We’ve always called it a hybrid company, as our company provides both photography and video. Our crew might be nimble or large, but I’m primarily the photographer and director when it comes to projects. Laura provides creative direction although there are times that we work with talented partners. When we executive produce a shoot where we hire several companies, it’s not as appropriate to put those still or motion samples on my personal site at alexandergarcia.com. If I’m selecting a director, DP, or photographer, it’s more appropriate to put these samples on the ThreeStoryMedia.com site. Invariably, you’ll see a lot of shared content on both sites – when we get to updating them:-)

Several years later, our company is going the direction that you might expect – authentic and emotional storytelling. We’re not into special effects, stunts, and graphics that overwhelm the story and senses. We’re about keying into the emotional core of a situation, getting in close, finding the intimate moments, and telling a great story.

I’ve been meaning to create a sizzle reel for some time, so when a potential client reached out and specifically asked for a reel including scenes from specific videos we had done, I was happy to do. It came together well and given the anniversary, I wanted to share. It gives a sense about where we’ve been and where we are going.

Thank you for viewing and joining us on this storytelling road. Turn up the volume and share in the tears, laughs and admiration of the human spirit that we’re so honored to have experienced.

I don’t talk about it much, but I studied political science at Northwestern University and worked for a year in Washington D.C. for a non-profit watchdog group. My belief about power, then and now, is similar to that of Peter Parker’s uncle in Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility.” So when the Better Government Association asked for a video that could be used as a means for fundraising, my company Three Story Media was all in. The fact that many who work at the association were former Chicago Tribune employees with whom I used to work was an added plus.

The Better Government Association, for context, is a full-service watchdog organization. This means that not only do they conduct investigative journalism projects in Illinois, but they advocate and involve citizens to keep up the pressure on state and local officials once those projects are published. So they appear in the State Capitol in front of legislators, and they sue the government when needed. They’re the only non-profit in Illinois dedicated to government transparency. And they do amazing work.

But enough of the spiel. Roll the video….

Join me as we talk about what Covid-19 has meant for our business and creative selves, tomorrow Thursday. Don’t forget to register, as it will enable you to ask questions.

Surprisingly, I’ve had assignments to help keep me busy. But staying safe and protecting others is always a concern, so we’ll be talking about that as well.

Look forward to having you join us!

That opportunity was, indeed, too good to be true. In the rough-and-tumble worlds of mergers/acquisitions and advertising, what appeared to be a 3-year opportunity as a visual storyteller vaporized within a matter of months, to both my shock and that of the marketing director. Our carefully laid plans were thrown out the window and I found myself staring into an abyss, having cleared my schedule in preparation for this opportunity.

So where do you go from a moment like that? How do you survive and thrive in an industry of relentless competition where everyone claims to be a “storyteller”?

Join me and other speakers at the ASMP Chicago/Midwest Strictly Business Seminar this as we share our experiences, insights and much inspiration this January. Early bird pricing ends December 26.

I’m not in charge of the seminar, but I can almost guarantee that you will save a lot of money, and make more, by the advice that we give. Truly, I wish I could have shared these tips with my 2014 self. Someone get me a time machine for Christmas;-)

I’m excited to announce that after some review of changing U.S. regulations, Cuba Workshops is cleared to move forward with photography tours to Cuba under the category of Support for the Cuban People in 2020. It is an unexpected lifeline for continuing our tours to Cuba and hopefully will continue into the future. Of course, given the fact that we are heading into a presidential election year with Florida up for grabs, it’s likely the risk of politics could affect your ability to travel to what is rapidly becoming a forbidden island. Our recommendation is not to delay any plans when it comes to this fascinating country. 

Both itineraries take us to Havana and the colonial town of Trinidad: 

January 24 – 31, 2020

Jaime Permuth joins with me to lead this street-photography oriented tour. Jaime is an internationally-exhibited and award-winning photographer based in New York City who is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts and New York University. His i3 Lecture Series has been heralded as an incredible resource of photographic inspiration. A native of Guatemala, he has led workshops to Cuba in the past and will be an outstanding presence for our participants. In addition to three nights in gorgeous Trinidad, a highlight of our tour will be to witness the “Marcha de las Antorchas”, a yearly tribute at the university where students march through the streets of Havana with torches to carry the light of independence hero José Martí. 

April 29 – May 6, 2020

Our popular last trip during the International Workers’ Day Celebration on May 1st was an exhilarating experience for all our participants. We will revisit this momentous day in the life of the country, which offers a unique opportunity to understand the country on a person-by-person level. We will have a busy schedule, from bustling Havana to gorgeous Trinidad. Our tours are meant to provide different ways to interact with and support a wide variety of Cubans and their individual needs.  

What we uniquely provide are curated experiences for our travelers based on years in the country navigating the often-tough challenges of logistics, bureaucracy, transportation and communication. On past trips we have met and photographed entrepreneurs (“cuentapropistas”) artists, musicians, boxers, ballet dancers, baseball players, farmers, fishermen, bakers and more. This is in addition to meeting the people who own the private homes and private restaurants where we sleep and eat. The trip provides an amazing opportunity to meet and support everyday Cubans and their passionate pursuits, to understand the country in a fun and enriching way and connect meaningfully with the Cuban people. We always try to keep the trips different, adding more unique experiences and finding different groups of people to support and to photograph. 

I’m happy to excerpt some wonderfully generous words from previous travelers: 
“Alex did an incredible job putting together such a dynamic experience for us to capture.  Each day unfolded with new backdrops and scenarios to engage and photograph.  My goal as a photographer was to get out of my comfort zone, and document the texture, color and soul.  I’m grateful to the Cuba Workshop team for all the behind the scenes planning, day to day mentoring, and access to both curated and spontaneous moments – truly an unforgettable trip.” 
– Kerri Sherman, photographer

“This trip taught me confidence in approaching and capturing candid street shots and I walked away with tangible evidence of every crazy and amazing thing I did, which would otherwise have felt like a dream by the end of it. If you’re debating whether or not to take this ride….A personally-guided tour of non-tourist areas in a communist country with a group of passionate artists is a priceless approach for taking your photography skills to the next level.”
– Kat Tushim, art director

“I have been there twice before with Alex Garcia, and expect absolutely nothing but a new adventure around every corner.”
– Michael Kaminski, agency production SVP

“If you are looking for an intimate type of trip to Cuba, this is the trip you want to take.  When I came back from Cuba in May, I was was not mentally home for a few weeks, because a 40-year-old dream was realized. Cuba is an extraordinary country with warm beautiful people, stunning colors and a fascinating history and culture. Old Havana will fascinate you! You can walk around the city for hours without being bored. Life on the streets is buzzing.  Every street corner is worthy of a photograph. Cuba’s history is a story that is told through its artists, art is anywhere and everywhere. Trinidad with its cobblestone streets and bright colors houses is a visual explosion of color.”
– Barb Pashup, photographer

If you have any interest in one of our trips, please reach out. The deadline for January is in a month or so, and will be here before we know it!  

More questions about our trip? See what is included with our package trips to Cuba or see our FAQ page. 

Hope to see you in Havana!  
Alex

https://wgnradio.com/2019/09/09/andrea-and-the-reporters-journalistic-panel-will-byington-alex-garcia-and-nancy-stone/

Just wanted to give a heads up that tomorrow, Saturday May 18, I’ll be speaking at the Prism Photo Workshop at Columbia College. If you can make it, I’d love to see you. I’ll be speaking at 11am for about an hour about how to take photojournalism and storytelling into other areas to expand your influence and business. I was added a few days ago to the keynote spot when my friend John White had to attend to a personal situation, hence the last minute notification.

For those interested, the Prism Photo Workshop was started by Michael Zajakowski, Alyssa Schuker and Michelle Kanaar with the mission to “provide resources and support for young photographers of diverse backgrounds to tell the stories of underrepresented people and communities with dignity.” We believe it is imperative that news organizations — and the journalists who represent them — are credible, diligent, and reflect our communities accurately and faithfully.”

​Over 100 people have already signed up online, and you can do so too. Or you can show up at the door. Hope you can join us!

I’m very excited to announce that I’m launching a photo workshop through a new business, CubaWorkshops.com, this April 27-May 5th! We will visit Havana, Cienfuegos and Trinidad for 9 days and 8 nights. It’ll be an amazing time as we will be there for the huge May Day gathering in Havana as well as enjoying the sights around the city during the Havana Biennial. We will also head through Cienfuegos to the colonial gem of a town, Trinidad, with its sugar plantation ruins, cobblestone streets and waterfalls.

Our unique trip is in cooperation with Sony, who will provide each participant the option of trying out a camera and two lenses for the 9 day/8 night trip. Free! It’s open for both amateurs and professionals – camera owners of any brand. We will be accompanied by a Sony Pro Support representative who will be there to answer any questions you may have about the Sony gear.

