He was spraying bug spray for protection during the parade for Corps Day Weekend at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. [Nikon D3, Sigma 120-300mm, 2X, ISO 200, ƒ/4, 1/1250]

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

― Mark Twain

Too many photographers do not spend enough time editing their photos. Editing has many different stages of the process. The very first step is that of culling. I want to address culling today for this blog.

Culling describes reducing the population of (a wild animal) by selective slaughter.

While there are maybe more definitions, I think this one will help you remember you will take the entire shoot and narrow it down to the keepers.

When using PhotoMechanic as my editing tool, I first go one by one and look at each image’s full-screen size after I ingest all the photos. I then press the “T” key to keep the ones that are:

1. In focus
2. Well Exposed
3. Good or great moment – If I have a series of sports plays, I may only keep 2 or 3 of 20 to 30 images of a play.
4. Can see faces/No back of heads – If someone starts to turn away from me or someone blocks them, I don’t keep those that you cannot see their faces.
5. Good expressions – When people are giving a speech, I eliminate those awkward expressions. The same as avoiding people putting food in their mouths. No blinks of the critical people in the photo.

After I have tagged the keepers, I select all the untagged photos and delete them. For an event, this may well be 80% of the images. For studio portraits, more than 20% will be deleted.

Too many photographers often think this is the only photo I have of someone, and I don’t want to leave them out. So they put up their social media or gallery for people to see an out-of-focus, back of the head, and badly exposed photo so that the person knows they took their picture.

It is much easier to take photos and then post everyone you took than to take the time to go through and eliminate all the images that a client would never publish. If you can’t imagine a commercial client taking your photo and putting it up on a billboard to sell their product due to focus, exposure, and seeing the people’s faces, then don’t put it up on social media.

More people will have the opportunity to see your photo published on social media than will ever drive by the billboard, so get rid of anything that shouldn’t be issued for the world to see.

There are two main reasons to edit your photos to the best ones and eliminate all those that shouldn’t be published.

The first reason is treating people with honor, dignity, and respect. If you publish a photo of a person, they will regret being of them; you have damaged them. Now I will admit that sometimes there are photos that people don’t like of themselves even if they are beautiful photos of them. There are just some people that wouldn’t want any image.

There is a second reason to cull a photo out of your take–Your Reputation!

You want to think of yourself as a photographer and not a hack. We use this to describe poor golfers as well. But you don’t want to have a reputation as a hack regarding photography.

You want people to invite you to their events and not to tell you to come but leave your camera at home.

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

– Colossians 4:5

[Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 900, ƒ/1.4, 1/100]

What lenses do you take on a job? I might take all I can, but a better question might be which ones you try to use the most.

One lens I have loved to use a lot these past couple of years is the Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 Art lens. It is so sharp.

I love to fill the frame, get pretty close to people, and let that background go out of focus, giving that smooth BOKEH. Bokeh has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.”

The cool thing beyond the BOKEH is shooting a much lower ISO than you have to do, say ƒ/4 or ƒ/5.6.

The shallow depth-of-field makes the subject pop out of the photo.

The closer you get to the subject, the even shallower depth-of-field becomes with the lens.

The other cool thing I love about giving clients photos with this lens is you cannot get this look with your iPhone.

While I love this lens, I often have to just react to a moment. I need to have more than a 35mm lens. I love a good zoom, and when photographing people, I love the Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/4 Art lens.

Sometimes I need to be wide, like in this photo of the Sunday School teacher reading a story about the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther.

Next, I need to go a little tighter in the photo.

Then I am right back out shooting wide again.

I like working around three to five feet of the people I photograph. Sometimes I might get a little closer or have something in between me and the subject that backs me up.

I am on the other side of the table with this lady in the Sunday School class. But I could get a little closer by zooming.

Here the lady is in between this lady and me smiling. But I could isolate her and make you, the audience, look where I want you to look.

Next, I turn and get some shots of the teacher. You cannot run everywhere on a photo shoot without becoming the focus of everyone. That often happens when I have just a couple of fixed lenses. I might have an 85mm ƒ/1.8 on one camera and then the 35mm ƒ/1.4 on the other camera, but with the zoom, I can get much better compositions without moving so much that I become distracted.

I rarely use on-camera flash, but I had no assistant, and setting up a light stand would have been knocked over with so many people. The people were backlit and were pretty much a silhouette. I filled in using the Godox V860IIN with MagMod sphere to soften and spread the light. I used slow sync and was able to capture this moment with the Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/4 Art lens.

