GERRY MCCARTHY // Best-Laid Photographic Plans (#033)

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You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

What happens when you, the photographer/visual creator discover that the best-laid plans that you’ve had for your career all of a sudden don’t line up with the direction you want your life to go in? You know you want to keep taking photos or shooting video, but the path that seemed so well shaped in front of you seems a hell of a lot murkier. There’s a great quote, that was popularized by the great Stephen Covey (but coined well before that) that so perfectly exemplifies this: “It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall.” Today’s episode with our guest Gerry McCarthy is all about that climb and the process of picking up that ladder and moving to a different wall – and keeping your creative spirit alive throughout it all.

G.J. "Gerry" McCarthy is Creative Director, Video/Campaigns for Stanley Black & Decker, based in central Connecticut. He oversees video and photo production for the company's main corporate marketing department, handling internal and external comms needs for a wide variety of clients.

Previously Gerry was a multimedia producer for the UConn Foundation, a higher education nonprofit that oversees charitable giving to the University of Connecticut. In that role, he helped tell the story of philanthropy at UConn, and created content to better engage alumni.

Before jumping ship to the M & C world, Gerry spent 14 years as a newspaper photojournalist. The bulk of that time, almost a decade, was spent on the award-winning photo staff at The Dallas Morning News. There, he covered everything from sports to breaking news, enterprise projects and features stories. He also frequently worked as a fill-in photo editor on a variety of news desks.

Gerry is a Laredo, Texas native and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied to be a reporter. In a past life he was a music major and wildly nerdy about music theory. In his free time he scratches that old itch making up short songs on an iPad and also, self-described at failing miserably at teaching himself drums and his son the guitar.

Gerry lives in the Hartford area with his wife, a few kids, a handful of cats and several chickens. When he's not doing laundry, scooping litter or cleaning the coop, he enjoys artisan baking (mostly sourdough), reading and wandering the house aimlessly.

In today’s episode with Gerry McCarthy, he and I dive into how to manage a career transition from the path of the newspaper photojournalist into the Marketing and Communications world, why keeping your photography work authentic to your creative calling is so critical, and what lessons for younger photographers he’s learned from creating on both sides of the Journalism/Marketing aisle.

So, as always — Keep seeing, keep shooting, and keep putting your best Photo Forward. LATER!

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SHOW NOTES // COMING SOON

PHOTOGRAPHERS MENTIONED //

QUESTIONS? // What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments!

BP MILLER // Getting Down to Business (#027)

EPISODE EMBED

You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Does it feel like you’re creating and producing content at a fevered pitch, but never quite getting a stable pool of clients or like you’re constantly re-inventing the wheel of your photography or videography business? Well, that means it’s probably time to get back to the fundamentals in today’s masterclass on making your photography business hum with our guest, BP Miller.

BP Miller is a founding partner and senior photojournalist at Chorus Photography. Founded in 2007, Chorus has gone from a single shooter operation in Philadelphia to establishing studios on both coasts, with a roster of impressive clientele, including The Drug Information Association, Beasley Broadcasting, Habitat For Humanity, and many others.

BP Miller is an award winning photographer, photojournalist and speaker whose work has been curated by The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and published in numerous publications like The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News, Washington Post, Rolling Stone & The New York Times.

BP is an active member of RTDNA (Radio, Television & Digital News Association), an Edward R. Murrow Awards Judge, former Mid-Atlantic Chair of the National Press Photographers Association and a former board member of the Northern Short Course In Photojournalism. He can be found speaking across the country about non-profit photography as well as photojournalists' rights.

In today’s episode, BP and I dig in deep on what it means to be a photographer with integrity for your work, impressing upon your clients the value of the photos and videos that you create, and taking time for your own mental health as a visual storyteller. There is so much gold in this episode, all delivered with BP’s unique perspective on our industry and his telltale voice and humor.

So, as always — Keep seeing, keep shooting, and keep putting your best Photo Forward. LATER!

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PHOTOS FROM THE EPISODE //

SHOW NOTES // COMING SOON

PHOTOGRAPHERS MENTIONED //

QUESTIONS? // What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments!

