Jesus & Gloria say good-bye before the funeral service for their son Jesus Fonseca, Jr.
The recent events in Newtown, Connecticut have lit up social media and forums about how will we go forward and change.
Photojournalism
While photojournalists and journalists have trained to cover tragedy nothing truly prepares you for the actual event. An event can be gut wrenching and can trigger Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for the journalist. Even if the journalist doesn’t suffer long term from PTSD they are never the same after experiencing events like the school shooting in Newtown.
Often journalists are sent to cover events and because of the shock it is difficult for them to get their head around something when the emotions alone are making it so difficult to concentrate.
I believe one of the best things a journalist can do is to feel the situation I think too often in order to make it through an event journalists tend to try and shut down their emotions and cover the event logically.
Always ask yourself two questions whenever you pick up the camera:
Why am I taking this photograph?
What am I trying to say with this photograph?
If you shut down your emotions and not ask these questions truthfully you can end up traumatizing the subjects you photograph and your audience needlessly.
In the photo above I asked the family about covering the funeral for the Catholic Newspaper. They wanted to share their experience with the community. I wanted the community to experience the loss of the family. I wanted them to want to respond. For this audience praying for the family would be an appropriate expectation for the Catholic Newspaper.
In the lower photograph I was working at a small newspaper and shot this image. Showing the child getting out of the car for me was a relief. While you can see the mangled car you also see hope of the child being rescued by the man.
The best photos I make in these situations are when I feel my emotions and learn to help them guide me to help the readers experience what I am feeling. I also am careful not to needlessly shock for shock value.
Today’s News Media are young
The last few years the media has been laying off all the veterans and hiring younger and younger people to fill the roles of the journalists. The downside to this is many of them are covering some of their first traumatic events. Most all of them have not been trained like our military that goes through classes to help avoid PTSD.
If you find the journalists not quite sensitive, they might just be traumatized and having a difficult time themselves. Just look at how many journalists during 9/11 and just this week have broken down while covering the story.
Take a moment and pray for these journalists that they understand their role and are in touch with their emotions. Pray that they are asking what is the story and what are they trying to say so we stay informed.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 1/40 with Nikon SB800 and SB900 on RadioPoppers which communicate with the Nikon SU800 to do TTL flash.
Posed Portraits
These are the staples of photography for most families. They are a great way to capture in time everyone looking their best.
We are so trained in our society about making these photos that often many of us are thinking this is what is a good photograph is all about—everyone looking at the camera and smiling.
These family photos are often associated with family reunions. Approximately 46 percent of families organize an annual reunion, according to genealogy.com. The most common time of year to hold a reunion is during the summer, as most people do not have as many engagements. However, holidays are another time many get together to reconnect.
A family reunion provides a means for younger family members to learn about their heritage. In such a case, your elders will lead the reunion with stories about the start of the family tree. Depending on your own unique heritage, you may hear personal stories about war, struggle and immigration.
For the most part these photos are experienced within the family. You may have them on the walls or in albums, but usually there is someone from the family there to explain who is who and how they are connected.
Without someone there to explain these connections and the stories the photos by themselves do very little to communicate on their own to those who do not have a connection to the people in the photo. Most likely seeing a family photo of someone you do not know will most likely trigger memories about your family photos and family.
Nikon P7000, ISO 100, ƒ/4, 1/1900 and fill flash from built in flash.
Lifestyle Photo/Photojournalism
While the photo of the same family playing ping-pong may not have everyone smiling and close to the camera, the photo tells us more about the family than the posed photo does alone.
You can tell from this photo they enjoy the beach. We could have stopped everyone and had them look at the camera and had a formal photo on the beach, but this communicates how much fun they are having together.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 400, ƒ/8, 1/100 with Nikon SB-900 and a Nikon SB-800 on PocketWizard Flex TT5, which are held on to the Manfrotto 5001B Nano Black Light Stands with a Manfrotto 175F Justin Spring Clamps with a Flash Shoe. To trigger the flash from the camera I am using the PocketWizard Mini TT1 with the AC3 to control the flash output in the TTL mode.
