Finishing the Yearbook from a Distance...Pictures Can Bring Us Together

During these challenging times when you’re forced to be apart from your classmates and teammates, it can be your photos from throughout the year that serve as a visual reminder of the value of friendship and community.  When captured spontaneously or creatively; the joy of togetherness, the pleasure of companionship, or even the heartbreak of shared loss, are forever recorded and can be drawn upon to maintain or restore the camaraderie that gets lost in the absence of sociability. The ability to look at pictures of you and your friends laughing, smiling, or crying together can bring back the same feeling of closeness you had in that moment.

Which is why at no time has the yearbook, and the lasting visual record it becomes, been more important.  Especially for the Class of 2020 Seniors.  They’re disappointed knowing the senior trip they’ve been looking forward to all year has been cancelled.  They’re disheartened, realizing they’ve lost the opportunity to play their last year of spring sports. They’re discouraged about the chances of actually having a senior prom. And they’re nervous that they may not be able to walk across the stage in front of their friends and family and feel the pride of receiving the diploma they’ve worked so hard for.  But they’re also hopeful and resilient, knowing that they still have each other, and their teachers and coaches, as a support system.  And while your yearbook staff may be experiencing these same feelings, it’s your responsibility as the school historians to fit each piece of the story together.  

In addition to the difficulties presented by isolation and at home learning, many yearbook editors and advisors right now are struggling to fill pages left empty by these delayed or cancelled events.  Some have opted to add sections about the impact of the virus and school closures on the student body and the community.  Including trying to visually depict social distancing and it's effects. 

Others have decided to sift through and use sports photos from last spring of athletes that are still on the teams.  

Both are great solutions.  But in addition to those, what I suggest is to draw from your reserves of images that celebrate and remind everyone that there is strength in numbers. Images that show people together and that bring people together.  Images that say, “while we may be physically divided, we are emotionally united.”

Because whether you’re an Eagle, Panther, Rebel, Bulldog, Knight or Patriot…whether you bleed Orange, Red, Green, or Colonial Blue…the experiences you’ve shared and the bonds that form in your schools and on your athletic fields last a lifetime.  So, while you can’t be together in person, you ARE together and will get through this together in spirit!

A little negativity can go a long way

One of my most important personal rules in life is to surround myself with positive people and eliminate negativity.  As someone more famous than I once said; you have to think positive to be positive, and a negative mind will never give you a positive life.  This philosophy can truly make you a happier person and in turn a better photographer.  But when it comes to photography itself, lack of negativity isn’t always a positive thing.

In previous posts and articles, I’ve talked about some basic well-known composition techniques…rule of thirds, leading lines, framing, etc.  But there are many other techniques that can help add interest or a sense of scale.  The use of negative space (not negative people) is one that can bring an extra dimension to your images.  Negative space is the area around your main subject.  It can be a small area, or a very large area that overwhelms your subject making it appear small in contrast.  In layout and design, some may call this empty space, white space, or even “wasted” space, and always feel the need to fill it.

Photojournalist Robert Capa is attributed with the quote “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”  By and large this is good advice, as I’ve also indicated previously that it’s important to fill your frame with what you find most interesting about who or what you’re photographing.  But there are also instances when the scene, space, or environment surrounding your subject can add to your composition in a way that filling your frame can not.  Even if that background space is empty.  

While getting in close allows you the photographer and the viewer to develop a relationship with the subjects, getting further away allows you and the viewer to experience the relationship between the subject and their surroundings.

And that doesn’t mean just zooming out and centering your point of interest in the middle of chaos (unless that’s the story you’re trying to tell).  It means positioning yourself and framing your subject in that negative space to emphasize or create that relationship with the environment to your advantage to tell a story.  Like a photographic love triangle. 

Here are a few more examples to get you started…

A few things to remember when experimenting with negative space.

• Make sure you're backgrounds don't distract from your subject
• Search out a background that may ADD to your composition
• Think about the story you intend to tell with your photo

And most importantly...

"Stay positive and happy. Work hard and don't give up hope. Be open to criticism and keep learning. Surround yourself with happy, warm and genuine people".
Tena Desae

Your Camera and You…Instruments of Change

With the ease and ability to pull our phones from our pockets and snap off a dozen quick pictures of our food, our friends, or ourselves, we’ve come to take for granted the amazing tool that we hold in our hands every day.  And we’ve turned the lens of that tool towards ourselves so much, that we’re missing the opportunity to document and effect the world around us.

