The Missions Storytelling Workshop is an excellent opportunity for you, but you need to move quickly. They will accept up to only 11 people. Deadline is 3/18/2014
Host: ABWE is an unaffiliated, independent Baptist missions agency providing like-minded churches with vital services to expedite their Great Commission ministry. Where: Lisbon, Portugal Dates Needed: 5/14/14–5/28/14 Cost: $2,800 Duration: 15 Days
Requirements are that you know your way around your camera. We will consider you if you have been a freelancer or shooting on staff and have no college background. So this experience will count for your college requirement.
While we would prefer that you know your software, this will not keep you out of our selection. We expect you to understand how to get the pictures off your camera and your computer. We recommend that you have photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. Also, you will need some software to put together a complete package. Most PCs and Macs come with a basic editing video package. For the Mac, it is iMovie.
You can also use the more advanced Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere if you like.
Bring your laptop computer with the photo editing software and some video/slide show software.
I recommend the camera gear for moderate wide-angle to moderate telephoto lens coverage. This would be like 28mm to 200mm on a full-frame camera. Also, a flash that you can bounce or take off the camera will sometimes be necessary for your coverage.
Who are the subjects?
You will be working with ABWE missionaries. Some might be doctors, evangelists, teachers, and many other roles. We will assign you a person for your story. You will be working alone on a story, with our coaching you all the way.
You will meet the people you will be covering and then spend some days capturing their lives and the people they come into contact with.
The Audience for the story
These missionaries will use your stories to help them communicate with their supporters. The Audience may also include the larger ABWE Audience of churches and supporters.
Stanley’s Thoughts on this opportunity
I have gone on many mission trips and grew up on the field. When people go on a mission trip, they go with a group. This makes for terrible photos, in my opinion. You are tagging along with the group and often do not have time to capture the everyday life of people.
This is one of the best opportunities I know of where you can get in-depth coverage without your group rushing you to the next timed event.
If you feel called to do mission photography and are unsure how to do it, this is a perfect opportunity.
If you already enjoy shooting and want the opportunity to shoot missions and don’t know how to hook up with missionaries, then this is also perfect for you. This way, ABWE people can get to know you, and then you can understand their requirements. The workshop can lead to more opportunities for you.
Why should someone trust you with their story if you cannot tell your own story? You must be able to tell your own story before telling another person’s story.
Acts 1:8 New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. You will be my witnesses in all Judea and Samaria. And you will be my witnesses from one end of the earth to the other.”
Since the church has been telling stories for centuries and doing so very well, I am using its storytelling to teach the principles of good storytelling.
In the Christian church, when one decides to follow Christ, it is done by a statement of faith. Many of the denominations do this during a confirmation class. Often, we use questions to help people formulate their ideas and develop their thoughts. Here is one example:
Some questions to think about: 1. In What ways have you seen God work in your life? 2. Were there events that tested your faith? 3. How did an event draw you closer to God or keep you further away? 4. How was your spiritual life strengthened (weakened) then? 5. What is important to you about being a Christian? 6. What is important to you about being Presbyterian? 7. What are your hopes for being a member, how you would like to serve, what gifts you bring, and how do you want to grow?
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 4500, ƒ/5.6, 1/100
The power of a first-hand witness is their authority. Their testimony has absolute power if they speak on what they know rather than speculation.
One of the best examples in the Bible is this one.
John 9:25 New International Version (NIV) 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see!”
While the lawyers questioned this formerly blind man, he stayed with what he knew. The power of the testimony was irrefutable. The power of the story is the before and after. The man was blind before he met Jesus; after Jesus healed him, he could see. One sentence is the testimony. What’s your story? Only expect others to share their stories with you if you are willing to share your own. We do this every day. You meet someone for the first time, and through the introduction process, you either do a great job telling your story or a poor one.
Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 8000, ƒ/2.8, 1/100
One of the best ways to learn how to tell your story is to read to others. In the church, we even sing songs that help us practice storytelling. Here is one that is an excellent example of storytelling. It is called Jesus, and it is all the world to me. Here are the words:
Jesus is all the world to me, My life, my joy, my all; He is my strength from day to day, Without Him, I would fall. When I am sad, to Him, I go, No other one can cheer me so; When I am sad, He makes me glad, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, My Friend in trials sore; I go to Him for blessings, and He gives them o’er and o’er. He sends the sunshine and the rain, He sends the harvest’s golden grain; Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, And faithful to Him I’ll be; Oh, how could I, this Friend, deny, When He’s so true to me? Following Him, I know I’m right, He watches o’er me day and night; Following Him by day and night, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better Friend; I trust Him now; I’ll trust Him when Life’s fleeting days shall end. Beautiful life with such a Friend, A beautiful life that has no end; Eternal life, eternal joy, He’s my Friend.
