Inside the Artic Circle, 1967: Eskimo child chasing ball. [photo by: Don Rutledge]

What a moment this is of a little boy playing with a ball. No matter where you are from in the world, this captures a moment of joy that we all experienced playing ball.

“Photography is not like painting,” Henry Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. “There is a creative fraction of a second when taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative,” he said. “Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”

Cartier-Bresson published a book in 1952 called The Decisive Moment. In the preface, he quoted Cardinal de Retz, “Il n’y a rien Dans ce monde qui n’ait un moment decisive” [“There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment”].

If you have studied photography, you will know about Henry Cartier-Bresson and The Decisive Moment. If you haven’t, you will most likely have no clue what it is all about.

Today I was hit with the problem that when we as photographers start talking to our clients on our terms rather than their terms, we lose them and often create a divide between us.

When talking to the public about capturing a “Decisive Moment,” I think we should say we are about capturing a “Touching Moment.”

You will hear people say “What a Touching Moment,” more than ever, and hear them say what a “Decisive Moment” is. You will see what I am talking about if you Google the two.

The Decisive Moment search yields all the stuff about photography, and the Touching Moment will turn up photos and videos about emotional moments.

While the Decisive Moment is more than just a Touching Moment, you still take time to educate your audience about what you are talking about and, in the exact moment, never give it the justice it needs.

I only suggest using “Touching Moments” as something the average person understands more than trying to educate them on what I call a “photographic term.”

I am often guilty of digging in my heels and trying to explain my position. If you want to win people over, learn their perspective and talk about your position from their perspective and not yours.

A little girl lost in her thoughts while in her family’s corn field in Togo, West Africa. [Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/2000]

A few things produce such anxiety in my life that physically affect me. Going to the dentist for more than a cleaning creates high pressure in my life.

My blood pressure rises, and my heart rate increases.

This anxiety response isn’t limited to my fear of a dental procedure. My friend Brad Moore posted this just the other day on FaceBook:

Brad’s responses let him know that not only did we all suffer from this, some people gave them their solutions on how they have learned to deal with worrying.

When I was studying social work, we had to be trained to help people with their worries and anxiety. We learned to unpack those thoughts, creating fear. Worrying about something can help motivate you to do something, whereas stress can shut you down.

Let me talk a little more about Anxiety and then get back to worrying.

During this training, I learned about two types of anxiety-producing thoughts. There are first those things we have control over, and then there are those we have no control over.

When you let those things, you have no control over taking control of your thoughts; they can freeze you and send you into anxiety-produced depression. If you do not want to be motivated, you need to see a clinical counselor like a social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist.

You could be in this situation not due to your thinking but because of your genetics and how your body chemistry is set up. You can be very depressed just because the chemicals in your body are out of balance. A medication under medical supervision can bring you out of that deep depression.

Learning that I need to categorize something as in my control or out of my control helped me more than anything else I learned in the lesson. Once I could determine something was out of my control, I knew that no matter how long we pondered it, we were not going to do anything but waste our time.

However, there are things we can do for some things that cause us to worry.

One of the ways I addressed my worries was to create separate cases for my lighting gear needs. I have a chance for video LED lights, another issue with my Speedlights, stands, and umbrellas, and then this one pictured here for when I need a lot of power and might not have the ability available.

I still have two other cases that allow me to bring larger lights for those big jobs.

Worrying about my gear isn’t the only anxiety freelancers deal with regularly.

Remember, there are things out of your control, and these are the things that often still keep me up at night.

When these thoughts start affecting our bodies, like my time in the dentist’s chair, this can produce anxiety, which can be debilitating. Stress is like a hamster wheel that spins us around but doesn’t lead us to productive solutions.

Worry and Anxiety come with living

My personal experience has taught me that I will never get rid of worrying and anxiety. Even these tips are not enough. Life can be just overwhelming at times.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

–– Matthew 6:34

I turn to my faith as my way of navigating these times of stress. While scripture tells us not to worry, it also has the Lamentations.