This is one more family photo in a home setting. This is taken during a family vacation. However, the photo does little to communicate vacation and more a informal posed portrait.
Nikon P7000, ISO 400, ƒ/4, 1/17 and fill flash from built in flash.
This second photo is what I like to do with people to get them relaxed—just hang out. Here you can see the family just enjoying time in each other’s presence.
Most likely you do not know the families above. Which photos to you communicate something about the families other than what they look like?
When you use photos for work to help communicate—choose lifestyle or photojournalism over a posed portrait.
Lifestyle vs Photojournalism
The difference between Lifestyle and Photojournalism is if one is setup and one just happens naturally. When you need to restage a situation because you cannot capture it as it happens then you are definitely doing a lifestyle photo shoot and not photojournalism.
Many news outlets will not use photos of situations that companies setup for the press. They will choose not to run the photo because they know this is setup. However, the news media will run images where they naturally find things. This has to do with ethics and the purpose of their publications.
It is perfectly fine for the photographer and/or stylist to remove a Pepsi can in a photo that will run in the Coke annual report for example. However if it were to run in a newspaper that would be unethical and jeopardize their reputation as journalists.
This is just some of the damage to homes by Hurricane Sandy in Union Beach, New Jersey that I saw last week while covering a companies work there.
Ken is one of my mentors helping me with business practices.
My good friend and fellow photographer Ken Touchton, pointed out to me how we are called on day to day to cover the ordinary and make it look extraordinary.
Photographer’s on tour
The camera manufacturers and even our professional organizations often have photographers who create some cool photos doing their “dog and pony show” at seminars and workshops. Many of these photographers create these incredible images which help them to be professional speakers and lead workshops.
My hats off to these guys. They do an incredible job and create some outstanding images. The reality is that in my lifetime I will most likely have very few if any of these types of photo assignments.
Lately those photographers on tour are no longer using dogs and ponies. Now they have elephants, dancers and just find the most exotic people and places to capture. It does make sense that to have a great photograph start with great material.
It would be fun to have the budget to hire a few exotic animals, a few models and fly them all to an exotic location. I also think it would be cool to have all that equipment to light the subjects and make a truly memorable photo.
However, Ken and I are often called on by companies to tell the stories of normal every day folks doing what may visually appear to be mundane, but are truly extraordinary.
This is some of my coverage of Chick-fil-A cooking sandwiches that they do everyday and giving them to people in need.
Chick-fil-A has a food truck that they use to distribute sandwiches at large events. Here it is in Howell, NJ where they were distributing sandwiches to Hurricane Sandy victims, first responders and volunteers.
In total over four days, Chick-fil-A’s food truck produced and distributed 13,650 Chick-fil-A Sandwiches to folks in northern New Jersey and Staten Island.
Eddy Taylor from Chick-fil-A gives sandwiches to workers helping to clean up Union Beach, New Jersey. (Nikon D4, 14-24mm, Nikon SB-900 shot on TTL on camera on slow sync. Camera settings ISO 100, ƒ/8 and 1/250)
My objective was to capture Chick-fil-A personnel giving away sandwiches to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. When in a disaster I don’t get to scout the area and then plan which models to bring in for the photo shoot. I don’t get to come in and light the scene to make this pop as I might do in an advertising photo shoot. This is finding moments as they happen to tell a story. These moments were in short one to two minute intervals of the volunteers giving out sandwiches. It doesn’t take long to give them a sandwich and give a quick word of encouragement.
The hardest part of the coverage was showing people receiving sandwiches that you could tell by the visuals alone they were part of a disaster. I needed the food distribution and I needed to show this was about Hurricane Sandy. The photo above comes very close to communicating the two in the same photo.
(Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8 and 1/160)
One of my favorite photos from my coverage isn’t necessarily the best storytelling shot, but I love the motion of the Chick-fil-A personnel walking down the street of Union Beach, NJ where there is major damage. You can see all the debris stacked behind them that had to be cleared off the roads for vehicles to get into this neighborhood.
