missions photography exhibits, teach classes on how to take photos on mission trips and asked to teach Sunday School. While I could teach without a seminary degree, my seminary training helps me pull on resources I have for these classes. I often will use examples of stories I have covered to make points. This is part of my BRANDING.
September 22, Thursday
·      6:30 a.m. Shower, breakfast
·      8:00 a.m. – 11: 30 a.m.
o   Checking emails and correspondence.
o   Combing website to look for new contacts, which then I put in database and send them an email right away. I have created some quick form letters that I customize for the recipient.
o   Review my presentation for UGA photojournalism students
·      11:30 – 1:00 drive to Athens, GA for presentation to UGA
o   Phone calls while in car to clients and potential clients.
·      1:00 p.m. Eat quick lunch
·      1:30 p.m. show up at Professors office to catch up and prepare for class
·      2 – 4 p.m. teach class
·      4 – 4: 30 p.m. answer some questions from students
·      4:30 – 6 p.m. drive home
o   Phone calls while in car to clients and potential clients.
·      Evening – check some emails and call it a day.
September 23, Friday
·      6:30 a.m. Shower, breakfast
·      8:00 a.m. – 11: 30 a.m.
o   Often posting blog or working on the next one.
o   Going through my database of 5,000+ contacts and seeing who I have not contacted. Often this then prompts me to categorize those and write an email that I can then blast out to a group that appears to be very personal, but is often to similar audience. An example might be a letter to all those who are at magazines, working for education or maybe church organizations.
o   Check my analytics on my blog and website
·      11:30 – 1:00 try and get lunch with my wife who works from home as well
·      1: 00 – 5:00 p.m.
o   Similar to the morning, but now checking to see how many emails bounced, what links they clicked on if any.
o   Responding to the responses from the emails. Sometimes they have something else in mind and my email just prompted a call.
o   Removing people from my database that have lost their job or moved on. Creating a new contact for these companies. This requires some investigation through their website often or a phone call to see who is the best new contact for me.
September 24, Saturday
·      Spend an hour checking emails
September 25, Sunday
·      Spend an hour checking emails
·      Spend an hour to couple hours writing blog

Some Tips

Keep a Journal

I try and journal as often as I can. Writing down the things on my mind is a way to help me process them. I then looked back through this to remind me of a few things. First, I see that I survived what seemed like a significant deal. Second, it keeps me humbled and thankful for all my blessings.

I can now look back and see that I worked very hard to make things happen, but also, because I am reviewing these journals see that often the jobs I have gotten were not because of something I did. ISo many often get jobs for reasons I cannot explain, and a great deal of work I did may have helped, but I can see only God could have opened some of those doors for me.

Could you write it down?

Sometimes I will have an idea, and I would forget about those great ideas in the past. So now I write them down in something similar to my journal. While I now see that some of these “Great Ideas” wouldn’t work, they have helped keep my creative juices flowing. Now I often turn these “Great Ideas” into blogs, or they become a newsletter. Sometimes they have inspired me to write emails to clients that did lead to jobs.

Summary

Have a system that keeps you connecting with your and potential clients regularly. Think often about your clients and what they are dealing with, and see if there is any way you can help lighten their load.

Remember, don’t wait for clients to call you with a project–you call them with tasks they would want to do.

Three ingredients for a successful photo club

by Stanley LearyOctober 30, 2011Photography

Robin Nelson shares some of the stories he has been working on with the Christians in Photojournalism Fall Meeting in Atlanta.

“Birds of a feather flock together,” is a proverb that has been in use since at least the mid 16th century. In 1545, William Turner used a version of it in his papist satire The Rescuing of Romish Fox.

When we start school we are put together with people of similar age and start our journey in life together. We slowly then join clubs and organizations where people of like minds come together.

I believe there are three things to making getting together with others a success: 1) Photography, 2) Subject and 3) Food.

1) Photography

The first thing I know I love to do is to look at others photographs on just about anything. This is a common interest most photographers have. We like to see how someone captured a subject. We want to know what camera, lens, f/stop, shutter speed, ISO and even what lights they used.

Another thing that happens after seeing others photos is we may try to copy them just to learn a new technique. We may even want to stand exactly where they did to make the photo. This is why so many folks have similar photos of famous places of the world.

One of the best things a tourist can do is to go and find the postcards of a location and then try and duplicate it. It is like starting from the best position and then hopefully finding another new and unique angle. But at least you have a good photo if the others don’t work out.

2) Subject: Similar Interests

When you get together with folks who have similar interests you have common language of a subject. You tend to have similar experiences. It is through combining multiple interests that we tend to have even more bonding relationships.

When photographers get together in camera clubs they often try to have outings that appeal to different subject matter. some will go off for wildlife photo shoots and others may bring in a model and learn how to do a better job with portraits.

Robin shared a few stories with the group.

I have enjoyed combining my faith with photography. As a christian I find that the conversations are deeper for me then on other topics and when combined with photography I discover that two of my main interests bring more joy than almost anything else.

When CIPAtlanta.org gets together for meetings we see each others work and talk with each other about how we get our inspirations and how we find clients and groups to partner with to do photography.

Over time we have discovered we are not each other’s competition, but rather we are colleagues. It is through our journey’s overlapping and sharing with each other that we find inspiration and a kindred soul.

If you want to enjoy your photography at a deeper level, combine it with another subject that you enjoy. Maybe start your own group. Maybe it is a club for aviation photographers, bird photographers, Civil War photographers or something else.

We enjoy getting together with couples from our church for what we call “Dinners for Eight.” Four couples rotate through the year at each others homes for dinner and time to get to know each other.

3) Food

The last thing that I think always helps in group dynamics is food. Plan some snacks or meals together. This will give you a more casual environment rather than just a stiff presentation.

Water cooler conversations we know are quite different than conference rooms. Allow for some social time when you get together so people are free to meet others one on one and maybe make other connections than just the main topics that bring the group together. Remember the more topics you have in common with another person give you more things to bond about and help relationships grow.

Invitation

You are always welcome to visit our meetings for CIP Atlanta. We have no dues and just do potluck dinners or everyone brings some snacks when we get together. We always try and see everyone’s work and sometimes have special programs in addition by someone. We post our meetings on our website and you can go there and send us an email asking to be added to the email list to be notified of upcoming meetings.

Links

Here are links to those who showed their work at the last meeting:

Robin Nelson http://www.assignmentatlanta.com/
David Stembridge http://www.greenpeas.us/
Peter Doyle http://storyboardlife.com/
Jim Loring http://jimloring.com/index2.php#/home/
Tim Harman http://www.timharman.com/
Nick Spratlen
Andy Soloman

Storyteller

Category: Photography