Here is my challenge: create a 2-—to 3-minute elevator speech that is your story, not an elevator pitch to land work.
Here is my story: I was born with Autism. I did not speak until I was three years old. It would be well into my adult years that I would finally learn that I had Asperger Syndrome. People with Asperger syndrome can find it harder to read the signals that most of us take for granted. Those with Aspergers find it more challenging to communicate and interact with others, leading to high levels of anxiety and confusion. I have felt a fundamental disconnect with people for most of my life. While there are similarities with Autism, people with Asperger syndrome have fewer problems with speaking and are often of average, or above average, intelligence.
My difficulties early on were with speech. I had to have tutoring to improve my pronunciation, and reading was extremely difficult for me before my school years. While in high school, I felt this call to go into the ministry. In hindsight, this could not have been the poorest choice I could have made based on my Aspergers.
My father, a minister, recommended I get an undergraduate degree in business or social work. He said churches would want you to have a master of divinity degree, and majoring in religion for an undergraduate would be repetitive. I chose social work, and I am so grateful I did. Social work helped to train me in how relationships work and what is essential in healthy relationships.
While in college, I was taking photos for the school and had an uncle who was a former photojournalist and had a portrait studio. I would take my work to him for review to improve my hobby. Studying body language and interpersonal communication skills in social work, combined with my uncle teaching me how to capture these moments with the camera, was instrumental in my being a photojournalist today. I believe that it was due to God calling me into this profession to use my most significant weakness of communicating and interacting with others as a strength. You see, for me to share, I must work at it. It doesn’t happen; I approach communication from my head, not my heart. I must work at thinking through a process and why it should work.
Due to my wiring from Autism, I cannot take it for granted; I will likely screw it up. Asperger’s people learn best by seeing relationships and using the camera; I could break this down into decisive moments and even micro-expressions.
Because I had to break down each element and then learn to recognize it later to capture it with the camera, I can now teach this skill to others. In addition, because I am susceptible to people’s attitudes, I have learned to pick up on this when teaching and ask questions to be sure the students and I are together.
One of the traits of Aspergers is the ability to learn complex concepts quickly yet struggle with easy skills. Over time, I knew I had to work on the details because they were essential. I managed my lifelong struggle with Aspergers through years of learning and people with compassion who mentored me.
However, today, my most vital gift for teaching visual storytelling came from my weakness due to Aspergers. It is because of my brokenness of Aspergers that I must get up each day and work hard. It is not curable. Aspergers has helped me to be more patient with others who struggle to learn these concepts. My weakness is now my strength.
So, What’s your story? If you tell your story as well as you can, it will invite people to want to know more. Isn’t this what we want to do with our photos? My mentors taught me that the audience will want to read the caption if I make a compelling photo.
Writing an effective caption will encourage the reader to continue the story. WARNING! When you tell your story effectively, you will become transparent. Transparency engages the audience more than the story’s topic.
Pastor Emanuel Yameogo is in front of the church he pastors in Koudougou, Burkina Faso, Africa.
Many photographers enjoy traveling the world for an NGO in exchange for access to subjects. But, unfortunately, you can get hooked on doing this for the wrong reasons. Getting one more country stamped on your passport can feel good to even those doing it for all the right reasons, but be sure this is not the motivation to see the world.
I just had someone post this on a social media forum I contribute to and enjoy. I posted this as a response and believed too many photographers with big hearts and giving to organizations often do more harm than good in the big picture for those organizations.
San Antonio Catholic Church in Tikul, Yucatan, Mexico
“NGOs/NPOs have a budget for marketing. Do not let them tell you they have no budget.”
Sadly this is not true in all cases. While there are many reasons they have no or inadequate budget for marketing, there is one that many of us contribute.
Altruism is one of the biggest problems with these organizations. Many media professionals, out of wanting to help, have hurt many of these organizations over time.
A giving photographer isn’t able to give to their charity $20,000 but chooses to give of their time for what would amount to a $20,000 gift. So Volunteers are how many organizations can do more with less.
Let’s say that for the next 20 years, this photographer gives a week of their time doing projects from multimedia, still, photography, and maybe some writing to help with marketing materials for this organization.
Jacob Tarnagda [left] and Jay Shafto walk through Jacob’s courtyard. Jacob is a leader in the church in Soumagou, Burkina Faso, West Africa.