My goal was to give the client a variety. You cannot do that with one lens as quickly as mixing up the looks with a few lenses.

I hope these insights help you on your next photo shoot.

For the past nine to ten years, I have made a journey to Mark Johnson’s Advanced Photojournalism class at the Grady School of Journalism on the campus of the University of Georgia. I present how to make a living as a photographer each time.

During this last visit, three of Mark’s former students I work with on my Chick-fil-A account also came to the class. They had all been in the class when I spoke in the past.

Earlier in the morning, Brenna Chambliss and I did a video shoot in town with a Chick-fil-A operator. She was my client and directed the project. Just a few years ago, she was one of Mark’s students.

After we finished that morning, Brenna took me around campus for a tour. I got to ring the bell on campus. I had never done that before. That was an excellent experience.

Brenna told me she learned more about life lessons from Mark Johnson than from other UGA classes. He was the person that helped her understand that it is all about relationships.

The program has grown in the past few years. They now have 80 students taking the introductory photojournalism class, and his advanced class has 20 students, whereas, in the past, that was limited to 16.

My presentation you can download it from the link above.

The best part about having Jackie, Brenna, and Mercedes is that they were the evidence that there are jobs in the industry for the students.

During the class and afterward, the students asked many questions and talked with all of us.

Mark got a lot of hugs from Jackie, Brenna, and Mercedes. Now that they have been working for a few years, they know even more about how much Mark prepared them for today’s jobs.

During the presentation, I realized I could ask the three who were with me some points I wanted to make. When she meets with a client, I ask Jackie what she talks to them about for a project. She wasn’t expecting this, and we hadn’t rehearsed, but she listed how she would ask questions about why they needed something. She would then talk to them so that all the ideas addressed that need. She also gives them options.

I then put up the PowerPoint slide, which said exactly what I had prepared. I knew Jackie would know what to say because professional communicators who do a great job start with asking clients questions to help them meet those objectives that sometimes they haven’t thought about.

For more than nine years, I have gone to the class, met people, and helped some of them find jobs with Chick-fil-A or even steered them to other employers. I have helped some of them with internships in the summer with WinShape Camps, a non-profit run by the family that owns Chick-fil-A.

When I was first asked if it was OK if the three ladies came along, they were thinking more about how wonderful it would be to visit and see Mark Johnson. Their question was how they could justify going to the class away from their jobs. I suggested they make it a recruiting trip.

Ken Willis, their agency’s boss, understood what I was suggesting and made it a recruiting time for them.

When I asked Jackie how she thinks it went for possible people, she had an excellent response, “We will see who follows up.”

Not all 20 students met with one of the three that came to recruit. Some had to go to other classes and take their cards. Some talked to them.

I suggest that whenever a possible employer comes to your class, do your best to meet them. Show interest in them and try to learn as much as you can about their work environment and what they do. There is no job to turn down until they offer one.

If you take their card, write them a letter thanking them for coming. Why? The reason is quite simple. You need to network and build your contact database and build relationships. While you may not work for the person you meet, they are often a great resource with their network to put you in touch with someone who might be a better fit. You can’t find this out unless you attempt to build those relationships that will become your network for the rest of your life.

I am often asked to go to places and photograph where the lighting is just not that great. One of the worst places to go is to gyms.

The reason is that they often use Fluorescent or Silver Halide lights that require you to shoot above 1/60 shutter speed if you are trying to freeze action. This can introduce banding into your photos. It can also change the color frame to frame, as shown here.

I thought. First, there was enough natural light coming into the room from the windows, but the lights hanging from the ceiling were impacting the walls and the people.

The easiest thing to do was to light the whole room up with four strobes pointing to the ceiling, and you fix a few things. Once the color looks much better, you can shoot at a lower ISO and reduce noise. Most importantly, there is a consistency that without the strobes, you would get color banding due to the lights flickering.

I had to drag the gear and set up the lights from room to room. This is why I hire photo assistants to help me out.

Here I overpowered the room lights but still picked up some natural light.

Even outside, the strobes can improve a situation. Here without the strobes, and then I added it.

My suggestion when trying this for the first time is always first to shoot test shots without strobes. Then add them and see if they make it look better. Sometimes adding strobes can kill an ideal lighting situation. Always test and don’t assume anything.

Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things …

Psalm 119:18

If you are in the service industry, you are most likely trained and understand the importance of eye contact.

Eye Contact is an essential part of using practical communication skills.
People are more likely to comply when more eye contact is used.
Eye Contact establishes a connection between the person.
Eye contact also tells us whether the other person is paying attention.
Maintaining eye contact during communication will make your presentation much more effective.

Now when I started to encounter other cultures, I couldn’t understand why some people didn’t give me eye contact. Come to find out, as a man having eye contact with a single woman means you intend to marry them. In many cultures, it is shown as a sign of respect not to look you in the eye.

I mention the cultural differences because you must understand your context like everything. You don’t want to do something that you think is the correct way to behave only to find out you were offending people or now must marry someone.

When your listeners see your eyes scanning their faces, they feel invited to engage with you. They feel encouraged to signal how they think about what you’re saying–with nods, frowns, or skeptical raises of their eyebrows.

As a result, your listeners are transformed from passive receivers to active participants. Your monologue takes the form of a dialogue, albeit in which you speak words while they speak with gestures and facial expressions. Your speech or presentation is suddenly a conversation.

When I am in a culture and don’t speak the language, all I have is my body language and, most important, eye contact and facial expressions to communicate. I use this to ask for permission to photograph.

Now depending on your perspective, you change the conversation. When you look down on the little boy where you put the camera in the position that is most associated with an adult over a child. The adult is responsible for that child. This is a great way to create empathy for a subject.

This graphic demonstrates the parent-to-child relationship. This next one shows the child-to-parent relationship.

Now here I am, slightly lower than the eyes of Don Rutledge as he is talking, which gives him the position of authority.

His expression can make him look like a warm or cold leader, but I have designated him as an authority because I am looking up at him.

When you are eye to eye with another adult, we call this being on their level, a good friend.

Now the exciting thing to me is if you are an adult and get on eye level with kids, it does something else. It makes those viewing the photograph equal to a child, tapping into those remembrances of being a child.

The child’s head, while looking down, shows modesty or lack of self-confidence, guilt, etc. In other words, her body posture adds another layer of meaning to the photograph beyond me trying to be on her same level by being at eye level with her.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.”

Matthew 6:22

Thirteen years ago, I had been shooting with my new Nikon D100 for just a few years. This was my first digital capture DSLR camera.

My daughter and I drove to Americus, Georgia, to photograph the Habitat for Humanity International’s Global Village & Discovery Center for Disney’s Family Magazine.

For the past few days, I have been going through my old CDs and DVDs, looking through my work. In good light, all of my digital cameras were pretty outstanding compared to my days of shooting film.

Indoors with that first Nikon D100, I used flash more than I would have to do today. But the results were just great.

I used the Sigma 18-125mm lens on this camera, which wasn’t super sharp but did great with that camera. I loved not having to carry a lot of lenses.

I was shooting wide with the 18mm on a DX cropped sensor. So I was only hitting about 27mm if it was an FX sensor. It would be a few years before Nikon introduced the entire sensor.

I cannot say enough about  Habitat for Humanity International’s Global Village & Discovery Center for those wanting to make a great day trip. You can see how people live worldwide, and Habitat builds different houses depending on the country.

Here the kids see brick made of aluminum and concrete, which they have used in Mexico.

I think this is one of the great day trips for families to see how the rest of the world lives.

Kids and adults can see actual street scenes, homes, and other things like schoolrooms in different countries.

When I was shooting fill flash outside with that Nikon D100, I had to shoot at 1/180 not to see the shutter curtain.

While the cameras today are much better, I believe that no matter the camera, you can get some great photos if you know what you are doing.

Treat your neighbors like celebrities and celebrities like your neighbors.

– Anacleto Rapping

This Sunday, I lost a good friend Anacleto Rapping to colon cancer. Because of my faith in Jesus, I believe in the afterlife and heaven. I think one day we will be reunited.

4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Revelation 21:4

While I will miss Anacleto, I didn’t want us to hold onto him and have him suffer in pain. Today Anacleto is no longer suffering, but I believe in the presence of God.

I met Anacleto at Southwestern Photojournalism Conference many years ago. Here is the bio we posted in 2015 when he was one of the speakers.

