Category: storytelling

Why I changed my title from Photojournalist to Storyteller

by Stanley Learyphotojournalism / storytelling

Definition of Photojournalist

Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (e.g., documentary photography, social documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by complying with a rigid ethical framework which demands that the work is both honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strictly journalistic terms. Photojournalists create pictures that contribute to the news media.

–Wikipedia

Photojournalism: the job or activity of using photographs to report news stories in magazines or newspapers

–Merriam-Webster 

This photo is from the East Carolina Buccaneer (college yearbook) 1984. That is me on the left. I was the darkroom manager back then. The other photographers are Mark Barber and Mike Smith in the top middle photo, and Gary Patterson, head photographer, center bottom and to the right Neil Johnson.

We all shot for the school newspaper and the yearbook as “photojournalists.”

Stanley Leary is photographing in the village of Garango, Burkina Faso. (Photo By: Shawn Hendricks)

Here I am, shooting in 2005 in Burkina Faso, and I still consider my work to be as a photojournalist. I was shooting for a Christian organization showing their work. It was to be used in materials for a fundraising program they did every year.

The choice of words you use to communicate can make all the difference in the world.

“Language shapes our behavior and each word we use is imbued with multitudes of personal meaning. The right words spoken in the right way can bring us love, money and respect, while the wrong words—or even the right words spoken in the wrong way—can lead to a country to war. We must carefully orchestrate our speech if we want to achieve our goals and bring our dreams to fruition.”

—Dr. Andrew Newberg, Words Can Change Your Brain

Client-Centered Communication vs. Self Centered 
Communications

If people find out I went to seminary, they want to know what church I pastored or where I pastored. So you see, there are assumptions made by the words I use with the audience.

Writers have always known that the right word can evoke so much more than just any synonym would do.

According to Compton’s Encyclopedia, the English language contains some 500,000 words. Yet the average person’s working vocabulary consists of 2,000. And the number of words we use most frequently that make up our habitual vocabulary? For most people, it averages 200-300 words.

According to Oxford University and the PBS series ‘The History of English’:

William Shakespeare used a total vocabulary of just over 24,000 words. In 2003 16,000 of those words were “obsolete.”

Edgar Allen Poe used a total vocabulary of under 18,000 words. In 2003 9,550 of those words were “obsolete.”

Is the word photojournalist obsolete? No, but if you are trying to communicate your value to a client, using this word can create a hurdle or obstacle.

While you may see yourself as a photojournalist and understand fully what that means and that it doesn’t mean you work at a newspaper but rather the approach you take, that is great and maybe even 100% accurate.

Now take in your audience, who you are trying to convince you are the person to help them tell their story.

I have started to use the descriptor Storyteller because this explains what I do, and clients can see the need for a Storyteller much faster than they can see the need for a photojournalist.

Another term similar to the Storyteller that you might like is Narrative.

Humanitarian Photographer

For me, the descriptor “Humanitarian Photographer” is too limiting. This tends to describe one as working with NGOs and nonprofits. While a corporation might look for a “Humanitarian Photographer” if they are trying to brand themselves as compassionate and that they give back, it is most likely not what they are going to look for when they need to tell the story of their product and how it is transforming people’s lives.

Examples of photojournalists not working.

I am a member of Christians in Photojournalism. When people write to join, many in the past have asked what newspaper they work for today. It would be best if you worked for a newspaper to be a photojournalist or part of our organization.

As many members have lost their jobs with newspapers, their identity as a photojournalist didn’t change. So they are still doing in their minds photojournalism for mission groups, NGOs, and even the corporate world, but telling accurate and truthful stories.

When I talk to people who do storytelling about Christians in Photojournalism, you can tell many have a look on their faces that I don’t work for a newspaper.

For the past 20 years, I have helped staff the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference. Some attendees get very upset if the speakers are not working for a news organization. Some speakers have shared how they are helping pay their bills by doing photojournalistic weddings.

What we call the “Day In the Life” photo story is how many former photojournalists see themselves doing by covering weddings. Many have gone on to help protect water projects or other things like Habitat for Humanity worldwide and show this as their “photojournalism.”

The disconnect in both of these examples is those who could participate do not see themselves as photojournalists. Instead, the title to them means news organization photographer–not a storyteller in the broader sense.

