We’re fast approaching the end of 2023. It was a great year in some ways. I felt the Lord’s provision and direction in a lot of different areas this year. I got to work with some great clients. Really helped some people along the way. Made new friends and new clients. Experienced God’s goodness and mercy in many areas.
A lot of people are making plans and resolutions for the new year. And while we can and should work towards goals each year and hope and pray for good things to happen. We also have to be obedient and listen to God’s leading. I’m not suggesting that we should pray for bad things, but I promise you this, God’s blessings are not always health, wealth, and prosperity. I find real blessings are more often direction changes that test and strengthen our faith in his good and perfect will for the lives of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
The economy is tough. A lot of things are not as we would like them to be in the world. There have been many times this year when I wasn’t sure where my next project would come from, yet he provided over and above what I needed. And he allowed me to capture some of his majesty on display in the process. That’s such a blessing.
The first image in the video below is of a wren that nested in a gourd behind my house. A good friend of my dad’s grew them last year. I cleaned a few of them up and hung them here and there. This little chain of events led up to this photo. God used us to provide for this little defenseless wren. And in Matthew 6:26 we’re told, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Ponder that a little bit.
We’re certainly responsible for our actions and are to work hard and make wise decisions. But we’re not called to work harder and be smarter on our own. We’re to seek wisdom from the Lord and his righteousness and then the king who owns the cattle on a thousand hills is sure to give us all that we need. And when our heart’s highest desire is for him then we are sure to find what we’re after. That means we’re called to live by faith and be holy as he is holy. We’re called to be the light in a dark world. The economy is crazy and life is full of twists and turns. But we are to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good deeds and honor our Father in heaven. Matthew 15:16.
So with that in mind, I hope you have a fantastic 2024. Look forward to working with you in 2024!!!
Booking projects in 2024 sounds like a long ways away, but in reality, it’s just a couple of weeks at this point. Now I wear a lot of different hats at various times and my project focus varies with the needs of the clients, but I primarily consider myself a photographer. What I enjoy most about photography is capturing moments in time in photos which can tell a whole story all by themselves. I’d love to help tell your story in 2024. But for now, let’s look at a few stories through my lens.
How does that happen
The adage, a picture is worth a thousand words is one you hear often. A single image can capture the viewer’s attention to draw them into the scene in ways that tell both intentional stories created by the photographer and imaginative stories unique to the viewer. Those stories may be told directly through the image’s content, composition, or style, but depending on the audience’s perspective, it also allows them to see their own story unfold in the minds eye. I may make another post about composition at a later date, but a single image can tell a whole story all by itself in a variety of different ways. I’ll share a few examples here and then maybe we can explore them in a little more detail to explain my thought process and what I mean.
Imaginative Story Telling
Let’s dive into these first two images together. Both are some of my recent work and the images both feature young ladies in very storytelling photos. I’ve had several people tell me that both could be book covers. Well, they could be, but what would the stories in those books be about? Now that’s very different for each photo.
In the first book, I have to imagine a farmer’s daughter reading a book one late summer’s afternoon and maybe telling the story from her perspective placing herself in one of the characters in the book. Maybe she even nods off at some point in her reading and wakes up in some antebellum time lost in the past. Now see the first part of that story can fairly easily be discerned from context clues in the image itself. But that last part is my own perspective because I know her dad loves history. A different viewer who doesn’t know that may have a totally different story from this image. We have both a story being told by the content of the image and the perspective of the viewer.
The second photo is also very storybookesque. This photo may even be the story the first girl is reading about depending again on the perspective of the viewer. For the sake of this example, let us assume that is at least part of the story from the book the first girl is reading. Another similarity between the two photos besides the young ladies in them is the use of light. This image features a setting sun behind the girl is back illuminating her and separating her from the background. The other features a light leak of a setting sun coming in from the right. These features help add to the feel of telling the story of a late summer/fall afternoon. The second photo takes on a little bit more of a dreamy feel. Now I didn’t plan these photos for this example by any means but I was very intentional about my light placement and the feel that I wanted to illustrate when I shot these photos. I wanted to capture the dreamy feel here in the image with the horse. I felt like at least from my perspective that this was the dream vision of this girl Clair in relaying the love she has for her horse and the bond that they share. It is me, the photographer using creative lighting and composition techniques to tell her story.