Chick-fil-A delivered free sandwiches to the Union Beach command post where they had setup a dining room in a tent to feed all the emergency responders. Here the State Troopers from all over the country are taking a lunch break. (Nikon D4, 14-24mm. Camera settings ISO 8000, ƒ/8 and 1/100 and AUTO White Balance)
Most of the time in disasters people are in the centers where people can come to get clothing, counseling or information about their homes. While the photo above of food being distributed to the first responders communicates the food distribution it lacks the context of Hurricane Sandy without some text.
While you can put a series of photos together on a page to help tie the communication package into a more cohesive package, the photojournalist is trying to do this with one photo, because often that is all the space they have.
Running and Gunning
In all of these photos I was what I call running and gunning. As a photojournalist I don’t stop people and ask them to do it again. You keep the camera up to your eye a lot of the time and quickly fire shots as they come up.
Now when I shoot for a company where we need certain things to look a certain way it is OK to make changes–it isn’t photojournalism it is advertising or corporate communications. However, my photojournalism background helped me stay focused during my coverage. Chick-fil-A was on a timetable of delivering these sandwiches to people in less than 20 minutes.
They know that food safety is important and also gives the customer the best experience. If you look closely you will notice they are on the move in giving these sandwiches out to people.
(Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/5 and 1/500 No Flash)
I wanted to show how at times the photojournalist will use on camera flash in a fast moving situation to help hold some of the shadow details. In the photo above I was believing this would work OK since the skin tones of the people getting sandwiches was light. When the darker skinned volunteers came up and they were all backlit I didn’t want to risk not seeing their faces so I put on the Nikon SB 900 and using the high speed sync mode and slow-sync was able to pop a little fill flash ensure I was capturing people’s faces.
Another side note you can see how I altered the frame in the two photos. I don’t need multiple shots with just the people changing, I wanted to tell more about the location, but had no time to move around. I just composed to show how the devastation to the left of the house was there in the second photo.
By the way we were in this location for less than five minutes. We had hot sandwiches that needed to be delivered to more places.
(Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/5 and 1/500 with Nikon SB-900 on camera fill flash on slow-sync)
The Results
You might wonder how all this went for Chick-fil-A. Here is one person’s response to the call center for Chick-fil-A:
Customer Comments: The customer stated that he and his family are
survivors of Hurricane Sandy. He stated that the Howell Restaurant
delivered Chicken Sandwiches to people in his area. He informed me that
the Red Cross has not even made it into his area yet but Chick-fil-A has
come two times. He and his family really appreciate the gesture.
It is due to all my training as a photojournalist that companies need me. They cannot turn the hurricane disaster coverage into an advertising location photo shoot. They need a photographer that can in any situation come away with photos that communicate.
Ken Touchton and I are going to the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar next week the first weekend in December. It is their 40th anniversary and Ken was there 40 years ago. I am also one of the organizers for the Southwestern Photojournalism Seminar that is March 1 – 3, 2012. Both of these are great places to learn from storytellers and ask them how they handle situations.
Many of the speakers are photojournalists who also shoot commercially. Maybe the reason some of them make great advertising photographers is they know what looks authentic and have a knack for helping creating those impactful moments.
I still advise anyone starting in this industry to try and get a job with a small town newspaper. The experience gained from shooting day to day assignments will help you know how to get the best possible photo in any situation. It will also help you appreciate the ability to plan and do preproduction to get those advertising shots where you are in control.
This is part two of question series on which photos you would choose and why.
Again I was covering the Revive! Young Adult Track at the 2012 Eucharistic Congress put on by the Archdiocese of Atlanta. These are photos of a speaker for the evening.
Your job is to help me pick the best photo or photos that would run with an article about her speaking to the group.
Come back and check out the discussions about why people choose one photo over another photo. Be sure and vote below so you can see how you compare with others.
Mother Mary Assumpta
Mother M. Assumpta Long, O.P., is the prioress general of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was one of the four founding sisters of the community in 1997 as Pope John Paul II invited new religious communities to form and respond to the needs of the New Evangelization. The community now has over 100 sisters teaching in seven dioceses, drawing its inspiration from the rich heritage of the Dominican Order of Preachers and the vitality of the New Evangelization. The average age of the sisters is 28.