Those of us who lived pre-social media (PSM) know this wasn’t always the case.  In PSM times, photos had meaning.  Photos had impact.  Photos inspired change.  They expressed conflict, pain, and resolve in a way that would affect us so emotionally they would propel us into action.  Many had the ability to bring whole societies together.  Some even made the entire world stop and take notice.  Others should have but didn’t.

Here are a few that immediately come to mind.

Kent State 

In 1970, demonstrators on the campus at Kent State University were protesting the Vietnam war and the presence of US troops in Cambodia.  The National Guard had been called in to contain the crowds.  When they would not disperse, 28 guardsmen opened fire killing 4 students and injuring 9 others in the course of just 13 seconds.  John Filo, a student at the school and a part-time news photographer, captured the now famous image of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling and crying over the body of Jeffrey Miller.  After the shooting, nearly 450 high schools and colleges were shut down due to student walkouts and strikes. The photo appeared on the front page of the New York Times and won the Pulitzer Prize.  It significantly affected public opinion and mobilized America’s youth.

Tank Man 

In 1989, the Chinese government sent tanks to forcibly disperse workers, students and children from a student-led protest at Tiananmen Square, resulting in the killing of hundreds of citizens.  After the military had violently suppressed the crowds, an unknown figure walked into the street and bravely stood in protest in front of a column of tanks. This photo (one of a few similar versions) was taken by Jeff Widener and is thought by some to be one of the most iconic images of the 20th century.  It moved the world, but unfortunately did not move the government of China and is still censored there to this day.

Shooting of James Meredith 

James Meredith, was a civil rights figure who in 1962 became the first African-American accepted into the segregated University of Mississippi.  In 1966 he began a 220 mile solo March Against Fear to bring attention to racism, and to encourage African American voter registration after the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  On the second day of the march, he is shot by a white man with a shotgun.  While protecting himself from gunfire, Jack Thornell, a photographer traveling the route with the Associated Press, captured this image of James as he crawled across the road in pain.  The photo won a Pulitzer prize in 1967.   While Meredith was recovering, Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael took up the cause.  And by the time Meredith rejoins the march, it had become the largest in Mississippi history at over 15,000 people, and over 4000 African Americans had registered to vote.

Flower Child and Flower Power 

                                                                                                                                                 

Flower Child taken by Marc Riboud of a high school student passing a chrysanthemum to a soldier with a bayonet, and Flower Power taken by Bernie Boston of a protester placing a carnation into the barrel of a rifle, were both taken in 1967 on the Mall in front of the Pentagon as over 100,000 people gathered to protest the Vietnam war.  The Flower Power movement had begun in 1965 to promote fighting violence and anger with peace and civility through the use of nonviolent objects like flowers and flags.  Both images are said to have influenced the antiwar movement and have inspired similar peaceful demonstrations and similar photos throughout the years since.

There are hundreds of examples of images like these that encouraged a call to action, represented a movement, or brought about changes in our society.  But things are different in the digital age.  Through Twitter; Facebook; Instagram; Snapchat; Vine; YouTube; BlogSpot and the limitless other social media outlets, our culture has become flooded with so many images and videos of every event, we are at the point of oversaturation.  In many ways the result is that we are either jaded, oblivious, or numb to the actions of those around us.  This overabundance of imagery has diluted the photojournalistic waters to the point where we don’t know what is real, what is fake, what is candid, and what is staged.  Yes, you can “share” your every thought and experience with the click of a camera phone.  But I can delete it or ignore it just as easily. 

Don’t get me wrong…there are still hundreds of amazing photographers out there; telling their stories (and our stories) through images that captivate us every day.  And as you can see in the two examples below, those same social media outlets that have watered down the narrative are also the most useful tool we have to tell those stories and open discussions of change on a local and global scale.  

Sandy Hook 

In 2012, Shannon Hicks, a photographer for the Newtown Bee, captured this image of a class of elementary school students being led away by authorities from the scene where a gunman had killed 20 children and 6 adults.  The photo not only captured the raw emotion of the students, but also illustrated to the world how different this tragedy was than any that occurred before it.  It was soon on the front page of newspapers, magazines, and websites around the globe.