Commercial Story Telling
Jimmy Corley
This image is much different than the other two. In this image, we have a hunter, sitting in the snow with his back against a tree while aiming his rifle at some distant target. By the composition of the photo, we are drawn to his bright orange jacket and his sight line carries the viewer from the dark wooded area on the right across the image to the expanse on the left.
The story being told here is obviously of a hunter, on a cold winter day, but it allows the viewer to imagine what he might be aiming at. What does he see through his rifle scope? Is it a 160-class whitetail or could it be a giant elk? This created interest in the photo, makes it a very useful photo for marketing purposes. There was no specific client in mind when I shot this photo, but it could have easily featured the latest Leupold optics or Christiansen Ridgeline rifle or some other outdoor brand. I have published this image and used it for a client’s Christmas sales ad for firearms.
All images tell stories, but I think its important for effective images help tell good stories. Some just come alive to me more than others and some tell better stories.
Documentary Story Telling
Here’s another recent example and I’ll wrap up with this one.
Along with some of my commercial-type photos, seniors, and outdoor photography, from time to time, I shoot some rodeo and action sports photography. I love capturing the action found in moments in time that tell stories as well.
A few weeks ago, there was a bull riding event at the Evers Arena here in El Dorado, Arkansas. There were some great bulls and great riders. The whole thing was an event put on to help Colt Cates, brother of PBR bull rider Reese Cates, raise money to help offset some medical expenses from a recent car accident.
Well, the photo below is another one of those photos that tells a story but this one is not planned in any way. The photo is more of a documentary image captured from live unscripted events as they unfolded. There were lots of great action photos from the event, but this one photo speaks volumes to me and is unlike any of the other photos from the event. Partly because of the firm beliefs and values that I hold that give me and many like me a unique perspective on what’s happening. I won’t go into any technical details of how the image was shot here because this all happens so fast that there is no time for that. I shoot what I see unfolding in this type of situation. In this photo, I turned and snapped.
So whats the story
I’ll try to condense this down a little bit to just the story it tells me, but there is a lot there.
This bull had just been ridden and bucked off its rider. I forget now whether the rider covered him for the full 8 seconds or not, but I don’t think so. This was a pretty mean, rank, snorting bull who wanted some more action. He was not ready to leave the arena. You can see by the ropes on him that the cowboys had tried but not yet convinced him that his show was over and it was time to leave the arena. He hit the fence pretty hard just seconds before I shot this photo. The little boy running off had been standing at the fence when the bull hit it hard enough to bow the fence out and the boy took off running back to his mother a little startled but no worse for the wear.
I think he was mostly oblivious to any real sense of danger. Part of that is because of the strength of the fence but also because you can see his father standing firm and confident staring the bull down as he stretches his arm out to usher the little boy behind him. Nothing comforts a child more than the presence of their father. The father in this picture is protected himself by the fence also but should the bull come through or over, he stands watch, ready to protect those he loves.
It’s a powerful image because the world we live in is full of rank bulls and evils intent on destroying everything in their path. Some are as equally ugly as this bull, But unfortunately, some aren’t so obvious as a snorting bull. In this one image, you can see the purpose for which God intended husbands to fill in their roles as fathers. To take on the world and subdue it is what God commanded Adam to do when God created the family (Gen 1:27-28) and he blessed them in that context. It is the duty of husbands and fathers to provide for, and possibly more importantly to protect their families from the evils of the world. But it is the sanctity and safety God ordained in the marriage covenant which is the image of the love that Christ has for his church that does that. God never intended for fathers or mothers to go it alone, but instead, to be united in the covenant of marriage he blessed them in that context.