A Lament in The Book of Lamentations or the Psalms may be seen as a cry of need in a context of crisis. Another way of looking at it is essential: laments simply being “appeals for divine help in distress.”

These laments, too, often have a set format: an address to God, a description of the suffering/anguish from which one seeks relief, a petition for help and deliverance, a curse towards one’s enemies, an expression of the belief of one’s innocence or a confession of the lack thereof, a vow corresponding to an expected divine response, and lastly, a song of thanksgiving.

I struggled with fear and worry for years. But through time, I began to find that the things that once would have sent me down an anxious spiral no longer had the same effect. It didn’t happen quickly but over days, months, and years.

I read words – of life – of truth. I was soaking them in, over and over, praying them out loud. Until they became so familiar, they replaced the other things in my mind that I’d battled against. There’s nothing magical about words and verses, but there is power through them.

“My God, My God, Why?” –Psalms 22:1

I see the laments as a time when we complain to God about something that isn’t right in our eyes. We then go on and request God.

I want to emphasize here that the writers of all the laments then go to the next step in their crying, where they express trust. This often is in the form of God. In the past, you did this. I know from my experience you do intervene. It is the remembrance of how God has taken care of them in the past, and they are asking for his deliverance from what they are suffering from now.

A Biblical lament, then, is an honest cry to a God who is powerful, reasonable, and just. It’s a cry that expects an answer from God and therefore results in hope, trust, and joy rather than despair.

What happens when I pray a lament?

I have had many sinus infections throughout my life, and this painful, disgusting condition is how I feel before I pray. While the response is not always immediate, I know that the answer to my prayer is like being able to breathe again.

The anxiety that froze me and kept me paralyzed is gone. I now am in a state of worry with hope. I can then think about what I can do that I have control over.

So on those nights, I cannot sleep because I wonder where my next check will come from; I can get out of bed and start writing emails. These emails may be pitching ideas to clients and potential customers or something else I haven’t done before.

Once I have written those emails, I can go to bed and sleep.

I believe God helped me get unstuck and even possibly have some ideas.

Summary

Stanley’s Stages of Freelancer’s Anxiety

1. Feeling of being overwhelmed, which leads to anxiety that depresses me
2. Please list what I can do and what I have no control over
3. Take action on what I can do

While these three things sometimes work, more than often, this is really what is happening.

1. Anxious thoughts which paralyze me
2. Depression due to realizing how much of this is due to my past decisions putting me in this situation. [Beating myself up stage]
3. Tears begin to flow that I have no way out of this situation.
4. Brought to my knees in prayer, where I am often yelling at God
5. Slowly I can tell God what the problem is about
6. Asking God to take action
7. I remember how God has helped me before. This reminds me to trust that God will help me again
8. While the problem doesn’t disappear, God has helped me become un-paralyzed.
9. I can think of some things I can do to take action
10. I realize I have done all that I can think of doing
11. I can relax and have hope. Because this happens at night, I can go to sleep finally.

I suggest reading the book of Lamentations in the Bible. Here are five ways it can help you.

1. They help you express your feelings in honest and healthy ways.
2. They help shape your senses, helping us interpret them in light of God’s redemptive plan for the entire world.
3. They teach us more about ourselves by revealing our greatest needs and how our minds and hearts influence our lives.
4. They teach us more about God, his character, and activity in us and the world.
5. They reorient us to the gospel’s truth and how it transforms us from the inside out.

This week I have had a few assignments. Each one needed one main photo that would work with an extended caption.

While I shot hundreds of photos around these locations, it came down to one main shot: if there was space for just one photo, I had to have one that summarized the event the best.

I like this first one for showing a brand new shipping container modified for a temporary drive-thru restaurant.

On Tuesday, there was a dedication ceremony where they unveiled the historical marker at the Original Dwarf House in Hapeville, GA. I arrived early, put my Nikon D5 with a 14-24mm lens on a monopod, and hoisted it up high to capture this shot. The fire the shutter, I just used the timer on the camera to trip the shutter release.

Now I had hundreds of photos of speakers, and people gathered around the historical marker, but all of them didn’t make the simple statement that this photo does. There is a historical marker in front of the Dwarf House.

