Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art, ISO 100, ƒ/4, 1/320

Before you read this post, take a moment and look at all the photos. Then take a moment and think about what you think they are all about. Once you have done that, come back and pick up the reading.

---

Why did I take this photo and the others I am showing you today? Let me talk about each one separately. Also, I would rarely not include some text with these photos no matter where I share them because I want to communicate what is going on.

I was accompanying one of the workshop participants I was helping teach in Togo, West Africa, on her story of a pastor. This was part of the story.

This is a Charlatan Witch Doctor of Fetishes in Togo, West Africa, going into the temple he built for the different gods he worships. In Togo, about half the population practices indigenous religions, of which Vodun [worship of fetishes] is the largest, with some 2.5 million followers.

Vodun cosmology centers around the vodun spirits and other elements of divine essence that govern the Earth, a hierarchy that ranges in power from major deities presiding the forces of nature and human society to the spirits of individual streams, trees, and rocks, as well as dozens of ethnic vodun, defenders of a particular clan, tribe, or nation. The vodun is the center of religious life, similar to doctrines such as the intercession of saints and angels that made Vodun appear compatible with Christianity, especially Catholicism, and produced syncretic religions such as Haitian Vodou. Adherents also emphasize ancestor worship and hold that the spirits of the dead live side by side with the world of the living, each family of spirits having its female priesthood, sometimes hereditary when it’s from mother to blood daughter. [Wikipedia]

I took this photo and how I took it to communicate the belief in many gods by the people of Togo. For many who become Christians, it is still common for many to still practice these Fetishes. The tradition has been so strong for so long in their culture that it is difficult for them to break away from these practices.

Here is the story that the student Hannah Teramura tells the tale of Martouka.

---

Why did I make this photo?

Before we sent all eleven students out individually to go and work on their stories, we did a refresher on capturing the interview.

We walked around as a group and agreed on this place to do the interview. We did this based on the lighting, the sound, and the background. We then set up the camera with the subject to be interviewed, the translator, and the student asking the questions and doing the story.

We then practiced and stopped here and there to talk about the camera settings, the interviewing process, and the importance of the student listening with headphones and watching that the subject doesn’t move too much to put them out of focus or out of the frame of the camera.

Can you see how I composed and picked a moment to convey much of this information, but text helped explain who each person is in the photo and their role?

When did I figure out all this?

Before I clicked the shutter! Very important to think through what is going on in front of the camera and then distill all this into a moment that will convey the point you want to make.

---

Why did I make this photo?

This is pastor Martouka Anani’s son. Now he was very interested and intense. You can tell he is a thinker trying to figure out why these white people are doing with those cameras.

As I brought the camera up to take her photo, I could see this intensity in his face and body language. I decided I needed to capture this tension. I also decided I wanted to isolate him in the corn field and hint that his brother was in the background.

I felt this girl was fearless, unlike his brother, who was playing. Like his father, this little boy wants to know more than he sees on the surface of people’s faces. He is peering into your soul with his eyes.

Now contrast this to his older sister, who, while still engaging with her eyes, has more softness with her gaze than her younger brother.

Martouka Anani, their father, fell deathly sick after years of growing up in fetish worship and remembered the gospel he had heard as a child. Even though his parents disowned him from walking away from the fetish religion, he pursued Jesus and devoted his life to sharing the good news with others.

Their next-door neighbor is the Charlatan Witch Doctor in the first photo. Just imagine living next door to a faith your father gave up and lost his family and all their day-to-day interactions with that family. I am sure the kids play together but imagine they have to understand why their parents are so different.

Maybe the reason for these looks of the children is they are not sure what we believe and will also be their faith for themselves.

Why am I taking this photo?

I wanted to capture how important faith is to the community we came to cover. This photo by itself doesn’t capture the whole story. But paired with the images above in a larger story helps me convey the culture’s intricacies a little more and helps the reader understand what they are dealing with each day.