---

Anacleto Rapping
Los Angeles, California 

Anacleto Rapping has placed his passion for storytelling at the heart of every picture he has taken over a more than three-decade professional career.

As a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times for two decades, Rapping brought us four Presidential campaigns, five Olympic Games, three World Cup Soccer tournaments, three Academy Award shows, and countless breaking news stories and sporting events. His gift for visually capturing historic moments broadened his understanding of the world and national events. It allowed him to chronicle news events as they unfolded throughout the United States and in foreign locales such as South Africa, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Singapore, Guatemala, Mexico, and Canada.

While at the Los Angeles Times, Rapping shared three Pulitzer Prizes for team coverage in the news, and individually he received a Pulitzer nomination for his photography at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Rapping has taught and developed classes across the Brooks Institute Visual Journalism curriculum, including International Documentary, Portraiture, Sports Photography, Picture Story, and Advanced Lighting. He currently teaches photography and shoots freelance for editorial and commercial clients. Rapping continues to tell life’s stories, using his camera to portray the profound relationships between people and their environments.

Visit his website at www.arapping.com

---

One year we were both in Nashville for a college media workshop. I was covering the event, and Anacleto was helping teach.

While Anacleto was teaching, I walked up on the stage behind him, Gary Fong, and Jim Veneman to get a nice photo of the students listening to him. Well, in seconds of me coming on stage, the entire room started to laugh and look at me.

Only as Anacleto could do it, he used his soft voice to explain how he had told everyone that he had been watching me cover the event. He said at some point, Stanley is going on the stage to get some photos from behind the speakers–so watch and see when it happens.

Then, just a minute after he said this, I came from another room and walked in and up on the stage.

This is an excellent insight into how Anacleto taught. He didn’t just tell the students here is a shot list, and you do it. He taught them not just what they needed to do to cover an event, but he also led the students through the power of observation.

Anacleto also was teaching the ability to anticipate.

When I teach a long week workshop, I Skype with a few of my friends, which helps break up the teaching and reminds the students to develop friendships with other photographers.

Anacleto was one I always loved to Skype with the classes.

One of the topics that Anacleto liked to talk about was access. To get great photos, you need access. He often talked about how credentials didn’t always work all that well. He spoke about how being kind and courteous to everyone you meet will give you excellent access.

He talked about being backstage at the Oscars and how he spoke to the guards and all the people backstage during the practices. Because he had developed those friendships, those people not only let him through because they recognized him but also alerted him to things going on that made for great photos.

Anacleto loved to help others grow. I often watched Anacleto search out students at the workshops and ask to see their work. He knew they were probably too scared to ask and wanted to break that ice.

Now Anacleto wasn’t so kind as to make everyone feel like they were excellent photographers. Anacleto gave constructive criticism and asked many questions during those portfolio reviews.

Anacleto wasn’t one of those who only showed up at workshops if he was paid to be there. I saw Anacleto come to the Southwestern Photojournalism workshop almost yearly, except this past year when cancer returned.

Those students who showed Anacleto their work the previous year would find him to show him their progress. He was their mentor.

Whenever I would meet up with Anacleto, he would always take a moment and change his demeanor and ask in the most caring way I know–”How are you doing?”

I once had the privilege of hiring Anacleto to shoot the Rose Bowl for Chick-fil-A. This was the first time I saw how he worked for a client. I felt comfortable with Anacleto, and he delivered beautiful images throughout the process.

I came across this poem which Anacleto seemed to have lived by.

Life is an echo.

What you send out,
comes back.

What you sow,
you reap.

What you give,
you get.

What you see in others,
exists in you.

Trials and Temptations
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

James 1:2-5

While Hurricane Charlie or Irma may not have impacted you, you will face trials. Each of us will have a time when some test of our faith will be challenged.

I think seeing these disasters these past few weeks and watching the news gives everyone hope when you see people helping each other. That is what is lifting everyone’s spirits.

16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Hebrews 13:16

It is incredible that when you help others attain their goals and aspirations, you will often find that you met your desires. However, if you concentrate on meeting your own goals and not helping others, you seldom will achieve those goals.

Thirteen years ago, I covered both Hurricanes Charley and Ivan. Both went through Florida. Hurricane Irma had me remembering my coverage.

Seeing up close trucks and trains blown over gave me a first-hand look at the power of the winds from these hurricanes.

The other thing I saw firsthand was the destruction of the tornadoes, which are often part of the hurricane.

