Disclaimer: I have been researching how to do a better job of writing captions that are story-oriented and yet still journalistic. This is some of the research I have done. If you were to grade my caption writing at the moment, I think it is a passing grade at best. I hope what I have found helps not just you but me in the future to write better captions.

If you are to Google how to write a caption, you will find similar guidelines often based on the Associated Press model.

This is from the guidelines I got from Mark E. Johnson for teaching Intro to Photojournalism.

Good captions have five basic elements

Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?

The first sentence must have the first four items: who, what, where, and when. The second sentence explains why this photo is essential to the viewer. Quotes can be used in the second or third sentence if it helps advance understanding of the image.

All captions are written in AP style – names, titles, dates, locations, etc. – and in the present tense.

The standard comments on length are often like this:

Keep it brief: You do not need to summarize the entire story in the caption; it should supplement or complement the story. If the caption is as deep as the photo, it’s too long! Please keep captions to a couple of lines.

The caption must do more when you have just a photo and a caption that is not part of a story. It needs to tell the story.

Monetization is what is driving many of the changes in journalism today. One of the topics discussed more and more is your engagement score when it comes to analytics which helps you know if the audience is reading your stories.

As you can see from this chart, Instagram accounts for the highest number of actions by far of the four networks measured but the lowest number of posts. In part, Instagram’s higher engagement rates are due to the increased use of visuals and little, user-friendly response icons.

This means that right now, the best way to tell stories to an audience is through Instagram.

If you are a News Outlet wanting to leverage Social Media, according to THE ASSOCIATION OF MAGAZINE MEDIA, only Instagram will work.

So if you are working hard on a story and want the most eyes on it, then Instagram is one of the best mediums today.

I must be sincere and say that I was blown away by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of NY Instagram feed regarding how many followers he has acquired.

By the way, Brandon started by posting to Facebook and still does. He has 18 million followers on Facebook.

Here is a video of Brandon Stanton where he shares what he does to get stories of random people on the streets of NY and now the world. I am sharing this because many of the students I teach read my blog and teach people how to do storytelling. This is great for learning to meet people, take photos, and find their stories.

Stanton now has 8.2 million followers. This is a crazy number for sure. Stanton’s website www.humansofnewyork.com has 18 million followers. Be sure and see how Stanton writes his captions today.

To give you some context, his numbers are DOUBLE that of the New York Times. So Brandon Stanton is more significant in followers than the NYTimes. The New York Times has long been regarded as a national “newspaper of record.” So having a more substantial following than them is enormous. This is why I wanted to study what he does and how I can engage my audience better.

Brandon was doing this all through the caption.

I wanted to know how to write engaging journalistic captions that tell stories with my photos going forward.

Good Instagram captions come in all shapes and sizes, from short and sweet to more extended, in-depth stories (Instagram captions can be as long as 2200 characters), which is enough to tell a short story with a photo.

The idea here is you can also add more photos to this post, but you are still limited to 2200 characters.

Here are some tips I have come across in many places, so I think they are now common knowledge to many.

I think the general rule in social media is to use the inverted pyramid of writing style.

Another way to start in social media is the “anecdotal lead,” which begins the story with an eye-catching tale or anecdote rather than the central facts.

When I teach how to create a multimedia piece [which is video] for social media, we teach that the first 4 to 8 seconds you need to hook the audience. We often used something so different for those 4 to 8 seconds as a tease and would go to black to start the story.

You can still be journalistic in your writing, but you need to engage the reader with something that will keep them reading. I think you are writing in a more entertaining style but do not go so far as to lose the journalistic credibility.

One thing that differs with Instagram is that readers can comment, as long as you have that turned on for your posts. This has created something new for those writing captions—the call to action.

The simple act of including a call-to-action in your Instagram caption and inviting your audience to comment or engage can go a very long way in driving more engagement on your posts.

The idea is that you are creating a following. This is very similar to getting subscribers.

You should also consider turning your call-to-action into a question, using the 5 W’s (who, what, where, when, and why) to encourage your followers to comment!

Aside from the apparent tips on using proper grammar and spelling, brand voice is one of the essential parts of any good Instagram caption. Many journalists follow the AP Style Guide. Some organizations like NPR have their caption-style guide.

Hashtags

When adding hashtags to your Instagram caption, please don’t limit yourself to keeping them at the end! Integrating hashtags throughout your post adds dimension to your caption, and since hashtags are a different color on Instagram, the right hashtag can also highlight and contextualize your content.

