I have realized that defining your passion is the key to landing your dream assignment. The driving force makes you willing to champion a cause and share stories that matter.

In my career, I have had the privilege of working with Christian missionaries worldwide and capturing their stories through photography. But what I love just as much as taking pictures is listening to other photographers share their own passion-filled stories.

Recently, I had the opportunity to host 20 photographers at my home, where they shared stories from places like Pakistan, Alaska, Japan, Haiti, and Mexico. It was like having the photographers of National Geographic Magazine right beside me, giving me an inside look at their work.

One of my recent projects took me to Mexico to investigate why so many people risk their lives to cross the border into the United States. There, I discovered the inspiring story of Café Justo, a Just Trade Center that helps coffee growers overcome the challenges that led to a drop in their income. Through micro-loans and community support, Café Justo has been able to help these farmers sustain their livelihoods and avoid the need to emigrate in search of work.

If you’re interested in learning more about their story and becoming an informed consumer who can make a difference in the world, please check out the package I created to help introduce people to their concept. Together, we can use our passions and skills to address the issues facing immigration and make a positive impact in the world.

Flashes are used in a sunroom to balance the light to the outdoors. You must be very careful in your flash placement, or the glass will become a mirror and reflect the flash. Here the angle of the flash and the power match so well that you almost don’t notice the glass separating the indoors from the outdoors.

You are at a wedding under a tent, and there appears to be enough light, but why does the subject keep coming out so dark? If I turn on the flash now, it looks much better. But, now it gets closer to dusk, the background is too dark, and I can’t tell where we are anymore; what can I do? The problem is that the flash lights up subjects close to you, and the background goes dark on black.

THERE’S HOPE FOR YOU.

You are in luck if you have one of the newer digital cameras with 1600, 3200, or 64 ISO settings00. These high ISO settings let you take photos with very little light. As a result, you can get pictures in many situations where flash was required before.

The issue many of us face is not the amount of light available but the direction and quality of that light. For example, if you are under a tent, it is challenging to take a photograph where the outside isn’t in the background. This is where almost every subject has more light on the background than on their faces. On the other hand, if you shoot in the daytime, it is straightforward to turn on your flash and take photos. In this situation, you most likely will not only get a well-exposed photograph of the subject but the background will be adequately exposed.

Another situation we will find ourselves shooting in is those beautiful sunrooms. You get to experience some of the outdoors in not only a calm air-conditioned environment, but for many of us, we share it allergy free. In this situation, if you turn the flash on to compensate for your subject’s being backlighted, you may have to move a little not to get glare in the glass. The simplest way to do this is to be sure you are not perpendicular to the window but on a slight angle.

Once you have used a flash in these scenarios, you quickly discover the joy of photography: you have a well-exposed subject and a well-exposed background that helps you capture the environment.

SUNLIGHT AND FLASH DO MIX

A flash can improve your photos even at the beach, where sunlight is everywhere. So often, we light to have the sun behind the subject at the beach for a self-evident reason—less squinting. But now the subject is backlit, and due to this, you have a similar effect of under a tent, just not as drastic of a light difference. So turn your flash on and open up those shadows.

During the middle of the day, when the sun is directly overhead, you end up with people having raccoon eyes. This is where the sun casts a shadow on folks’ eyes, especially if they have deep-set eyes and are wearing a hat.

FLASH AT DAWN AND DUSK

Just the other day, I was photographing at a friend’s wedding. The wedding started at 6 p.m., and as we moved into the reception, the light dropped quickly until it was dark. Now if you have your camera set to do it all for you automatically and you read the manual on how to force the flash on rather than just automatic mode, you could take the photos as I described above. I didn’t tell you how to do this with your camera because every camera manufacturer has a different way to do this, not only for their brand but often their separate models do it differently—so read your manual.