Photo Impairment Effect // (#003)

Photography and neuroscience. To quote the Sound of Music: “These are a few of my favorite things” It seems pretty crazy, but the science is out there: Your phone is ruining your memory… but don’t worry, thinking like a photojournalist when you take pictures can change all that.

Do this for me: Close your eyes and think back to the last big family event, birthday, party, going out with friends, you pick — Just as long as you pulled out your phone and took pictures. How much do you remember about it? — The people you were there with, how much time you spent where, what you ate or drank while you were there, or even, what was your favorite part of it?

Alright, now open your eyes.

Did it feel like things just weren’t as clear, like you just couldn’t quite remember all of those details? Well, it’s not just you. Thanks to some really novel neuroscience research, we now know why that is. It’s been dubbed the “photo impairment effect” and chances are, if you’re one of the billions of people around the world constantly documenting your life on your smartphone, you’ve probably experienced it.

Let’s look at the science behind what’s going on:

So, you might think that taking photos would positively affect your memory because it focuses your attention… hence increasing how memorable the event was for you. But counterintuitively, you’ll often pay less attention when you take photos, depending on the external device of the camera to “remember” for you. Essentially the research out there suggests that people are much less likely to remember information if they expect to have future access to it — like on their camera, computer, or the 400 pound gorilla that is social media.

One of these great little pieces of research is one from 2014 by psychologist Linda Henkel that dives right into this issue and presents some results that, as a photojournalist, we’ve known for years as a way to mediate this photo impairment effect. In the study, participants were asked to walk through an art museum exhibit and were instructed to either A) Just walk through and observe the artwork, B) Take mostly general photos of the artwork and the space or C) Take photos of specific parts of the artwork (like faces, swords/helmets, etc.) in the exhibit.

Take for example, the stunning piece of art that is “The Night Watch” by Rembrandt — one of the true masters of light, shadow, and immense levels of detail.

The piece is a sight to behold — standing nearly 12 feet tall by 15 feet wide and housed at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. But back to the study… For example, participants in Group A would simply take in the piece in its entirety, and Group B would take photos without any real objective. Where this gets interesting is for Group C who were tasked with focusing on details of their pieces of art (and works like the Rembrandt feature an astounding level of life-like details to focus on).

So, when those three groups were tested afterwards, which one do you think recalled the artwork the best? Well you might be surprised to find out, but Group A that simply just walked through and observed the artwork was able to recall details of the museum exhibit the best!

Although photographing the artwork as a whole, without an objective, hurt participants’ memory for visual details about the objects (Group B), being tasked with honing in on one aspect of an object (Group C) mitigated the lost memory not only for the part they zoomed in on but also for parts that weren’t focused on.

Even though they took extra time and attention angling the camera and adjusting the lens so as to capture the best photo they could, regardless, the act of photographing the art did still have the consequence of participants dismissing the object from memory.

And, chances are, you’ve probably felt this very same thing. And when you think about it, it kind of sucks. So let’s fix that.

When I’m out on assignment, whether it’s a crowded public event or an ongoing feature project, as a photojournalist, I’m always looking for details in the environment, fleeting moments in people’s faces, and dramatic lighting that elegantly captures the scene. Basically, as photojournalists, we constantly live in that third research group that’s tasked to focus on photographing details of the scene. And as a result, we’re able to remember a great more about those assignments/events/projects/etc. when keeping those goals and objectives in mind.

Here’s a great example of that from last year photographing the UW Diversity and Inclusion Graduation Recognition ceremony. With such an open-ended assignment as “event coverage,” it could have been easy to get a bunch of general-purpose shots that tried to document the event. But what separates “coverage” from “visual storytelling” is focus on those details, moments, and expressions that make the audience of your photography feel something.

So, when you’re out photographing your next birthday party, halloween costume or family get-together: think like a photojournalist, focus on the details, focus on the moments, focus on the light. Your future-self thinking back on those fond memories will thank you.

What do you all think about the Photo Impairment Effect — Have you felt that same lack of memory, even after taking a ton of pictures? Let me know in the comments! If you all liked this or want to read more articles like this, let me know!

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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY // What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments!