Early-bird pricing will end in a week, so if you’re interested, please check your calendars and sign up through the site. I already have people signing up and I expect this to be a sold-out trip, so don’t delay. I’m limiting the trip to 10 photographers. If you can’t make this one, there’s a newsletter sign-up option as well.

As many of you know, I’ve spent over 20 years going back and forth to Cuba as a student, journalist, tour leader and family member. Creating greater understanding between our two countries is written into my DNA, so this business is an outgrowth of a lot of professional and personal time spent in Cuba. It will be a curated experience for photographers, led by myself and Orietta García, a professional tour guide in Havana and a former producer of one of the country’s most famous musicians.

Please share the word for anyone looking for an adventure!

Here’s the best link.

Thank you so much! 

Everyone has an opinion about border immigration, fewer people have a clear grasp of the facts, and even fewer have the up-close and personal experience to speak from. This Saturday, November 10th at 5 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church/Chicago Temple across from Daley Center Plaza, I’ll be introducing photographer John Moore and former Border Patrol agent and writer Francisco Cantú. Here is a description of the event from the Chicago Humanities Festival page:

“Odds are, you’ve already seen one of John Moore’s photographs this year. Before it became a viral symbol of the humanitarian crisis unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border, a photo with the caption: “A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained” was a real-time, real-life scene unfolding in front of Moore, a Getty Images special correspondent. “This one was tough for me,” he said. “As soon as it was over, they were put into a van. I had to stop and take deep breaths.” Moore, a Pulitzer-Prize winner, has focused on the issue of undocumented immigration and the militarization of the southern border. He has earned access to immigrants on all points of their journey, as well as to ICE and Border Patrol agents and USCIS officials. Moore will join us to discuss Undocumented. Former United States Border Agent and Whiting Award-winning author of The Line Becomes A River: Dispatches from the Border, Francisco Cantú will join in conversation.”

I’ve admired John Moore’s work for some time. He’s an accomplished Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist who, after traveling the world for Getty Images has been focusing on immigration and border issues for the last decade. It’s an honor to introduce them both.

There will be a book signing after the program.

Hope that we can see you there.

After many years on the street in Chicago as a photojournalist, one of the concerns that I heard consistently in underserved communities was the need not just for good jobs, but for opportunities for those getting out of jail. It made no sense to me that someone who paid the penalty for their crime and who wanted to rebuild their life would be denied that opportunity because of their jail record. So when I was approached to do to a video for Recipe for Change, it was meant to be.

Recipe for Change is a non-profit organization that provides mentoring and guidance to non-violent detainees in the jail and prison system through culinary, fine arts and life skills training. It operates an active educational program five days per week in the Cook County Jail. The heart of the program is Chef Bruno Abate, who received a “call from God” that led him to start the program. He doesn’t just give cooking advice, but life advice. An equal dose of inspiration.

Detainees can earn a certificate that sets them up to work in restaurants once they re-enter society. Those who go through the program don’t come back. It’s that effective. That, according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, is very unusual. There are currently creating a program in the women’s jail.

The production team was comprised of myself, producer Kelly Sullivan, my co-creative partner Laura Husar Garcia and Johnny McGuire, who provided the aerial cinematography that you must see at the end.

If you know anyone who owns and operates restaurants or who would like to donate cooking equipment, please ask them to reach out to the organization through their website, recipeforchangeproject.org.

They could transform a life and change a family for generations.

More often than not when creating an image library for a corporation or organization, I am called upon to create portraits or headshots. It’s logical, since the library is often part of a more ambitious overhaul of a website and that includes the “About Us” page.

But because they don’t reside on the home page, these portraits don’t always receive the same creative consideration. You would expect that to be a creative goal to create consistency in branding, so I’m always prepared for that to be the case.  My modus operandi has always been to answer the question,  “What is the end goal here?”

This all comes to mind on two recent shoots, where careful consideration was, indeed, given to crafting a look for photos of individuals. In the top example for a healthcare company, the agency showed samples of different headshots, had discussions, and issued a creative brief. On set, the agency creative director and the company’s creative reviewed the images on the tethered laptop to make minor adjustments. The goal was more about color and light but not so saturated in color that it set up an odd pairing for the mature leadership.  The background was different but similar, to account for what could be future photographs taken in other environments. Thematically, they had to work together without being identical.

In the lower example, the headshots were taken at a Working Not Working creative gathering. Discussions ahead of time were about how they should be a little more moody, muted with a dark background but not so dark as to create jarring juxtaposition with a smiling, happy person. It was to be more personal and intimate. Again, samples were offered but I was given the flexibility to bring whatever look I thought was appropriate within those guidelines. Practically speaking it was also very quick, since we were doing dozens of subjects and it was taken in a corner next to a crowded bar! But it was a crazy fun time.

Both were a success and an enjoyable experience, in part because of creative direction. To me, that element always been essential in order to align expectations. One reason there is a “Create PDF” link in the left column on my website is because it’s a very useful function in creating a mood board.  Clicking on the image shows all the images in the website, allowing a person to create a PDF by selecting images that might pair with the creative look and feel they have in mind.

You would think after all this, the only thing missing from having photographs achieve a creative goal is to have creative direction. Yet unfortunately, the head-scratching truth is that there are photographers who don’t know how to follow a creative brief. I don’t get it. I was on a recent multi-city project where a very thorough creative brief was given to different photographers shooting in different cities. It called for a white background, even lighting but a light source not too hard, very shallow depth-of-field, a certain type of expression. Examples were given. I understood what was needed and rented equipment as appropriate to the project. Afterward, the project manager was happy with what I had done but circled back in a group email (mercifully bcc’d) in which he complained to the other photographers about their lack of follow-through while holding up my pictures as an example (with my name redacted so no one ended up hating me later). Honestly, I don’t say this to brag. How can you brag about something as basic as following directions?

This is perhaps fodder for a different post, but in the end, it appears to me that many photographers are not comfortable shooting outside their creative comfort zones.  I understand this to some degree. There are natural instincts as a photographer that take over when faced with uncertainty on a shoot. You solve problems a certain way. You subtly adjust to repeat past success. The insecure impulses associated with a challenge can be hard to fight. But having been a generalist for much of my career in which I have been expected to emulate different looks for different editors over the years, I don’t get caught up with what I’ve done but what I need to do. As with the examples above, I echo what Gregory Heisler used to call the “appropriate response.”

So it’s a two-way street between a photographer and a creative director.  It’s fantastic and a relief to have a brief written by someone used to directing photographers but it’s up to the photographer to read between the lines of any project description or brief to ask questions and offer synonyms for ambiguous words such as “candid” or “edgy” to get everyone closer to acting from a shared vocabulary.

The example here is portraits and headshots, nothing terribly complicated. But once expectations are aligned and creative flow is moving forward, it makes the process a lot more reassuring for everyone, no matter the size of the shoot.

The “Hang Time with Sam Alipour” show on ESPN is always a fun segment as Sam hangs out with a superstar athlete trying something they always wanted to do. In this case, ESPN “Hang   Indy 500 race champion Josef Newgarden wanted to try his hand at improv comedy at The Second City Theater in Chicago. Actually, he’s a funny guy, and very telegenic. A great subject to work with and we had a lot of fun as I took pictures of their hijinks in and around the film crew that was making a segment for the show.

Super Bowl commercials, massive opportunities for storytelling around a digital campfire, can be superb examples of how creative minds can tap archetypes to gather a community around a story. They also help to answer the riddle of our times: “How do you keep the human attention span when it’s shorter than that of a goldfish?”

Four years later, I am still inspired by a great example of an archetype at Super Bowl time – the “God Made a Farmer” ad for Ram Trucks, in style and approach similar to the prequel to the more controversial “Built to Serve”.  A transcendent voice in Paul Harvey intones our deeper selves to pause to grasp elemental truths about the Farmer archetype, a crucial figure of our food chain and the backbone of economies the world over. It helped the ad was based on the medium of documentary photography, a conduit for authentic truth and spellbinding attention.

Likewise, the “Built to Serve” by Ram Trucks had an equally outstanding message, built around the principle of serving others. It had the blessing of the Martin Luther King, Jr. estate. It had cinematic video of a high caliber. The ad was in part based on the Prophet archetype. What became painfully obvious, however, is that no estate owns holy archetypes – so such an archetype needs to be treated with caution. People the world over depend on the guidance of prophets for hope beyond our material world and things money can’t buy. Given the divided soul of a nation where many are crying out for peace and justice, having a prophetic figure guide us back to materialism in the form of a heavy-duty truck was too much for some.