The key to finding the photo is knowing the storyline. Now you cannot tell the entire story, but can you come close? Just think of what the audience needs to see.

[NIKON D4, 120.0-300.0 mm f/2.8, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 12800, 1/1250, ƒ/5.6, (35mm = 270)]

Before you snap a photo like this, you must set your camera to the proper settings.

3 Settings: Exposure, Focus, & Motor Drive

EXPOSURE

Cameras today let you automate the exposure settings and concentrate on getting the moment.

You can put the camera into Manual mode, where you pick the Aperture, Shutter Speed & ISO. But first, I want to tell you why you want to choose specific settings.

First, you must freeze the moment for most of your sports photos, so I recommend shooting as fast as you can—1/4000th of a second. Of course, there are lighting situations that will not let you get that fast, but you must remember that shooting as quickly as possible is the priority.

Use a slow shutter speed only if you want to show the blur.

Second, choose a shallow depth of field to clean up the background by throwing it out of focus. Yes, there are moments when you may want a lot of depth of field, but this is the norm for most sports photos.

Third, too many people are concerned about a high ISO’s poor image. If you are shooting in daylight, this is not a concern with cameras made in the last couple of years. Take a look at the baseball player. Note the setting for ISO 1000.

What is essential is a sharp photo and focus more than if there is any noise in the image. You can live with noise more than with out-of-focus or blurred images.

The last thing I recommend if you have it is to turn on the VR [Vibration Reduction], often called OS [Optical Stabilization], which will help minimize the effects of your body movement on the image.

FOCUS

With today’s cameras, you can get many more in-focus cameras with autofocus than we could use manual focus.

First, set your camera to continuous autofocus rather than singular. The constant focus will keep the camera focused as long as you are keeping the camera active. The default setting for cameras is to push the shutter release halfway down. The back focus button activates your focus but doesn’t take the picture.

Many cameras offer a second button on the back that your right thumb can push. This way, you can enter the menu and separate the focus from the shutter release. You press the back button with your thumb, keep it held, and follow the action. Then, press the shutter release with your index finger when you want to take a photo. Using these settings will increase the probability of in-focus images.

I highly recommend getting out your camera and studying the Auto Focus section. Each camera is different from all other cameras and valid even if you own the same brand name.

Also, search the Internet by putting in your camera and looking for videos in which someone has already studied the camera and discovered the advantages of specific settings.

Motor Drive

You want to set the camera to take more than one photo when you press and squeeze the shutter release. I recommend going to the highest frame rate. After that, your camera will let you shoot.

Learn to anticipate and push the button milliseconds before the moment and hold the shutter to capture two or three frames. This way, you may get the ball popping out of the glove, changing the play from safe to out.

Don’t just keep the shutter pressed all the time. First of all, you will find the camera will stop firing. The camera must write those images to your media card, and you will miss better moments because you cannot take photos.

For those who own the Nikon D4, here are my settings for that camera for shooting sports. Next, here are the settings for the Nikon D5. Finally, here are my latest sports settings for the Nikon Z9.

My Gear for these photos

Nikon D5	Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 Sport
Sigma 2x

[Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, ISO 5000, ƒ/5.6, 1/250]

If you don’t know what you want to capture in a moment, then the odds are that you will not capture that moment.

Take this dance scene from the musical Oklahoma! I wanted to capture all the dancers in a peak moment where they were all in step together, and the light was good on their faces. Just as important was getting the best expressions possible.

It is difficult to capture the moment when all the dancers are in time together, and all their body parts, hands, and feet are in sync. As you can tell, I have a definite moment in dance numbers that I am looking for.

Peak moments with people almost always are where I can see their expressions, and the word brings more to the photo. I remember studying the cowboy art of Russell and Remington. The most significant difference between their work compared to other western artists was in the details of the expressions of their characters.

One of the photos I took, even my daughter’s friends, had fun with by creating a meme where the reference to this photo of Aunt Eller chewing out Ali Hakim looks a lot like Michelangelo’s painting of The Creation of Adam on the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. My point here, pun intended, is that significant moments are what artists throughout history have captured.