He created men to be strong and women to be tender so that men might stare down evil with the strength and faith he has given us and women to be equally faithful, nurturing, and caring for children to run to when evil shows its face. The two became one for this purpose in order to create a cohesive and complimentary family relationship. Gender roles and male headship are important biblical concepts under attack by the world for a reason. But when strong fences like marriage vows before God don’t exist, chaos ensues. Even then, when sin creeps under the fences it wreaks havoc on marriages. It requires men to be obedient guard dogs, discerning and ever watchful.
God, the ultimate good shepherd, built good fences. He formed the sanctity of marriage to surround this union as an image reflecting of his love for us, his children. Its purpose is never to subject women or for men to be used as purely providers, but to protect and provide for women and children and for husbands to be honored and respected. Men step up to the fence at the altar before God and man in a promise to love and to hold, to cherish and protect their families until death do us part. It is husbands and fathers who stand at the fence to guard their loved ones as a sacrificial last line of defense. But it’s those fences that are the boundaries for healthy families to exist in. They are only as good as the steel, the welds, and the concrete, they are made of. God gave us his word in truth as a firm foundation that can not be broken as long as we cling to it and build strong biblical marriages within to keep the world out.
The world doesn’t like that. The world wants to tear down fences, with open borders like our southern border with Mexico, and along with it, the family structure God intended. This is a major piece of Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter talking points. Our culture says “Men can be Women.” “Strong women don’t need men”. “Just live together.” “Traditional marriage is outdated”. “Masculinity is toxic”. “end the patriarchy” But it is the strong biblical foundation of the covenant of marriage that is under attack because when it fails, society falls with it.
The world does not want strong men to be the spiritual leaders of their families in the context of Biblical marriage. The world attacks those who do. Our society paints the father in almost every TV show as the village idiot. But without men standing at the fence in the covenant of biblical marriage always and forever, women are at risk. The world needs more Godly women (and men) striving to be more like the bride of Christ (the church) and less like the world, and whose husbands are respected at the city gate. (Proverbs 31:23) A healthy family cannot be built if either partner has one foot out the door. Marriage is the promised covenant that protects the intimacy building trust between husband and wife. Men have to boldly step up to the proverbial fence at the altar accepting responsibility to love their families regardless of what society says. And women are not subjects they are equal in submission to their husbands when their husbands are living in submission to Christ. It is therefore men who must kneel before Christ to stand against the world.
The world needs more than just cowboys. The world needs Godly Men, Husbands, and Fathers who will stand firm on God’s word without flinching at the angry bulls roaming through the world and without apologizing for what His word says on every front. Who will stare down evil as the last line of defense to protect their families? The world doesn’t need more manipulative, greedy, Beth Duttons. It needs more Godly wives and mothers, for children to run to and learn from. Those who will stand on God’s word with their husbands as one.
Storytelling Images Stimulate Action
Now some of that stuff may be more than you want to think about, but that can also be part of the role storytelling images play. That’s exactly my final point. Good images tell stories that cause action. It may be a thought to ponder or it may be a physical action or it may even be a purchase decision. Maybe the image below will make you want to buy a new deer feeder, a sack of deer feed, or maybe it empowers you to take your son hunting to teach them about the outdoors and conservation. But one thing is for sure that good images tell stories that invoke change none the less.
Now we all love cute family photos too, and not every photo has to have a deep story behind it. Some are simple stories and maybe personal stories that just highlight your life or lifestyle. And that’s ok as well. But all photos have a story to tell and not all photos have to be agreed upon to illicit a warm fuzzy feeling like puppy dogs and rainbow photos do.
Some photos though, like the bull photo, do both depending on your perspective. But with good photos, some scream at us, and sometimes they whisper, but great photos enact change. Like the old quote goes and I don’t know where it came from, but “a man never steps in the same creek twice. For when he returns, the creek has change and he is no longer the same man.” So, Imagine a world without images that stimulate us to be better people. Imagine a world where there was no tank man in Tiananmen Square in 1989 or no Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima?