Had we just taken photos only in the church buildings, the images are not different than here in the United States. Yes, the building is a little different, but the expressions in prayer look similar. However, with the other photos showing this pastor living next door to a Witch Doctor and that this is the life he left for Jesus, we can see what maybe is something different that they pray about that we don’t have to deal with here.

Summary

I hope you can see that I must take the time to think about what is happening around me. I then have to consider what I want to share with someone through my photos.

If you take photos without knowing what you are trying to say, then your audience will have no clue as to what you are trying to say.

Here are some places to start thinking about the photo that you want to make.

1. What is my emotion right now? Are you happy, sad, melancholic, joyful, etc
2. What is the subject? What is the noun if I put this into a sentence?
3. What is the verb? Thinking again like a sentence, what is going on that I need to show? What would be the verb in the penalty if I were writing this all down? Your shutter speed may help communicate motion, for example, or freeze something.
4. What should I include or exclude? You may do this by composing by moving around and picking a particular lens to capture the content. You may also decide how much is in focus on the subject. You may even choose to not just go from a wide angle to telephoto, but super close with a macro lens.
5. Do I need to alter the light to help with capturing what I need? Do you need a flash? Do you need to wait till the subject moves into the light?

You can ask many more questions to help you determine what to capture with your camera. 

Great photographs are like great poems. The differences are in the nuances. Finding the perfect balance of grammar, simplicity, intricacy, feeling, imagery, and rhythm is one of the most difficult challenges a poet will face. In some cases, a poet’s work might never be done. For example, he might spend several years, or even his entire life, trying to perfect one single poem. He might often omit a word or two here or change some terms there.

The photographer is always looking for ways to improve. They work to understand the technology to help improve their images. They study the subjects to see those nuances to give more understanding.

My challenge to you is to be intentional. Know why you are clicking the shutter, or your audience will not know.

This year we are getting our PR for musical Oklahoma! Started much sooner than last year’s production of Into The Woods. About two months before the performance with the 12′ x 8′ banner.

Last year we were up just a little more than a month before the performance.

Last year the banner was 9′ x 6′. When I put the flag up the previous year, I can remember feeling it wasn’t big enough. I believe the 12′ x 8′ is plenty big for the space.

Every 2 feet, there is a grommet to help you tie the banner to posts like I am doing here. If you are putting this outside and not on a wall, you need to use every one of those grommets. When you do, and wind comes along, each grommet has less tension than if you used just the corners. Your banner will do better in the wind if you tie it well with all the grommets.

You can get an idea of how massive the banner is from the back with me on a 6-foot ladder.

HOW TO MAKE A BANNER

1) Select your source to make the banner. I use AllStateBanners.com. Here is a link to their specs to give you an idea of what you need to supply as file size. https://orders.allstatebanners.com/design-specs

2) Select your image. I recommend shooting in RAW and Lightroom or PhotoShop, resizing the image to the size of the banner. I did it here and exported the photo as a JPEG to 12 feet on the long side. You need to check with your banner source to see their specs. They said 150 dpi or more.

 3) Open the large JPEG photo in PhotoShop and then put text over the photo.

4) All State Banners can take most file types. The first time I sent them, the PhotoShop file was saved as PSD. The last two banners I just exported out of PhotoShop as JPEG. Again the size is the exact size of the banner at 150 dpi. As a PSD, the file is a 1225.1 MB file. As JPEG, it is 66.1 MB file size.

The total cost this year was $229.44. I only paid $206.50 because they were running a 10% discount.

Now, this is only part of our PR. Here are two Facebook Cover size photos for the people to post on their pages to help promote the musical.

Stay tuned to see other ways we use photography to help market the musical.

Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 DG Art, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/800

I can relate to these boys in so many ways. What they are thinking I am not sure, but they do make me think of feeling alone even tho there are people around me.

The reasons these boys may feel isolated is quite different than my own isolation. They are living in one of the poorest nations on earth–Togo, West Africa. When you go into their homes they don’t have a closet with many outfits and shoes. This maybe the only thing they have to wear or maybe one more outfit.