Don’t become Obsolete.

If I continue to use the term photojournalist to describe myself, I will soon become obsolete because the word is not used the same with my audience as I use it.

Everyone, not just photojournalists, must be less self-centered and client-centered to avoid becoming obsolete. What words in your client’s vocabulary best describe you?

The power of made-up words cannot be underestimated either. My friends Dave Black and Zack Arias are great examples of creating new words. Dave talks about “silhouette reveal” verses “fill-flash.” Zack often makes up words for pieces of equipment in his demonstrations. Then he will say if you call up B&H and ask for a Big Bertha, you might not get what he was using.

Remember you are trying to connect with your audience to get hired. So figure out their vocabulary to help them quickly understand your gifts and talents.

The Photo Package

by Stanley Learymultimedia / storytelling / visual storytelling

The Package

This past New Year’s Eve in front of a national television audience and a sellout crowd in the Georgia Dome, Clemson capped a dramatic come-from-behind rally with a last-second field goal to defeat LSU 25-24 in one of the most exciting match-ups in Chick-fil-A Bowl history.

While many watching it on TV were enjoying the thriller at the Dome those in Atlanta were able to participate in more than just the game that day.

We assembled a team of three photographers to cover the days events which started with the Chick-fil-A Parade at noon and ran till midnight with the trophy presentation.

photo by: Robin Nelson

Robin Nelson is a seasoned news photographer who is  accustomed to getting the story. He started our coverage with the parade. Later Greg Thompson and myself joined the days coverage and around 6:30 pm Robin left to process some of the earlier coverage that we needed later that night.  Greg and I stayed to cover the game.

Audience?

One of the first things a photographer should be aware of for a coverage is who is their audience. Too many photographers shoot for themselves and sometimes this can work, but often this is what separates the seasoned pro from the amateur.

Our audience was the Chick-fil-A internal audience. We were not producing this package for the general public.

Purpose?

One of the most important questions to ask yourself is why are you doing a coverage. Our answer to this question was to inform the internal Chick-fil-A people as to why we do the Bowl each year.

Every year we try and tell this from a different perspective. One year we told the behind the scenes coverage of what it takes to produce 30,000+ sandwiches in a day.

One common theme is always there in the photos–Branding. You see for a company to buy media time (Advertisements) to run on National TV is very expensive. Time for the Super Bowl this year on CBS is running about 3.8 million for each 30 second spot.

However when a company sponsors an event their logo goes everywhere in the event.

photo by: Greg Thompson

In the past they would take snapshots showing the logos being used. However we knew the images that help tell the story where you still see the logos take the images to a different level–Storytelling.

photo by: Greg Thompson

In the photo of the LSU player running, you can see the logo just as it might appear the next day in a newspaper or in Sports Illustrated. Do you see the difference in what else this is helping us in telling the story?

With photos that would be in Sports Illustrated the audience is seeing how Chick-fil-A brand is part of a world class event. You need world class photography to help communicate it and not a snapshot.

Photo by: Greg Thompson

In the photo of the Clemson player being tackled the logo is not sharp like in the earlier photo, but it is in the background. This helps to communicate the stewardship of the marketing department to place the logo strategically around the field in such a way that almost in every camera angle you see the logo.

More than a logo

photo by: Stanley Leary

Chick-fil-A likes to activate an event. What this means is they like to help take an event to a new level and be like the icing on the cake. They are not playing the game, but helping everyone enjoy it.

During the pre-game and post-game there is a Cow Parachute drop. As you can see from the photo the crowd loves this surprise. I remember the first time Chick-fil-A gave out the plush cows. There was a bad call, well for one of the teams fans and the cows were just flying onto the field. Now the cows they give out won’t go that far as easily. It was great publicity the first time the cows were all over the end zone, but they couldn’t continue that tradition.

photo by: Stanley Leary

Before the game the fans can go to FanFest to play games and just have fun. Chick-fil-A was giving out the new chocolate chip cookie for free. Just writing about that warm cookie makes my mouth water and wanting one. New Year’s Resolution is not to eat so many of those this year.  They are addicting.

photo by: Stanley Leary

Go to Chick-fil-A and you will be so thrilled with the customer service you will find yourself saying thank you and when you do you will hear “My Pleasure” in response. You see one of the other things we are trying to show in our package is how the Chick-fil-A team members enjoy serving with a smile.