There are volumes more that I see in the story of the images above and many others. There are an infinite number of other stories that need to be told. There are stories of true happiness, joy and powerful images yet to be captured that encourage positive hope-filled things in the world. I hope that you’ll look closer at these images and those you see around you to see what stories they tell. How do they speak to you? What do you need to change for having seen them? If you have a story to tell, and we all do. I’d love to work with you to help tell your story through my lens in 2024.
But for now, I’ll leave you with this, Its one of my favorite images. What story do you think is being shared between this young boy and this giant horse?
You’ve heard the phrase “once in a blue moon”. Well, the August 30th Super blue moon will be the closest full moon of the year, making it appear much brighter and larger than normal. Different full moons throughout the year have different names and this full moon is called the Blue Moon. Not to be confused with the popular beer brand, a blue moon occurs only when the pattern of days in a year means there are 13 full Moons instead of the usual 12. But this will also be a super blue moon, making it even more rare. The previous one occurred in 2009. This will be the last super Blue Moon until 2037 so you don’t want to miss it.
I’ve taken tons of full moon photos over the years. Here are a few of my top tips for viewing or photographing the full moon.
Start shooting early.
To get the biggest, fullest moon possible, you’ll want to shoot it as soon as it pops up over the horizon. This year that will be August 30th at 7:49 pm here in south Arkansas. Now in the area that I live in, we’re mostly flat land with a lot of timber so it’s often hard to get long clear views of the horizon, but just do your best to capture it right after moon rise. The closer the moon is to the horizon, the more of the earth’s atmosphere that the moonlight has to pass through. This creates diffusion which spreads the light farther and makes it appear much larger and it picks up an oranger view as light refracts off of moisture in the atmosphere.
Incorporate other features in your moon photography.
While the moon is brilliant in it’s reflective radiance as it is, it always helps to incorporate other foreground elements into your photography for an even more interesting photo. By shooting early, you’ll be able to capture trees, buildings, and even play around with putting people into your photos.
Camera settings
Shoot telephoto. Have you ever shot a moon photo with your phone and even though it appears huge in person, your photo is less than impressive? Wide-angle lenses like your camera phone or even when used on high-quality professional cameras just can’t capture the beauty of the moon in its fullest. The compression that we love about telephoto lenses is really needed to bring out the details or enhance what we can see with just our naked eye. I recommend shooting at 200mm or higher if you can. There may be some exceptions to that depending on what you are trying to do, but that’s where I’d start.
Moon photography is not typical nighttime photography. The full moon is actually very bright. While you’d typically shoot with very slow shutter speeds and wide-open apertures at night to gather more light, with full moon photos, I often shoot at higher f-stops. F-8 or above. You can of course shoot wide open but finding focus at night can sometimes be a challenge so shooting at higher f-stops gives you more room for forgiveness if your focus point isn’t perfect. This means for slower shutter speeds sometimes. However, since you’ll be shooting telephoto anyway, I’d recommend shooting with a sturdy tripod. This will alleviate problems with camera shake both at longer focal lengths and with those slow shutter speeds.
Lastly, just enjoy the view.
I love photos but sometimes we get caught up in the technical details of creating a photo. Remember that take some time to enjoy the moment. I hope you get to enjoy the moon with people you love. Remember that He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. The moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever
Senior year is a special time. It’s not just turning a page in life, but a pivotal page that needs to be captured. I love images that tell a story and show off personality. I’d love to highlight you or your senior.
I run my senior sessions as follows.
Senior Speed Session – $300
Perfect for when you just need a few photos for an invitation or your school’s yearbook? I like to have fun with senior sessions and this QUICK 20-30 minute session is as easy and painless as possible. We’ll meet at your local school or a similar location for the photo session. After the session is over, you’ll get an email to an online proof gallery. The session fee is $300 and includes the session, an online gallery to choose images from, and a $100 photo credit toward purchased photos from your session.
Senior Session – $500
A full senior session lets you show off a little personality. If you want photos that actually capture your interests and show who you are in more detail, this is the session for you.