When you look at serving others, as exemplified by the Caregiver archetype, no figure can perhaps lay greater claim to being the unselfish protector and compassionate giver than a first responder, which is probably why the Verizon ad was one of the few where I instantly started to tear up (nice going all). First responders are both Caregivers and Heroes wrapped in one. They also tap into the powerful Reciprocity Principle. Seeing news photos lifted up in context was also very inspiring to reinforce the “real people” reality of these stories.

The Hero Archetype? Most clearly seen through the triumph of 8X Paralympic Gold Medalist Lauren Woolstencroft, who proves the power of the human will against the odds. We see the courage, strength and discipline to fight our own heroic battles as we are left in awe.  Heroes are the role models that transcend circumstance.

The Innovator was represented by Keanu in his ad for Squarespace. As a Creator, he has what could be seen as a burning-bush-in-the-desert experience in the fuller version of the ad online (Neo is the chosen one, after all). What does riding on the back of a motorcycle until launching into the sky have to do with building a website? Is walking on wheels like walking on water? Who knows? He’s too busy fulfilling the archetype of a creator in his vision to create lasting value. Critics will easily get lost in this desert but the message has already been sent, and more importantly, felt.

The Regular Guy’s struggle for respect was exquisitely and comically played by Chris Pratt as he seeks the elusive fame of being featured prominently in a beer commercial, only to find that he finds fame as elusive as the rest of us. How many everyman’s dreams end in a bar with friends?  If you know his backstory before stardom, he was homeless and working at a restaurant until he was offered an acting opportunity, giving special resonance to this archetype for those in the know.

If you represent an airline looking to boost travel, why not tap into the Explorer archetypethrough Dr. Oz’s enthralled recounting of all we are capable of seeing, hearing, feeling and experiencing through the human senses? You could live out another Hero’s Journey as described by Joseph Campbell.

I’m sure David Harbour has played stranger things than the Jester, as he romped through all the well-worn commercials to rip up storyboards everywhere he saw them. His running joke irreverence helped us see the commercial landscape through a newer and cleaner perspective, leaving us amused and grateful.

I will never forget making a portrait of natural talent Keegan-Michael Key on a train in Chicago as a comedian with the Second City troupe before he achieved greater fame.  I was delighted to see him assume the role of the Sage, a wise and truth-seeking figure, as he set people straight until finally showing them how to navigate the mortgage process for Quicken Loans.

To conclude, there are plenty more archetypes to consider, from Vikings to Knights, and other figures who have come to represent various versions of the Conquering Hero (this is the Super Bowl after all). What I found most interesting and amusing was how the Bud Light ad almost “flipped the script”, where the shining-hero-on-a-horse that expect to act in one way, acts in the opposite.

Good thing our knight had second thoughts. Perhaps we will see more examples of upside-down archetypes next year as we see new twists on the old.

Shortly before the holidays, Flashes of Hope invited me to participate in a photo shoot for pediatric patients with cancer and life-threatening illnesses at a hospital in the western suburbs of Chicago. It’s a wonderful charity that I had written about when I blogged for the Chicago Tribune many moons ago. The timing worked out and I was happy to volunteer. I felt a little out of place because my business is not family photography – I get some calls here and there and try to pass them on to others who specialize in it. But photographing the children and families made for a lovely time – even if you only get a few minutes with each family to make pictures. You couldn’t help but root for the families, hoping that this year, and every year, brings health, happiness and hope.

I’m thrilled to announce that through the School of Visuals Arts and Kadenze online arts and technology courses, I’m co-teaching a program called Photographer to Video in Today’s Gig Economy. It’s for all those photographers who need focused and cohesive instruction (read: Kick in Butt:-)) as they add video to their skillsets, or reinvent themselves as video storytellers. This is a MUST DO, as I’ve told many photographers. My transition to being an independent freelancer was made possible with video as an option for my clients, and in many cases, the primary offering. I’m honored to be among distinguished faculty who are also co-teaching this course, including Eduardo Angel, Gail Mooney and Manuel Tejeda. The experience of teaching in front of a camera was new for me (reading a teleprompter to begin with!), but I got into the swing of it.

Why is this so important and why do I care? As I mentioned in my introductory video, I was once at a meeting with a room full of photographers when an agent asked how many photographers had transitioned to video. The room was packed. Maybe 5 hands went up in the room. I was stunned and sad, especially after seeing many photographers I know give up on their careers. Who could possibly miss the signs of the marketplace that point to video?  I could go on, but that’s why I lay out some of the reasons in the first class. Of course every photographer wants to be the photographer that doesn’t have to shoot video, who wants to be recognized for their vision at such an order of magnitude that video is unnecessary. I understand that thinking, but uh, good luck with that, since even the topmost photographers in the industry have embraced video in a powerful way.  It’s why I started my company Three Story Media.  It’s about not just about video, it’s about scaling up video productions in general. But you have to start somewhere.

From the course description: “Today’s gig economy demands that creatives draw from a wide range of knowledge and frequently adapt to new tools and workflows. Having a strong foundation in photography is a good start, but having solid video production skills will expand the number and kind of jobs you can be hired for. Photographer to Video in Today’s Gig Economy provides five courses to give today’s digital photographer a working knowledge of video as well as projects to extend your portfolio. Starting with Camera Essentials, you will gain an understanding of the camera settings and gear that is used in professional DSLR and mirrorless video production. The second course, Working with Motion and Time is a deep dive from photography to videography and shows you how to think in motion, add motion where there is none, and control focus, light and sound. Sound Essentials is the third course and, as the name suggests, covers an entirely new dimension that can make or break your video work. Next, the Fundamentals of Video Production course will get you ready for your first shoot covering everything from storyboarding to managing the crew, location and lighting. Finally, in Fundamentals of Video Post-Production you will jump into the art of editing your work.”

This program starts with the basics, assuming you have a foundation of knowledge about and experience shooting digital photograph. So if you know little or have dabbled with video, or if you’ve learned video on your own and need some confirmation of what you’ve learned together with deeper insights by other faculty, I’m confident that this program is for you.

For those people who might want to take this class as evidence to a school or employer, the Kadenze program offers this: “Completion of a program or credit-eligible course appears on your Kadenze resume/portfolio, which can be valuable for presentation to potential employers, or schools to which you might apply.”

Here are the 5 courses that are part of my portion of the program. The first session is more of an essential overview, on the way to other meatier topics:

The program also offers a forum for students to interact with each other.

I’m hoping this program might be helpful for you, or someone you might know who would benefit. Please share as you might.

Thank you!

Alex

So it was with much delight that after photographing a few assignments for the magazine, I was asked to be on the alumni board of the magazine. It’s a great honor for this alum. We recently had an annual meeting where we reviewed back issues of the magazine and the great work that is done by the nimble and talented team of Executive Editor Stephanie Russell, Art Director Christina Senese and Senior Editor Sean Hargadon. We also looked forward with a strategic eye to meeting our readers in areas and channels that most interest them.

Overall I’m delighted to be a part of the magazine and look forward to giving my input on a school whose history I know very well.

Included here are some of my recent assignments from the last couple issues:

Keeping visible during a TEDx event presentation in Chicago.
_____________________________________________

“I’ve been working in this town for 30 years and I’ve never heard of you”, the head of production at a Chicago ad agency said, impressed by my work but mystified about my perceived invisibility. A well-known commercial and editorial photographer who works for the same editor as I did as a staff photojournalist at the Tribune for years, had no idea who I was at a mixer.

This was shortly after leaving the Tribune. I knew then that things were going to be a little more uphill than expected.

The problem with working at one of the largest circulation news organizations in the country is that you assume people in your backyard creative community might know your name.

I didn’t think it unreasonable. I was one of the more public photographers at the paper before leaving three years ago. I had a Sunday column for years sharing photo tips. I was interviewed on radio and television numerous times, and presented work before thousands at events such as TEDx Midwest, Chicago Ideas Week and Chicago Lit Fest.

I had even worked large commercial jobs while freelancing during my free time from the Tribune, of course under the watchful eyes of that friendly person in Human Resources who would call me on Christmas Eve to make sure my freelance gig was approved by my supervisor.

So to any photojournalist looking to transition to the commercial world, that should be something to think about. You certainly shouldn’t wait until your buyout money starts to fade to get yourself going, because it can take a year of getting to know people before work starts coming your way. The one mistake I regret was not marketing right away after leaving, mostly because I was busy with a big client who helped make the leap possible.

One experienced commercial photographer seeing that I had prepared myself for freelance remarked, “It takes photographers normally 5 years to really get things going. It might take you 3.” I’m at 3 years now and finally things are jelling. I’m very grateful for the projects that come my way through relationships, many of them friends and colleagues who know and trust my work. It’s a lot of fun. It’s been a continuation of our relationships, in different stages of our lives.