Chick-fil-A also enjoys supporting our troops who are serving us with the ultimate gift of service.

photo by: Stanley Leary

In FanFest the fans could play games like the Ticket Tank where they try and grab pieces of fabric to turn in for free prizes.

photo by: Robin Nelson

Pool Photographers

In large events often agencies like Associated Press will only credit the photo with the agency name. This is because the reason one photographer has a shot and another doesn’t is due to the roles they have assigned.

Some photographers will be assigned to be in one corner of the track for that just in case photo.

Our team did a great job this year of covering all the days events. We split it up and also overlapped in some of our coverage.

Individual shots vs package

I believe every time we do one of these packages that the larger package is more powerful helping tell the story than the individual photos by themselves. However, the key is strong individual images.

For all those who enjoy shooting sports if you do this professionally sooner or later you will be told that you need to turn around and stop facing the field the entire game–there is a lot more going on to tell the story than the center of the field.

Now there are many photographers who make another mistake when covering a big event like the Chick-fil-A Bowl–they forget the action on the field. You need all of it for the package.

My challenge to you is to shoot all your assignments like they are to be used in a package. If you do the client has the opportunity to produce a package. You also will be giving them more options.

Shooting on Spec and Storytelling

by Stanley Learystorytelling
Storytelling First 

This is the Suzuki Institute in Metro Atlanta where teachers learn from each other on how to teach better. Basically a best practices workshop for the Suzuki method.

If you have a workshop where teachers are learning best practices, you need to show a teacher teaching a student and other teachers watching.

I think this first photo alone helps tell the concept. Now each photo I took had small differences. In the first photo the teacher is using a very small bow to teach a technique. This photo is unique for the small bow.

I love the photo of this student practicing in a room with an adult. Not sure if this is his parent or teacher. The problem with this photo if I shot only this is it doesn’t show other teachers learning from this moment. However, it is another aspect to the workshop.

While the workshop is to help teachers learn to teach better, in the process a student is also learning. Sometimes like in the photo here a student may go and practice before playing for the class. They want to do their best and also then have the teacher help them get better and not just correct something because they were sloppy.

Series

Every room I went in I shot a variety of shots. Here in the cello class I wanted to show that the Suzuki school was teaching more than just the violin. I also am showing an age group of young elementary students being taught.

The first photo is an establishing shot. The second is a tighter shot of the teacher interacting with the students. You can see this in her face expression.

The last in the series shows the children’s attention to the teacher and learning.

Perspective

These two photos of the teacher teaching shows why a photographer needs to go up in front and shoot back in a class room.  The first photo only showed a teacher and one teacher observing. Now the second photo shows the same elements of the three, but adds even more from the classroom.

Be sure you work the room and this means you move around, not stay in one place and zoom from wide to a tight shot. You move around making even a simple 50mm lens do a wide, medium and a tight shot.

Different location

I went to different rooms capturing different situations. Here we have middle schoolers working as a group during a lesson.

Great Subjects

As you can see from this series this teacher is animated. This is great when the medium I am using the capture and tell the story is visual. In the first and last photos you see the gesturing of the teacher and the middle two photos are different perspectives to give you variety of overall and tight shots to help tell a more complete story of teaching.

Touching moment

The very first photo I showed in this blog and this one are great because a person is reaching out and touching another person. This becomes a much more intimate moment than all the other photos. This communicates a caring touch and sensitivity that when people are more distant lacks.

Almost monochromatic

This has just a touch of color with all the white in the photo. The girl is taking a moment to practice outside on the porch of the church where the workshop is being held.

The simplicity of the pallet of color is what drew my eye and how young she is yet so intense also communicates how important this workshop is to the students even when the teachers and parent’s are not around.

Now the business lesson

I just showed up for a total of 20 minutes and did this as a favor for some friends. I posted them on a website where they could be bought. No one has bought a single one and I doubt they will.

I saw just as many people pulling out their camera phones taking photos and posting them to their social media. For many people this is their family album and since they have a photo that will do, no one is going to purchase a better photo if their photo suffices their needs.

Why did I do this if I knew this would most likely happen? Hey I like to teach business practices. This is a great example of what not to do.