When I would peek into their kitchens I saw no food.

So we might interpret their expressions as related to their poverty and hunger for food. However, I believe that people hunger for true friendships that are deep with roots that bind them to others.

 They are looking for nourishment that comes from deep within people.

When people have deep relationships with friends, they have wells within them that are overflowing and able to glow and give to others. Here you see these guys who are friends that exude happiness.

I continue to find those with wells complete in the houses of worship. These people search beyond what people can give to them for even a relationship that will sustain them even more.

What I love about my profession is capturing all of this and helping to direct people to know where to find that living water that refreshes the soul. It comes from being able to be open and honest with your friends. They know your flaws, and you know theirs. It comes from God, who forgives and seeks a relationship with you.

When people see me as a photographer, I feel isolated. When they see me for who I am and not what I do, I really connect.

I use many different skills from my studies of Social Work, Education, Theology, and many experiences to help people connect to the world in which they live. My ultimate goal is to connect people to deep relationships with others, and I also hope to God.

Who am I? I am looking for another person to go through this life together. I will need many people to make this journey exciting and new.

This is a marketing tip I learned about websites. When people come to your website, they need to know what you do and then have an action item you are encouraging that they take.

This is my website, and the action item is at the top of the menu. “FREE Download” is what I want people to click on to be able to get their email address and contact information. They are then enrolled in my monthly e. Newsletter and I give them the FREE Download of the “Tips for Better Photos” PDF.

They fill out the form you see here and then get an email with their download link.

I am not expecting a ton of signups for this FREE Magazine/Book, but I am hoping I get some engagement from my website that I can measure with something I can then use.

Go to my website at StanleyLeary.com to experience this and see if you think you need to do something similar for your website, and then I hope you enjoy the FREE “Tips for Better Photos.”

Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 DG Art, ISO 1400, ƒ/1.4, 1/200

If photographers would take photos the way, they write, all of their images would most likely be ten times better in quality.

So many people pick up their cameras and point and shoot. Just try and do that with writing. Go ahead and try it. Pick up the pencil or pen and write.

How is that working for those of you who use the “Spray & Pray” methodology? Your percentage of a photo you like is probably better than just clicking one time and moving on.

The famous photographer Ansel Adams’s first chapter in his very first book was about the concept of previsualization in photography, where the photographer can see the final print before the image has been captured. Adams often says, “Visualization is the single most important factor in photography.”

Adams was referring to not just what was in front of the camera but rather his interpretation of what was in front of him to the print before he clicked the shutter.

Most photographers are not producing work like Ansel Adams because very few have taken the time to think about what they are trying to capture and say with their photos.

Previsualization is applied to techniques such as storyboarding, either in charcoal-drawn sketches or digital technology in planning and conceptualizing movie scenery makeup.

The advantage of previsualization is that it allows a director, cinematographer, or VFX Supervisor to experiment with different staging and art direction options—such as lighting, camera placement and movement, stage direction, and editing—without having to incur the costs of actual production. The directors work with actors in the visual effects department or dedicated rooms on the larger budget project.

At the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, they have displayed the sketches, which then are turned into models like here.

After they have done this then they make the actual set that will be used in the movie as you see here for Diagon Alley.

Now compare this set to the street of Cecil Court that most likely inspired J. K. Rowling for Diagon Alley.

This is why Harry Potter the movie is a little more exciting than the just point and shoot of the tourist that I was on Cecil Court. The street has been the inspiration and then the artists create their vision of what they want to use to convey a mood for a story.

Even in sports, the creative photographer is anticipating. I am downfield, waiting for the action to come to me. I have thought about where I need to be and what I want to capture.

TIP FOR BETTER PHOTOS!

Treat the camera like a pen. Before picking it up and putting it to your eye, have some idea of the sentence you will write. If you don’t, you will only have gibberish, which is why your photos don’t work. You didn’t know why you took the picture, and no one else will.