Sadly the photographer died one year for whatever reason. Slowly this organization is losing traction. Their marketing is not as good as it was. They cannot find a veteran photographer like the one they had before. So now they rely on college students and amateurs who give up their time.
Sometimes they stop doing any photography. That was something someone gave to the NGO but not something they needed in the minds of the NGO.
While the photographer was alive and giving, the organization flourished, but once they were gone, they started to wither.
Street scene in Tikul, Yucatan, Mexico.
Please don’t be that photographer.
Be altruistic and give up your time just like the photographer did all those years. However, this is how you can be different and help the organization.
Take the time to have conversations with the leadership. Then, sit them down and get them to understand the actual costs, and encourage them to start creating a marketing budget. Then, get them to put it into the budget they vote on each year.
Your gifting of time can cover the costs while you are able, but by this being on the visible budget, you will be helping the organization slowly create a budget.
I would help them, over time, realistically put together a budget just like each of us who are independent have to do for our budgets. Then, maybe get them to slowly hire a few independent media specialists to help your projects be better.
Night street scene in Tikal, Yucatan, Mexico.
Besides creating a physical budget for the organization, help them know how to use entry-level communications people. Help them to understand the importance of strategic creatives and how they can mentor the newbies.
Maybe you help them by training students and having them work with you on these projects for internship credit. Be sure, if you do this, that you are communicating the importance of the seasoned pro. Let them know how this is saving them money in the long run. Show how new fresh perspectives of the students can also help them grow. Just be sure they understand the importance of strategic communications rather than just photos and videos being created to have something “visual.”
Here is the hanger used for the ministry story point in the bush village of Sabtenga, Burkina Faso, West Africa.
You need to help the organizations understand the difference between filling holes and using holes to serve the organization.
Girl worker in Carolina Cotton Mill, 1908 photo by Lewis Hine
Lewis Hine’s photographs of children working as slave laborers in plants were instrumental in changing the child labor laws in the United States.
Spinner in Vivian Cotton Mills, Cherryville, N.C. photo by Lewis Hine
The subject is paramount for Hine. At the time of the publication, the standards just were not good. So you don’t read about Lewis Hine complaining about the work’s reproduction. The reason is simple; he was more concerned about the subject matter getting seen and letting it impact the audience.
Hine understood that photography was a tool that helped him convey a passion for a subject. However, photography was not to be the result for Hine. Instead, he wanted the country to see the conditions children were being asked to work in for a slave labor role.
The photo I took while working at The Hickory Daily Record.
My first full-time job as a photographer was working for the Hickory Daily Record. One of my daily ongoing assignments was the featured photograph. I was to make a photograph of the community that would engage the audience.
It didn’t take long before I realized I had very few ideas. I then took a picture of my family of ministers. They often preached on themes.
I started thinking of what city workers did each day for us. I then thought about some of the most challenging jobs on a hot day.
What I was doing was searching for a subject. Over time I learned how to do a better job of finding issues.
Get a notebook and carry it with you. Make a list of things that interest you. Start with something that you know a lot about. The best place is to start with your hobbies and interests.
Find three or four topics that interest you. The first mistake many of us make is picking just one subject to start with. However, selecting more than one subject from the start is essential. Go to the library or an Internet-connected computer at home and conduct a preliminary search of each topic.
Determine which project idea can work with plenty of published material. This way, you can select an exciting and feasible final topic.
It must be visual. When you first do this, you will most likely scratch off things that you would put back later in your career. For example, at first, figuring out how to photograph abstract thoughts like philosophy will not make the cut, but later as you get better, you will discover a new way to capture those thoughts.
It must be ongoing. It would help if you had a subject that you could revisit over and over to explore all the possibilities thoroughly. A good topic will be thought-provoking. As you edit your photos and think about what you are trying to say about the subject, you find better ways to communicate.
Of interest to an audience. You cannot be self-centered, or your audience is one. You become like the paparazzi who track celebrities due to the audience being willing to pay a lot for access to the subject. In the book On Being a Photographer, David Hurn says, “So there is an excellent line between pandering to popular appeal and a respectful consideration of viewers’/listeners’ attention-span or interest in the content.”
This photo is of a group of illegal immigrants across the border from New Mexico in Mexico as they prepare to cross with the help of a coyote.
One of my subjects is missions. One of the subjects within missions is helping people. Lately, I have become more aware of the problems with illegal immigration. What are the causes for this to be happening to people?