No, if you turn your flash on under the tent as the light drops off, you will most likely get a dark or even black background. The reason for this is your camera if in an automatic mode, will drop to the lowest ISO setting when your flash is turned on. Even if your camera has an ISO as high as 6400, you will most likely shoot at an ISO of 100 or 200 the minute you turn the flash on. Why is this default? The main reason is that the lower the ISO, the better the image quality. You have a more excellent dynamic range, the photos have less contrast, and the colors are more accurate.

Up until just a couple of years ago, they were shooting anything above an ISO of 400 rendered pretty awful quality. Only in the last couple of years did the camera manufacturers improve the quality of the high ISO. Today the quality of many cameras shooting at an ISO of 6400 looks as good as ISO 400 just a few years ago. Now you can shoot at ISO 6400 and get beautiful results.

In most situations today, with these new cameras with an ISO of 6400, you can take great photos without flash in ordinarily lit rooms inside.

For the wedding I was at, they had candles on the table and one chandelier in the middle of the tent, and the amount of light, even at 6400 at 10 p.m. that night, wasn’t enough to take the photos. But when we first were under the tent at 6:30 p.m., there was enough light outside. So, I could have had my camera set on auto everything, forced the flash on, and had good exposure on the faces and background looking wonderful. So, this doing this then, but as the night fell, the background started to go very dark. So, I changed my ISO to 800 a little later, raised it again to 1200, and I was up to 6400 ISO by the night’s end.

BONUS FEATURE

Another bonus of shooting with a flash when your camera is set at ISO 6400 is that the flash doesn’t use as much light, and your batteries will last longer.

SUMMARY

Find your camera manual and read two sections: turn your flash on and change the ISO. Once you know how to override the auto everything on your camera, you will get better photographs and finally get the photos this camera can do that you couldn’t get with the $8 disposable camera.

Regarding visual presentations for non-government organizations (NGOs), storytelling is one of the most engaging and effective ways to capture the audience’s attention and inspire them to take action. Whether through personal anecdotes, real-life examples, or interviews, stories help bring the NGO’s mission to life and make it relatable to the audience.

While planning ahead and answering essential questions about the audience, budget, and goals is important, incorporating storytelling can take your visual presentation to the next level. For instance, instead of simply highlighting the work of the NGO and showing the needs, you can use storytelling to show how the NGO’s services have impacted the lives of individuals or families.

For example, imagine a visual presentation for an NGO that provides clean drinking water to communities in developing countries. Instead of just showing images of water wells and filters, the presentation can include a personal story of a family who previously struggled to access clean water and how the NGO’s intervention has transformed their lives. In addition, the report can include interviews with the family members, showing how the NGO’s work has provided them with better health, education, and economic opportunities.

By using storytelling in your visual presentation, you can connect emotionally with the audience and help them understand the importance of the NGO’s work. In addition, stories are powerful tools that can inspire viewers to take action, whether it is through giving, volunteering, or advocating for the NGO’s cause.

In summary, when creating a visual presentation for an NGO, planning ahead and answering essential questions about the audience, budget, and goals is crucial. However, incorporating storytelling can take your presentation to the next level and create an emotional connection with the audience. Sharing personal anecdotes and real-life examples can inspire viewers to take action and support the NGO’s mission.

The Pitfalls of Compromising: Why Watered-Down Solutions Lead to Disappointment

Compromising can seem like the easiest solution when parties come together with different ideas or solutions for a problem. However, when both parties are focused on pushing their idea forward, a watered-down version emerges, leaving everyone unsatisfied with the answer.

The Power of Collaboration: How Active Listening and Openness to New Ideas Lead to Success

Collaboration isn’t about negotiating solutions but starting where parties come together and actively listen to each other. It’s about being open to new ideas and realizing that partnering with others can help everyone accomplish their goals. The oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States, rowing, provides the perfect illustration of collaboration, where the team must work together and stay in sync to succeed.

Building Successful Partnerships: The Importance of Trust and Understanding Client Goals

When clients hire a service provider, they expect collaboration rather than compromise. Trust is the foundation of this process, and lowering communication barriers is critical. Active listening, taking notes and asking clarifying questions are all essential in understanding client goals and limitations. Service providers can exceed client expectations and build successful partnerships by truly understanding what they want to accomplish.