The hashtags help organize and categorize photos and video content, which aids the process of content discovery and optimization.

For example, a sports blogger could post a picture of an action shot and then use the hashtags #actionphoto #actionphotography and #championship when uploaded to Instagram.

Instead of using the most popular Instagram hashtags, it’s better to use the top hashtags that have an engaging community and are specific to your audience.

So, how are you supposed to find these cool, creative, and community-oriented hashtags? The best way is to look and see what Instagram hashtags your audience, competitors, and industry leaders are already using.

One last tip about #Hashtags keeps them to 5 or less. That might change, but the algorithms Instagram uses to put your post higher in feeds will ding you if there are too many right now.

What about legit Journalism on Instagram?

You may be very interested in how prominent news outlets are writing stories to accompany their photos on Instagram. I know I was very interested.

Here are some mainline media Instagram feeds.

Today I believe one of the best places for photojournalists to publish the stories they want to tell is on Instagram. To do so, these journalists will have to change how they write their captions.

I hope this helps you think of how to engage your audience with the 5 Ws and limit this to 2200 characters.

Here are some photojournalists worth following on Instagram.

Lynsey Addario

An American photojournalist, Lynsey, takes us through the raw nooks and corners of the world with her photographs, building a visually pleasureful experience for us to witness the world through her eyes.

Ed Kashi

Documenting the ongoing mayhem in Syria, Kashi, a photojournalist, filmmaker, and lecturer, through his Instagram, portrays the world of Syrian refugees, oozing emotions and getting us up, close, and personal with their misery amongst the others.

Andrew Quilty

As his bio reads ‘Stories not selfies,’ this storyteller has embarked on a journey to take us along with the naked world, putting out the beauties and flawless imperfections through these photographs.

Randy Olson

Overwhelmed with emotions, hues, and drama, Olson has his perspective on the world and puts it across through spectacular visuals.

Gary S. Chapman

Because impacting lives matters, Gary helps organizations tell their stories visually. He has covered humanitarian stories in more than 70 countries worldwide, assisting groups in creating awareness, expressing their vision, and building their community. You can trust him to bring an honest, photojournalistic approach to your commercial, corporate, editorial, or non-profit assignments.

This past weekend I was asked to join the UGA Photojournalism workshop in Perry, Georgia as they covered the State Fair. I was asked to serve as a coach to the students.

These are very bright students who many have only been shooting with a DSLR for less than a year. Prior to buying their first DSLR they were just using their smartphones.

They are still learning about their cameras and how to use some of the creative tools of Aperture & Shutter Speed to help in their storytelling. They were also learning how to capture stories in a visual way.

After spending time at the Fair shooting, we asked them to come back to our meeting room and download their photos and get some critiques from the coaches before going back. They were doing this every couple hours from 7:30 am to 11:30 pm. Many of the students walked some 6 to 10 miles covering the fair and getting back and forth to our meeting room.

There was one common theme that I was talking to the students about over and over. I could tell from their photos a couple things. They needed to get physically closer and they need to talk more to their subjects and get to know them. The photos were very distant physically and emotionally.

Well I have been teaching this for 30+ years and then on Saturday I finally found the phrase in my thoughts to articulate this concept to the students.

Every one of the instructors were all saying how we often leave our cameras in our car and build relationships first and then get our gear. Well they were not able to do this at the fair. They had to carry their camera gear all the time. So how to tell them some concept that will help them see what they need to do was my problem.

I also needed to help them know how to shoot a variety of images using their widest lens to the tightest lens.

“Forget the camera right now. See how we are sitting beside each other?” I said to a few students. Then I would move my chair a few feet from them. “Which feels more intimate?” You need to start by talking with the person I said. Then it is much easier to start with your wide angle lens to capture them up close and intimate.

While I was talking about this concept with a student, I had the “Ah Ha Moment”.

“Talk your way in and then shoot your way out,” was coming out of my mouth. I wish I had thought of saying it this way many years ago.

I explained the benefits of this process.

First, I watched many students spend time shooting and then when they asked for their names the people didn’t want to help them. Had they started with talking first then they would have saved a lot of time.

You introduce yourself and tell them you want to make their photos and would they mind.

Second, by taking some time to listen to the person and exploring their story you could look for opportunities that might work much better visually than text alone would.

Not talking to someone and shooting before you get their information can have you treating them as objects and not human if you are not careful. Talking to them helps avoid this problem.