While I know the problem is super complex, one of the root causes is the lack of opportunity where someone lives, and they look for a place to sustain them.
A few years ago, I covered one part of this by digging deep into the coffee growers in Mexico that were crossing the border illegally. Hard to understand when global coffee consumption is second to crude oil. The number 2 commodity in the world, yet as I drink my $5 cup of coffee, we had illegal coffee farmers here because they could not support themselves or their families.
I am returning to do a follow-up story this fall. Here is the first package I produced to help this cooperative spread its message. It has helped all the communal farmers to remain in Mexico and not just get by but thrive.
In Mexico, the peak time to pick coffee is November through March.
Like Lewis Hine, who had to plan his coverages, I, too, have made plans to cover the coffee. , However, first, I needed to pick the best time of year to see the operation. By planning my trip between November and March in Mexico, I will have the best opportunity to see the coffee on the plant and capture the entire process.
I am going in early November because the weather is the best travel time.
Access to the process requires me to work with the coffee growers and work with a translator since I do not speak Spanish.
There are two main stories I want to capture on this trip in various ways. First, I want to show how this is high-end coffee and tell the story of the coffee itself. Also, I think the story of how coffee impacts the coffee growers’ families.
Why these two threads? I have discovered this from reading books by Seth Godin and others.
Seth Godin says to create a story that shows how you’re different, which helps to earn you the right to sell to people. Then the second thing he stresses is to sell the story rather than the product. Too many make the mistake of thinking buyers base their decisions on logic. For example, people pay up to $5 a quart for bottled water because (so the story goes) it’s “healthier” than tap water.
If you are engaging your audience online then one of the coolest ways to show a space is with the 360º Panoramic. Put your mouse in the photo, click on it, and drag it around, and you can feel standing in the room and turning around to see the space as if you are there.
That same interactive 360º panoramic can also be output as a still image. Still, I think most people are not quite grasping into comparison to the interactive version, but it gives you the space’s documentation space.
The traditional still photograph
This single wide-angle image of the classroom gives the viewer the feel of the room.
It gives you a slice of the room in a moment in time. In addition, however, you can use a series of photos from the classroom to help provide a complete story of the usage.
Small groups in the classroom use technology at the desk with also larger monitors to share what one person has on their device with the group.
Here you can see the groups in discussions with the instructor moving through the space to check in on each group. The area is large enough that group discussions are possible without interfering with each other.
You can see here that the student is sharing with the classroom and using a microphone to ensure everyone can hear what is going on. They also can use video in the school to create live classrooms online for those around the world to participate.
Video
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdB2E1mz-mo]
Just a quick clip can help communicate the space to your audience.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgTKczVc0as]
Video is at its best when you want to lead your audience through the message. Here in this clip, I can tell a complete story about the expansion of the IMPACT 360 gap year program in Pine Mountain, GA.
Which one is best?
Too often, people think more about “either/or” rather than “and.” The answer to this question lies within the strategy of your plan. If you do not have a design, you are more prone to make a significant mistake.
For example, had I only done a video, the organization would have nothing to use in the printed newsletter they send to all their supporters.
Had I just done the panoramic interactive, I would have something online and, as you can see, the stretched still image for a printed piece.
What about doing it all every once in a while for those big projects where you will use the stills, the interactive panoramic, and the video to help engage your audiences in many different spaces?
I contend that today, the still image is often overlooked for video. The video appears to be more sexy and cool. However, I believe that the base from which all visual communications of a project similar to this must contain the still image. Even NPR realizes the power of the still image and its importance in their online packages.
They took away the video cameras to train their people to make strong still images. Why do this? Just go to their website at http://www.npr.org/ and notice how they use the still image as the place to start. Before you click on any video online, it usually has a placeholder of a still image. If that still image isn’t engaging, then you have most likely wasted all that money on a video that few will see except those who already would watch it regardless.
Remind yourself not to be trapped into thinking “either/or,” but instead think “and” when choosing a medium for your audience.
If you enjoy the process of taking photos and are the primary recipient of all your work, then read no further. You are all that matters for your photos.
However, if you make photographs to share with others and help them connect to your experiences, then I am writing this for you.
Who and Where is your audience?
I grew up where we all gathered around the slide projector or movie projector and watched family slide shows and movies. Usually, it was of someone’s latest trip.
Later I would help produce slide shows about missionaries worldwide for a missions agency. These slide shows were more scripted and storytelling than random photos from vacation trips. We would sync two or more projectors and record audio that would run with the show.