Articulating the Client’s Project: Exploring Flexibility and Building Friendships

Even when clients have done an excellent job articulating their projects, it’s still important to explore with them to understand how much flexibility they have. Saying the project in one’s own words and checking in with the client can prevent friction and lead to successful outcomes. Ultimately, successful partnerships are built on collaboration, trust, and friendship.

In this video clip, my friend Tony Messano talks about what he looks for when he hires a photographer. Here is his website http://www.tonymessano.com/ad/

Malcolm Gladwell’s concept of the Ten-Thousand Hour Rule still holds today, as it did when he first introduced it in his book Outliers. In this book, Gladwell cites a study of violinists conducted in the 1990s by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, which found that great players had put in ten thousand practice hours by age twenty.

Gladwell argues that this rule applies to success in any field, and he points to the Beatles, Bill Gates, and other successful people who have spent thousands of hours perfecting their craft in a relatively short time. However, he also emphasizes that there is a threshold one must meet to compete in any field, such as being at least six feet tall for basketball players or having an IQ of 120 for advanced learning.

To achieve success, Gladwell highlights five characteristics: persistence, being friendly, knowing your resources (teachers, coaches, facilitators, and mentors), being skilled in your craft, and having talent. In addition, he emphasizes the importance of showing up and being prepared, as well as avoiding people who drain your time and energy.

David Lyman, the founder of The Maine Workshop, stresses the importance of persistence and refining one’s craft, stating that it takes about ten years to do so in photography. On the other hand, Bobby Fisher became a chess grandmaster in nine years, and great artists combined their talent with thousands of hours of work to master their chosen field.

The journey of ten thousand hours may seem daunting, but it breaks down to fewer than three hours a day over ten years. Nevertheless, with persistence, skill, and talent, anyone can become an expert in their field and succeed.

The importance of clear and concise communication cannot be overstated in today’s world. However, simply giving a lecture or presentation may not be enough when it comes to teaching or presenting. The key to successful teaching is engagement, which means moving beyond simply talking.

Research has shown that students retain only 10% of information taught through lectures or presentations, but retention jumps to 50% when knowledge is demonstrated and discussed. And when students have the opportunity to practice what they’ve learned, retention increases to 75%.

To engage your audience effectively, start with a clear and compelling elevator speech that explains what you will teach and why it’s worth listening to. From there, focus on demonstrating and discussing your points, and engage your audience in the learning process through group discussions, activities, and homework assignments.

It’s also important to consider your material’s complexity and the learning stages. Good teachers understand that there are different levels of comprehension and tailor their teaching methods accordingly.

Ultimately, the key to successful teaching is engagement. Whether presenting to colleagues or teaching a semester-long course, find creative ways to engage your audience in the joy of learning. As Maria from “The Sound of Music” said, “When you know the notes to sing, you can sing almost anything.” So don’t teach by talking – teach by engaging.

The World Wide Web was born in 1993. Websites began. Connecting to the world was no longer just through email. You could publish photos on the web and put up storefront businesses. This was the beginning of the .com era.

In 1994 podcasts took hold. A Podcast is a series of digital media files, usually digital, audio, or video, made available for download via web syndication.

In 1997 the weblog was introduced. It simplified creating a website and helped people publish material in a user-friendly matter. By 1999 the name was shortened to blog. Ability of most anyone to have a website was now so easy that the web exploded with blogs.

On October 28, 2003, Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard sophomore, concocted Facemash. This became Facebook. The concept of Facebook is inviting friends to see your blog and controlling who sees your material.

Twitter entered the scene in 2006 as a microblog. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters on the user’s profile page. They are delivered to other users (called followers) who have subscribed. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. The difference between a Facebook and a Twitter page is one is exclusive and the other by default inclusive.