So it doesn’t matter if you were a star in your industry. You might have a Pulitzer, put your life on the line in combat and worked in awful and dangerous conditions that would make a studio photographer crumble in fear and stress. You might have won awards in World Press Photo and been asked to mentor the next generation at some of the most prestigious workshops and universities in the world.

But once you leap into commercial or advertising worlds where you may not have as many contacts, prepare to prove yourself all over again to each and every new client. They may have heard of you. They likely haven’t. Either way, they assume you have set patterns and might not understand the sensibilities of project or client management or how to be guided by a creative brief, or more importantly, how to get along in their culture. I’ve written about the similarities of production between news and commercial work, but really, that’s all logic. In the end, we all make decisions based on gut and emotion.

The good news is that, if you ever learned to accept the editor phrase, “what you have done for me lately?” you’re well-prepared for future humility and the constant need for self-promotion.

There is another silver lining – proof you can have a career in photography without being known whatsoever. It’s not uncommon for me to stumble upon a commercial photographer or director I’ve never heard about, happily and successfully working for years in the city, oblivious to his need for a big reputation. He just knows the right dozen people to make a great career.

So I hope this is a great kick-in-the-pants about getting known before you hang out your shingle. One person’s “superstar”, which I was once called at a photo conference (true story), is another person’s unknown character lingering at an APA networking event (also true).

In the end what I’m discovering is a truism:

Being known helps create a relationship. Having a relationship brings trust. Trust brings work. And that process takes time.

Many photographers feel that social media fame is the way of the future. You see twenty-somethings getting offers of work from brands eager to connect to their audiences. Indeed, on assignment, I was impressed by the kitchen that McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook had devoted entirely to Instagram influencers. But I know a lot of very busy commercial photographers whose Instagram followings are abysmally low by superstar standards. It’s because they are proven talent – experienced, reliable and dependable. Your real life social network can be just as valuable as your online social network.

Social media influencers behind the @foodintheair Instagram account explore a shot at @mcdonalds on a day that announced healthier changes to the menu. It was fascinating to see all the influencers at work in a studio area especially dedicated for Instagrammers.

A post shared by Alex Garcia (@alexgarciaimages) on Aug 6, 2016 at 5:45pm PDT

It all reminds me of a surprising conversation I had after a talk about storytelling I gave at the SoHo House here in Chicago. I was sitting with a group of photographers, talking about self-promotion. After I finished saying something about what it took to find new clients, a complete stranger across the table said to me, “You really disappoint me.” I stared at him, mystified.

Then he says, “If you, with all your experience and reputation, still have to work hard to find clients, how am I ever possibly going to make it? ”

I felt bad for him and didn’t know what to say. Honestly, I imagine it would be hard to start from scratch in today’s competitive photo world.

The first thought that occurred to me, sitting at an exclusive club of creatives from various industries, reflects a reality any self-employed person can relate to:

“Welcome to the club.”

This past week I was a judge for the Pictures of the Year International contest at the University of Missouri, where we sat in a room for 12 hours a day, for four days, viewing over 18,000 images from thousands of photographers across the globe. Per contest coordinator Rick Shaw’s guidelines for judging, we viewed each image three times, in order to give every image the benefit of the doubt. (So it was more like 54,000 viewings). At one point it felt like I was in the “Star Gate” sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey as we hurtled through images from all over time and space, inundated with light, color and scenes of intensity from around the globe, filled with awe.

I was absolutely delighted to fulfill a professional milestone, alongside Elizabeth Krist, Bruce Strong, and Moe Doiron. Our job was to evaluate the Reportage multiple pictures categories on our way to choosing the Photographer of the Year. I had been to a POY judging – but only as a participant. This time, I was out of the armchair and into the hot seat – especially because our comments were at times recorded on Facebook Live.

As someone who has written about, taught and presented on effective visual communication, it was also a great opportunity for me to gain further insights into the urgent question that I often think about as a visual creator helping clients reach audiences.

What makes for compelling images?  

What images not only win contests, but also break through the visual noise and clutter to make a viewer stop, linger and look?

So as our group propelled ourselves through the images, I tried to answer this question. I paid attention to what was going through my mind (and gut) as I experienced the multitude of amazing images. It was not easy. We made split-second decisions that were often visceral.

I concluded that it came down to four criteria. They reflect image perception from the eye, to the mind and ultimately and most importantly, to the heart.

1. Beautiful

When your eyes are inundated with images, beauty always makes you stop and fill with awe – an underlying character of many viral images. So in this case, it became a bare minimum to move forward with an image.

Images had to combine light, mood, emotion and composition in a visual coherence that were just plain beautiful. If it was color, it had to be beautiful color – not necessarily bright and beautiful, as it could be high key and muted, or even dark and brooding. It just had to be done skillfully to heighten an aesthetic.

We had long discussions about post-production and color treatments, etc. As a photojournalism contest, it’s generally frowned upon for ethics reasons. If it supported the content, I was all in favor of it. If it became a look for the sake of a look, then I would argue against it. The winning portfolio had a series of images with a post-produced look that I felt was completely unnecessary. But I voted for it anyway on the strength of the content.

I will say that post-produced images are more likely to be given a second look, as you first experience the style and what it has to say, and then dig deeper into the image itself. In that pause, there is likely an opportunity.

2. Storytelling

Storytelling creates motion between images – a narrative thread that engages a viewer. We started with overviews of essays, where we could experience their overall context. This is where editing really became key.

Visual variety, identifiable faces or characters to put a face on an issue – all of these things help when viewing a body of images. Photographs shot at a distance were not quick reads and were a bit of a challenge to appreciate when viewed as a grid. Nonetheless, we lingered on them to give every entry its due.

When there is a push-and-pull between images shot at different distances and focal lengths, it produces a narrative motion that propels a viewer forward through a set of images. You can see the flow and it enhances a story. (This translates to sequencing for videos as well)

So it was very easy to quickly scan a grid of 12 or 40 images to tell whether there was a breakdown in the story in the form of repetitive or weak images.  The flow was also interrupted when a photographer put together two images that were just too similar to each other, but were likely separate in his/her own mind.

Because we all have short attention spans as humans, you don’t want any of these things to distract from the motion or sequencing of a narrative.

If images are all photographed in a similar manner that can work too, as long as the viewer is brought to an unexpected place by the repetition and uniformity. But it’s a delicate dance to make sure images are not redundant to the point that you lose interest.

3. Engaging

Images had to engage the mind. For this, a cognitive reaction of, “What’s this?” had to happen. New and fresh always get more attention in visual communication.

If an image makes you ask questions, all the better, but not to the extent that you walk away without enough information to understand what you just saw.  Then it’s just an irritation to your cognitive curiosity and the image gets dropped like a rock.

Rodeos or boot camps or any number of clichés got passed over quickly, unless they were exceptionally and uniquely presented. We’ve seen it. No surprise.

Engaging stories are ones that usually relevant to the cultural conversation at large – images that speak to ideas, thoughts and emotions that are swirling in our world.

For example, we all admitted to leaning forward in our chairs looking for picture stories that spoke to some of the bigger news stories from last year, such as Standing Rock or the Fidel Castro funeral.

For the stories about drug violence in the Philippines, we saw many photographers’ work. Which won? The story with contextual scenes that showed how the deaths intruded on daily life. Those were more engaging. We wondered what it would be like to have to deal with that on a day-to-day basis.

Another takeaway was that it’s important to relate any story back to shared human experience, to stir a connection (see below).

4. Emotional

Perhaps most obviously, emotion was the rule. It was the ultimate arbiter, how images made us feel, after all was said and done.

As a photojournalist at my news organizations, I always keyed on the emotion of a story in the limited time I had. You have to find the heart of a story.

But there’s a very important caveat that I think eludes a lot of people.

Emotions are only valuable to the extent that it makes the viewer care.

The images had to spur compassion, fun, anger, injustice, inspiration etc. Yes, it’s great if the subjects are emotional in the frame, but capturing emotion was not enough. As viewers we had to care about the subject to care about their emotion. Otherwise there is a disconnect. We have to know enough about the story and the context to be able to relate

Foreign ceremonies, unusual events, strange traditions, fetishes, or ethnic group profiles can all be interesting, visual and even emotional. But does it really matter to a viewer except in an anthropological – external observer kind of way?

As busy humans with short attention spans, we need to feel the urgency of caring, now.

That’s the challenge of any contest – to thread a narrative through beautiful and engaging images that make jurors care.

But that goes for just about all visual communication, and the everyday jurors who make split-second decisions that can determine your future.

Waiting, watching, wondering on the California coast.