I suggest thinking of someone in this group who is a good representation of that audience. For example, I know one photographer whose grandmother had never been 50 miles from her home. She had never dipped her toes in the ocean at age 80 and only lived about five hours from the sea.
Maybe the person you are thinking about is well-traveled and has been to more places than you have been. Hopefully, you can see that these two different audiences would impact how you tell the story.
Where will they see your work? If most of your audience is at one location, then maybe a presentation where everyone comes to a site is the best way to reach them. This location could be something like a civic organizations meeting or a company staff meeting.
Maybe your audience is a company, but they are worldwide and use an intranet as a way to disseminate messages.
Again you can see this can impact the packaging of your story for the audience.
I am on my first trip to Taos, New Mexico, around 1986.
What is your goal?
After everyone sees your package, what do you want them to do? Come up and tell you how wonderful of a photographer you are. Maybe you went with your Lions Club to distribute glasses in another country. While there, you decided to put together a package.
There are two types of presentations you can give. First is a vacation package. Here is what you saw while you were there. The second is the story of a typical person you were helping. The second story is where you go deeper and even give a call to action at the end of the presentation. For example, encouraging them to continue to help raise funds for glasses and volunteer next year to go and help people fit them with the glasses.
Pre-Planning
Once you have a goal and purpose in mind, sketch out a storyline based on what you know before doing the story.
Gather all the information you can and then put together your shot list of what you need to tell the story visually. Plan time for your interviews if you plan to write text for an account and put photos with it. The same if you choose to use audio or video.
You are now planning for a total package.
I know I need some audio to drive the package; the best audio I prefer is the testimony. The first-person narrative tells the subject’s story. With this, I can lay still images over it to tell the story. This is a much better story than just putting a bunch of photos in a gallery for people to see.
The Shot List
I have the shot list we worked from in the picture above to cover the Chick-fil-A kickoff. I was shooting for multiple outlets.
Here are some of the places the images were to be used:
Slideshow/Video to show internally to the company. The storyline here was to deliver moments people would be talking about for days.
PowerPoint presentations. The organizers use these images to help plan for the next big event, like the Chick-fil-A Bowl’s end of the college football year.
Videos. Often these images are part of other projects where some photos will show something that a department was a part of and needed that one image.
There were more places than this for usage, but you get the point–I know the audiences we had to keep in mind.
What you determine with the shot list is what is happening, when, and how you can capture all you want to do in the limited time. By pre-planning, we are now aware of two things happening simultaneously and deciding what takes priority earlier.
Shooting the assignment
As you work your shot list, things may fall apart, but now you have your list to go to. Each bullet needs good storytelling moments to help make the overall package work.
Post Production
After ingesting toss out all the wrong images using PhotoMechanic, I process them in Adobe Lightroom. Finally, I will narrow down those images to “Selects,” which I am considering for my multimedia package.
Next, I am editing the video/audio, which will be the foundation of the package in Final Cut Pro X.
Do you remember the old textbooks where they had the human body? Each page was a different part of the body. One page may be the skeleton, the next the organs and the skin. All were on clear pages, so you could see down through them as you peeled away the layers.
Layers are how the Final Cut Pro X Time Line works. Whatever is on the top layer is visible; if some parts are clear, you can see through them. A good example is a text that lies on top of titles.
Here you can see my music in green. The next level is doing interviews. On top of this are individual still images or titles that, when exported, become a movie that I post on YouTube, Vimeo, or another server for people to watch. Occasionally I make a DVD for someone to show to a group at a meeting.
Take Ownership of the Distribution
Today photographers must be hybrid photographers—mixing text, audio, stills, and video to tell the story.
Suppose you are just using still images and text for a blog. Then put the whole package together and post it. Suppose you are doing this for a client and offer to handle it to the end. You are increasing the odds of it getting used.
How often did I take photos for a nonprofit, and they sat in a drawer of some staff person? I cannot even tell you.
Don’t think of posting when you are all done, either. Instead, take advantage of social media like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. As you shoot, send an image and keep it short with the idea that there is more to come. Grow your audience by posting throughout; this will help the potential viral message to take off.
Maybe you are just doing this for your own family. I have many friends who have scanned all of their relative’s recipes and then put this into a book with short stories surrounding those recipes. Most of them include a photo of the person known for originating it with the family. Maybe you document your children, and then when they graduate from High School, make a coffee book for them of their growing up years. Imagine what that will mean to the generations to come in your family. I would have loved a book like that on my grandparents.
Remember, the key is having a plan before you start, which will help guide you.