A former college president, Mother Assumpta holds a licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy, and has taught at the elementary, secondary and junior college levels. In the early 1990s she was invited by Cardinal John O’Connor to assist with the initial formation of the Sisters of Life in New York. She is a well-known speaker throughout the United States.
Help me pick a photo or a series of photos
Photo #1
Photo #2
Photo #3
Photo #4
Photo #5
Photo #6
Which photo would you use? You can pick more than one.
I would use the poll, but can’t do two at a time right now on my blog. Put your comments below.
I am covering the Revive! Young Adult Track at the 2012 Eucharistic Congress put on by the Archdiocese of Atlanta. These are photos of the keynote speaker for the evening.Your job is to help me pick the best photo or photos that would run with an article about him speaking to the group.
Known for his love of cooking and inviting people to rediscover the kitchen as a place of daily grace, Father Leo Patalinghug is a popular conference speaker. A native of the Philippines raised near Baltimore, he studied writing and political science before seminary and earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He developed his love of cooking in seminary at the North American College in Rome, Italy. He was ordained in 1999 and, as a parish priest, authored “Grace Before Meals: Recipes for Family Life,” a book that blends simple recipes with ideas on bringing the meaningful spiritual discussion to the dinner table.
His cooking skills led to a Food Network episode where he defeated chef Bobby Flay in a steak fajita cooking competition on “Throw Down With Bobby Flay.”
Father Patalinghug is on the faculty at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., where he directs a pastoral field education program for future priests. He holds advanced theological degrees from the Pontifical Gregorian University and Pontifical Maranium Institute in Rome. He is featured in a 2012 EWTN series “Savoring Our Faith.” He frequently speaks at conferences, college campuses, and prison ministry. His topics include spiritual combat, praying as a family, teen spirituality, and the theology of beauty.
Help me pick the photo from below.
Photo #1
Photo #2
Photo #3
Photo #4
Photo #5
Photo #6
Photo #7
Photo #8
Which photo would you use? You can pick more than one.
Miyuki Ishida Johnson, the Japanese teacher at Elkins Pointe Middle School, accepts a check from Cranes for Kids, run by Osh Kosh Clothing.
Of check presentations, this is one of my favorites. All the kids from the Origami Club came to the Osh Kosh clothing store with the teacher and all the Cranes they made. Visually, this is quite interesting.
One of the main reasons I love the photo is my daughter is in the group photo. If I were thumbing through a publication, this photo most likely wouldn’t make me stop to read the caption or the story.
A good lead for a story is as much about surprise as the content itself. If you are not careful, you can pay more attention to grammar and style and forget that the audience needs to be entertained to keep them engaged.
The best way to ensure that your photograph doesn’t do what it is supposed to is to use a cliché.
What is a photo supposed to do?
Why use a photo? Before you answer that question, you’ll need to ask what you want to accomplish. You may determine you don’t even need a photograph, an article, or a press release.
Sometimes, the primary audience you are trying to reach is so tiny you could hold a luncheon; sometimes, you meet with the people in person.
When the purpose has been decided that you need to communicate a message and the audience is best reached through a website, printed pieces, or social media, you know that people respond to photos more than text.
The most common mistake made at this point, which leads us to the check presentation photo, is the assumption that any photo will do.
This is the best way to communicate your message; you have seen many check presentations. More people than other options use it; therefore, it must be the best, which needs to be revised.
What is the check for?
The best question to help you move to a better photo is to ask what the check is for.
With Guest Conductor Arild Remmereit and Sergei Krylov as guest violin soloists, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra spent some time with the Elkins Pointe Middle School Orchestra students, answering their questions. Due to gifts to the music program, students can meet some of the world’s best musicians.
Which would you instead use, the photo of the students getting time with one of the best violinists and orchestra conductors or the check presentation to the school administrator that helps support these types of opportunities?