If you want to know what you need to capture, then study the master painters. The more you become familiar with these iconic images, the more you will recognize those real-life moments.

Now laughter and smiles are a good thing to always look for, but please don’t try and make all your photos “happy.” This is the fastest track to looking fake if you overdo it. You will have coverage that looks like the “Stepford Wives” movie.

Now the other thing you will notice in most situations is the lighting isn’t always perfect as in this photo. Will Parker is in the light, and Ado Annie is not as well lighted. Again you are going for the best moment.

In a musical, the actors do all they can to over-emphasize moments. In real life, you must really pay attention to people and feel their emotional state. This will help you anticipate moments.

Being easily deceived or tricked and too willing to believe everything other people say means you are gullible. You are easily deceived because you haven’t taken the time to observe people and pick up on those body language moments that tip you off.

All I can say is you must immerse yourself into storytelling. Watch movies, musicals, and plays, which will give you insights. To see moments study the masters in the arts.

An association is a conglomerate of professionals engaged in the same profession working toward goals that promote the best practices and ethical behavior and provide services for the general welfare and common benefit of all members.

But what happens when an industry starts losing jobs, as in photojournalism?

Photographers, artists, and videographers have experienced a 43 percent decrease in jobs since 2000, dropping from 6,171 to only 3,493 jobs in 2012 — the most significant difference faced by newspaper staffers, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). Reporters and writers were next in line, dropping jobs by 32 percent. Copy editors, layout editors, and online producers lost 27% of all jobs.

However, while there are parts of the industry, shrinking photography usage is at an all-time high.

This year, according to the market research firm InfoTrends, global consumers will take more than one trillion digital photos.

The number of photos taken each year is exponential: It has nearly tripled since 2010 and is projected to grow to 1.3 trillion by 2017. The rapid proliferation of smartphones is mostly to blame. Seventy-five percent of all photos are now taken with a phone, up from 40 percent in 2010. Full-fledged digital cameras now represent only 20 percent of the tally and are expected to drop to just 13 percent by 2017, InfoTrends said.

Photographers produce and preserve images that paint a picture, tell a story, or record an event. To create commercial-quality photographs [photos people will pay you to take], photographers need technical expertise, creativity, and the appropriate professional equipment. Producing a successful picture requires choosing and presenting a subject to achieve a particular effect and selecting suitable cameras and other photographic enhancing tools.

I think each professional photographer either consciously or subconsciously looks at an organization as a way that will help them grow professionally and socially. The question about these organizations is whether they can meet those needs/wants and relationships that professional photographers desire.

NPPA, ASMP & SWPJC provided: [they didn’t do all these each of them, but collectively for me, they did]

1. Education
2. Advocacy
3. Networking
4. Benefits
   1. Health Insurance
   2. Camera Insurance
   3. Discounts with vendors
5. Benchmarking

EDUCATION

Before the internet, these organizations were pretty much it when it came to those services; after the internet and when it became easy for people to create their websites and share photos/videos, there was a lot of World-Wide competition.

Here are some people that put more on their websites for free photography education than the organizations ever offered:

1. David Hobby – The Strobist
2. Improve Photography LLC
3. FStoppers

Others came along and took their production of the content up to higher levels and then charged for their services. Scott Kelby was the biggest name in photography doing this, who started PhotoShop World and KelbyOne. More recently, Jeremy Cowart tells you not to spend money on a four-year college but spend it on his online See University. By the way, that isn’t an accredited school.

ADVOCACY

While I have been appreciative of all the work ASMP and NPPA have done on copyright protections, none of this helped me keep any staff job or assignment.

Professional Photographers would be lining up to join the organizations if the advocacy was helping the average photographer.

I am sure the lawyers and leaders of those organizations can point out how protecting copyright is necessary. However, for the last 20+ years, more and more clients are now more copyright-savy, asking for all rights or asking you to work for hire. We did a great job empowering those hiring us and had little to do with protecting our incomes.