My job was to capture all the volunteers in the aftermath of the storms, serving meals, cleaning up, and supporting the people affected by the hurricanes.

I would go with the volunteers with chain saws to help people clear the debris around their homes and driveways.

One of the biggest things the Baptists do after the storms is set up feeding stations where the Red Cross would then pick up those meals and deliver them to the victims, the law enforcement working, and t0 other volunteers.

I have covered so many hurricanes and tornadoes through the years and each time the volunteers show up and help each other in cleaning up and getting back to the new normal.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Alabama running back Damien Harris (34) blocks a punt. No.1 Alabama defeated No. 3 Florida State 24-7 in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, the first college football game ever to be played in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. [Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8, TC-2001, ISO 14400, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000]

Yesterday, I had the privilege of shooting the brand’s first college football game new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

Here is a shot above from the game, and I want to make a quick comparison to the photo I shot last year at the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game.

One significant difference is the color temperature of the lights. In the Georgia Dome last year, I shot Kelvin 4600 with +33 Magenta. This year in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Kelvin was 5000 with +11 Magenta. The Georgia Dome was closer to fluorescent light, and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium was more packed to daylight.

The closer you are shooting under 5000º K, the better the latitude of your image. You have better colors and contrast range.

While not a massive difference from the 4600º K to 5000º K, the difference in the Magenta was much more significant, in the Georgia Dome, everyone was a lot greener.

Even shooting RAW, I always do a custom white balance. It helps in post-production. I rarely have to do anything with the white balance.

I use the ExpoDisc over the front of the lens and do an incident light reading setting my white balance.

ExpoDisc EXPOD2-77 2.0 Professional White Balance Filter 77 mm, 82mm (Black)

The amount of light in the stadium, particularly in the end zones, is just over a stop brighter.

The new stadium uses LED sports lighting, a constant light source. Energy-efficient fluorescent and metal halide lighting were in the Georgia Dome. The most significant difference is the Georgia Dome lights flicker, and the Mercedes-Benz lights are constant. You sometimes got banding in your photos in the Georgia Dome. Not as bad as some stadiums, but the continuous LED light source is brighter and constant.

I thought the end zones were much better with lighting than the older Georgia Dome.

I look forward to shooting tomorrow in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the second Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game over the Labor Day weekend where Georgia Tech takes on Tennessee.

I noticed that the building is much more significant due to the fans having a wider concourse and seats with less vertical incline. My feet had to walk much more to get to the field and from the area to the media work room.

Nikon D750, 28-300mm, ISO 7200, ƒ/5.3, 1/100

I believe that photographers either jump to the assumption of false equivalence or don’t listen to the client and try to understand their perspective.

False equivalence is a logical fallacy in which two opposing arguments appear to be logically equivalent when they are not.

Often photographers are too concerned about their copyright or pricing issues, for example, that they are not listening and trying to understand where the client is coming from on a particular topic.

Jumping too quickly to defend your position can ruin a client relationship.

As equally valid, many clients don’t want to be bothered by a photographer’s questions and hurt themselves.

Do you want a relationship with a client that turns into a long-term income stream?

If you do, you will be committed to the nuances of the communication process in a relationship. You will be the one who is always seeking to serve the client and meet the needs before the client is even aware they have those needs.

Understanding vs Comprehension

The words are synonymous but have slight differences between them. Understanding has a connotation of a more profound, fuller realization of a matter while comprehension is less deep and less complete. … If this person read a bit of poetry, he might comprehend the words but could easily not understand the meaning.

When you have a conflict, and the client wants something that appears to be a problem, you need to be able to empathize with their perspective. When you can understand and empathize with their concerns and why they are asking for something, you can see if you can address those concerns and word your communication in such a way to show you understand and feel their problems.

Your communication about the problem you need to address will have a potentially better outcome if you understand their situation.

Don’t Assume

Please don’t be quick in trying to understand that you jump to the conclusion you do understand and address the problem you think you are entirely aware of in your communication.

Always, Always, Always do your very best to communicate that based on your information, this is what you understand. Ask them to correct you if you are missing information that you have not been taking into account. They may not have mentioned something they are now aware of that they didn’t think about when they first talked to you.

Remember, this is like dealing with a stream of water that you are trying to cross. The water is constantly flowing, and in doing so, it is always changing.

Learn to go with the flow; if you do, you may build better relationships.