Take this one step further and consider the caption that will also accompany that photograph. This will help you know what you are trying to say with your photo.

The emcee for the event was Ernest Thorwald “Ernie” Johnson Jr.

My morning started off early with the annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s breakfast.

They had surprise guest of Heisman Trophy Winner Hershel Walker being interviewed by Ernie Johnson Jr. at the end of the event.

This year the event was moved to the College Football Hall of Fame and Chick-fil-A Fan Experience.

For many, this is a fun place to come to in Atlanta. Seeing all the memorabilia was just a bonus that the football fans loved, in addition to hearing from the football legends.

The emcee for the event was Ernest Thorwald “Ernie” Johnson Jr., a sportscaster for Turner Sports and CBS Sports. He also interviewed Dan Reeves.

Dan Reeves spent  23 years coaching for the Denver Broncos, New York Giants, and Atlanta Falcons. He played or coached in a record nine Super Bowls – five with the Dallas Cowboys, three with Denver, and one with Atlanta. Before coaching, he also spent 16 years in the Cowboys organization – five as a player, three as a player/coach, and eight as an assistant coach.

The keynote speaker was Benjamin Watson. In the 2005 AFC Divisional Game against the Denver Broncos, he made perhaps one of the most notable plays in NFL history when he tackled Denver cornerback Champ Bailey one yard short of what would be a 101-yard interception off Tom Brady. Bailey intercepted the pass one yard inside the Patriot end zone and proceeded 100 yards before Watson, the only Patriot within ten yards of Bailey, hit Bailey violently, knocking the ball and Bailey out at the Denver 1-yard line. This play is of note because Watson was on the other side of the field when Bailey made the play. He had to sprint an estimated 120-yards, run through a referee, and never gave up in the chase.

My job this morning was to document the event. I got some overall shots to establish the event’s location and then had tight shots of the speakers and everything in between.

I shot the event with what I use on the sidelines of the football field because the distance to the speakers without standing right down in front of the podium is a reasonable distance away.

My tip for covering an event like this is to plan. Which lenses will you need? Will you need a tripod or monopod? I used the monopod.

Take the time and think all through the event if you can go early and scout the location.

I like to think of still photography as capturing the emotional moments of a story. These moments, however, need an excellent storyteller to help weave them into a compelling story with text/words.

Photographers must remember it isn’t just about the moments that will get them hired. In other words, just having images will lack the essential part of getting jobs.

For photographers, successful marketing is about the photos we take and the stories we tell to help seal the deal.

This is excellent insight by John Steinbeck about a great story, “If a story is not about the hearer he [or she] will not listen . . . A great, lasting story is about everyone or will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting–only the deeply personal and familiar.”

The Five Essential Elements Of A Story – Katie Kazoo says, “A story has five basic but important elements. These five components are the characters, the setting, the plot, the conflict, and the resolution. These essential elements keep the story running smoothly and allow the action to develop logically so the reader can follow.”

1. Character—This needs to be developed so that we feel like we know this person. We can picture them and how they would dress, walk, and talk.
2. The Setting—Great writers like Pat Conroy, who does such a great job of writing that if you had never been to Charleston, SC, you would recognize it from just reading some of his books.
3. The Plot—This is how you sequence the events of a story to keep the reader on edge.
4. The Conflict—This can be internal or external and often involves a little of both for the main character.
5. The Resolution—offers a fitting conclusion, which can be a tragedy or a comedy.

This is an excellent example of creating a setting for the story by South Carolina’s famed writer Pat Conroy, as he describes Charleston in his 2009 novel, South of Broad: “I carry the delicate porcelain beauty of Charleston like the hinged shell of some soft-tissued mollusk. . . . In its shadows, you can find metalwork as delicate as lace . . . It’s not a high-kicking, glossy lipstick city.”

Photography can help create these five parts of the story. It can show what is often challenging to tell without many words.

I am looking for those moments where the expressions on people’s faces are what writers often spend pages trying to create using just the text. I usually see photos packing in even more information than the writer attempted.