SHOW NOTES //

Breaking Your Bad Creative Habits // (#007)

We humans, big hairless apes that we are, have become proficient over millenia at a great many things — crafting tools, harnessing nature… you get the picture. But we’re also adept at something you might not even actively think about: HABITS.

This is your brain on habits. [I mean… not literally YOUR brain. But yours probably isn’t all that different from this fella’s.]

For better AND worse, our big human brains are very, very good at linking stimulus, response, and reward through connections in our brain called neurons. And, through a wild process called myelination, the neurons that “fire together” end up “wiring together”, making that connection stronger over time.

Basically, if your brain activates in certain areas at the same time enough times, it wants to save energy and make it easier the next time those neurons fire at the same time. There is some really incredible research going on right now on how this process of strengthening connections shapes diseases such as depression and anxiety, but we won’t go too far down the rabbit hole on that.

You’re probably wondering, what the hell I’m on about and how I’ll bring this back to photography. Stay with me. So, what does myelination have to do with habits? Like a neuronal pathway, the more you follow the action of a habit (again, both good ones and bad ones) the stronger that connection gets over time. The same holds true when we’re taking photos — how we shoot drives and dictates how we’re GOING to shoot in the future.

Now that isn’t to say that one should reinvent the wheel every time you pick up your DSLR or your camera-phone. Keeping a consistent look and overall feel in your work is a must as a professional (more on that in an upcoming article). What I’m really trying to stress here is to not switch over to autopilot, and unconsciously, habitually capture photos. Your brain is basically subconsciously going: “Well, I’ve shot in this venue before with this lens and gotten this result … so why don’t I play it safe and do the same this time.” I know for a fact I’ve been guilty of this exact thought process.

Just a few months back, I was on assignment taking a portrait of a U.S. Attorney working here in Madison on human trafficking. While I was waiting around for the individual to arrive for our brief portrait session, I scoured the area to think of a good way to capture her image in a short amount of time. My mind first, habitually, gravitated to the front of the building at 35mm and frame her between the two major pillars of the Courthouse building. Essentially, where my brain went right away was myelination in action. With the benefit of hindsight, I can look back at countless quick portrait assignments where I took the same tack, and went to capture the photo that SAME WAY.

Prosecutor Julie Pfluger poses for a portrait outside the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Monday, November 20, 2017.

So what did I do next. Here’s the really critical part: I stored that photo idea away, mentally labeled it the “safe shot” and proactively did everything in my power to come up with two other portrait ideas/styles that bore ZERO resemblance to the safe, habitual choice. The first alt angle I took was to go into a unique location. I wasn’t able to shoot inside the building, being a federal courthouse and all, BUT, there wasn’t anything wrong with shooting inside the revolving door of the building. And after tweaking my positioning to avoid being directly in the reflection of the glass, I was able to get this really stark portrait of Attorney Pfluger.

Prosecutor Julie Pfluger poses for a portrait outside the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Monday, November 20, 2017.

So, what other things can we do to get away from our silly brain’s tendency to take the energetically simplest route and follow our photographic habits? Well, as stupid and corny as it sounds, knowing is half the battle. Seriously. Think about it.

Now we know from learning about myelination that we are literally in direct control of changing and adapting our brains, changing real life outcomes. The best way to break out of old photo habits? Break those “wired together” neuronal pathways and DO SHIT DIFFERENTLY. Ever shoot portraits with a 400mm telephoto lens? Ever walk up to a total stranger on the street and capture their image? Ever get uncomfortably close to the subject of your photos? You’ll never wire new connections if all you do is think through it. Different and better results come from taking action. It’s your brain chemistry; don’t let it get in the way of you creating your best photography.

As you might have noticed, neuroscience/chemistry/all that holds a pretty special place in my life, even now as a professional visual journalist. I’m working a number of other articles that look at some of the scientific principles behind photography and making meaningful creative work. So, if you enjoyed this and want to see more, let me know in the comments!

So, my question to you all to wrap up today’s article is: What’s your worst photo habit? Tell me in the comment section or tag your Instagram Story using the hashtag #photoforwardmedia and I’ll share some of my favorite responses!

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