If someone asks me to do this I normally charge a fee. I assume that what they pay me will be all that I will get. They may tell me to show up and parents will love to buy photos and I will make money that way.

30 years of experience is teaching me this rarely works and getting less likely with today’s cameras and cellphone cameras.

I recommend charging a fee that makes it worth your time.  Offer two or three options for them. They can pay you a fee and get to use all the photos for their organization website and you will post the photos for people to purchase at a normal print rate.

Another option is you charge the same base fee but for a slightly larger fee you give rights to anyone to download a low resolution photo they can use for social media. (Sales will suffer, so this is why you charge more)

Lastly, I would offer the same as the last package, but offer to have a studio on sight for anyone to have their portrait taken and put on the website to order prints. Again, I am assuming a fee will cover your time to have someone there to take those photos and the time to put up and take down a studio.

I believe today it is harder than ever to shoot something on speculation and make enough to stay in business. Very few situations today can you do this. What those are, I am not really sure. I just know they are fewer than ever before.

Creating images that recruit new students

by Stanley Learystorytelling

Colleges and schools hire me to help them recruit new students. There are a few reasons I hear over and over why they bring me in to capture their campus.

Capturing a moment

Every school I have photographed used someone before me. Many of these photographers were very competent. They had excellent exposure, reasonable composition, and lovely light, but the photos were boring.

Getting the “moment” requires the photographer to take more than a couple of photos of any situation. You need to connect with the subject and get where you can anticipate them. For example, I might notice a teacher who walks over to a student and bends to get close to hear them and see what they need. They may only do this for 20 – 30 seconds. If I miss them doing this once, I can move quickly to get into position the next time by seeing a student raise their hand. I am moving before the teacher to get to the place to capture the “moment.”

I like this image because the student is engaged in the subject and enjoying their time in school. (Nikon D3s, ISO 6400, f/5.6, 1/100, 28-300mm)

Color Correct 

Here is an excellent example of how many photographers shoot inside. See the greenish color cast in the photo.

This photo is color correct, and the skin tones look more natural. However, the above image is not color-corrected.  (Nikon D3S ISO 2500, f/5.6, 1/100, 28-300mm)

When someone has screwed up, you can see banding of color in the photo. For example, shooting under fluorescent or sodium vapor lights, you get bands across your photos. I know the problem and adjust how I shoot to avoid color issues with my photos.

Context

You need to do more than get closeup photos of people’s faces showing them enjoying themselves.

I like including posters on the walls to help give an idea of what the students are studying. It helps also communicate more than they are in a classroom.  (Nikon D3S, ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/100, 28-300mm)

One-on-One

I like this because the teacher and one-on-one student time are more than just two people. It is about a teacher who cares and enjoys helping the student. I like the student expression because they are severe and need help.  (Nikon D3S, ISO 5000, f/5.6, 1/100, 28-300mm)

One of the most important things colleges and schools report is the teacher-to-student ratio. It is essential to show students interact with the teachers and not just sit and listen to lectures all day long. Capturing this interaction requires you to wait for those moments. Like some people, you stick your head in, take a few snaps, and leave. You would miss so much by just documenting.

Engaging

Students need to be shown challenged by the course work and not bored. However, it can be fun in pre-school to show a child yawning. Sometimes humor is cute and just as engaging. Unfortunately, in older grades, it isn’t quite as appealing.

The student’s body language shows deep thought and interest in the class. (Nikon D3S, ISO 4000, f/5.6, 1/100, 28-300mm)

Individualism

I look for moments where I can show the student is still independent and comfortable in being independent in their work and thoughts.

Using a very shallow depth-of-field helps to isolate this student. (Nikon D3, ISO 720, f/1.6, 1/100, 85mm f/1.4)
Using a shallow depth-of-field, I can make the student pop out from the other students. I see how this helps show they are an individual and part of the class. You do not have the same visual communication if you crop everyone out. (Nikon D3, ISO 200, f/1.4, 1/125, 85mm f/1.4)

It is about communication and not pretty pictures.

Too many photographers are trying to make art and not communicate. For a photograph to do its purpose, the photographer had to know what they were trying to share, or it will often fail. This approach doesn’t mean communication photos are boring. It just means they need to convey a message. They can do this and be just as much a fine art piece.