I am also sure that without all this help from the lawyers, we would be even worse off. But then, Advocacy is seldom realized in a tangible way for a professional photographer to join an organization. They need help getting jobs and knowing how to keep them.

NETWORKING

Today with social media, we are more connected than ever before. We can organize with other photographers in our communities for free.

An organization/association can offer some requirements to be a member and, due to those standards, offer a quality environment for its members. This is one of the enormous benefits of an association. There is a filter so that those in the group are what you want to meet up with.

Benefits

It is difficult to get discounts without an organization that can negotiate this with vendors. The vendors want access to the membership, and the members need help keeping their costs down.

WHY?

The question people must ask is, “Why?”. Why do I need an association? Do associations need to be asking why they exist?

Once an organization can tell you in a sentence its purpose, people can quickly decide if that purpose meets their needs to survive.

Associations today haven’t caught up with where their membership lives. They lack focus that services their member’s needs.

BIG SECRET!!!!

The one thing people are looking for more than anything else is relationships that are genuinely enriching their lives. First, they want to be accepted by people as they are. They want those relationships to help them grow. Challenge them to get better and be there when things are difficult for them.

When an organization works hardest at treating people with honor, dignity, and respect–It will grow in membership.

Why did so many photography associations shrink? First of all, many jobs disappeared in traditional places. Second I believe the members were not all treated with honor, dignity, and respect.

People want in a relationship not so much to get something but to be allowed to give. Not everyone was welcomed or cherished.

The big secret is that people are looking for relationships. How respectfully will we be to nurture this so they and the organizations will grow?

Associations are greatly needed but cannot be like your father’s association.

Nikon D100, Nikon 24-120mm ƒ/3.5-5.6, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 1/180 – 4 Alienbees B1600s

I have been looking through some older photos. I started pulling all our pictures of our daughter for a project we are working on.

Most photos have been on CDs and DVDs, and I am putting them onto a hard drive. I will be going through them, selecting our favorites, and then putting them into categories like Birthdays and Holidays.

For these photos, I found I also had a picture of the setup. Here is that photo to see how I set up the lights in our garage in my older house.

Here are a few different shots from that day back on October 31, 2002.

The Nikon D100 had a 6.1 Effective Megapixel CCD for 3,008 x 2,000-pixel images. The D100 had about 7.5 stops of dynamic range compared to today’s cameras of about 12 to 14 stops.

Just a comparison of the Nikon D100 and 13 years later, the D5

Nikon D100 Key Specs	Nikon D5 Key Specs
Announcement Date: 2002-07-26 6MP – APS-C CCD Sensor ISO 200 – 1600 Nikon F Mount 1.8″ Fixed Type Screen Optical (pentaprism) viewfinder Three fps continuous shooting No Video Mode 780g. 144 x 116 x 81 mm	Announcement Date: 2016-01-05 21MP – Full-frame CMOS Sensor No Anti-aliasing (AA) filter ISO 100 – 3280000 Nikon F Mount 3.2″ Fixed Type Screen Optical (pentaprism) viewfinder 14.0 fps continuous shooting 3840 x 2160 video resolution 1415g. 160 x 158.5 x 92 mm Weather Sealed Body Replaced Nikon D4s

1:3 lighting ratio – Nikon D5, Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8G, ISO 100, ƒ/5.6, 1/200

When I teach lighting, I always teach the 1:3 lighting ratio. After I show how you set up the leading light and the fill, I show them some ways to change the background quickly using gels.

Now before I add the gel, I shoot this photo where the subject is on a white background. I will shoot with just the leading light and the fill light and then put both lights on with no background light so that the students can see individually what each morning is doing.

Now I will turn the main light off and then turn on just the fill light.

Now for the main light it was measured for ƒ/5.6. I didn’t change the exposure on the camera I just shot the fill light at ƒ/4 to show it is darker than the main and where the direction of the light is coming and how it affects the model’s face.

Then I combine the two lights.

Then we talk about how she is in front of the white background, but it looks like a light gray.

