Shooting to tell a Story

Photography is an amazing way to tell a story and to shine a light on what matters to you. Visual imagery is emotive, real and helps an audience to understand the passion of the photographer. Shooting in a documentary or journalistic style is a great way to produce a strong and coherent body of work on a subject you are passionate about.  It can be a hard-hitting topic like a demonstration at town hall, or a light-hearted topic like your child’s first swim lesson. There’s no limit to subject matter.

As a beginner it may be a challenge to move away from the standard point and shoot photography that takes up much of your time. But getting out there and giving it a go is the first step to improving, and to telling your story.  

Here are some tips that’ll help you to be ready when you start to shoot what matters to you:

Get ready 

Be prepared with batteries fully charged (both primary and spares) and test them in-camera - this will also give you the opportunity to ensure all necessary gear is in good working order. Pack your bag with two things in mind - what equipment do I want to take and what equipment do I absolutely need.

And triple-check your camera settings before you leave.

Think through your story

What matters to you? What story do you want to tell? What shots will you need to capture to tell that story? Having a pre-determined idea of the story and shots will help you to tell the story effectively. Be patient as you may not get the shot straight away. The photographic style you choose can say a lot about the subject and the aim should be to always show the reality of the subject’s situation. The challenge is to capture the humanity in the scene and this comes from practice, patience and experience.>

Research

You may need to do some homework before you start.  Check with the organisers of the event to see if there are any restricted subjects or areas and if you need a permit to shoot in a specific location. You may need to get permission from Council or a business owner. Your behaviour in meetings and in the lead up to the shoot may make a difference about what access you are granted – be professional and build credibility. If it's a public event held on public property then you should generally be fine to simply show up and shoot.  

Context

Take note of locations, dates, times and names as you shoot because the photos will need to be given context with a few words attached to each image.  People need to know what they are seeing and their significance within the context of your shoot. Remind yourself often that you are shooting to tell a story. Ask yourself, what shots, information and context does an audience need to understand what matters to me?  

Equipment

The equipment required is dependent on the story type. For some stories, being unobtrusive and ‘under-the-radar’ is essential, so therefore using a compact but high-quality camera is important.  Some suggestions are Fujifilm X100S, Olympus OM-D E-M1 and Sony A7R . These are all compact cameras with serious sensors and high quality optics yet they are hard to notice and whisper quiet when shooting with them.

If there is no need for a low-profile then feel free to equip yourself with what you think you will need.  

Suggested equipment

• Wide angle lenses
• Large aperture lenses
• Flash (like a 600EX or SB 910)
• Gorilla Pod
• Flash Triggers
• Monopod

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Owning Multiple Cameras – Part 1

…different cameras for different uses

By Marc B

If only a one-size-fits-all camera existed, one that had the optical and sensor quality of a high end DSLR but in the size of a compact, with a massive zoom range but also wide open apertures.  Such a camera doesn’t exist yet so it’s left to us to pick and choose the right camera for the right situation.  This is great news for us cameraholics who love an excuse to buy yet another cool camera.  But which camera suits which situation?

Most photographers find themselves in a variety of situations that call for different lenses and sometimes completely different systems.  Below are some suggestions of camera types that are suitable for specific situations although any camera is better than no camera at all.

Street Photography

Street photography calls for a small, unobtrusive camera that still produces high quality images.  There are two popular choices for this area.  The first is a compact, fixed lens camera like the Fuji X100s or X20, Canon G16, Nikon Coolpix A or the Sony RX1 R at the high end.  These cameras are relatively small in size but give an outstanding result in challenging conditions.  The advantage of them being so small is the ability to take photos unobtrusively and candidly in a street situation or even a social occasion like a wedding (if you aren’t the primary photographer) where you might want a more relaxed and less posed photo. 

Another option would be a full size DSLR but with a small prime lens attached, like a 50mm or 24mm large aperture lens.  These are cheaper than a high quality zoom lens but can be of similar or better optical quality and in a much smaller form factor.  These cameras can be set up easily for pre focusing (a technique that involves pre focusing a known distance from the camera so you can shoot instantly without waiting for the camera to focus) so you don’t miss that vital moment.

Special Occasion Photography

This refers to things like professional wedding or portrait photography where the image quality is of absolute importance.  For this you want to have the best quality you can afford and ideally this would be professional quality glass with a full frame DSLR.  Size and weight factors are less important here than in other types of photography as the final result needs to be of the upmost quality.  The lens selection is basically the ‘three amigos’; 16-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses (or very similar focal lengths).  This gives the range required for almost any situation you are likely to be in.  Here is a link to our lenses page.

As an extension of this, the cameras listed in the street photography section would also be appropriate as a second camera as long as you understand the limits of the cameras.

Next blog, I’ll be exploring cameras to use for landscape photography, everyday photography and travel photography.

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