(All lyrics in italics from the original motion picture soundtrack of  “La La Land”)

I still remember the exact moment a quarter century ago, thousands of miles from my family in Chicago, sitting on the edge of my bed in my socks in a studio apartment in Long Beach, CA. I had just woken up to the reality of my life choices. I wanted to be a photojournalist and had taken a job on the edge of the country. I had given up most everything I knew. The question presented itself:  “What the heck am I doing?”

“Without a nickel to my name
Hopped a bus, here I came
Could be brave or just insane
We’ll have to see.”

I left my family and comforts in Chicago for a part-time job at a newspaper in California, desperate to get my start. I knew no one. I hadn’t seen my newspaper in Long Beach, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, before coming out. The paper was well-regarded. That’s as much as I knew.

“Still I did what I had to do
‘Cause I just knew.”

Like many creatives who take risks and sacrifices for their art, in this case I was socially isolated. I was at the whims of circumstances beyond my control. The area had just suffered through riots. Was it all going to be worth it? How would this all end?

“City of stars, there’s so much I can’t see.
Who knows, is this the start of something wonderful and new?
Or one more dream that I can not make true?”

Ira Glass of “This American Life” made a brilliant observation about storytelling and the creative life – about “The Gap” that exists between where you want to be, “your taste” and where your creative vision aspires, “your work.”  It’s a conceptual state, but it’s a very real one. Bridging that gap can be slow. In that time, our emotional, financial and spiritual lives have to survive the messiness. And it’s not pretty. “The Gap” has very real consequences in the daily lives of ourselves and the people we care about.

“Here’s to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that ache
Here’s to the mess we make”

It’s a time of waiting, wondering, and watching. Doubts, questions and feelings manifest. So many things can sour. Will destiny favor my future?

“Somewhere there’s a place where I find who I’m gonna be
A somewhere that’s just waiting to be found”

Ambition and creative frustration can be convulsed by feelings of insecurity – of being an imposter as you pretend to a higher state of achievement.

“I’m reaching for the heights
And chasing all the lights that shine
And when they let you down
You’ll get up off the ground
‘Cause morning rolls around
And it’s another day of sun”

At some point, in the darkness of frustration, all can be for naught. Your life revolves around work, and when work is bad, everything is bad.

Should I just give up, or am I on the verge of success and don’t realize it?

“A bit of madness is key
To give us new colors to see
Who knows where it will lead us?”

And then sometimes imperceptibly, you catch yourself experiencing a renewal, and improbable rebirth.

One day, out of the blue, I got a call from the Director of Photography of the Los Angeles Times. He had seen my work in the paper, liked it and offered me a job. Up until that point, I was just another face in the crowd. I had never met him.

My career took another leap.

“Someone in the crowd could
Take you where you wanna go
If you’re the someone ready to be found.
Do what you need to do
‘Til they discover you”

More doors were opened, and the wanderings led to more opportunities. A job offer brought me back to my home in Chicago.  It seemed like divine providence.

I met my wife on the first day of work.

Her nickname was Lala.

“City of stars
Are you shining just for me?
City of stars
You never shined so brightly”

I finally had some breathing time this month to upload photos for a picture gallery of a non-profit foundation project that I just loved working on. Over a year ago I was contacted by a former colleague who realized that his organization really needed to showcase the tremendous work it does, for members, supporters and the general public. Since then, I dropped in during different seasons to document the beautiful landscape in a creative photojournalism style for an image library for its internal and external communications. Their annual report is about to be published, which I’m excited about because it makes ample use of this imagery. I also shot some aerials and edited a video for the organization’s anniversary, which can be found in the motion-video category of my site, but also on their foundation’s page. Give them some view-love:-) if you have a few minutes. For visual consistency, I gave the images a creative treatment that reflects the feeling and mood that I experienced in my wanderings there, which was often during the Golden Hour. Hope you enjoy!

Next month over the Thanksgiving holiday, I’ll be leading a group to Havana with School of Visual Arts colleague Jaime Permuth for a week long exploration of the capital city and the surrounding area. Our last trip was fantastic. I’ve been going there for years, but I was amazed we were able to photograph things I hadn’t ever seen.

Now that everyone is talking about going to Cuba, the question you might ask is:

Would such a trip be right for you?

I would ask it a different way. If you’ve never been part of a destination photo workshop before, the better question might be:

What kind of a visitor do you want to be?

Your experience could be wildly different from someone else, depending on the answer.

I’ve experienced Cuba in very different ways. I was a family member looking to reconnect. I was in a months-long people-to-people exchange. I was a student in Havana. I worked in a news bureau. I led a New York Times Journeys in which I gave hour-long talks ranging from revolutionary photography to Cuban healthcare. Now I’m leading groups for SVA. So I’ve seen and experienced Cuba in different ways and through the eyes of visitors alongside me.

As a visitor to a country, do you enjoy a little bit of surprise and risk or do you want everything planned out?

Do you seek to “get in there”, or do you keep a safe distance?

Are you seeking creative opportunities or more rigorous intellectual stimulation?

The New York Times Journeys trip I helped lead earlier this year was by most measures rigorously intellectual. Everyone was ushered around to a schedule of speakers in a big, modern air-conditioned tourism bus with a Cuban guide who spoke on many topics. It was a comfortable, safe, experience. Meals were pre-arranged with tables waiting for us when we arrived, facilitating discussions. The group was an older crowd, smart and very well traveled. We had amazing access to officials. The group asked good questions, and were fascinated to know more.

But for some it lacked flexibility and the time to explore on your own, to see and meet people on the street or in their homes. You often heard: “Let’s go! The bus is leaving!”

The SVA trip a few months later was very different. With photography being the priority, it was more experience-driven, rather than intellectually-driven. The SVA goal was to get you seeing, talking with, and photographing the Cuban people in real-life environments. You are in the streets and in people’s homes, making friends and learning the realities of the Cuban experience with your camera.

I have a cousin there who is a producer for commercials and music events, so she draws on her network of contacts to make things happen. Visiting a ballpark and getting access to a dugout (during a game no less) was not originally on our schedule, but for a few participants that’s all they wanted to do. So we made it happen.

One participant on our last trip needed help finding a long lost family member. My cousin and I helped to connect them in the evening and it was awesome. I absolutely related to seeing the family ties that bind.

But perhaps the most instructional moment for me, which also motivates this post, was watching one participant in our exchange jump onto the back of an open-bed truck with a big group of guys to have a photo made.

It was a hilarious moment. Everyone in the truck went wild to have their picture taken with him (it might have helped he was wearing a Yankees cap). You just don’t expect a tourist to climb on the back of a truck and to rev everyone up for a group photo.

As a photojournalist, I’m using to keeping something of a professional distance between the subject and me. (As a group leader, I was afraid the truck would take off, leaving one less student). It’s my fly-on-the-wall orientation.

But my friend blew up that distance and my concerns, showing me something I had forgotten about any cross-cultural exchange.

We’re all mostly looking for moments that bring people together – to forget our differences and the monotony of day-to-day life. If it’s a crazy, unexpected spectacle, all the better. Months later, I still think about that experience and smile at the joy it brought everyone.

Will there be another such spectacle on our November trip?

Who knows, but when it comes to making the most of any trip to Cuba, it’s your readiness to enjoy the unexpected that can make all the difference.

When I first started attending portfolio reviews as a commercial and editorial photographer a couple years ago, I was faced with the question: Printed portfolio or iPad? I wanted to position myself among others who I perceived were mostly using books, so I created a printed portfolio. I even enlisted a friend who is a wood artisan, to create a gorgeous portfolio book made of black walnut. I loved it (and strongly recommend his work). I had something that was unique. On a conceptual level, it suggested the “real nature” of the “real people” that I generally work with. 

I spent days printing work at great expense, after making difficult choices about what to include and what not to include, mindful that a reviewer has a compressed period of time while turning oversized pages.

I wanted to distance myself from the digital media of an iPad. I thought printed material would convey a certain seriousness of my work as an artist, which is also something I had read in some interviews of portfolio reviewers.

But in the end, I decided to use an iPad Pro. Why?