Even a setup photo can do better than a check presentation photo. Would you stop and want to read more about this photo? If so, then it is successful. I can see this used to help talk about a Catholic School expanding to include new grades in the fall due to a gift assisting the school in adding more classrooms.
Series of photos
Could you think about one photo? Sometimes, a series of photos will help tell the story even better.
Seth Gamba had few instruments when he started teaching orchestra in North Fulton elementary schools; he could buy some electronic orchestra instruments as gifts. This made a difference in the student’s excitement about music.
Besides the expression helping communicate excitement, most of the public has never seen electronic viola. So, this photo has some visual surprises that help share what a check presentation helped to fund.
The intensity of the student playing and the look of the strange instrument, an electronic cello, help communicate how a gift supports the arts.
This is an electronic violin. Again, seeing middle school students this engaged in school is exciting.
While the photo is a better visual surprise than a check presentation, a good writer will help drop in other surprises.
One study done at Georgia Tech found that the only thing that significantly impacted retention and graduation rates was if a student took music classes. Tutors, Greek life, taking courses to help improve study habits, and everything the school could test had no significant impact other than music.
Can you see how working this into the caption can help the development office raise even more funds than a check presentation photo?
Next time someone suggests a check presentation photo, please remember to ask what the check is for and indicate a picture that shows the purpose of the gift.
The cry of focus groups when they review most educational recruiting pieces seems always to say they want natural-looking photos and not set up. The problem is not setting up pictures or trying to grab what you can to get a natural look; it is hiring the right photographer. Also, it is a team effort of the school to set up the situations by having students, teachers, and the correct problems with enough time for moments to become “REAL.”
Focus groups need the right questions.
After spending the last twenty-plus years as a photographer shooting pure photojournalism, where you capture what happens in front of the camera, to shooting for advertising pieces, where there are stylists arranging everything in a photo, my experience says most focus groups are asking the wrong questions.
“Do you like the photo?” is not as good of a question to see if the photo was successful as a question like “What did you learn from the photo?” You can even have a picture again on a questionnaire from your recruiting materials and ask, “Does the photo help you see what a typical dorm room looks like?” You could ask, “What could improve the photo to show you a dorm room?”
I have come to this place of evaluating photos because of my experience with indeed “real” photographs. I have spent many years shooting “photojournalism” for magazines, newspapers, and wire services. You do not change a thing in these photos, and you do everything you can to use composition, lens choices, lighting, and timing to communicate the mood and reality of a situation. Often a photojournalist’s photos are not “pretty” pictures.
Photographers will use their composition to create more conflict to add to the photo’s mood. Having a focus group evaluate war photos with the typical questions we ask, “Did you like the photos?” will give results that say the photographers were unsuccessful.
Often what you get by just grabbing shots here and there.However, some planning and adding light to the scene can make a difference.
Make your photographic coverage strategic. How can you know the right moment to take a picture unless you have a relatively clear idea of what the subject means and what you are trying to accomplish? In addition, when you are interested in a topic, you want to learn more about it. So you dig below the surface values to the truth beneath. That way, you get to know it intimately and can photograph it understandingly.
Why are we taking this photo? Are we trying to show teacher to student ratio? Are we trying to show what is in your dorm rooms? Are we trying to show the diversity and how well everyone gets along on campus? First, you need some understanding of what you are trying to accomplish. Understanding does not necessarily mean a technical knowledge of the subject.
It is about seizing the right moment. Staging might be necessary, or I just floated into a meeting and shot as in the case.
Understanding is interest, sympathy, and curiosity, the human element of the equation. Are you photographing who you are or what you want to be? While photojournalism will give you “real” photos, sometimes reality for recruiting will keep your institution on the same path rather than where you would like to be.
Getting “Real Photos” is what I call “sitcom” photography works best. Of course, we all know the sitcom isn’t real, but it can create such a reality we are all tuning in to see “Who shot JR?”