Third, now that you have been talking it is easier to pull out the widest lens and make some photos up close. You are sitting or standing next to them.

Lastly, but most important you are now able to concentrate on capturing people in relationship with other and at the state fair–Livestock!

Once you have spent some time getting to know someone it is much easier to build a shot list in your head or write it down if you need.

SUGGESTED SHOT LIST

Opener: Sets the scene for the story
Decisive moment: The one moment that can by itself tell the story
Details: Besides being like visual candy to the story, help often with transitions–especially in multimedia packages
Sequences: give a little variety to a situation
High overall shot: Gives a good perspective to how the elements all fit together
Closer: Besides the classic shot of the cowboy riding off into the sunset there are other visual ways to help bring the story to a close
Portraits: These photos are great for introducing the characters of the story

Now my mantra for all future teaching of photojournalism and storytelling is:

Talk Your Way In, Shoot Your Way Out

When working with actors for their headshots, I have to feel them and see how much direction they need.

There is a fine line between over or under-directing a person.

If you over-direct, you are not giving them time to try and respond to your direction. If you ask them to think about something to elicit an expression, they need time to wrap their head around that thought.

I prefer a very relaxed expression, as if the person in the photo is listening to me. I think it is a very inviting expression that helps pull a viewer into the photo.

While a smile is attractive, it is often done wrong and looks exceptionally fake. Here are some tips for getting a genuine expression.

One great thing to try with models is to ask them to Squinch their eyes.

First, you must relax the muscles around your eyes; tightening them would make a squint. Next, lightly lower the top eyelid ever so slightly. But the key to a good Squinch is learning to use the ligaments to push up the bottom lid, which is harder to achieve.

This is also called the Smize, where you smile with your whole face. Smizing is Tyra Banks’ secret to a stunning photo. Smizing is considered a look that involves smiling not only with your mouth but through your eyes – smiling with the eyes – hence, “smize.”

Sometimes the best way to get a genuinely warm smile isn’t to say smile rather than a squint. You may have to show people how to do this, so practice in a mirror.

I often ask people thought-provoking questions to get that look that they want to communicate something to you, and they are looking for the right words, which they are doing.

Tonight I attended the Atlanta Legal Society’s opening reception for Picturing Justice. I was attending because my friend Robin Rayne had her photos exhibited.

Picturing Justice is an annual exhibition that explores how photography can illuminate the human stories that live behind such common shorthand as “case,” “client,” and “issue.”

The core of Legal Aid’s mission is to help low-income people navigate the complexities of the court system at the most vulnerable times in their lives. Their clients face evictions, health crises, foreclosure, domestic violence, education issues, and consumer challenges that can only be solved with the help of a lawyer.

My favorite moment was a little girl enjoyed the exhibited photos.

You can see this for free. The show is up until November 30th.

4th floor
Atlanta Legal Aid Society
54 Ellis St NE
Atlanta, GA 30303, USA

My wife will tell you that I never go anywhere without a camera. This is the mantra I am also telling my students if they want to get better.

“The best camera is the one that’s with you.”

– Chase Jarvis

This is from last night just down the street from our neighborhood in Roswell, GA.

We had just eaten at one of our favorite Thai House restaurants and walked out to see this sky. I had my camera and got a few photos.

“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.”

– Aaron Rose

Now I don’t always get what I imagine when I see something so spontaneous like this. You know I would love to have the Eiffel Tower in the skyline, but you make do with what is around you.

“Don’t pack up your camera until you’ve left the location.”

– Joe McNally

In less than five minutes, it was gone.

“In photography, you’ve got to be quick, quick, quick, quick. Like an animal and a prey.”

– Henri Cartier-Bresson

Where is your camera? Do you take it with you? If you rely mainly on your smartphone, why not just sell that other gear?

“Photography is a magical kind of art that allows people to preserve time and moments, and to describe the world the way they see it.”

– Sahara Sanders

The power of the Words & Visuals was demonstrated this Sunday in my church.

My wife Dorie Griggs led our Sunday School class time this Sunday by inviting her friends from the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta. We knew from some of the comments made in our church that there were many misconceptions about Muslims. Dorie knew from her own experience that getting to know people of other faiths was a way to break down barriers and also, in the process, to grow deeper in her faith.