Having gone through a few reviews with both a printed book and an iPad, this is what I’ve personally found:

1. You can’t control for the light in the room when viewing prints. There’s no doubt that prints can be impressive. But if you’re stuck in a dark corner with a reviewer, your prints could appear dark and suffer from the lack of radiance they had while making your gorgeous print. If you’re stuck in an incredibly bright part of a room, your prints can look washed out. At least when you’re printing for a gallery show, you have some control over user experience. You can’t really say at a review, “Well, trust me, this looked fantastic in the room where I printed.”  Yes, it’s true that the iPad can have glare, but usually by tilting the screen, using a non-glare surface screen, that goes away. I personally haven’t found that to be an issue. I’ve certainly found that colors on an iPad will often sing more than on a printed page.
2. Having a reviewer slow down to see every detail of your large print may work for your genre but it may not. In fact, it can steer the conversation away from the strengths of your abilities. I’ve observed that a reviewer will take more time and consideration with a print than a screen they can swipe. This is great if you’re the kind of photographer who invests hours or days into making a single image with detail, complexity and a level of production that you want the reviewer to notice and appreciate. But if you’re a storyteller like I am, “real moments” are more important. You might want someone to see a number of photos on the way to a mood, feeling or sense of intimacy. I also like to show I can work quickly, creating image libraries with emotion and action.
3.  An iPad offers more potential to customize your presentation. This is more important when you attend a portfolio review event with multiple reviewers.  I happen to have many bodies of work, some with more commercial flavor, some with more editorial flavor and others in between. But at reviews, you can’t bring five printed books with you easily (just the optics of that raises eyebrows) but you can quickly customize your portfolio based on the research you’ve done. Easily customizing your galleries helps keeps your conversation on target with your reviewer and leads to less confusion about who you are as a photographer.  
4. If you have a lot of work to show, an iPad is less overwhelming. At my most recent review, I showed far more work on my iPad than I ever could have shown via a printed book, and it still wasn’t enough for some reviewers who enjoyed the pictures and wanted to see more. Conversely, some reviewers appeared overwhelmed when a photographer’s voluminous portfolio book landed with a thud on the reviewing table. I would think the more you can show while respecting a reviewer’s time, the better. 
5.  If you have motion to show, you’ll have an iPad there anyway. 
6. There will be reviewers who enjoy printed books, and there will be some who like iPads. But will it really affect whether you get work? I’m guessing the greater influencers are whether they have need for your type of photography, whether they like your work and whether they trust your skill sets. I would think your conversation and your personality, more than the style of presentation, would give someone a greater edge.

If you do decide to bring an iPad, however, here are a couple tips I hope will be helpful:

1. Be sure to completely charge the iPad, and to bring a portable battery charger or long battery cord. Or both. Like with any photo shoot, back-up your back-ups.
2. Bring a soft cloth to wipe off fingerprints from the screen in between reviews.
3. Turn off all notifications, update the system software and put the iPad into airplane mode. The last thing you need is a text or system message to pop-up during a review.
4. Turn off the auto-lock, so you won’t have to deal with punching in your code in front of the reviewer. If you end up chatting for a few minutes in between viewing images,  the iPad may decide to take a breather.
5. I personally use Foliobook, but there are many different types of iPad apps out there for photographer portfolios.

It’s the Fourth of July and there was a UAV flying over our town’s parade. Maybe he was taking a lead from that viral video of a drone flying through fireworks on the Fourth of July that made a stir awhile back. Was it a hobbyist flouting laws this time or a professional with permission? I was too busy selling lemonade for the Cub Scouts to investigate.

Either way, I’m hoping they’ve taken all the necessary precautions.  As I grow my experience with UAVs, my caution has only grown. It’s not just about protecting your investment, it’s protecting people on the ground, including the pilot. I know of a photographer whose octocopter took a chunk of skin off his leg, to the extent that he’s written them off as “flying chainsaws.”

I’m sure others have more tips to add, but from what I’ve learned, here are 14 observations about how to avoid a drone crash that could do damage to yourself and others on your very first flight.

1. Treat Murphy’s Law as if it ends with heavy fines passed by the FCC. To avoid the worst that can happen, learn all you can about flying and your drone in particular. Consult all the manuals and follow all federal and local laws. The Know Before You Fly is a great website to start with.  An educated pilot is a better pilot and a more skilled aerial photographer/videographer.

2. Don’t ever panic.  The physiology of fear will cause you to either freeze up or freak out.   I’ll never forget helping a friend fly a drone. When it started to veer away, he threw the controls in my hands and shrieked, “Get it under control!”  It’s up to you to have steely nerves even when everyone around you is flipping out – not unlike Denzel Washington in the movie “Flight”. (Just don’t get coked up beforehand).

3. Eliminate reflections on your control screen. I’d suggest either using a hood, or even better, a non-reflective screen protector for your tablet or phone. Or both. Either way, I’ve had to make split-second or fast decisions while flying and making pictures. Making those crucial decisions while struggling with reflections is like trying to see the road at 65mph while driving into sunlight.

4. Remember that inasmuch as you should always fly line-of-sight (LOS), you can’t gauge the distance of obstacles from a distance. Always refer to the live view which you use for photos and video, but don’t trust that either. The wide angle view of the camera lens can fool you, the delay of transmission can delay imagery if you’re flying fast, and power lines can escape notice of your screen’s resolution until it’s too late. 

5. If your flight path is straight, don’t assume you can fly UAV backwards to retreat safely. If your drone ever flies out of your LOS – never on purpose right? – there is a very good chance that, whether by wind or by controls, its flight path has subtly shifted. Flying it backwards in retreat could fly it right into an object you passed safely on the way out. I narrowly avoided making a drone into a Christmas ornament on a 100 foot tree this way.  

6. Don’t rely on DJI’s safe flying website. It’s helpful, but if you want even more detail about determining safe flight paths, consult SkyVector.com. Yes, it really is intimidating, I totally agree, but we’re all pilots now.

7. Don’t fly over people, especially crowds. It may not be news yet, but the FAA has stepped up its enforcement of risky UAV behavior by making examples of those who flout laws, especially on the East Coast.

8. An obvious one, but don’t fly over places that might generate electromagnetic interference or interfere with signals to your craft. You don’t want to have switch flight modes mid-air when the GPS mode loses its bearings.

9. Set an appropriate altitude for the Return to Home or Failsafe mode of your drone.  You don’t want your UAV to automatically fly into anything on the way back to the home point. 

10. Moreover, make sure your home point is set correctly every time you fly.  You don’t want the Return to Home function to send your drone to the home point from your last flight. Keep as much clear airspace around your home point, because the UAV won’t necessarily navigate automatically back to the precise spot of departure.

10. Wear bug spray before you fly outside. If you’re outside photographing in a rural area mosquitos will come over and feast on your hands and face while you’re trying to fly an expensive object in the air. It really can be a dangerous distraction.

11. Perform test runs in the days leading up to your flight. Update the flight app, calibrate the compass, the gimbal, the batteries and even the cardboard box if you could. You’ll likely find that there are new updates to firmware that could be useful or warning alerts you should investigate. I would check forums to see if there are complaints before you update because you know how that goes. You don’t want to be struggling to revert back to a previous version of system software on the day of a flight.

12. Batteries, batteries. Make sure they are securely positioned in the drone. Vibrations from flight have been know to exacerbate loose connections, causing a drone to lose power mid-flight. That would be a bad thing. Also make sure your batteries are retaining charge well. Checking up on your batteries every dozen flights is not a bad idea.

13. UAV’s can defy even those with the most experience, so resist the urge to be daring. The minute you get over-confident about its safety or your control is followed a few minutes later by the sounds of you screaming inside, “ABORT! ABORT!” 

14. Avoid wildlife. I was flying once in a private nature area and a few birds parted from their flock to flirt with my drone.  I’m hundreds of yards away and I was trying to shush it away like teenage boys from my daughter. “Go away! She’s not your type!”

15. Just like any vehicle, I would recommend not flying angry, drunk, scared, or with too much swagger.

16. I would also agree with what Know Before you Fly tweeted today on our nation’s holiday, “Leave the fireworks to the professionals this holiday weekend & keep your drone at home, #KnowBeforeYouFly on #July4”

At best, the analogy was a woeful overgeneralization. At the very least, it was uninformed. At the time, I figured it was the wrong time to divert the discussion. 

But it’s an unfortunate perception that breeds distrust and missed opportunities.

Ironically, what I’ve been most buoyed by in my commercial work have been the logistical similarities of producing shoots from my background in photojournalism.

As an example, recently I was looking over a spreadsheet with a photojournalist friend on a huge budget shoot for a well-known international magazine. 

It was the kind where you are your own cost-control expert, combing through budget line-items looking for efficiencies to keep a client calling you back. It was fairly typical planning for that kind of trip. 

His spreadsheet rated locations around the world, according to a dozen different criteria. He had consulted with top-level scientists around the world to confirm his perceptions and findings. He had articulated his vision on a creative call (or, conference call with editors and writer) and all were excited about the project. 

The project would take him to many rural areas off the grid. These were the kind of places where a random police officer could shut down the entire shoot with arbitrary and opaque laws, confiscate all your equipment and/or detain you and your crew unless you had cash available for “instant permits“. 