When you go to see a movie that a writer’s book has been turned into, you will notice over and over where screenwriters, directors, and producers must include so much more in the frame of the lens that isn’t even described in that type of detail that the camera is giving to the audience.

Throughout my family vacation, I captured slices of memories that will be part of the stories we tell as a family in the years ahead.

When you look at the images that you captured this holiday, did you capture slices of the story?

Many will always say yes, but I want to challenge you. Take a moment and think about the story for your family this Christmas. Now, without thinking of your photos, can you tell the story? Then, after telling us the story, how many images do you have that will support this story?

You don’t start your storytelling by just clicking randomly. You start with the storyline in your mind.

“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.”

– Brandon Sanderson

Marketing yourself with the story creates questions that cause the client to realize they don’t have answers and need help. That help is you!

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 55-200mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/4.5, 1/100

This is the time of year we celebrate Jesus being born. This is the time of year we celebrate children.

At my church this Christmas eve, there is a unique service for families with small children that we enjoy attending each year.

This little boy decided to join our minister in the chair beside her. The minister said as long as you sit, you can stay.

Well, that was a fun thing to watch unfold.

I think the minister enjoyed the little boy as much as he liked being treated like an adult.

The more I travel, the more I see that children are much more welcomed into services worldwide than we do here.

Here all the kids are so well behaved in Togo, West Africa. However, they walk around in the service to the mothers and families.

Children can bring you joy.

Take the time to enjoy moments and capture them to show others what you value and teach children what you love.

Photography has the power to help communicate our values when it comes to faith and capture those moments that shape your morals and deals for your family.

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

1 Timothy 4:12

 Children are paying attention to all we do and how we act.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

John 1:12

Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic, and religious author widely considered the first existentialist philosopher.

Kierkegaard sourly prophesied a banal fate for the newly popularized art of photography. “With the daguerreotype,” he observed, “everyone will be able to have their portrait taken—formerly it was only the prominent—and at the same time, everything is being done to make us all look the same, so we shall only need one portrait.”

As we get older, it becomes more and more difficult for people to buy presents for us. We go out and buy what we need, so what would someone give you, and what can you give others that they don’t already have this Christmas?

One of the best personal gifts people can give is a photograph. The reason for this is that photos have the power to keep all our precious moments alive. And giving the gift of an especially well-chosen image is a way to preserve a fond memory with someone you treasure.

The gift of a photograph today has many ways for presentation. One way many uses now is a greeting card. This photo, however, is typically an individual or family sharing one of their memories with their family and friends.

If you give a photo to an individual, the image of something you shared cannot just show your friendship with them but help remind them of a memory that the two of you share.

Besides giving a photo print, you can have a shot put on just about anything. Here is just a sample of the items you could put the photograph on for that special gift:

• Coffee cup
• Candy Tin
• Blanket
• T-Shirts
• Aprons
• Coasters
• Calendars
• Neck Tie
• Ornament
• Porcelain Plate
• Puzzle
• Digital Photo Frame
• Coffee Table Book

The photo book also shows you took the time to make their gift. It will help preserve those memories of a family trip you made or one with your friends.   If you have the time and enough variety of photos, the photo book is one of my favorite things to come along. You can produce an excellent coffee table book for your friend for as low as $20 for a 20-page softcover book.  

If you choose to make a book, my favorite book publisher is www.Blurb.com.  

Go online to www.MyPhotoPipe.com, where you can get prints, holiday cards, and have canvas prints made.

Have Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This photo was taken at the mall near us, where you could get your picture with Santa. They created an experience where you can go on an adventure to see Santa with Po and his friends. Our son loves Po, so we wanted the photo with Po even more than our photo with Santa.

They had created great backgrounds and overall experience to put families with Santa.