I put two lights on the background and then measured the light so that it was about one stop brighter than the main light. So the background here is ƒ/8.

This is the histogram without the background light. On the furthest right on the histogram, you can see that the value is a good amount away from the far right.

This is the one where I have the background light set at 1-stop brighter than the fill. Notice that most of the histogram is the same, but the far right is on the far right. This shows how the white value is recorded. If you are not butting up on the right, there will be a bit of gray or often a tinge of blue when you print out the photo in the background.

Now when I add the gels like this red or the blue above, we take a light reading of the background. We want the value to be 2–stops darker than the leading light. So here, the background is measuring ƒ/2.8.

You will notice that you need to move the person away from the background when using white for a background.

Now I demonstrate this by using a black background to make the color look like this; you need to be sure the background is 2–stops brighter than the leading light. So if this red background were black with the gel on it, the reading would be then ƒ/11, which is 2–stops brighter than the ƒ/5.6 of the leading light.

My sister is on the couch with my grandfather and grandmother during one of our many times of watching the slide show my grandfather had created from his recording of our family that year and often years in the past as well. Not sure if my dad or uncle took this photo.

Webster’s Dictionary defines a family historian is an authority on known or recorded family events. Most everyone on both sides of my family were recording our family history with photos and movies through the years.

April Saul won first place in the Feature Picture Story category at the 1992 Pictures of the Year competition for her portrayal of the American family. She believed that family struggles were an important topic of journalism. “I hope what it [winning] means is that the everyday struggles of an American family are as valid in their own way as the struggles going on in Azerbajian or Sarajevo — and that the private wars next door can be as compelling as the bloody, public ones thousands of miles away.”

Family photographs can be considered cultural artifacts because they document the events that shape families’ lives. Thus, the recording of family history becomes an important endeavor. In many cases, photographs are the only biographical material people leave behind after they die. But, the impact of family photo albums extends beyond merely recording history. Interpretation of family structures, relationships and self is possible through viewing family photographs.

Preserving Family History, One Memory at a Time

One of the biggest roles one can serve as a photographer is to help with the recording of their family history.

Now taking those pictures isn’t enough. You need to share them with the family. You can do this many different ways. A traditional print that you give people is still a great way for them to enjoy what you have captured. They can put it on the museum wall that most homes have, which is also referred to as the front of the refrigerator.

At my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary we pulled these photos and had them in a slide show for those attending the event.

For our daugther’s last musical we bought a 1/2 page ad and used the photos I had made of her in high school plays.

For her yearbook we bought a 1/4 page ad and used photos from early to now that captured her personality.

We take pictures to celebrate our new babies and birthdays. Later at weddings we put together slide shows for rehearsal dinners and the receptions to show the young couple growing up.

We use photos at our anniversary parties to remember all we have celebrated as families through the years.

I had the privilege of recording a video of a cancer patient who was dying and wanted to capture in her own words thing she wanted to share with them before she passed on from this life to the next. We found photos to use as she talked about her children and grandchildren.

Tomorrow I am going to her funeral where for the first time the family will see the video. I believe it will help them celebrate their family member in a way that many never get to have at their funerals. The great thing is that all the friends that will show up that may have never met their family member will be introduced to her for the first time.

First of all taking the time to make these photos shows your love of your family. Taking the time to share it with them at poignant moments in your families celebrations is a way you serve as the family historian.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F3-InOdMP4]
This Subaru ad captures that special relationship between a father and daughter using images of the girl when she is young and now.

Here is one that a dad did over 14 years to show his little girl growing up in front of the camera with just

portraits.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH1x5aRtjSQ]
Here we did a book when our oldest graduated from high school and was going off to college.

https://www.blurb.com/b/51431

Family milestones often cause us to find our photos and take the time to look at them and remember them.

As we grow older, some may start to suffer from memory loss. These photos will become what our memories used to do for us and help us know those around us and that they are our family.

