Peak into planning for a internal corporate website

This is the internal website for Chick-fil-A. Well actually this is all the material we have in the works and scheduling when it will go up on the website. We are finding managing so much content and being sure it is timely and presented in digestable amounts takes a lot of planning. For now this is our system of post-it notes.

My Uncle's Photos of me working

This photo is by my Uncle, Knolan Benfield. He was helping me on a photo shoot for recruiting at a Catholic High School in Roswell, GA. He is the one who got me to buy my point and shoot camera. So while I am shooting and he is waiting to help me pack up and move he shot some photos with his Lumix DMC-TZ4.

Jefferson's Monticello & Colonial Williamsburg

My daughter Chelle and I worked on a multimedia piece she could show her class on her visit to Virginia over spring break. Here is our effort. Time - 10:15.

Invest in Preparedness with a Point-and-Shoot Camera

The making of great photographs requires an investment. We need a camera, computer, software and, possibly, we need to attend classes to learn how to use all this equipment.

Should we buy a Mac or a PC? Which camera should we buy — Nikon, Canon, Leica, Hasselblad? Which workshops or photo books do we require? We’ll need to read reviews of these products before making the investments.

However, the No. 1 investment a photographer can make isn’t about gear or training. It’s to invest your time and, as the Boy Scouts put it, “be prepared.”

Always Ready

National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg moved to the forest edge in order to have more time photographing wolves and other animals. He wanted to be ready when the time came to make those outstanding photos.

National Geographic photographers and writers usually spend three months on an assignment. They take a break in the middle of the shoot, come home and review their work. This gives them time to pause and reflect, so they can go back and fill in any gaps or expand parts of the coverage.

We can’t always devote three months waiting for great photo ops, but like Jim Brandenburg, we can be ready when the time comes.

How? By always having a camera with us.
Point and Shoot

The problem, of course, is that the size, weight and bulk of the best-we-could-buy camera we own, not to mention the ancillary gear, can make that difficult.

That’s why many professional photographers have invested in point-and-shoot cameras. These small, pocket-sized cameras are as tiny as the old Kodak Disc cameras introduced back in 1982. Today’s point-and-shoots have resolutions that rival the medium format film cameras, enabling you to enlarge to mural-size prints.

About a month ago, I bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 — and I have been busy learning all that it can do ever since. In the process, I have rediscovered the excitement I felt when I first began taking pictures.

It is so small, I now carry it everywhere. While waiting for my food at restaurants, I enjoy playing with the camera’s cool macro mode. It is fun just photographing saltshakers and other small objects on the table. Discovering interesting compositions and watching how the light affects these objects is a joy.

The depth of field is much greater than with larger 35 mm digital cameras. The ƒ-stop of the ƒ/3.3 on my little Lumix (wide open) compares approximately to ƒ/22 on a 35 mm.

On the other extreme, this little camera has a 10 to one zoom! That’s equivalent to a 300 mm lens, and it fits in my shirt pocket. A 300 mm lens for a 35 mm camera weighs six pounds and is over 10 inches long.

At times during the past month, I have wondered why I have all this professional gear at all — because I am able to do so much with this little camera.

Pros and Cons

As I’ve used it more, however, I’ve gotten a clearer sense of the pros and cons.

For example, even with vibration reduction, these cameras are exceptionally tricky to hold steady. A tripod is a great help.

Additionally, for most of these cameras, obtaining a shallow depth-of-field is impossible. My advice: learn to live with it.

The camera manuals are not written as they are for traditional cameras, either. You will need to not only read the manual, but practice what it preaches using all the available functions to discover what each mode will do. These cameras have many modes that take some time to understand.
Having said all this, I’ve found that carrying this camera helps me to see and make photos more often; it fine-tunes the eye.

Of course, carrying a camera all the time can cause some minor problems with your family. As my son joked last night as I took his photo at a restaurant, “It’s like having your own personal paparazzi!”

Don't forget anything

It is critical when I go on photo shoots that I remember anything I might need. It is very frustrating when you are on a photo shoot to realize what you need you not only own, but you left it at home. Backups are also very important. You need a backup camera, lenses, flashes, backgrounds and the list goes on.

Tomorrow I have two major executive photo shoots. In the morning I will be photographing the Executive Committee of Chick-fil-A and in the afternoon the CEO of Merial.

Not only doing I have equipment packed and ready I will have two photo assistants to help me through the day. I need to have eyes on each flash to be sure it is working throughout the photo shoot. I need people helping me make the clients feel they are being taken care of in every possible way.

I need assistants also to help me unpack all this gear and set it up and then take it all down and pack it back into the van.

They key to being successful is like being a good boy scout--be prepared.

Spring is here

Returning on Friday evening from Virginia from Spring Break I noticed more and more blooms as we got closer to home. As I was taking our luggage in the front door I heard little chirping out of the bush as I walked in. Up higher than me in the bush was a female cardinal sitting on her eggs.

Tomorrow is Easter where we celebrate Jesus who defeated death for us. It is a time of rebirth for so many and seeing the Cardinal attending her duties as mom is such a pleasant thing to see today.