A senior session starts off with a brief meeting where we can get to know each other a little bit and plan out your shoot so that we capture your interests. After your shoot is planned, The actual session will be scheduled for a different day. The session usually lasts up to 3 hours and can be tailored to various personal interests. If you are into sports, we can spend an hour shooting sports. If you have some other fun hobbies we can transition to that. We can get a variety of different looks in this one session. The session includes a proof gallery and a photo credit of $200 towards images or prints purchased.
Add On Couple – $100
Senior photo sessions are intended to highlight the personality of one person. However, sometimes a high school sweetheart is a significant part of your senior year. We’re happy to capture that aspect as well, but a couples shoot is a very different shoot than an individual portrait session. Just let us know and we will add on up to 30 minutes into your senior session for your boyfriend or girlfriend.
Add On Speed Session – $300 $250
Do you have more hobbies than we can fit into your Senior Session? Book a separate Speed Session with your senior session.
A Year in the Life of a High School Senior
Sometimes High School Seniors have a lot of hobbies and interests that cover more areas than can be fit into just one session or even two sessions. For many people, it’s not just a few photos from one day that they want to capture. You may want photos to remember your whole Senior year. The senior year package consists of up to four different sessions spread across the year. The sessions can be customized but ideally, we’ll begin in the summer before school starts. We can spend some time capturing water sports or some other summertime activity, etc… The next session is typically scheduled just after school is starting and temperatures begin to come down. This session can be a Friday night lights theme or more of a casual session that captures the beginning of your school year. The next session is really special. You’re halfway through your senior year. If hunting is your passion, we can shoot your own outdoor life session. For the final session, you’ll be wrapping up school and spring hobbies or softball or baseball maybe your life. College or trade school or military service may be your next step. These decisions are huge. We’d love to capture that part of your personality as well.
The total investment in all 3 sessions is $1,500 with a 10% deposit due at booking, the remaining balance will be divided into 3 equal payments due at each session or before the final shoot. This helps spread the cost over the course of the year instead of one lump sum. These sessions come with your own private online gallery and a $300 photo credit toward photos from your gallery.
Add On Speed Session – $300 $150
Didn’t get everything you wanted in your Senior Session. Book a separate Speed Session with your senior session
A photo credit toward the purchase of photos is included with each session, but your session fee does not include digital files and does not include sales taxes on photos. Prints start as low as $10 and digital photos may be purchased through your gallery at $30/photo or $500/full gallery of images. The session fee is a creative fee that covers the time spent planning your shoot, the session itself, and editing/organizing the files for a photo gallery of images from the session. If you need a digital copy of an image from your gallery, digital photos may be purchased individually or as part of a separate photo package using the photo credit which is included with your session. If you want to share your senior portraits with friends and family online (and who doesn’t!), you’ll want to share your digital online gallery from our website. The photos are watermarked and are not printable, but your photo gallery can easily be shared online to highlight your senior year and has no expiration date.
Do you travel?
I frequently travel for photo shoots. Travel within 1 hour of El Dorado, AR is included in the session fee. But if you have somewhere in mind that is beyond approximately 60 miles of El Dorado, additional travel expenses incurred will be added to the final invoice.
I’ve been to Nashville a handful of times over the years. Last week though, I got the opportunity to hang out in Nashville at Banjo Ben‘s Nashville Experience.
“Banjo” Ben Clark is a talented musician from Kilgore, TX who has played professionally for several years with acts like Craig Morgan, Josh Gracin in his early days in Nashville. In 2007 though, Ben was called on to help an up and coming young artist who was just getting started skyrocket to fame you may have heard of named Taylor Swift. They set out on tour that year with the king of country, George Strait and country music legend Ronnie Millsap. The rest as they say is history, but according to Ben, after a few years of playing 300+ nights on the road, he was burned out. He left the arena sized crowds to begin doing what Ben seems to really have a passion for and that’s teaching others to play banjo, guitar, and mandolin through online courses.
As his youtube channel and online business began to grow, Ben stared doing what he calls “Cabin Camps”. Here, musicians from beginner to advanced, come from all over to hone their skills as musicians. At these camps, he along with his equally talented sisters of a popular Gospel Bluegrass group called “The Purple Hulls“, Katy Lou Clark and Penny Lea Clark Gimble teach in-depth music lessons.