Next month I am speaking at Grandfather Mountain’s Camera Clinic. As I was preparing for this, I realized each time I speak I am trying to improve over the time before.
Many years ago Dennis Fahringer asked me to be a guest instructor in the Youth With A Mission Photography School. The very first time I spoke to the group I felt like I was not connecting with the class. By the end of the week teaching I was connecting. If you would like to attend that school Dennis Fahringer created a web page for all your questions here.
What I learned during that first time teaching in Kona, Hawaii were a few things. If you find yourself asked to do public speaking to groups here are some tips that I found have worked for me.
Break your talk up into segments. Think of beginning, middle and end or like chapters of a book.
Example of your work
I believe the very first thing people need to hear and see from me is what I do. This is why I am often asked to speak.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMUlWq7EImY] Create a visual elevator speech. I’m sure you are familiar with the concept of the “elevator speech.” The idea is that — if you are asked what you do for a living or what your company does — you should be able to give a complete, compelling answer in the time it takes to ride an elevator to your destination.
I have many small multimedia presentations and one of those is a 2-minute elevator speech. I like to start with this and then quickly show one of my most recent multimedia presentations to warm up the audience.
This approach helps establish my credentials and why I am speaking to the group on a topic.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEgIfIMyrK0] Your Story
While people are interested in what you do, they are equally interested in your story on how you came to this career.
If you were in the audience you will have noticed that I first had you look at a screen for about 7 minutes showing my work with just a brief setup for the multimedia shows. You will now notice that I have gone to a black screen and now visually shifted your attention from the screen to me talking.
Rather than just telling my story I engage the audience with my story. Since I am usually talking to adults, I tell the group how I didn’t talk at all until I was three years old and this was a major concern for my parents. I ask them what this often means about a child. Usually someone in the audience knows the answer—I most likely am autistic.
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behavior. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old. —Wikipedia
I then share how ironic it is that someone with autism is a professional communicator. After a few comments on how I still have some quirks in my personality due to autism I find the audience is much more sympathetic and appreciative that I have been so open.
This takes about seven minutes to share.
My topic
I try my best to keep my core presentation to 18 minutes. Why? Well I think the TED talks format seems to resonate right now with most audiences.
TED curator Chris Anderson says:
It’s long enough to be serious and short enough to hold people’s attention. It turns out that this length also works incredibly well online. It’s the length of a coffee break. So, you watch a great talk, and forward the link to two or three people. It can go viral, very easily.
The 18-minute length also works much like the way Twitter forces people to be disciplined in what they write. By forcing speakers who are used to going on for 45 minutes to bring it down to 18, you get them to really think about what they want to say. What is the key point they want to communicate? It has a clarifying effect. It brings discipline.
Often this is when I go back to the projector and setup the topic with establishing first there is a problem.
Then I follow it with a solution.
Next step is I establish another problem.
Then I follow it with a solution.
This method is great for moving people through the subject to me showing my problem solving techniques and solutions I have come up with for the problems I see in the industry.
I learned this technique from Nancy Duarte who uncovered the structure of great storytelling.
I try to allow for about 10 minutes of questions at the end of my talks. If no one is asking questions, I go into my Socratic method to get them thinking and ask questions to the audience on the topic.
I hope this helps you when you prepare to give your next speech.
Need a speaker?
Give me a call if you need a speaker for your next event.
Why are you taking a photo? What do you want to accomplish with the photo? Those are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself before you start pushing the shutter release.
My daughter’s choir had their last dress rehearsal for the parents before they took off for their choir trip this summer. Like every parent my first priority for taking a photo was to capture a good moment of my daughter. So the first photo here is of her solo performance.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/125
Just a couple years ago when they first started the group only about 11 singers and only about 8 of them went on that first choir trip.
Nikon D3, 14-24mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/5.6, 1/80 [April 29, 2011]
While getting up high and showing the singers gave an idea who was in the choir I still was missing some people.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/125
The two choir directors would switch out for who played the piano and who conducted. Here you can see the pianist.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/125
To capture a good overall shot I was in the balcony of the historic sanctuary and going wide I was able to show to the far left the three musicians, the choir and all the families that came to support their family.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/200
I also wanted to show they were leading in message and not just music for the worship services. So I captured some of them reading scripture and giving a message.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/125
Now when I was on the same floor level as the choir, depending on which side of the room I was on determined what members I could see. Here you can see some people are blocked by the director. However, from this perspective I was able to show a proud father getting some photos of his child singing.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/125
While I am there to capture my daughter I am also using my talents to bless the other families. Many of them just cannot get as good of a photo as I am able to get of their child. So, I am also trying to get as many photos of each person in the group for their families to enjoy them as much as I enjoy good photos of my daughter.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/125
We are also so grateful for the leadership and one of the ways I try to let them know how much we appreciate them is to get the best photos I can of them doing their best leading our children. I also believe these moments will help recruit more families to want to participate in the music program of our church.