He needed to find experienced producers (or, fixers) way ahead of time to help avoid any problems. The best are natively bilingual, with deep contacts, a nuanced understanding of the culture and an appreciation of the needs of photographers. The worst are government snitches who’ll sell you out if you’re in touchy areas around military installations or persecuted communities.

Moreover, he needed a location scout to vet identified places. Locations often hold more promise in theory than reality. You can’t waste valuable time and money to discover that what you expected to find only happens there in a different season.

If he were to lose power, or even lose one piece of equipment, the whole trip would be torpedoed, since he’s in the middle of nowhere and can’t send an assistant to a rental house the next country over. His backups needed backups. 

Food and catering?  On-the-go packaged protein would replace any available street fare that could sicken his team for days, an intolerable outcome, especially at a distance from healthcare. But then, he’d already arranged to be evacuated by helicopter in case of a medical crisis.

On his way to a “hero shot” he’ll have to streetcast talent (or, subjects) willing to be photographed. As many pre-interviews he can get done, the better. Even in news environments, you’re something of a casting agent looking for the most visually-compelling individual that fits the dimensions of the story.  

If it’s a portrait, he’ll ask them about props or clothing that reveal more about their lifestyle or character. Unlike the commercial world, you can’t rely on post-production to change colors of clothing or to remove an unwanted object later from a photograph. For reasons of journalistic ethics, you have to get it right in-camera, the first time. A certain amount of color-grading could be acceptable depending on the magazine.

Even if he finds the right subject, he’ll have to use every technique in his interpersonal toolkit for them to avoid the deer-in-the-headlights look, abject fear, or amusement at facing a foreigner and his team.

All the while, he should keep his art director (or, photo editor) updated so that everyone involved in the project could sleep safely on the days before and during the trip.  That requires communication, so he’ll probably bring a satellite phone just in case.

Of course not all photojournalists run productions like these.

These complex productions are often run on deadline on a news cycle. They’re competing with other photojournalists in the field like a crazy Survivor game where brand reputations are at stake. 

Moreover, in addition to news and news features, photojournalists also run fashion productions. Some run lifestyle productions. Others run food productions. Some construct sets for studio shoots.

It just depends on what lifestyle section, fashion supplement, special section, multimedia project, magazine shoot and/or budget they may be working with. In the end, you get it done, with little pretense and fanfare. 

I’ve had experience with all of these kinds of projects before moving to the commercial and advertising world, where I’ve discovered the sheer joy of being able to hire people to do the work that I used to do alone.  

But there is a tension I’ve found as productions grow in size.

When you scale up a production crew, it can exert a form of gravity on a set that interferes with the ability to create the authenticity in which moments can occur.Experienced photojournalists possess a sense of story that comes with shooting them on a daily basis. They also have an anticipatory sense of the moment, and the ability to capture it. So they know that if a real person finds themselves surrounded by strangers, trust can dwindle, and intimacy can fly out of the room like a butterfly.

So for valid aesthetic reasons on some types of projects, a photojournalist may not be inclined to want a big production.

Either way, a frank discussion needs to happen with the art buyer – about what level of production is required, and what kind of results are expected. The benefit of clarifying these issues is that you work with a photographer who is adept at communicating story and its emotional core.

For the photojournalist, emotion is the currency of meaning. In the back of their mind, they’re always answering the compelling reader question, “Why should we care about your story and what you have to say”?

There is great diversity in the term “photojournalist”.

For those who are savvy to this, there are many opportunities that are yet to be explored.

They gave me the creative freedom to profile two of their very cool clients, Gramovox and Everpurse. Brand storytelling in the legal world. The videos will be part of a series called, “Behind the Idea” where viewers are given a backstory about the businesses and how RPL helped them protect and develop their innovations.

I’ve been asked, who did the interviews, storyboarding, creative direction, sound, video, editing, coloring and titles? Just me this time. Pete Noback narrowed down the music choices to find the right tempo for the pieces. Going forward, I’ll be collaborating with a crew, but I wanted to get a greater sense of all the needs of production for the coming series.

With my background as a photojournalist, this kind of storytelling is a natural fit. It’s not just telling a story. It’s figuring out what the best storyline and honing the elements to reach an intended audience, while determining visuals to illustrate the necessary concepts. It’s very gratifying to see video projects come together, and to experience wonderful serendipities of words and visuals during the editing process.

It’s not documentary in the sense of unvarnished reality, but for the ring of authenticity we stayed close to environments that are/were part of their natural experiences.

As you can imagine, when dealing with real people and not models – especially busy entrepreneurs, there’s not a whole lot of time for several repeated takes.

You make choices and work with what you have, or what you can imagine, to fill the gaps.

Below are the first videos in the series:

On the hunt….©2016 Alex Garcia

Are you a Chief Visual Brand Storyteller?

An Editorial and Advertising Photographer?

A Senior Visual Content Specialist?

A Multimedia Photojournalist/Video journalist?

Or, maybe “Lead Picture Guru”?

If you’re a professional photographer, you’ve probably pondered, paused or even struggled to figure out how you should describe yourself on your business card, social media profile, or during an elevator pitch.

How you refer to yourself often depends on your audience. But in person or especially online, you’re both unsure of their specific need and their sophistication with imprecise job titles.

If I introduce myself with the term “photojournalist”, someone may see me as the crazed Dennis Hopper from Apocalypse Now or clueless Jimmy Olsen from Superman, depending on their Netflix history. Getting past the strange depictions of photojournalists out there, there is a huge creative difference between a photojournalist who uses studio lighting for location portraiture, and a conflict photographer who is a pure documentarian. 

I may introduce myself as a “storyteller” – if they understand its potential for advertising and marketing. If not, I might get invited to the next meeting of the National Storytellers League. 

Of course you have a niche but you’re also quite capable of applying your talents to other projects. Labels can seem limiting to the person who does many things well.  

But there’s that persnickety little acronym, SEO. Why turn away traffic when keywords can make the difference of being found, even within online directories? For kicks, you can call yourself “Lead Bottle Washer” at “XXX Pictures”. Or maybe “Visual Widget Maker”. I’ve even seen “Photographer Extraordinaire” and “Creative Genius” while browsing social media. They’re funny relief from titles that can seem bland and rote. But searchbots being robots, they don’t get the joke. 

Most would agree that in the marketplace, it’s not enough to be a “photographer”. Top dollar and creative respect goes to the specialist.  Photography has become differentiated, specialized and segmented, so the market has responded.  There are specialties of specialties. 

As trends continue, it won’t be enough to say you’re an adventure photographer. You’ll have to say something like, “I’m an extreme polar arctic photographer specializing in aerial drone photography shooting 360 degree virtual reality – in HDR! ”

To which a client may say, “Oh that’s too bad, I have a huge project for an extreme polar arctic photographer specializing in aerial drone photography shooting 360 degree virtual reality – in black and white! Can you recommend someone?”

As your business grows, your photographic specialty and the market ideally mesh in a glorious symbiotic relationship. You have all the business you need. No fuss, no hassle. That is, until your high-key, sun flare, blown-out photos become dated, forcing you to regenerate like Dr. Who.

So my best (and perhaps unsatisfying) advice is this,

Be specific, but not too specific.

Be general, but not too general.

Of course, this is all coming from someone whose business card succinctly reads: “Alex Garcia: Photographer”. 

I’ll explain more in person…

I just added a fifth photo gallery to the “Health and Wellness” section of my site, in this case largely consisting of healthcare photography. With just three sections overall on my site, the 5 health documentary photo galleries weigh pretty heavily.

Hmm, funny how things work. As the son of a Cuban doctor and a pre-med in my college days, I swear I’m not overcompensating for not going into the medical profession (or at least I think I’m not). None of my brothers became a doctor, but I did give it a try until I realized that the creative-associative way of thinking was how I was wired.

In the grand mysteries of the subconscious and the laws of nature (and the creative process I’ve written about), I’m sure there’s something that would explain these rather unusual convergences. What many photographers find is that projects choose them, they don’t really choose their projects.

Largely. I have realized moments where project ideas that I subconsciously let pass were then picked up by other photographers – almost as if life was allowing me first rights of refusal before showing what could have been.

Free will happens.

As 2016 gets underway, I look forward to more blogging (I’m shy about making resolutions…), so thank you for those who have stuck with me during my semi-hibernation from the blogosphere:-)

As an independent photographer, little did I realize that you don’t actually have to be on staff at the New York Times to be a guide for a Times Journey. A friend there recommended that I reach out to be one of the “experts” for their educational trips to Cuba. To my delight, based on my background and experience, they accepted. I will be on the Feb 19-27 trip, giving short talks about various topics of Cuba while we make our way to various destinations. I say “our” because you’ll be there, right?

