Make your pictures tell a story

Position, timing and the right lens make this rugby shot work.

When taking photos of an event, look for the story line. This will help you get shots that capture the feeling and meaning of the activities. It will also result in an interpretive sequence that can be run as a slide show on you blogs and other online venues or interspersed into a magazine story. Remember, you are not passively 'taking pictures', you are actively 'interpreting the event' and giving it meaning.

Go in with a photo coverage plan. Look at the program or itinerary of the event. Find out who's who. Scope out the venue, looking for vantages that will give you the best shot. This isn't rocket science. It's basic preparation for effective photo coverage of the story you have in mind. To get that story you have to know who the players are, what type of drama is going to unfold, when and where. Then you have to position yourself to get that shot. The old adage 'a photo is worth a thousand words' is true. But be sure your photos tell the story the way words do too.

Create a Common Space

Flickr Image by aaronparecki

To 'network' you have to let go of the linear communications model that was effectively developed in the Industrial Age and remains a powerful media force to this day. For those of us who have grown up in this environment the most difficult challenge is to shift our thinking from the established paradigm to the new reality, which is best articulated in the term Social Networking. A quick, high level comparison of the two modes is helpful.

Linear communications is primarily hierarchical, one-way and owned. Social networks are distributed, two-way and public. These are utterly different entities with vaguely similar purposes - namely to build audiences and exchange information. I think of these defining characteristics as two ends of a spectrum with conventional newspapers, television stations and radio stations on one end; Facebook groups, Twitter groups, blogospheres and other social media on the other. Let's look at the differences in a bit more depth.