What is that secret composition tool?
Your feet. Yes the best thing you have to make your photos better is for you to move around a room and around your subject. It is by exploring different perspectives that you not just get a better photo of the subject, you also have a better chance to tell a more complete story.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJg3WDieNS0] This is a quick video to help give you a feel for the evening’s events.
Is everybody Happy? H-A-P-P-Y
Last night we welcomed home our son the soldier and 1st Lieutenant after serving for the past 9 months in Afghanistan.
This is an incredible event for everyone on so many levels. What was so cool was the number of decisive moments went up so dramatically.
Every knock at the door at home was cause for panic this past year, for fear of the worst. I am not sure, but I think this might have been about the most polar opposite to going to a funeral.
My step-son was smiling as big as I have ever seen him smile. My wife was so thrilled to get a genuine hug that surpassed all she had ever had before by him.
I saw many little boys dressed in their fatigues waiting for their daddy to come home. I think their dads could see how proud these boys were of their dads and their service for our country.
It was a visual event. I do not think any radio station could have done this justice.
It seems like many people came with their signs to be sure their soldier knew where to find them [so it was big] and how much they cared. I love this moment when this friend of our son tells him about her sign. I think you can see the pleasure in her face and body language about how she wanted to wear her emotions on her sleeve for this event.
What was different with all these hugs were the joy in each persons face for not just the other person, but the deep emotions they felt from their friendships. Here is my step-son Nelson give a bear hug to his friend from The Citadel James Harrell.
These moments were powerful to see where the emotions inside of folks were too much to contain and all their actions showed the deep affections people had for one another.
Social media is helping everyone share these moments with their friends. As we posted these photos to our social media accounts my wife Dorie is saying I cannot keep up with the comments. The likes were off the chart as compared to any other photos we have ever shared.
Here you can see Sarah Kohut Harrell, Dorie Griggs and Lynn Essert enjoying some of the photos and comments already Dorie is getting from friends from all over the world.
These are the times we want to capture and hold so dearly.
This is why I love being a photographer. My work is to capture people living life to their fullest and this is one of those big milestones we put on our the walls of our homes.
Always take your camera to events like these, they are too precious not to capture to remember forever. Also, remember how you present yourself can be very welcoming or you can put people off.
“Migrant Mother” is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California.
Every other type of photography other than photojournalism goes through trends. You can even look at the hottest trends for each year. Here is a link to “The hottest photography trends of 2012.“
Once you start using gimmicks to draw the attention of viewers you are tampering with the authenticity of the moment.
Howard Chapnick former president of Black Star Photo Agency had over fifty years of experience behind him when he wrote “Truth Needs No Ally: Inside Photojournalism” back in 1994.
Howard Chapnick wrote “For documentary photography to be gripping and absorbing it must be imbued with immediacy, concrete reality and emotional involvement.”
Photojournalism is about photos being relevant. To be relevant the photographer needs to capture what is impacting our world.
You cannot have concrete reality and trying to set or follow trends.
What really makes great photojournalism is a photojournalist who is passionate about the subject. They have become emotionally involved. This is not to say they have lost their objectiveness, but they have captured a real moment in a way the reader is pulled into the moment.
This story was ground breaking because Eugene Smith broke from the script of shooting photos on a list. He followed the doctor and captured whatever he was doing. The doctor drinking coffee at the end of a long day wasn’t part of the script. It works because of it’s immediacy, reality and emotional involvement. Here is that photo.
Photojournalists today have better cameras and technology to help them capture moments that those before couldn’t even do. Tri-X film was not released in 35mm format until 1954, seven years after the “Country Doctor” story ran in Life Magazine. Smith was shooting with an ISO of 125 at best in 1948.
Today photographers can shoot at ISO 100 to 12,800 with the Nikon D4 and can even extend this range to ISO 50 to 204,800. You can now almost shoot in the dark and capture a subject.
In the future the only thing that will change in photojournalism is our equipment will get even better, but how we tell stories will remain the same.
The keys to great photojournalism:
Story ideas – You need to be able to find stories and distill them down to the nuggets which engage an audience.
People person – You need to be able to talk to almost every kind of person from the homeless to those who live in castles. You need to carry on conversations with the high school dropout to the research scientist.