Last week was a little different though. I believe this was the first “Nashville Experience” Cabin Camp. This time, the goal wasn’t so much instrument focused about learning how to become a better musician, but rather, what it’s like on the inside of the Nashville music industry. Everyone got to experience the music industry in a much deeper way than just a normal sight seeing trip to Nashville.
After a quick lunch at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, We started off on music row by going to Sony Music Publishing’s Studio A where we got an inside look at how songs are cut and produced. Here I knew it was going to be good when we didn’t go in through the front door lobby. Entering through the artist’s entrance would be a theme for the two day event.
Then we moved down the road to Gruhn Guitars where we met with George Gruhn. George is the largest Martin guitar dealer and THE expert aficionado on all things guitars. Here, once again, we may have entered the front door, but we were quickly taken up to the second floor which is not open to the general walking public. Never before have I seen or heard a $300,000 guitar before or an equally valuable and rare mandolin. Watching a group of young musicians get to play them and play them well was amazing and a testament to the things that they have learned from Banjo Ben’s online guitar lessons and lessons at other banjo camps. Sitting there listening to them play amongst thousands of rare and valuable instruments is cool. Casualy Looking over during a conversation at an unassuming guitar sitting there in an open case and seeing the luggage tag on it that says “E. Scruggs” was interesting, to say the least. And yes that is the Earl Scruggs as verified by a certificate of authenticity from George and it can be yours. It’s on sale currently on the Gruhn Guitars website for $100,000.
Later we went to dinner at Ole Red downtown before heading to Springer Mountain Farms bluegrass nights at the Ryman where we went backstage to visit with Rhonda Vincent before the show. Something tells me it wasn’t just chance that we met her in the alley between the Ryman and Tootsies. However, that happened, It was a welcome surprise and a cool chance to meet the artist. Once again, entering the Ryman from the back alley instead of the main public entrance proved this wasn’t your ordinary family vacation trip to Nashville. The show itself was one of the only things we did that the average Nashville visitor could participate in.
The following day, we met up at Storytellers in Bon Aqua, TN. This seems like an unassuming building but it is a historic general store building where Johnny Cash and others performed years ago. More on that later.
There we of course got to hear Ben and The Purple Hulls perform and hear Ben’s full story. We also got to hear from people like Radio legend Kyle Cantrell as his career has moved from Broadcasting on WSM, to Satellite radio and his latest endeavor to start BanjoRadio.com Later we heard two time IBMA Guitar player of the year Kenny Smith and his wife Amanda play and share their story.
I don’t know if it was intentional or not but one thing that I loved and that stuck out in all of the stories that were told is how pieces of the Gospel couldn’t help but be woven into their stories. How God’s sovereign and providential will moved these people all from humble beginnings to where they are in their careers and lives today and where they are headed in the future. It was a testament to not just the work of God in their lives but character building and the quality of character found in pretty much all of the people working with Ben.
I mentioned before that Johnny Cash was involved in the history of the building now know as the “Storytellers”. Well, there is a little more to that story. Right down the road from Storytellers, a hand hewn log cabin sits on a 100 acer farm that Johnny once owned. The property is now known as Hideaway Farm. It got it’s name because this is the place Johnny and June chose to hideaway from their life of fame. The home is still filled with many of Johnny’s things almost as he left it including the “one piece at a time car”.
Obviously I’ve left out tons of details here but, if you are a budding musician or if you just picked up a guitar, mandolin, or Banjo, Banjo Ben is the guy you need to get in contact with. I’m not a musician myself. I can play the radio but sometimes it has a little static in it. But I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a more qualified expert than Banjo Ben Clark and his team. If you ever get the chance to go to one of his Cabin Camps, I think you should jump on the opportunity.
You can find Ben online at www.banjobenclark.com. There, you’ll find all of his latest lessons, how to subscribe as well as upcoming events. Or Like, Follow and subscribe on all the major social media channels. There is a lot of crazy stuff on there sure to keep you laughing as well as the latest tutorials and some great music.