Understanding people is why I studied social work as my undergraduate and then did my master’s in communication in the education department. I wanted to understand how to use visuals to tell a story.

When hiring a photographer, look for someone who understands education.

How to develop muscle memory for photographers

by Stanley Learystorytelling

Pam Goldsmith, world renowned violist plays her viola from the 1600s.
[NIKON D4, 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 5600, 1/125, ƒ/4.5, (35mm = 28)]

This is a great clip of the Famous trumpet players Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong playing together. Listen to the fast sections by Dizzy. This is a great example of muscle memory.

Dizzy Gillespie was the king of the lightning fast riffs of Bebop. No one ever thought of playing the trumpet the way he did. Not even Louis Armstrong played as fast and complex as Gillespie.

I studied trumpet from elementary school through college. I never could play the trumpet like Dizzy Gillespie. What I do know from playing all these years are how to train myself to play music took practice until I could play things using muscle memory.

Muscle memory isn’t something stored in your muscle but your brain. It is a form of procedural memory where practicing something over and over slowly and then as you pick up the speed can then perform something quickly.

Stanley in traction for a month to help with broken neck.
Here I am in the body cast that I would be in for 8 weeks. That made learning to walk even more difficult.

Another thing about muscle memory is if you don’t use it you can loose it. When I was in third grade I broke my neck. They put me in the hospital for a month in traction. After getting a body cast they had me try and stand. I had to have help.

For the next few days I had to learn how to walk again.

Elementary violin student practices and learns to reach with his left hand to create chords and how to do certain chords back to back so later this is effortless. Early when learning the process is just making it work.

Professionals continue to keep their skills at the highest level so when they need to perform, the muscle memory can kick in and help them tackle the most difficult things thrown at them.

Professional photographers need to take on projects that they can move at slower paces to help keep those muscle memories sharp and accurate. If you practice over and over the wrong way to do something then when you tap into your muscle memory you will perform poorly.

One of the best things I have learned to help me stay sharp is shooting photo stories on my own time. It maybe me shooting a self assigned project or taking on an assignment that gives me the luxury of time verses a quick deadline.

The best things to work on are those that I can shoot edit and then have time to go back and fill in the holes.

Early on in my career I practiced shooting with feature stories. Some of these features would be on a person who had a large collection. I could shoot the photos looking for the seven things I outlined in an earlier post on “Variety the spice of life.”

Today I find I need more of these type of detail shots to help round out a multimedia package than I did in the printed story.

When I started producing multimedia packages I soon realized I needed even more images. Why? Audio drives the multimedia package. If you have an interview you want the images to compliment the audio. Sometimes you want to show some of what they are talking about and then sometimes you just need another image so as to help keep the story moving.

With multimedia you use transition images more than you do in a printed story. This is where photos showing transition from one part of the story to another might be helped with a visual. Sometimes the audio has a background noise that having an image of this will help the audience where not including the photo makes the background noise more annoying. Example of this might be hearing of a screen door opening and closing to a country store. You can hear that in the background of the interview of the storeowner. I would include a shot showing someone coming in through the screen door to help resolve this sound for the audience. You don’t need a photo for every time you hear it, but having one will help the story move along.

Why?

Why take stories that you can work on for longer periods of time? This is how you develop that muscle memory for the fast moving deadline story. You need to take things slow and do them right over and over before you can make this part of muscle memory.

Why do this over and over through your career? Don’t you learn how to do this once and you know it?

Just as I forgot how to walk due to inactivity, so too will your storytelling abilities go to atrophy if you do not continue to tell stories.
This is a project I worked on in Mexico on coffee growers. I was able to take my time and like the results.

I watched my mentor Don Rutledge come back from overseas story coverage’s for his staff job and then go out the following week and shoot some stories for syndication through Black Star. I often went with him to watch and learn. Some of those stories didn’t have endings. Because we were able if necessary to go back and fill things in since these were more evergreen stories we could talk about what was missing. What I learned is sometimes a story doesn’t fit the classic beginning, middle and end.

Are you working on stories that you can take slowly and be sure all the elements are there on a regular basis, or are you just shooting the assignments given to you on deadline?

Put on your calendar some self-assignments if necessary for you to slow down and take the story at a slower pace so you can practice the art of storytelling. As we all know practice makes perfect.