Christians In Photojournalism

www.christiansinphotojournalism.org
So I headed out to Dallas/Fort worth this weekend for a Christians in Photojournalism Southwestern conference and it was Wonderful. I met so many people and the contacts were incredible. I really encourage you to get to a photojournalism conference as often as you can.

So the weekend started off crazy with me arriving in Dallas and not knowing exactly how I was going to get to the seminary. My initial plan was o take a cab, but that seemed a little pricy... So I had this brilliant idea that someone on my plane form Atlanta had to be going to this seminar. So I looked around the baggage claim and just happen to find a man with a camera bag and asked him if he was going tot he Seminary where the conference was. He reluctantly looked at me and said yes. (A miracle I'm sure) I proceeded to ask him how he was getting there and he had said he had rented a car. So I boldly asked him for a ride and he willingly agreed. So I knew form that moment on that it was going to be a God ordained weekend.

Friday night Brian Storm from Media Storm spoke (Mediastorm.org) and his work and words are always inspiring. His company is based around multimedia and the documentary work they do is incredible. I had a portfolio review with him later on in the weekend and he gave me some great pointers on my chess story and how to make it into a multimedia production, so stay tuned for that. He had a lot of great things to say and the way he looked at my work and encouraged me to keep working situations was so helpful.

Saturday Karim Shmsi-Basha spoke and his eye is just one of a unique style. It was great to hear his stories of his one Muslim faith and how his photography changed with his new found love of Christ. I also had a portfolio critique with him and he too was very helpful. It’s amazing what others see in your work.

Later that afternoon Carolyn Cole from the LA Times spoke and it was great to see her Pulitzer prize work and see her stories of being imbedded and her time in the Church of the Nazarene and how she was able to escape her photos before she was captured. Such an amazing story. She spoke of the dedication it takes to your work to make great photos and capture those truly precious moments.

Later on Sam Cranston along with Jessica Webb of the Daytona Beach News Journal spoke. She told a story of how she was documenting an elderly couple for 6 months and finally got to the point where she felt it was time to wrap the story and publish it, and the day it ran she was searching for features and heard on the scanner that there was a killing a little south of where she was. So she got in touch with her editor and they gave her the address to find out that it was the same mobile home park as to where her story lived, only to arrive and find out it was her stories home and two out of the three subjects had been killed. Within a few days the third died as well, but hearing her story o how she handled it and stayed professional was incredible. Very Admirable.

Overall, this weekend has been a blast, and the students and professional alike that I met will leave a lasting impression on my life. The overall theme of the weekend that I took with me is that you have to take the time to define your passion within yourself and then work on toning your skills to tell the stories of those who are living their passion. O yeah and the guy who was on my flight to Dallas, just happened to be on my flight home too, so I got a ride back tot he airport too… It was glorious. That’s so fun! ;)