Does your company put on frequent special events? Does your team need compelling photography to tell its story? Do you lack the funds to hire a professional photographer to cover each and every corporate event? Do you rely on your staff to photograph many of the corporate events you’re involved in? Do your staff struggle with knowing what to photograph? Do their photos lack oomph? Do they struggle with photographs that are too dark or too light? Do they ever wish they could create a photo that focuses on a person and blurs the busy, unattractive, and irrelevant background? Other times, have they wanted to capture an entire scene with every little detail in focus? Do they struggle with photos that come out unintentionally blurry? Do you ever wonder why their photos are “noisy”, i.e. have specks of red, purple, green, and other colors that are unattractive and diminish the quality of the image? Do they sometimes get a great shot but the subject is out of focus, ruining it? Do their indoor photos of people come out with unattractive skin tones that are too orange, blue, green, etc?

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is a Washington DC-based non-profit with a membership of nearly 5,000 sheriffs, police chiefs, prosecutors, and survivors of violence around the country, “taking a hard look at the research about what prevents kids from becoming criminals and putting that information in the hands of policymakers and the general public.” And earlier this month, its National Director said enough is enough with poor photography and answered yes to the questions above.

And so, I developed a 3-hr photography class for five of their staff who are frequently involved in or organizing special events and are responsible for photographing those events for promotional and fundraising purposes. We covered storytelling through photography, branding & signage, photographing people, and principles of composition, before proceeding to part 1 of a hands-on course on the technical fundamentals of photography. Coming from a 15-year history of non-profit work myself, it sure felt rewarding to be back in that world, and this group of passionate and committed do-gooders made me smile. The best part? When one of them, camera in hand, exclaimed, “This is fun!”

Enjoy the three slides below from the section of our photography class on principles of composition!