The word “prejudice” can be broken down into “pre-” and “judgment.” Aptly, much prejudice stems from our pre-judging other people’s habits, customs, clothes, ways of speaking, and values. We often do this with no basis for judgment other than because they (the traditions, values, food, etc.) are different from ours.

As anthropologist Richard Shweder reminds us in his Psychology Today blog, the world doesn’t come with one “Truth” or one “Reality.” Instead, what we call Truth is often a social construction that differs across cultures.
– RODOLFO MENDOZA-DENTON 

The single best antidote to prejudice and racism?
Cross-race friendship.

Before we got into many questions, the speakers took some time to give us some basic facts about the faith that was eye-opening for many.

All Muslims are not Arab, Middle-Eastern, or of African descent. Islam is a universal religion and way of life that includes followers from all races. There are Muslims in and from virtually every country in the world. Arabs only constitute about 20% of Muslims worldwide. The countries with the largest Muslim populations are not in the Middle East. They are Indonesia (over 200 million Muslims), Pakistan, and India (over 350 million Muslims combined).

One of the more considerable misunderstandings about their faith they wanted to clear up was the misconception that women are marginalized or lesser than men.

Everyone in their faith has direct access to God. Very similar concept to the Christian “Priesthood of the Believer.” Therefore they are not below a man but relatively equal to the man in the eyes of God.

They also talked about the Hijab – The term can refer to any head, face, or body covering worn by Muslim women that conforms to a certain standard of modesty. They pointed out how not all Muslim women wear one, which was clearly demonstrated between the two. They talked to each about their reasons for not wearing one and one wearing one.

Jokingly they said that the woman often says, “What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is mine.” They were trying to explain how men must take care of not just themselves, the household, but their wives and children with what they earn. However, whatever the woman makes is her alone.

It was good to see each of us this Sunday morning learning about the “other.”

First Amendment – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Since we live in an open society regarding faith, we must learn to live together. Our time together was one house of worship getting together with another place of worship for dialogue and understanding. We were not trying to convert each other.

Realizing this doesn’t happen over just one interaction Fairyal Maqbool-Halim and a few other women [some from our church] formed the Women’s Interfaith Network – WIN.

Born in 1928, Catholic theologian and church critic Hans Küng made his mark as a promoter of dialogue between religions and president of the Global Ethic Foundation.

“No peace among the nations without peace between the religions! No peace between the religions without dialog between the religions!” Those are two central sentences of your World Ethic principle. 

Hans Küng believed Religion could co-exist with democracy.

Maybe you want to learn more about your Muslim friends and coworkers. Contact the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta and see about a panel coming to your organization.

You may also want to check out the Women’s Interfaith Network – WIN. That is a link to their Facebook page where upcoming events are posted.

Jesus Appears to Thomas 24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

John 20:24-29 

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

One of my favorite scriptures that I believe highlights the role of the photojournalist to be a visual storyteller. Photographing, editing, and presenting images tell a story in a way no other media can. The photographs serve the purpose of enhancing the story for the reader or viewer.

Robin Rayne Nelson spoke to two of my intro to photojournalism classes today.  I love my job. As a photojournalist, I met and photographed some of the most exciting people.

Teaching photojournalism gives me an excuse to invite some of my heroes of photojournalism to speak to the class.

This is one of the photojournalism books I have had for years. Robin is one of the photographers whose work is part of the Black Star Picture Agency. Robin was on staff with them for years.

Black Star, also known as Black Star Publishing Company, was started by refugees from Germany who had established photographic agencies there in the 1920s. Today it is a New York City-based photographic agency with offices in London and White Plains, New York. It is known worldwide for photojournalism, corporate assignment photography, and stock photography services. It is noted for its contribution to the history of photojournalism in the United States. It was the first privately owned picture agency in the United States and introduced numerous new techniques in photography and illustrated journalism. The agency was closely identified with Henry Luce’s magazine Life and Time.

Black Star was formed in December 1935. The three founders were Kurt Safranski, Ernest Mayer, and Kurt Kornfeld. In 1964, the company was sold to Howard Chapnick. The three founders, Safranski, Mayer, and Kornfeld, were German Jews who fled Berlin during the Nazi regime.

Black Star photographers include Robert Capa, Andreas Feininger, Germaine Krull, Philippe Halsman, Martin Munkácsi, Kurt Severin, W. Eugene Smith, Marion Post-Wolcott, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Charles Moore, James Nachtwey, Lee Lockwood, Mario Giacomelli, and Spider Martin.