Understand body language – The nuances of a head tilt, gestures and subtle eye movements are necessary to help not just communicate what is necessary to the story, but be sure it is honest and true to the character of the people.
Solid understanding of the camera – Getting a good exposure and in focus picture the camera can do with anyone. The photojournalist must understand when to change an aperture or shutter speed. They must understand which lens is the best to use in a situation.
Know light – Mastering light can help a photojournalist know where to stand to make the light work for them rather than against them. They also know when they must use auxiliary flash to reveal a story more powerfully without changing it.
When you start to feel like your work has plateaued this is not the time to think about trying a gimmick. You need to ask yourself if you are maximizing the technology to capture the stories. If you are a master at this you might just need to find a story that ignites the fire you have let go out.
Who do you know that could use someone help them tell their story? Who can benefit the most from your skills as a storyteller?
Maybe you just don’t know of anything and this is the time to find some way to get plugged back into your community. Be sure you are reading the news for your community, region, nation and world.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is just take a break and recharge yourself. Vacations are needed for the creative to keep them fresh. Who needs a burned out photojournalist telling their story?
One of my favorite events to cover that will pull you out of a funk is Daddy Daughter Date Night at Chick-fil-A. This is from the event in Columbia, SC.
Photojournalism isn’t about covering misery alone, it is about covering life. I suggest whatever kind of stories you have been covering to mix it up. Go and find a story on something outside your normal genre.
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.
We often wish for a “White Christmas” and Christmas 2010 our family drove from Roswell, GA to Morganton, NC and this is what we experienced arriving at the Grandparent’s home. (Nikon D3, 14-24mm, ISO 200, ƒ/2.8, 1/2500)
Turn on the radio this time of year and you are most likely to hear Bing Crosby singing White Christmas.
Many of us will watch those classic movies like: White Christmas; Miracle on 34th Street; It’s a Wonderful Life; and many more that you might name.
Even tho it is just a song on the radio it still conjures up the visuals in my head.
Nativity Scenes
At our house and most of my extended family we put up Nativity Scenes of the first Christmas. This one here above is more traditional, but our family has made them at our church during Advent family events.
We had fun decorating my wife in a decorating a person competition for live Christmas tree.
Here we are creating a Advent Wreath during the family Advent event at our church.
The kids enjoyed creating their own reindeer antlers.
This is a nativity scene we made another year at our church’s family Advent event. Every year we put it out.
Why have events to make nativity scenes when you can buy ones that most likely are of better quality? The holidays are about memories. We are to remember our faith and we do things to help create new memories around these core tenants of our faith.
Our peanuts nativity scene ornament on our tree. My wife loves the peanuts and this helps her bring back memories of her childhood with her parents, siblings and friends in Sparta, New Jersey.
This was given to us by my sister whose family served as missionaries to Swaziland.
Ornaments
We love to decorate our tree and many families do the same. Each year our family puts ornaments on together. Each person has ornaments special to them that they put on each year. This tradition is so fun.
Since our family has allergies to live trees, we now have a fake tree. When my daughter was just a toddler I had her help me with putting up the tree. She would hand me the parts and I would assemble them.
The following year my daughter came to me and said it is time for us to put up the tree. I turned and looked at my wife and she said it is now tradition.
This year we added a few new ornaments. This is one we bought at the Magical Night of Lights at Lake Lanier this year.
We also bought this turtle ornament and had all our names put on it. There is an inside family story on turtles. By the way if you look closely you can also see where our Elf on the Shelf was this day.
Each ornament on our tree has a story. So each year we assemble our stories and as we look at the tree during the holidays it will help us remember Christmas from over the years. Also, as we celebrate this year we will be creating new memories.
Two of our nutcrackers are to remember our oldest son Nelson. He is a 1st Lieutenant in the Army, so that explains the one on the left. He was in the Summerall Guards when he was at The Citadel and this is the nutcracker on the right.
This is our son in the Afghanistan. This will be our first Christmas without him around during the holidays.
The Word became Flesh
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
I like this time of year because this is when I celebrate the coming of the Messiah. God became visual to us through Christ.
Every story I read about him is one that conjures those visuals. Even the parables that he told also were visual.
Just think about it, when God wants our attention he has used visuals. He knows we are wired to want to see something.
Big events are celebrated visually
Now if we use visuals to celebrate holidays to help us remember the stories of our faith and families, then shouldn’t we use this medium to tell the important stories in other places?
Are you using visuals to help tell your companies story and mission?