Spontaneous moments in a hall with two guys who are close friends will communicate diversity better than sometimes setting something up. However, it must be prevalent on your campus, or you will not capture it just because you have a photographer. Plan for creating moments and letting the photographer have time to catch things along the way.
Natural-looking photos are the type of photography where the school has determined where they want to go and then creates communications pieces to help them attain the goal. For example, if you want to be more diverse in the future, you will need to show diversity. If you keep it real, you will research those situations where diversity exists. Then you would photograph those situations and play them prominently in your piece.
I worked hard to get the expressions to sell that they are a community with diversity.
As one person said, “You don’t want to be the lone raisin in a bowl of milk.” If everyone works at diversity inclusion, it does happen over time.
As you can see, there are a few ways to communicate your message using photographs. Of course, the ideal scenario is to have “real” photos. If you had a photographer go to everything you did this year, you might get the reality you need.
Shooting at The Citadel and a Roman Catholic high school is easy compared to the clothing problems introduced in most other schools.
Sometimes “reality” isn’t what you want to show—the student wearing another competing school’s T-Shirt. A student with significant overweight or skin problems can detract from the message. Distractions are why so often we re-create reality like the sitcom. If properly planned, you will tune in and want to know more about your school. You may even want to include others like students in a wheelchair or who need walkers.
Capturing students’ joy makes them want to come to a place like The Citadel, where they will spend a lot of time listening to orders by upper-class students.
The making of photographs involves understanding light, mood, texture, form, and line. So give me a call, and let’s make your recruiting photos—REAL.
Some of the books by William Albert Allard that I own.
What is right? Simply put, it is any assignment in which the photographer has a significant spiritual stake…spiritually driven work constitutes the core of a photographer’s contribution to culture. – William Albert Allard – on the right photo assignment., Photographic Essay (American Photographer Master Series)
If you need some inspiration and want to learn from one of the all time best photojournalists, then you need to discover William Albert Allard.
Very few photojournalists have the ability to gain the access as Allard has done throughout his career. He started in 1964 by talking his way into the Amish community and capturing some of the most intimate photos ever taken of a culture that shuns photography.
I first discovered his work when I would open my families subscription to National Geographic Magazine. His imagery captured my attention and later I would study his work so much that I slowly discovered how his style worked.
First of all the best thing about the books and especially his latest book William Albert Allard: Five Decades is his honesty. When I first met him he was more distant than when I encountered him later in his career. After you read the books you start to understand that he made some mistakes that he regretted, but learned from.
What is special about Allard is he is probably the only photographer I know that his entire career was spent working with color and being published in color.
What amazed me through all the years was how Allard would shave an exposure by small amounts to change the colors and therefore affect the mood of the photograph. By just underexposing or overexposing an image you can change the mood. I learned this from all those years of being so absorbed by his work.
I think the best pictures are often on the edges of any situation, I don’t find photographing the situation nearly as interesting as photographing the edges. ~William Albert Allard
Allard really makes you feel like you are peeking in on some really intimate moments. So intimate are these moments that you start to wonder how did he gain the trust of the people to let him even in the room.
I have heard William Allard speak numerous times and have watched every piece of video with him in it that I can get my hands on. I can tell you he could tell you every secret of his and still no one could do what Allard does.
I think the main reason his photos are so powerful is his access. How he gets that access is all about something so innate that I doubt even he can articulate. He takes for granted how he doesn’t work his way into someone’s life as much as Allard is invited into their lives.
After you meet him there is something that makes you want to know more about him.
