Photographing meetings
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The key to documenting meetings well via photography doesn't start with the actual taking of pictures. It starts with the editing, the curation.
Editing Photographs
Not post-processing. It's the selection / curation process.
Take lots of photos. Then:
<chklist> [] Delete photos where people look bad — e.g. eyes are closed, mouths are open [] Quickly flag photos you think are good for whatever reason. Include duplicates if you can't decide [] Resolve duplicates (i.e. choose only one photo from a series of duplicates) [] Craft a story [] Look for a diversity of people and perspectives [] Pick your strongest photos. Be disciplined! </chklist>
As you practice editing, be conscious of what makes a strong versus weak photograph. Remind yourself of this before your next session taking photographs. Be nice to yourself! Great photography takes practice!
Taking Photographs
- Get close!
- Take wide photos
- Take artifact photos to help tell the story
- Take environment photos to help tell the story
- Take photos of everyone
- Capture all artifacts
- Capture emotion
- Take interesting compositions
- Don't center compose everything
- Group photo!
- Posed photos of people together
- Portraits
Story
W. Eugene Smith concocted this formula for telling stories through photographs for Life magazine:
- Introductory or Overall: Usually wide-angle or aerial shot to establish scene.
- Medium: Focuses on one activity or one group.
- Close-up: Zeroes in on one element, like a person's hands or an intricate detail of a building.
- Portrait: Usually either a dramatic, tight head shot or a person in his/her environment.
- Interaction: People conversing or in action.
- Signature (The Decisive Moment): Summarizes the situation with all of the key elements (character, action, theme) in one photo.
- Sequence: A how-to, before and after, or series with beginning, middle, and end.
- Clincher: A closer that would end the story.
