Last year, I watched Modern Storytelling with Kirsten Lewis on CreativeLive (affiliate link) and loved seeing the way she captured families everyday life. I was aware of this type of photography but this workshop really opened my eyes to the art of making pictures that were real, humorous, emotional, and true in great light (when you can get it) and beautiful composition.
I purchased this workshop and re-watch it whenever I need to be re-inspired or reminded of how to look for those moments in my everyday life.
When I learned that she was going to be back on CreativeLive, this time teaching a workshop Photojournalism in the Home (affiliate link), I couldn’t wait. A lot of the content in this workshop builds on the lessons she taught in the first workshop. And while I really only able to watch some of the the first day, I’m catching the free replay while it’s on today.
My takeaways from Photojournalism in the Home are:
- To stay with a moment, an activity, a composition a lot longer than you think. Be patient. And take a lot of photos to get what you want. As Kirsten says, shoot past the moment. Even when you think you have a good shot, keep shooting.
- Don’t adjust the scene or prompt your subject. Again, be patient. Document the moment exactly as it is and make subtle movements in where you (as the photographer) are positioned instead of moving a sippy cup out of the way. Wait for action or moment you want without having to ask for it.
- Shoot with the crop in mind. Always square up and get as close (or far) as you need to get the crop you want while shooting. Minimal cropping can occur in post processing but her advice for photojournalism in the home is to capture the moment as you see it, crop included.
All three of those are something that I need to work on. I’ll often pick up things that I don’t want in the frame or ask my kids to repeat what they just did because I missed the shot. And I love to crop in Lightroom.
Here’s the thing. These tips are not ‘general’ photography tips. They are for shooting your everyday life as a photojournalist. That may not be what you want. I’m attracted to Kirsten’s style of shooting and her lessons because it’s about capturing life as it is….hopefully with a few photographic principles in mind.
I’m no where near her skill level but I love the challenge! As a professional photographer, the skill to define the moment is an extremely difficult task to achieve. Seeing how to bring light, color, composition, layers, and depth of meaning to a moment is an art. But for me and my desire to photography my family, it can actually be quite freeing to let go the idea of perfecting an environment and focus on capturing the moment as best as I possibly can.
After the first day of her live workshop, I decided to attempt to take photos inspired by her lessons. Our photography theme in my mastermind this month is technology. I shot these photos with this intention – capture technology, stay with the moment, no prompting, and do my best to crop in camera (still working on this one ;)).
Not perfect but a fun attempt!
With this last photo, if you watched Kirsten shooting in a family’s home, she mentioned how difficult it was to photograph kids while watching TV because they have zombie face. So this last photo, it was my attempt to capture zombie face. Ha! Of course, I didn’t capture even a corner of the TV/computer but because you know I’m shooting for technology, it’s implied. This photo probably wouldn’t make sense on it’s own….but it’s another example of how I can compose and define context when I include it in a photo book layout.
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