If a subject has a delicate surface to it, you do not want to go charging in there. You need to establish some kind of presence and understanding. I will say, ‘Try to forget I’m here. I won’t ask you to pose, I won’t ask you to do anything.’ It’s important that I just be allowed to be around, to be present. Photographing people requires a willingness to be rejected. So, I think the best approach is to be honest and direct. Very often, I tell them, “You don’t know me. There’s no reason why you should trust me…the only thing I can promise is that I’ll try to do the most honest work I can. Ultimately, it comes down to somehow being able to instill confidence. I don’t think you can bullshit your way into that, because a lot of these people can see through walls. If you want to photograph people, you’d better know something about them. [Allard often credits “Serendipity” for the success of his pictures.] I like to explore, to be sensitive to the rhythms of the moment. Exploration means seeking out what I think is there, and yet often finding something finer, something closer to the center, that no amount of research could have led me to. I tend to react more than direct. You have to be receptive [to your subject]. You have to care. You can’t do good work if you don’t care. That’s not necessarily a strength, but it gives you strength. – William Albert Allard, Photographic Essay (American Photographer Master Series) by William Albert Allard
Allard has made a living studying people and capturing them with his camera. Another way Allard uses these skills is in community theater as an actor. Allard is able to not just observe but take these observations and become a character.
If you don’t own William Allard’s books and you are wanting to photograph people you are missing the best possible photojournalist of our times.
When you hire a professional photographer, they show up with the right equipment to deliver high quality images. One thing is a seasoned pro shows up with is flashes to use outside with group photos on sunny or cloudy days.
I used a flash on this overcast day to help with being sure you see everyone’s eyes. If you don’t use a flash you will often have raccoon eyes, where those with deep socket eyes have shadows covering the eyes. The flash also gives a catch light. One more thing is often on overcast days the color shift can rob a photo of the color that the flash can put back.
This is the time of year for diploma presentations to graduates as in this photo. A seasoned pro will be sure the background is appropriate and the lighting looks natural and you can see everyone’s faces.
While posed photos are often the ones chosen, today people always like to have a “fun” shot. While you would never have a person who is part of a group photo up above everyone else for the “fun” photo it can work. Again the photographer needs to be ready for the moment when it happens. This is not a 1, 2 and 3 count off photo and then fire the camera–you have to anticipate. If you wait until you see it–it is too late.
Using flashes effectively comes from years of not using a flash like in this photo. You have to see the light before you can make it look natural. It is also another reason to hire the seasoned pro, they will deliver “moments” rather than just lining people up and getting good expressions in a group photo cannot replicate. This requires a photographer to feel the moments and capture the mood.
Graduations are ceremonies for change. We need them to help us say goodbye to the way things were and help us to prepare for the future. Weddings are as much a funeral celebration to the single life as they are to the future as husband and wife. Graduations are a time when people are saying goodbye to the friends they shared for the past year or years on a journey.
Photography plays a really big part in helping us with these transitions in life. They give us something tangible to help us remember. We will remember the friends and maybe want to reconnect after looking back at the photos.
If you hired the pro rather than having your friends with cameras take the photos you are more likely to have memories that tell the story to future generations. The professional photos capture your personality and tell something about you to your grandchildren that words alone would not capture.
Back before digital Memorex ran a commercial asking the audience, “Is it live or is it Memorex?”
I have found that when instrumentalists are warming up for a concert is a great time to make photos. The look is the same for the most part, but you can get closer to the subject with the camera.
Some of the photos bellow are from the actual concert and others are from the time warming up, can you tell the difference?
Student stands up during his solo
I like showing a perspective to put the musicians in context
It is important to keep your eye on the conductor and look for his tempo
Conductors use all their bodies to communicate what they want from the musicians. Here the conductor uses his face expressions in addition to his hands.
Not everything has to be about them playing. The conductor letting the audience know something is just as important.
OK you can tell this wasn’t during the performance, but I like it because it communicates that music is fun.
Get close and show the intensity of the musicians.
Use the background to help complement the foreground.
Next time you are at event, especially for your children, don’t wait to take pictures when they start to perform. Take photos of them warming up. Be sure you don’t wait till the end, because they all leave right away.
“Photos keep the memories alive,” is what I heard one of the Citadel seniors during graduation. My son’s friends came up to me over and over this weekend thanking me for the past four years of taking pictures of them at the Citadel and sharing them with them.
Parents came up and told me often they couldn’t be at an event and really appreciated the photos we would post for them to see.
What I had reaffirmed this past weekend is that photos help make emotional connections and keep them alive.