Taking a Stand in Baton Rouge 

This photo was taken in 2016 by Jonathan Bachman, of Ieshia Evans in Baton Rouge as she peacefully protests after the fatal shootings of 2 black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.  This image demonstrated the enormous power of social media as it quickly went viral and became a phenomenon as well as one of the iconic images connected to the Black Lives Matter movement.  It’s been compared in its importance to Tank Man and some of the other images above.

 

These are just 2 of hundreds of more recent meaningful images that caught the attention of the nation and started important conversations towards change.  And whether you agree or disagree with the area where change is needed, or the type of change we need, we can all agree that there are now limitless outlets to express our views on the change that each of us desire…through words, through actions, or through photos.

I encourage you to search ‘Photos that inspired change’ to find the images that I’ve highlighted here and many more.  Then read the full stories of the photographers, the images, the people they depict, and the change that those images brought to the world.   And let those photos and stories inspire you to effect the change you strive for in your school and your community.

So, as you engage in constructive dialogue or peaceful demonstration to express your beliefs, remember two things.  First and most important; be mindful and respectful in the consideration of the opinions of those with whom you may disagree.  And second; remember to use that powerful instrument of change, your camera, to capture and humanize the feelings, emotions, and struggles of those around you so that those images may speak as loud as your voice.

Passing Pictures…a Deleted Tradition that Needs to be Restored

One of the things that the holiday season brings to mind is reuniting with family to relate our experiences throughout the year and reminisce about previous holiday gatherings and years gone past.  And while most of the high school age and younger students I work with wouldn’t know what I’m talking about, part of the tradition for my family was the passing of pictures.  I don’t mean pulling out our phones and swiping through the hundreds of selfies and food photos that have been shared on Instagram and every possible social media site. I’m referring to the stacks of photo albums (or in my case dusty cardboard boxes in the back of a closet) filled with photos that we’d taken of our kids since they were born, and those that have been handed down from my parents and their parents before them.  

I’m talking about actual printed pictures.

Each year, as we gather around the table, conversation inevitably turns to recollections of childhood…the gifts we've given or received; the fun times we've had; the sad times we’ve had; the places we’ve gone; and the things we’ve done together.  It quickly turns to laughter over memories of how much hair I had when I actually had hair; the clothing styles when we were in college; how cute the kids were when they were born; our son’s goofy smile; or the costume he wore for Halloween when he was five.  All things that had been captured by one camera or another over the years and preserved for posterity. Before long, I find myself digging through that dusty box and flipping photos like a card dealer for all to see.  

For all to hold.  For all to share.  To compare side by side.  To trade with each other and to pass around the table.      

But this tradition is being deleted as quickly as the photos on our phones.  We no longer print…we post.  We no longer trade…we tag.   We no longer flip…we swipe.   We’re losing the tactile experience that holding a photo can bring, the comparative experience of looking at images in contrast to each other, and the social experience that joins us together as friends and family.  So, as we make our preparations for everyone to arrive this holiday, I can’t help but wonder if the old tradition can continue.  Will I have to wait in line at the end of the table for my chance to look at a 3-inch screen on someone’s iPhoneX or Google Pixel2 as they scroll back and forth through 160 pictures of their dinners, deserts, and duck face selfies to see 50 filtered photos of their #ferocious_feline?  Or will I get to hold a 5x7 photo of my son at his college graduation; side by side next to the faded photo of his grandfather and great grandfather, and be amazed at how much they look alike?  I choose the latter.

SMILE!...It's not Just an Expression

When you’re scrolling or clicking or swiping through photos of you and your friends…or looking through images of people in online magazines, websites, or yearbooks from previous years or other schools…or better yet, flipping through actual physical copies of printed pictures; what is it that grabs your attention and makes you stop and think “Wow…that’s a great shot!”?  Or makes you smile to yourself or laugh out loud?  Or brings tears of joy or sorrow? Is it the location or lighting where the photo was taken?  Is it what’s going on in the background or foreground?  Probably not.  It’s more likely the emotion or expression caught on the faces in those photos.  Have you ever looked at a photo of a family member smiling and suddenly you are smiling? Or paused on a photo of someone crying that  brought tears to your eyes? Probably so. The natural expression of your subject (whether happy, sad, or indifferent) can transcend the camera and make your viewer actually feel the emotions with you.  To capture that emotion and elicit that response from the viewer of your photos, can be one of the most rewarding aspects of taking pictures and what many photojournalists strive for.