Robin took photos of the Klu Klux Klan in 1985, published in the book.

We showed a short documentary Robin produced and then took just 6 of Robin’s photos for the class to see and discuss the back story of each of the images.

Here are Robin’s photos we talked about:

We didn’t have any of the captions when we showed them to the class. I asked the class to tell me what they thought the story was for each photo. Robin was surprised at how well they read the images visually.

After a couple of minutes, Robin told us the photo’s story and back story.

Students were able to ask Robin questions.

One great quote Robin said to both classes and worth leaving here is about finding your passion.

We are known by the company we keep and the passions we pursue.

The biggest question Robin asked was, “What is your WHY?”

I am noticing that more people are treating their DSLR or Mirrorless cameras like their phones regarding photo storage, which is a mistake.

Workflow with photos

1. Take photos, preferably RAW, which are stored on your memory card in the camera.
2. Take the memory card out of the camera to transfer images to a computer. Leaving in the camera and using your cable to connect to the laptop drains your camera battery, and if it goes out while moving, you can corrupt the card and lose images.
3. Put the card in the card reader if your computer doesn’t have one.
4. Download all the images, select all that you want to keep, and transfer those to a folder on an external hard drive. I call the folder “PROJECT NAME RAW.”
5. Edit photos in Adobe Lightroom or similar software. Export the finished files as JPEGs to a folder on the external drive. I call the folder “PROJECT NAME JPEGs.”
6. Make a backup of your RAW and JPEGs to another external hard drive.
7. Put memory card back in camera and format in the camera.

According to a SanDisk technical support specialist:

There are two methods to erase the images stored on your memory card.

Using the camera’s menu to ‘format’ removes all files and sets up the memory card for use in the camera. ‘Delete’ (i.e., erase), on the other hand, removes one image after another. Therefore, it is a good idea to occasionally format a memory card (in the camera and not on a computer). Delete the images if you wish to clean up the memory card daily.

Formatting helps clear the card of extraneous issues from everyday use. Erasing images tells your camera that it’s okay to write over the photos already on your card. So you will not remove images but take pictures over the existing ones. This always leaves ‘traces’ of data on the card. By formatting it, you remove the images before taking new ones. So you will start with a new data-free card.

Many people have corrupted images due to deleting images on their cards because it leaves ‘traces’ of data that corrupted the photos.

There is one more method for handling images and memory cards. Keep your pictures on your card and buy new memory cards.

I know many people who buy many memory cards and use them once. This then becomes one of the backups for the images.

For example, you can buy SD Memory cards for as low as $4 for 32GB. Most of the highly rated 32-GB SD Cards hover around $15 – $20 at the time of writing this post.

Summary

When you start a new project, you want your camera’s freshly formatted memory card. You will avoid more problems with losing images rather than putting a card in the camera with pictures on it.

There is only one thing better than this practice: owning a camera with two card slots that you record the images simultaneously to two cards—either a duplicate or RAW on one and JPEGs on the other. If you are shooting something that can’t be done again, i.e., a wedding, you better have a second card slot.

If you are like most photographers we like to question why people/companies who know us will hire someone else to do a photography job. When I get together with other photographers you can feel the disappointment when they have their clients hiring someone other than them these days for some jobs if not all the jobs.

Everyone feels like at some point you have earned the right, but this isn’t true.

We need to remind ourselves what a privilege it is to do any work.

A privilege is a special advantage not enjoyed by everyone. If you’re very snooty, you probably don’t allow just anyone the privilege of being your friend. Privilege comes from Latin privilegium, meaning a law for just one person, and means a benefit enjoyed by an individual or group beyond what’s available to others.

Once you have accepted the fact that you are asked to do a job the better you will be in executing it for the client.

I must remind myself I am a service to my clients and they have many other choices they can make. What this does in my head is making me realize I am there to win them over every time I do something for them.

Be a friend you’d want to have. …
Make them feel good. …
Find the good in them. …
Put in the work to keep the friendship. …
Don’t badmouth others or gossip excessively. …
Don’t take it personally if not everyone wants to be friends.

The very hardest thing in that list of things we have all heard is that last one–that everyone doesn’t want to be your friend.

Intellectually I understand that I am just not going to be good friends with everyone.

We have all seen the overlapping of circles that show the intersections of interests between groups and people. If the other photographer has more overlapping interests with the client than you then it is easier to accept that you lost a job due to the other person having something more in common with the client.