My son was ambivalent about graduating. He was thankful he had accomplished his goal and done so with honors in so many ways. He was sad that next fall he will not be joining his friends for another year at the Citadel. I hope that as the years go by the photos I made will help him remember and stay connected to his friends from school.
Nelson, my son, and his graduating senior friends from Bravo Company
John Ogle and Nelson Lalli goofing around like close friends do.
When covering an event, I try to think of it as telling a story. So there are seven things I try to always have in my coverage. This week, I discovered that my friend Mark Sandlin, Director of Photography for Southern Living, uses this same list. The list is what all photojournalists have drilled into them.
Mark Sandlin, Director of Photography at Southern Living
Opener: Sets the scene for the story
Decisive moment: The one moment that can by itself tell the story
Details: Besides being like visual candy to the report, help often with transitions–especially in multimedia packages
Sequences: give a little variety to a situation
High overall shot: Gives a good perspective on how the elements all fit together.
Closer: Besides the classic shot of the cowboy riding off into the sunset, there are other visual ways to help bring the story to a close
Portraits: These photos are great for introducing the characters of the story
Below are photos from an annual meeting where the investors come in, and the company gives them an overview of what they have done and where they are going.
One thing I am working hard to do is to make each photo have an impact on engaging the audience. I use light, angles, composition, and, most important, expressions of people to engage the viewer. I wanted my photos to help this company communicate they are vibrant and viable in today’s market.
This photo shows how the attendees could interact with the leadership team. I wanted to show them engaging in conversation, so I shot a few to capture not just a good expression finally, but use the environment to draw you in. If you notice, even the lady in the mural seems to be paying attention to the conversation in the foreground.Details, for me, are a way to have fun. So I am looking for unique angles, colors, and light to help create impact and entertain the audience.A high angle is usually successful today because it is unique to our everyday l es. Seldom are we tall enough to see this angle, so it looks different than you just walking ar nd. Even the lady in this mural looks from above to see what is below.The man to the far right is the CEO, and while he will be on stage later in more formal roles, I like to show him as more relaxed and approachable. Again, I am using the lines from the window to help draw you into the picture. I want you to see the conversation first in the foreground, and then you should drift to the background. Again, visual composition keeps you engaged.While you can see everyone on the panel, and I always shoot the obvious, it isn’t as compelling to me as in other angles below. But I always need to be sure everyone on the panel is well-seen in one photo in case they require this.As a panelist responds to the question, you will often find that the rest of the panel may or may not be engaged.In this photo, the CEO is the focal point, and while the other panelist is not looking directly at him, you can see from their expressions and slight turning of their heads to catch what he is saying as showing they are engaged.PowerPoint presentations can be challenging to capture the slide and the speaker in one photo. Thank goodness they had a spotlight on the speaker and had it balanced. If you organize an event like this–always have a spotlight on the speaker to make them not disappear into the dark.While this isn’t a close-up portrait, I think it is a lovely portrait of him working in this situation.As I mentioned, they were streaming on the web, and I have a photo that can help say that for them.Another high overall shot to help tell another part of the story.
The decisive moment photo should be the one that is used alone and not part of the package could tell the story. Which of the ones above did you see that would work for you?
Did you notice the sequence of the panel? Now the hard part is often a closer. Sometimes you don’t have an ending. No closer is because you want to communicate. There was so much to see. You want to leave the audience visually craving for more rather than wrapping it up to say well, that is everything.
I suggest sitting down before you arrive to shoot a story, thinking through everything you know about the assignment, and making a list. Then, write down on a notepad that you will carry with you the outline of the seven shots. Under each one, list a couple of options for each.
As you shoot your story, check off the photos that you get. Then, use your notepad to get the names of people for the captions.
Once you have everything checked off on your list, don’t stop shooting. I continue to shoot more photos, but now I may be looking more and taking fewer shots. I cherry-pick the moments I think will be better than I already have.
I want to thank my friend Mark Sandlin for reminding me of what I do with every assignment so I can share this with you.
By the way, Mark said he wished he had said one more thing to those attending the class. He wanted to say, “if you haven’t made any mistakes, you are trying hard enough.”
