Often in meetings and going about life we are performing for others. What I mean is we read the room and situation and plan how we will act. The thing is that organizations often take on this personality as well.
Everyone longs for love, acceptance and connection. We often do not know how to make it happen. We learn over time that we cannot manipulate people and trying to pull people closer to us, because that does just the opposite and pushes them away.
A few years ago when teaching at the end of the week I shared a little about myself. When talking to the person who invited me later to review what I could have done better, he made a profound comment that changed my life. You know if you had let people know what you shared at the end of the week earlier on then I think people would have connected with you more than they did.

The following year I started my week of teaching by being much more vulnerable. I told the class my life story and growing up with autism.
Still photograph stops time. It gives the viewer a moment to think, to react, to feel. When the camera captures a “real” moment in time rather than one that is “setup” then the power of that moment gives validity to the storyline.
Many nonprofits and businesses use stock photography for their communications. It is often more about convenience than any other reason that they choose to use a photo that isn’t about their organization to communicate some of what they do.
There have been numerous times where the same stock photo is used by competing organizations. The same photo of a person carrying a laptop was used by competing computer companies. The same photo was used by different insurance groups. Just google “same stock photo used in two ads” and look at all the examples.
My friend Gary S. Chapman encourages those organizations he works with to hire him to create real moments. He also encourages them to use his byline. “Photo by contributing photographer Gary S. Chapman” gives authenticity to the photo and helps people know it isn’t a stock photo.
I suggest finding stories that reflect what you do for people. Once you find that story is when I would then assign a journalist team to cover the story. The team can be a photojournalist who writes and shoots or it can be a team that consists of the writer and photographer. You may even choose to use video as well.
Personally I would find a few stories and have them cover all of them so you have a series that helps to validate what you are doing in people’s lives.
What I have found is that those organizations who talk about how they have made mistakes early on and are always correcting to do a better job will win over their audience.
I loved how the organization Honduras Outreach or HOI told their own story about a kiln they bought for the people in the Agalta Valley of Honduras.
A couple years later HOI noticed that the Hondurans had been making donut bricks that they used to then create chimneys for the stoves in their homes. They then started making tiles for their homes and schools with the kiln.
What I love about the story being told is that HOI admitted that they learned that they were not the ones coming to help out these totally helpless and inferior people. The people of Honduras were very smart and creative. While they couldn’t have make the stuff they did without the kiln they also knew that making pottery for the tourists didn’t make sense at all. There just were no tourists and just the volunteers coming to work in their communities.
This story helped HOI be more authentic with their audience. It helped them to get more people involved.
There are times when you may need to setup a photo. Sometimes for the safety of the people involved you cannot get a photo. You may choose to setup a photo for illustration purposes. This is OK to do, but you do need to tell your audience you did this. Credit the photo as an Illustration and where it is possible explain why you chose to illustrate the photo.
Sometimes in the caption of telling why you had to do a setup photo you help the readers to understand even more of why you need their help.
Today’s young people are looking for authenticity. They want to work with organizations whose words match up with their actions. The strongest way to communicate authentically is to use photojournalism.
Is your communications grounded in a moral compass?