Know your limits

If the client asks for something you cannot do because you know your limits, phrase your response in a way that says you want to help.

The client wants something for $400, but you have to charge $500 to make any money at all. They say I am more than willing to do the job at $500 but not any lower.

The client needs you on a day you cannot make it. If you can move this to another day or I can get someone else to take care of you, what would you like to do?

Remember to be sure you have done everything you can to understand all the client’s concerns and are doing all you can to meet them within your abilities and ethics.

This x-ray I got online in creative commons of a dental implant with a sinus lift. I am going through that process right now.

The tooth to the right with a post inside the tooth after a root canal is what failed and started the process. Because they had to pull it, I asked to be put to sleep, so if the tooth cracked even more and they had to dig out the parts, I wouldn’t even know what was going on.

Now the oral surgeon asks what you want to do after removing the tooth. Do you want a bridge where they grind down a tooth on either side and then put a tooth supported by those teeth, or can you have an implant? That is what the screw is in the middle.

I went with the implant plan. So to have the tooth pulled, put in a bone graft, and be put to sleep was around $1,200.

Four months later, I came back. They x-rayed and discovered there was not enough thickness of bone for an implant. They recommended a sinus lift. They put in more bone grafts, wait another four months, and then put in the implant. After another four months, they put in an Abutment, and a couple of weeks later, you go to your dentist to have a crown attached.

To get the sinus lift, the implant and Abutment were another $5,000. I still will have to see what the final cost of the crown will be, but I am thinking $1,500 – $1,800.

My cost has now totaled what is close to a Nikon D5. I spent $6,200.

While we all cringe at prices, I am still surprised at how much people often start at a photographer’s estimate.

Most of the dental implant costs are for labor and not the actual materials. I doubt seriously if the true cost of an implant, Abutment, and crown are more than $100 in raw materials. You are paying for the expertise of the medical professionals to craft it and put it safely into your mouth.

We know that if you cross the border to have medical work done, you can get it for a fraction of the cost due to the most expensive part of medicine–labor costs.

We spend money on our teeth as we do for two reasons. We are being able to chew our food and look good.

Photographers need to remind themselves that the costs to produce excellent quality work so that their clients or their products look good are like the medical profession. Sure we have expensive gear like doctors, but the most significant expense is often our labor.

The labor costs that you build into your prices determine the lifestyle you want to live. Price yourself to thrive rather than get by or, worse, lose money.

I am photographing Jeff Raymond, James Dockery, and Pat Davison at our Storytellers Abroad Multimedia Workshop in the Balkans this summer.

Last night my wife and I were out to dinner with another photographer and their spouse. We had discussed how to market yourself as a photographer at events like Chamber of Commerce hosts.

Dorie, my wife, reminded our friend that you have one of the most excellent jobs for most people as a photographer. Photographers are the yard on the other side of the fence that looks greener to your neighbors.

The Grass is Always Greener …

Photographers should know that perspective can often be very deceiving, yet we, too, let our eyes look at our neighbor’s yard and think it is greener until we are standing in the yard to see all the patches.

Ecclesiastes 6

6 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?

7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. 8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

Solomon’s point in his writing of Ecclesiastes is that God determines our lot in life, whether we’re rich or poor or in good health or wrong. But these things do not lead to happiness. That only comes as God grants it to us.

Jesus taught his disciples to be obedient to God.

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

John 15:10-11

While we may work hard at keeping God’s commandments, we must also be reminded that we are human. We will screw up again and again. The good news is we are forgiven.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.

John 15:10-11

The fourth class system of The Citadel is, for me, a great reminder of the idea of following orders yet always being wrong. Those who learn to follow those orders then move on to leadership places.

The excellent news about photographers appearing to have “Greener Grass” is that when you introduce yourself often, people want to know what you photograph. Where is the most exciting place you have been? Who is the most interesting person you have met?

While you may think that all the problems in your yard are horrible, remember today that you live where the grass is greener.

Prayer for today:

Dear Lord, thank you for the talents and gifts you have given me. Thank you for blessing me with being able to meet so many of your creations and get to know them, and tell their stories through my camera.

While there are so many things I could be doing today when I look around, Lord, keep me focused on your priorities. Please help me to stay true to your word and help me to keep your commandments.

While I might not understand why you have given me a burden today and a task to do that I don’t understand, please bring joy into my life that I am doing your will.