The word “natural” when it comes to expression in posed photos can be a little misleading.  In that case it’s probably best to think of it just being “not forced”.  And there are plenty of tricks to get true expressions out of your subject for posed portraits.  But for our purposes, let’s talk about un-posed or candid shots.  This is where you can capture a person’s true emotion as they react to their environment and what’s going on around them.  It’s also where the second a camera is introduced into a situation, any semblance of natural goes out the window. Along with any sense of spontaneity.  Expressions are most authentic when the person is caught unaware, or when they are so engaged or immersed in what they’re doing that they don’t realize the camera is there.  Here are a few tricks…

1.    Turn OFF your Flash.  Nothing signals that a photographer has entered the room and kills a mood quicker than the sudden harsh and blinding effects of a camera flash.  If you’re in a classroom, cafeteria, or any place indoors, check out your surroundings and position yourself to use whatever available light you can.  If your camera has the option to increase your ISO, raise it as much as possible.  You might also have to lower your shutter speed and f stop to let in as much of the available light as possible.

2.    Be Ready.  Always have your camera with you and ready to shoot. Know the environment you’re going to be in, so you can have your settings adjusted before things start to happen.  Expressions can be fleeting, and the worst thing that can happen is that you see an awesome moment but have to fumble through your backpack to pull out your camera and then change your shutter speed or f stop, and the moment has passed.

3.    Step Back and Zoom In.  It’s hard to be discreet when you’re using a camera phone or wide-angle lens standing 2 feet from your subject.  They will be far too conscious of your presence not to be thinking about the fact that you’re taking their picture.  Try to blend in at a distance.  Another trick if you don’t have a lens that allows you to stay further away, is to ALWAYS have your camera out and always be snapping pictures.  This way, the people around you will be so accustomed to you taking pictures all the time that they won’t give the camera a second thought. 

      

      4.    Get Involved.  If there’s no avoiding the person or people you’re photographing being aware that you’re there; be patient, start a conversation and eliminate that consciousness so they can go back to what they were doing.  One of the best ways to get a natural expression in this situation is to ask the person to tell a story or answer a question about something that interests him/her. Once they have something else to focus on and get excited about, the camera is quickly forgotten. If they still can’t seem to ignore you, do a few test or posed shots with them that can help tell your story.  And instead of telling them to smile, be ready with a joke or funny story of your own to share.  

5.    Watch and Wait.  You can’t schedule a spontaneous expression.  Sometimes the best is to step off to the side at an event where people are so engrossed in that event that they don’t even notice you.  Instead of watching the event yourself, sit with your camera and scan the crowd.  It won’t take long to see who the most energetic and expressive people are.  Then just wait for things to happen.  If they see you and want a “posed” shot with their friends, take a few and move on.  They’ll be satisfied that they got to cheese it up for the camera and now you can go back to doing what you’re there to do.  And don’t let the emotion you’ve caught get lost in the crowd.  Either zoom in on the expression that caught your attention, or do something to make that person stand out from the masses. 

 

   

6.    Take a Lot of Photos.  Expressions change by the millisecond.  What could be a flat smile right now, could be a fit of laughter with tears rolling down their cheeks in the blink of an eye.  If you see a situation unfolding, be sure to take multiple consecutive photos. Especially if there are multiple people in the picture.  Each person could start reacting to the emotions of the others creating a virtual meltdown.  Then you get to pick which image best conveys the emotions of the situation for the story you’re trying to tell.

          

7.    Know What You’re Looking for but Take What You Get.  You can usually anticipate the types of emotions you’re going to see based on the event you’re capturing, and the story you expect to tell.  But you should always be ready for the surprise emotions that tell a different story.  If it’s a pep rally, you expect cheering, excitement, and laughter.  But you might also see the determination of someone trying to win a competition, or the sadness of someone who lost.  If it’s a graduation you might be looking for the sheer joy and satisfaction as friends get their diploma, but there’s also the pride of the teachers and the sadness of a chapter in your life that is closing.  At a college move-in day there’s the nervousness as freshmen open a new door to their future, but also the sadness of a parent saying goodbye.  It’s okay to go into a photo assignment with expectations, but better to come out with the full range of emotions that any event can bring.

          

Your photos can do more than tell a boring story of a year in the life of a student.  They can capture true moments of expression and emotion, and bring those memories and emotions flooding back when you scroll, click, or swipe your galleries, or flip through your yearbook pages, or pass around those printed pictures 5, 10, 20 or even 50 years from now.