Photographs can be an invaluable source of information when resolving personal problems. Photos are not subject to memory recollection, and a person’s portrayal of events can differ from what appears in the pictures. The information is intimate because family photographs are collected from the inside compared with journalistic institutions, which usually operate as outsiders. Photo albums and home movies provide the richest sources of memories about the family. They offer an intimate look at personal relationships. Psychologists recently have begun using this display of intimacy to help resolve family conflicts.

Just imagine a couple getting close to divorce that pulls out the photos and then starts to remember all the good times and takes the time to work things out because of the memories that helped to build those bridges necessary to save the marriage.

Photos are potent reminders of family ties.

Nothing means as much to me as watching my family and capturing our times together. How do you value what your photos do for your immediate family as much as you do for how the rest of the world sees them?

Fujifilm X-E2, Fuji XF 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.5, 1/100

“When I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top!” sings Curly in musical Oklahoma!

This photo above is the only time on the stage during the entire musical production at Roswell High School, where the surrey is on stage. This scene captures the show’s build-up to where we see what Curly was singing from the beginning of the show promising Laurey how he would treat her on a date.

This is Ado Annie Cames singing, but because I am isolating her alone, only the corn in the background helps to place this with musical Oklahoma!

This is what I call a point shot versus the top photo, which has much more information and is getting closer to helping to tell more of the story. It would help if you still had words with either photo to make its storytelling, but hopefully, you are seeing the difference between the scene establishing shot and the closeup.

This photo of Curly and Laurey often works as well as the surrey’s shot because this particular pose is often used in posters to promote the show. Just Google “Oklahoma! Musical” and look at all the photos; you will see this style shot pop up.

Here is how I shot a promo shot versus the photo above. It is from the show. Now, while this doesn’t tell the story or have the surrey in the picture, Curly is gesturing about how the future he promises to Laurey is better than where she is now.

Google “Oklahoma Barn Scene” and see variations of other productions showing similar scenes. Again this is more of a point photo, but because I included more of the set, most theatre folks will know this is Musical Oklahoma!

People Need The Lord Photo

“I don’t need a lot of ‘People Need The Lord’ photos,” commented Jeff Raymond to a photographer shooting photos with him in the Dominican Republic. “What do you mean?” commented the photographer.

Jeff explained the photo style, like the Afghan girl on the front of National Geographic by Steve McCurry. This photo has had such an impact that many people think this is the “BEST” way to shoot.

Jeff coached the photographer to do in addition to a few portraits; please give me more context.

You see, the photo of the boy here could have been shot anywhere in the world.

Please understand this blog post is not saying Storytelling Photo is better than a Point Photo. What I am saying is you need both.

The problem I see with many new photographers is falling in love with the close-up shot at ƒ/1.4 and centered. Then they have only slight variations of this photo in their portfolio.

If you are going to be hired over and over, you must be the photographer who gives the client more than they expected. This is why learning how to use a variety of lenses, different apertures, and shutter speeds on an assignment will have clients raving about you.

Sure, you can do OK shooting the “People Need The Lord” photo, but you are a one-trick pony show.

Roswell High School had their last show of musical Oklahoma! Yesterday. What a production it was for everyone involved.

Our daughter Chelle was in the musical as Aunt Eller, which is why my wife and I were involved as volunteers.

While there are many other ways I could talk about being a volunteer, I thought this was a great way to talk about the roles of the volunteer.

If your organization uses volunteers, you must define volunteers’ roles, so everyone knows what they are doing. Most organizations that regularly use volunteers usually have a volunteer coordinator.

In theater, the term role comes from an actor being given a part. No one had the entire play in the time of Shakespeare. They just had their interest. This is why, often, their role would set up the next actor.

Each person needed to know their part/role for the play to be successful.

Think of your organization like a musical to give you an idea of how important it is for each person to know their part and for someone to be responsible for coordinating, like the director of the show.

Suppose you want to see the excitement on your volunteer’s faces like in the Oklahoma scene! Then it would help if you made everyone feel like they are part of the team.

Now everyone in this musical except for the two teachers was all volunteers. The student actors could have quit at any time.

By the way, very seldom does this not cross someone’s mind as a volunteer. The main reason for the thought of quitting is due to communication problems, which are often rooted in the poor understanding of volunteers.

