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Monday (April 27, 2009) I taught my first photography workshop to the great people of Fleetwood Baptist Church.  I have included some photos from the conference below, but first I would like to share about what Fleetwood is trying to accomplish and would love to have the opinion of others as well.

FLEETWOOD’S MEDIA GOALS

Fleetwood is working toward starting their own media team for the church and investing time and resources into training their members (those who are interested) in a few key areas of media.  I see this as having numerous benefits for the church, mainly for its image, its surrounding community, and the members (as I’ll explain below).

1.  IMAGE – By increasing skills in media (design, photography, video, audio, etc.), you equip your members with the tools needed to communicate what needs to be said much more clearly and effectively.  Instead of having hundreds of low quality snapshots taken of church picnics and lock ins, you have now invested in and equipped your members into capturing photographic moments more effectively.  Members begin to think of ways to communicate through media instead of just snapping pictures at random.  The end result – a better and clearer image of the church.

2.  SURROUNDING COMMUNITY – As the image and values of the church are communicated more effectively and with much higher quality, the community benefits as well.  Those who pass by, receive a newsletter, happen upon the website, visit the church are all effected by media in some way.  Strategically implemented, media can have huge effects in communicating the message of the church effectively.

3.  CHURCH MEMBERS – Lastly, members reap the benefit of improved media as well.  It is such a huge part of what the church does from the presentation of the gospel, to interaction during times of worship.

The workshop on Monday consisted of a good mix of adults and high school students all eager to learn how to use their cameras more effectively.  The main topic discussed was COMPOSITION.  A brief intro to “off camera flash” was demonstrated to tickle the interest of curious photographers.

Below are a few pics that were taken.  The first was taken with NO FLASH.  The second was taken with ON CAMERA FLASH and the the rest were taken using OFF CAMERA FLASH.

Taken with NO FLASH. You can see how bland it is…

This seems to wash out the subject.

Move the flash away from the camera to your choosing and you add depth.

I added an orange gel over a 2nd flash and shot it at the white background.

I am also teaching a workshop Thursday evening at the Tuscaloosa Vineyard – 6PM. Come out to learn more about your Digital SLR camera, composition, and an intro to off camera flash!

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