About ten years ago, Donald O. Clifton led a team of scientists at Gallup to begin a dialogue on what is right with people. In 2001 they published the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment that, after taking the test, a person lists the top five talents/strengths they possessed out of a possible thirty-four categories. The difference with this assessment tool is its emphasis on people learning to play to their strengths rather than concentrating on their weaknesses.

In 2007, Tom Rath, one of Clifton’s team, updated the assessment and wrote Strength Finder 2.0. You can find out about it at www.StrengthsFinder.com.

In 2008 Seth Godin published Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. Godin has written about being a change agent in previous books like Purple Cow and The Dip. In his book Tribes, Godin helps us understand how all this technology of websites, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter are places where leaders can rise if they are willing to lead. Good leaders create Raving Fans. Ken Blanchard, the author of the popular management book The One Minute Manager, also wrote Raving Fans.

Godin talks about how it is easier today, because of the web, to find others who think like you. We can build upon these strong connections with others. Godin takes the concepts of Strengths Finder (of playing to your strengths) to find your niche. By doing so, your fans will find you. This group is what Godin calls a tribe.

A CROWD has many weak connections between people. TRIBES have strong relationships. Organizations that play to the Tribe rather than the crowd will create Raving Fans, according to Godin.

Godin talks about leveraging all these tools of blogs, websites, Facebook, and Twitter. He gives an example of how Scott Beale, owner of Laughing Squid, uses all these tools and more to market. Beale was able to leverage his Tribe at a conference in 2008 “… he got tired of waiting to get into the Google party. He found a deserted bar down the street, grabbed some tables in the back, and fired up his cell phone. Using Twitter, he announced: ‘Alta Vista Party at Ginger Man.’ Within a few minutes, eight people showed up, then it was fifty. Soon there was a line out the door.”

Godin explains how Beale didn’t just sign-up with Twitter, tweet a message, and the party began. Instead, the party took four years of marketing using the tools, and by having a following, he could then leverage this Tribe of his into a spontaneous event.

A few of my friends use social networking tools to create workshops, sell their self-published books, and many other ways of connecting with their tribes.

Networking was around long before the computer. Those who understand connecting with others have always done well in business.

Today you can build a tribe for almost nothing compared to the days before the computer. Social networks are free to join. They can connect you to the world. Marketing 101 teaches that only about one hundred people will be interested in your idea if you talk to one thousand people. Of those hundred, only ten will buy.

The marketing challenge has always been reaching enough people to connect with those who will buy.

Another aspect of connecting with your audience is getting your name in front of them repeatedly, usually six to eight times, before the deal is sealed.

The web can connect you with the world. The web allows repeated connections via email, tweeting, blogging, and inviting people to join your exclusive club.

One last observation – people are tuning in more to things like Youtube and Hulu than going to places with nothing but text. The problem with Youtube is there is a lot of junk there. So while it is visual, it is also mostly amateur. Hulu is all about quality video. The difference is clear, advertisers are lining up to advertise on Hulu, and Youtube doesn’t compare.

Today those who will brand themselves the best will no longer accept amateur communications – they hire professionals to help shape their message.

Call me, and I’m eager to help you tell your story to your Tribe.

Have you ever wondered how people use media throughout their day? Tom Kennedy, former multimedia director for WashingtonPost.com, gave a talk to the Atlanta ASMP group, and one of his slides during the presentation intrigued me. He shared a list of ways people interact with media throughout the day:

• Commuting: Podcasts, iPhones, Radio
• Work Hours: Email Alerts, SMS, Tweets
• Lunch Hours/Office Breaks: Websites
• Daily Living Tasks: SMS, Tweets, IMs, Drive-By Media
• Home Leisure Time: Web, TV, Radio, iPods, iPhone

Kennedy pointed out that people often use media based on their available time. For example, when riding a train, sitting at an airport, or taking a bus, they are likelier to get messages through their phone. Therefore, it’s crucial to know how your audience receives your message. They may use a phone that allows web surfing, like the iPhone or Blackberry.