The key to group photos is planning — and how big you plan to use the image can make a big difference in your planning. We don’t hang wristwatches on the wall because their faces are so small you cannot tell time with them. You could have a three-inch face clock in most family rooms and say the time. In a classroom, you might need a 10-inch face. The clock face size is a good rule of thumb for determining whether someone will be recognized in a wall print at an average viewing distance.

The more you show in a photograph other than people’s faces, the larger the photo needs to be to recognize the people because their face size will diminish. If your group photo is more for identification, getting everyone close together where you can see their faces should be the primary goal. Then you can run the image in a publication, and people can tell what everyone looks like.

On the other hand, if your photo is more about creating a mood for a poster of, say, a hip-hop band, you will shoot much looser and space the people out and let their body language help establish the mood. For these concept/mood photos, I like to spread people out and put people at different heights (relative to their faces). I want to think in triangles. If you were to connect the dots (faces) between people, do they make triangles? Create depth by having some people closer to the camera and others further away. This will give it a more three-dimensional feel.

If you go to the music store and look at the CD covers of music groups, you can see some of the leading work done in the industry. Try copying some of these until you get the hang of it and can come up with your concepts.

If you pre-plan, have a good idea, and consider people’s sizes, you will move pretty quickly through the process. If you don’t, it goes slowly, and your photo may fall apart — because you will lose the attention and interest of the people in the image.

In scouting locations in advance, you are not only choosing a site because of the scenery but also ensuring you are there at the best time of day for a group photo. Having the sun right behind the group isn’t the best technical photo. Sometimes, a location won’t work simply because the group isn’t available at the right time of day to make the photo.

I have found that you can make any group photo in 10 to 15 minutes if you have done your homework. You may get to the location earlier, but the people in the image should be able to be placed into position immediately — and then you are just looking for good expressions.

One last thing that can significantly impact the quality of your photo has a laptop computer or TV on location to view the images as you shoot. Virtually all digital cameras will plug into a TV and let you see the picture big enough to assess the minor details — enabling you to move people only inches and improve the final product.

Nikon D5, AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 6400, ƒ/5.6, 1/200

Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audience’s attention. Although people’s attention is held by different things, because individuals have different preferences in entertainment, most forms are recognizable and familiar. Storytelling, music, drama, dance, and different kinds of performance exist in all cultures, were supported in royal courts, developed into sophisticated forms and over time became available to all citizens. The process has been accelerated in modern times by an entertainment industry which records and sells entertainment products. –– Wikipedia

During my time in London, we stopped by The Globe. The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named “Shakespeare’s Globe,” opened in 1997, approximately 750 feet from the site of the original theatre.

I believe photography is one way to preserve these storytelling moments and enjoy them in a new medium, and share them with many more than live theater can do. While theater is quite entertaining, it is just one way for us to capture the imagination of people. Storytelling is a great way to take the brain hostage and substitute one’s vision for another people.

I love the theater for the same reason I love the movies and TV dramas; they all help me think beyond my imagination. After watching these stories, I often find my mind dreaming new dreams made possible by these art forms.

To me, the one thing that is just as impactful if caught in such a way that it is a slice of a story is real life. I believe photojournalism is that medium of telling real-life stories.

Here is a slice of a wedding, the first chapter of the couple’s new life together.

Real moments make your photography better. Real moments are perfect for hijacking a person’s brain from their own dreaming stories to your storytelling.

Great lighting, excellent stage direction, and acting can capture an audience’s attention. But a soundtrack can make your story even more memorable if you want the audience to remember.

We all have had an earworm. An earworm, sometimes called a brainworm, sticky music, or stuck song syndrome is a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person’s mind after it no longer plays. Phrases used to describe an earworm include “musical imagery repetition,” “involuntary musical imagery,” and “stuck song syndrome.”

Also, music can help create mood as much as light does. Finally, music helps us remember storylines and just about anything.

Multimedia packages are where I combine still images, motion, and audio to tell a story.

I do this for companies. Here is just one example:

Storytelling is an art form. The artist is always looking for ways to capture the audience’s attention. So you are competing not just with other things demanding their attention but with their daydreaming.