Fujifilm X-E2, Fuji XF 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.5, 1/100

Here is a list of some suggestions for you:

• Developing ways to recognize and reward volunteer efforts
• Helping volunteers feel welcome and supported
• Developing and managing policies, procedures, and standards for volunteers
• Looking after the volunteer database and records
• Planning and goal setting
• Rostering and organizing volunteers
• Delegating projects and tasks
• Managing any associated budgets and expenditure
• Communicating with people from diverse backgrounds
• Resolving conflict or managing the grievance process.

Some No-Nos

• Complaining about a volunteer work
• Ask people to volunteer and then when they show up not use them
• Make volunteers wait on you
• Don’t thank your volunteers

TIME

The one thing that is the most valuable given by any and every volunteer is their TIME. No matter the person, no one’s time is more valuable than any other person’s.

The only time we seem aware of how valuable our time appears to be is when our time is running out on this earth. Don’t be one who doesn’t think about how valuable your time and others are until your last days here. Each person’s hour they donate is the same value as another person.

Some who read this will disagree with me, but just like this play, if one person didn’t do their assigned part, it is noticed. An actor doesn’t appear on stage at the right moment, the other actors have to improv, and the plot can be affected by the storyline. 

Just think of the time you had a splinter and how annoying that is and affects the whole body. That is how big of a deal each person’s time is to the organization. The body will feel something so small.

Feelings Get Hurt

When people get upset working as volunteers, it can almost always be traced back to miscommunication. Often it is when the role wasn’t well defined or when volunteer shows up, and those coordinating their time drop the ball.

When you take the time to plan and organize your thoughts about using volunteers, you can get everyone in step together.

When a plan comes together

I can tell you healthy organizations are the ones that treat everyone’s time as precious as gold. When they do, the word gets out. People see what is going on and want to join. You see, way too many people are aware of volunteering and wasting their time or at least not being treated with the respect due when you are giving away your time.

When a theatre company consistently puts on great performances, it is due to someone coordinating all those volunteers and treating everyone’s time as precious.

When respecting people’s time, you will benefit from more friends and deeper friendships. You see, a good relationship is respecting one another’s time.

While Broadway plays rehearse for four to six weeks, most high schools practice for ten weeks.

40 percent of couples wait 13 to 18 months between “Yes!” and “I do.”

How about you? How long do you prepare?

For more than 25 years, I have been a part of the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference, and before that, I served on the Southern Short Course board.

I watched each year for speakers as they showed up with multiple trays and would be rearranging until they had a new show ready. Often this was happening just before they went on.

Guess how successful those presentations were for the audience? Not very captivating.

Key to Success

When you find out something that you will do, start immediately. If you get a photo assignment that is next year, then begin now researching everything you can.

The more lead time you have before an event, the only way you will be more successful is to start as soon as you know about it.

However, do you give all your projects the same amount of preparation? Are you the speaker, for example, waiting till the day of the event to put your presentation together?

Maybe you always wait till the night before.

Be thankful the actors didn’t wait till the day before a performance to learn their lines.

Professional musicians practice for six to eight hours every day, even if they do not know what they will be playing tomorrow.

The studio musicians who play in all the movies do not get their music until they walk in the door, but they have been practicing most every day of the week. Sometimes they take a day off but are prepared to perform at a moment’s notice.

Treat your work as competition – Because it is!

Every time you do a job, another photographer gets a similar position. Clients see your work and theirs as well in many cases. Who will they hire the next time?

They may hire you a second time, but they will sooner or later go with the winner, especially if they can see the difference.

Too many treat assignments like they did classroom work. They assume the client will grade them like a teacher.

One of my friends who teaches in college talked to his class about doing the assignment like the real world. Everyone turns in their work, and only one person in the class gets the job. In other words, everyone would fail other than one student.

They let that sink in for a while before saying they couldn’t get away with that in the classroom, but he paused for a while and then said, that is how it will be once you graduate.

Do you maximize your time, or do you minimize it?