People cannot always surf the web during work hours, so they will allow for short messaging through email, tweets, and SMS (Social Media Sites). As communicators, we need to understand how our audience receives information. It’s easier to find the audience than to have the audience find us.

This past February was a milestone for SMS. Now, more people are communicating through Social Media than with email. We need to adapt to this change for those of us who are communicators.

If you want to engage with your audience effectively, you must ask yourself where your audience is and, more specifically, where they are throughout the workday. Are you waiting for them to find you, or are you looking for them? It’s essential to understand how your audience receives information and adapt your communication strategy accordingly.

I’m excited to help Chick-fil-A visually engage its base. I’m seeing how operators (franchise owners) use texting, email, Twitter, FaceBook, Websites, Billboards, Events, and more to engage with their audience. What’s exciting is they’re unsatisfied and feel they could do more and be even more effective. So let’s take a page from their book and look for more ways to engage with our audience effectively.

The making of great photographs requires an investment. We need a camera, computer, and software and, possibly, we need to attend classes to learn how to use all this equipment.

Should we buy a Mac or a PC? Which camera should we believe — Nikon, Canon, Leica, or Hasselblad? Which workshops or photo books do we require? We’ll need to read reviews of these products before making the investments.

However, the No. 1 investment a photographer can make isn’t about gear or training. Instead, it’s to invest your time and, as the Boy Scouts put it, “be prepared.”

Always Ready

National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg moved to the forest edge to have more time photographing wolves and other animals. He wanted to be ready when the time came to make those outstanding photos.

National Geographic photographers and writers usually spend three months on an assignment. Then, they take a break in the middle of the shoot, come home and review their work. The break gives them time to pause and reflect, so they can go back and fill in any gaps or expand parts of the coverage.

We can’t always devote three months waiting for great photo ops, but like Jim Brandenburg, we can be ready when the time comes.

How? By always have a camera with us.

Point and Shoot

The problem, of course, is that the size, weight, and bulk of the best-we-could-buy camera we own, not to mention the ancillary gear, can make that difficult.

That’s why many professional photographers have invested in point-and-shoot cameras. These small, pocket-sized cameras are as tiny as the old Kodak Disc cameras introduced in 1982. In addition, today’s point-and-shoots have resolutions rival the medium format film cameras, enabling you to enlarge to mural-size prints.

About a month ago, I bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 — and I have been busy learning all that it can do ever since. In the process, I have rediscovered the excitement I felt when I first began taking pictures.

It is so tiny; I now carry it everywhere. While waiting for food at restaurants, I enjoy playing with the camera’s macro mode. It is fun just photographing saltshakers and other small objects on the table. Discovering interesting compositions and watching how the light affects these objects is a joy.

The depth of field is much greater than with larger 35 mm digital cameras. For example, the ƒ-stop of the ƒ/3.3 on my little Lumix (wide open) compares approximately to ƒ/22 on a 35 mm.

Conversely, this little camera has a 10-to-one zoom! That’s equivalent to a 300 mm lens, which fits in my shirt pocket. A 300 mm lens for a 35 mm camera weighs six pounds and is over 10 inches long.

During the past month, I have wondered why I have all this professional gear—I can do so much with this little camera.

Pros and Cons

As I’ve used it more, however, I’ve gotten a clearer sense of the pros and cons.

For example, even with vibration reduction, these cameras are exceptionally tricky to hold steady. A tripod is a great help.

Additionally, obtaining a shallow depth of field is impossible for most of these cameras—my advice: learn to live with it.

The camera manuals are different from traditional cameras. You will need to read the manual and practice what it preaches using all the available functions to discover what each mode will do. These cameras have many ways that take some time to understand. Having said all this, I’ve found that carrying this camera helps me to see and take photos more often; it fine-tunes the eye.

Of course, carrying a camera all the time can cause some minor problems with your family. As my son joked last night as I took his photo at a restaurant, “It’s like having your paparazzi!”