What you need to keep the competition away are barriers. Now if for example, your specialty in photography is underwater photography you have cut your competition down by just creating a barrier.

Your competition needs to be an expert diver, buy special camera gear, and market to your clients to even compete with you.

Well, today there are many more people than 20 years ago that are competing in that space. This is true for extreme sports photographers. Once TV started covering these sports there has been a spike in participation. Twenty-five years ago there were a handful of rock climbing photographers and today there are hundreds, if not thousands competing with each other.

There’s a brutal truth in life that some people refuse to accept–you have no control over many of the things that happen in life.

Recognize that sometimes, all you can control is your effort and your attitude. When you put your energy into the things you can control, you’ll be much more effective. Work on your portfolio and marketing materials.

To have the most influence, focus on changing your behavior. Be a good role model and set healthy boundaries for yourself.

You might be thinking, “I can’t allow my business to fail,” but you don’t take the time to ask yourself, “What would I do if my business failed?” Acknowledging that you can handle the worst-case scenario can help you put your energy into more productive exercises. You may need a “Plan B”.

If you are actively solving a problem, such as trying to find ways to increase your chances of success, keep working on solutions. If however, you’re wasting your time deliberating, change to a new thought. Acknowledge that your thoughts aren’t productive and get up and go do something for a few minutes to get your brain focused on something more productive.

Your lifestyle can be adding undue stress. Exercising, eating healthy, and getting plenty of sleep are just a few key things you need to do to take care of yourself.

The hardest part of living life with these issues is getting a healthy perspective. I recommend the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

Talking with friends and asking them to be honest with you can help as well. Don’t just complain, seek to understand what you can do and what you have no control over.

There is a reason Amazing Grace is sung so much around the world. Take those words to heart.

Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
I was blind but now I see

T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace, my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils, and snares
We have already come.
T’was grace that brought us safe thus far
And grace will lead us home,
And grace will lead us home

Report: 6 of 10 Millennials Have ‘Low’ Technology Skills

By Dian Schaffhauser

06/11/15

Digital natives aren’t as tech-savvy as they think—not according to their bosses. American millennials (those between 16 and 34) may be the first generation with computers and Internet access. However, all that time spent glued to a small screen hasn’t translated to technology competence. While they spend an average of 35 hours weekly on digital media, nearly six out of 10 millennials can’t do basic tasks such as sorting, searching for, and emailing data from a spreadsheet.

[…READ MORE]

The 60% number is pretty accurate in my teaching of millennials.

Mobile Consumption vs. Laptop Production

Consuming content is better on a mobile device than on a laptop. Our mobile devices are always with us, always ready to go. With our mobile devices, we can lean back, walk around, and use them on the go.

Conversely, our laptops are much better for producing than for consuming.

The problem is that so many know how to consume the technology, but when it comes to producing it, you need to know a LOT MORE.

This morning, I got an email from one of my students saying, “I am having trouble uploading my photos because it says that I don’t have enough storage on my computer.”

Every time I teach photography, I start with some computer basics that will become problems if they are not taken care of immediately.

First of all, your photos will be at least a thousand times bigger in file size than most of your documents.

I first recommend putting all photos and videos on external hard drives like the ones pictured above.

Hard Drives work like filing cabinets. You need to think of a file structure for organizing because it doesn’t take long for this to get cumbersome.

Rename your Hard Drives. You can use anything, but even something like “Stanley_2018” will work.

I have two folders for all my photos. “NAME OF PROJECT RAW” and “NAME OF PROJECT JPEGs.” All the images I ingest, which are shot as RAW, are ingested into the RAW folder, and after I work on them in Lightroom, I export those to the JPEG folder.

So, move all your photos and videos off your hard drive.

Clean Computer

Empty Trash–This means on your computer and in programs like your email.

Download Folder–Delete all your downloads. It’s time to kick some of these files to the curb. It would help if you were transferring all your downloads to the proper folders where you need them later. If you’re on a Mac, you’ll find your Download folder next to the Trash Bin in the Dock. If you’re on a PC, you can find it by navigating to c://users/username/AppData/local/temp. Sift through the files and toss the ones you no longer need into the trash. If you’re a frequent Internet user, you’ll be surprised at how many files are in there and how much space you free up.

Audit Your Entire Computer–You need to see what directories are taking up the most space on the drive and drill down into those folders even to discover the individual files that are the culprits. There are some apps to help you do that, but since I am not using any now, I recommend you Google that for your PC or Mac.

More from that article I quoted from earlier:

… The results of the analysis, shared in the four-page report, “Does Not Compute: The High Cost of Low Technology Skills in the U.S. — and What We Can Do About It,” found that although 91 percent of millennials consider a lack of computer skills irrelevant to their job prospects, employers think otherwise, A survey by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, found that only 37 percent consider recent college graduates well prepared to stay on top of new technologies.

By the way, I love that the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication is preparing its students to produce digital content. One of the last classes the students must take to graduate is a Capstone class where they combine all the mediums to tell stories.

I like this last paragraph from the story:

“Opportunities to learn problem-solving with technology must become the rule rather than the exception,” the report’s authors stated. “Now is the time for business to join forces with government, educators, and other STEM advocates to ensure that all young people…have the opportunity to become tech savvy.”

Waking up this Monday morning, I am ready to start a new week. There is something about Mondays being the first day of the work week and the feeling of having some time off over the weekend.

Yesterday I led my Sunday School class to discuss what it means to be a Christian. My goal for the lesson was to have people thinking about how their faith impacts how we live.

I first played this video to introduce the book I used for some of the discussion points by Scott Kelby.

The core of Scott’s book It’s a Jesus Thing is that he wanted people to know how much his faith has enriched his life and to share that with friends and family on the edges of Christianity.

I like how he explains how “Jesus spent most of His time here on earth trying to teach us how to get along with one another, live in peace together, take care of each other, and relate to God. In a new way.”

I think that Sundays are a time when I go to my church and especially my Sunday School class called “THINK” and study Jesus and get the thoughts of others and how they view what he was teaching us.

Yesterday I was reminded that God loves everyone. That is hard to take in when I find many unloving and even despicable people. The cool thing is that the creator of the universe loves me and wants the very best for me and everyone.

So that I would always feel welcome to talk to God, he gave me grace. This means there is nothing I can do that he is unwilling to forgive, and even before I ask for forgiveness, he gives it to me.

Now that is the kind of friend everyone needs. Someone who knows I have done wrong but is willing to look past whatever I have done to have a relationship with me.

My grandfather, a Baptist minister, asked me one day why I was created. That was the only time I remember he talked one-on-one with me about God. He then told me about the scripture about why I was made.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10

During high school, I felt God’s call and thought I might be a pastor of a church. While studying social work, my plan to go to seminary, I discovered photojournalism. This was the first time I started to feel a passion for something. This was my spiritual gift from God that would need to be nurtured.

10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

1 Peter 4:10

As I grew in the faith, I also started to see how we are all called and all given gifts. Our gifts are to be used in serving others.

After spending years learning how to capture people’s stories in the most authentic way possible–photojournalism- I began to share how to do this with others.

The central turning point in my life was receiving a phone call from Dennis Fahringer asking me to come and teach lighting to his School of Photography 1 students in Kona, Hawaii.

Hearing Hawaii alone was enough to get my bags packed. That first group of students was some of the most intelligent people I have ever encountered. My family came with me, and we were treated so wonderfully.

When you are raised in a family of faith over time, you start to understand how awesome it is to experience grace and how revolutionary of an idea it is when you receive it and, more importantly, begin to practice it yourself.

I say practice because only God can honestly give that kind of grace. I am too human, and people tick me off.

What grace has done for me is to care for my students. While I want them to learn the subject, I am there to teach; I have learned through the years that why we are there may not be the life lesson needed to be discovered.

Jim Veneman, a good friend, said one time that we may be here on this earth for God to have us on a street corner at a certain point in time to help someone with something he had planned.

Two people have impacted my world and the lives of many of my friends–Billy Graham and Truett Cathy.

What they both have in common is they both had a Sunday School teacher around the age of ten that took them under their wing and changed their lives.

Today you might not be the rock star or celebrity that is impacting the world, but you could be the person moving the next leader of a generation.

Remember how much God loves you today and respond by loving others by using your gifts today to serve.

UGA’s Photojournalism program had its first Photo Night last night. This was all inspired by Billy Weeks, who has been doing this for five years in Chattanooga.

Each of the primary speakers brought just three photos to talk about.

Mark Johnson, who interviewed each guest, kept the evening moving and packed a lot in for just an hour and a half of presentation time.

In between the prominent guests, there were two presentations by present students.

Stay tuned for the next Photo Night at Grady School of Journalism.