A Times Journey is very cool. The excursion brings you to a locale based on their institutional knowledge and contacts of the location. In Cuba, it’s 9 days and 8 nights. On the link above it takes you through what will likely be the itinerary, day-to-day, in Cuba. I looked through the itinerary and was impressed. I’ve lived in Cuba for some ten months starting since 1995 and was intrigued with some of the places that they’ve arranged.

For example, I don’t know how you could possibly get a tour of Granma, the party newspaper, without an organization like the New York Times arranging that kind of meeting. We’ll also visit the beautiful and eerily prehistoric Viñales Valley, as well as visiting Las Terrazas, a sustainable community in the mountains of Sierra del Rosario and a Unesco‐designated Biosphere Reserve. We will be busy meeting interesting people, including tobacco farmers, a world-class artist, Afro-Cuban dancers, a famous chef, an art historian, gender rights activist, architect and planner. In between we’ll be seeing the colonial architecture, the lush countryside and above all the people. I’ll see if my cousins and uncle can stop by… Once you get a flavor of Cuba, I think you’ll be planning your next trip.

If you’re a photographer, not only will you be getting an education from a New York Times tour, but photo advice from me in a small group setting. It’s not a photo trip per se, but we’ll have lots of time together, as I’ll be with the group throughout the trip, except when people want to go out on their own.

Obviously, above are the plans but they can change since there’s some time between now and then. That’s part of the adventure, right?

If you’re thinking about it, don’t take too much time to decide. The January trip is already sold out. One of my former editors at the Tribune already signed up, and I imagine Cuba is in everyone’s mind to visit, especially during the winter. (I don’t get paid anything for recruiting students, or by how many sign up – I’m only letting you know as a courtesy)

If I can answer any questions, shoot me an email!

My involvement, which I’m sure was Mark Dolan’s intention, was to bring more voices of independent professionals into the room at a time where there are less and less photographers who are full-time staff photographers.  After I decided to leave the Chicago Tribune, I came to acutely understand the challenges of being an independent contractor while staying true to oneself as a storyteller. I join the ranks of many other photojournalists who either left their companies, took buyouts, or were let go.  The challenge for the NPPA is to help those photographers who wish to continue their important documentary work when the business model is in a tailspin.

Some perspective about the value of photojournalism – at a recent portfolio review, I met with several art buyers from ad agencies who with few exceptions started our conversations professing an admiration for photojournalism. They, like the world at large, understand that photojournalists are non-fiction photographers whose images have the ring of truth. Their clients and audiences are becoming more sophisticated about imagery and are demanding less spin and more authentic documentary storytelling. Like what happened in the wedding market, real-life documentary is a trend in the commercial world. This should come as some encouragement for those wondering if there a ways to sustain one’s career as a narrative storyteller.

From my perspective, there are economic trends in the market that cut both ways for photographers. But some may not wish to go down any commercial or corporate route, preferring to double-down on the editorial world. Others pursue the wedding market to support their photojournalism. The challenge is to support, encourage and strengthen the work of photojournalists however they wish to stay in business. As someone who has worked more than twenty years at newspapers, I hope to bring some ideas and energy to the association’s mission.

When a real estate company asked whether it was possible for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Center to display photographs on my website from the Loop in Chicago, I was delighted. I’ve wanted to find a venue for the images for some time, but was more thinking about book form. After receiving permission from the Chicago Tribune, which has rights to most of the images from my series, we arranged nine backlit displays in their public lobby. The gallery is rotated about every year. As you can see from my main site, the images were composed horizontally, so there was some cropping to make them fit in the new format. But they’re huge! I was delighted when I stopped by last week. I was also delighted when a security guard came by to wave away my camera until I said was the photographer. Instead, I was able to wave away the security guard. How often does that happen? Please stop by if you’re in the Loop. The images are well captioned, giving a sense of the importance of the images to the importance and history of the Loop.

TedX Midwest Youth – Of Story and Hope from Alex Garcia on Vimeo.

I have a heart for high schoolers and the decisions they have to make, especially on the cusp of graduation. It’s a little disorienting all the freedoms coming their way. Especially with the power to drive, teenagers can make decisions that shape their lives for years to come. When you’re a teenager you may not realize the implications of all your choices, but you do in hindsight. At this particular talk, we were asked to impart advice to hundreds of top students gathered from high schools around the Chicago area. I settled on some of the most important lessons for young people based upon my experiences as a photojournalist at the Chicago Tribune (I’ve since left the newspaper to pursue a freelance career). I was joined by MIR Space Station owner Chirinjeev Kathuria, Entrepreneur Emerson Spartz, top Google engineer Brian Fitzpatrick, and serial mountain climber Samantha Larson. I reference some of them in my talk. (There are a few spots of rough audio that were outside my control).
My highly subjective guiding principles came down to these:
1. Pitch and Practice
2. Create a Visual Buzz
3. Polish to Excellence
4. Calculate Risk
5. Dream and Plan
6. Don’t Drop Trou (not what you think)
7. Blink Your Eye
I talk about the power of story in shaping a life, but ultimately the greater theme is hope. Thank you for giving it a listen and sharing it with those who might appreciate it.

For 60 years, Casa Central, the largest social service agency in the Midwest,  has been transforming lives in Chicago – with a special emphasis on the Hispanic community. The organization is on the front lines of providing education for children, health services for seniors and help for families struggling to be self-sufficient. With the finances of Illinois in deep trouble, cuts to social services and those in need are just around the corner. Organizations like Casa Central deserve all our support. On June 1st, there will be a reception for its annual Week of Hope. Please consider attending the reception and learning more about this organization. More information can be found on its website. I’ll be presenting images about healthcare in Cuba and famous chef Carlos Gaytan will be working his culinary masterpieces. Hope to see you there!

I was delighted to visually express the personality of the principals and associates at the business and technology consulting firm West Monroe Partners for their new website and branding makeover. The assignment was to create an image library of portraits and candids in the workplace, so as a photographer I didn’t want to overwhelm the environment with lighting but to accentuate it. The portraits were often between what you would call an informal portrait and observed moments. Most situations were arranged to some degree, with an assistant and a stylist professional. The goal was to meet the creative brief’s need to create intimate images with a diversity but a common vision to the photography. I had website mock-ups that acted as a creative guide. Between moments of portraiture, I was able to roam and capture candid moments happening in the people landscape as well, at both their Chicago and Seattle offices.

Our team produced so much more that what you currently see on the site, but since it was an image library, their needs will be met for some time in the future (the whole goal) as the site expands and changes to accommodate their business. Bringing out the personality and capturing authentic and candid moments of people is essentially what I’ve been doing for twenty years in reportage, so this project was a lot of fun to work on.  Nonetheless, it helps to have great subjects who are confident about their work. The company has been voted one of the top workplaces  by the Tribune (my former employer), and the high morale shows in the energetic faces of those you see on their site.

Click to view slideshow.

Have you ever heard of the School of Visual Arts – New York,  or taken an online photography class?  If you’re a Midwesterner like myself (with a flirtation of Los Angeles) you may not know much about either.

Over the last few years while blogging at the Chicago Tribune, I became acquainted through Twitter with Katrin Eismann, the chair of the MPS Digital Photography program at the school. I wasn’t quite aware of SVA, even though it has been named one of the “best art schools in the world”.

Then an opening came up in their teaching roster last summer, and she gave me a call. After some deliberation (I was leaving the Tribune and had commitment-phobia), I agreed and became an online instructor of a class called, “The Art of Editorial Photography”.

Ever since writing a post about CreativeLive!, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of online learning. Many people said the future of higher education was MOOC’s and online learning. How does that work anyway?

It was, as they say, an education in the rigors of online teaching. At least in the SVA program, student behavior is measured via the interface. You can see when and how often a student spends time with the material, how many questions and answers they offer in online discussions and how long are their answers. There are time stamps for most everything – including when exactly they handed in their weekly photo assignments. After having taught in real-life classrooms on the university level, it was a relief to finally have hard data on which to base decisions. It’s like having a virtual teaching assistant helping you see what you might miss and where you can put more of your energies.

But the process also brings rigor to the instructor as well. Lectures are written out, images are on display, comments are shown. As an instructor, you can’t riff it, wing it, or run out of time. It keeps you focused on the content of your lesson plan. Your words can be compared, scrutinized, challenged. You also have to add more value to your class than what can be found elsewhere on the internet. No one wants just a page of links and information that is easy to come by. As an online instructor, you also get the experience of working with students from around the world such as Canada, South Africa, China, Costa Rica, Mexico

What impressed me most is the top level of talent within SVA’s orbit in New York (online students must spend a summer in New York). Within a short radius, New York has a disproportionate number of legends in the photography world. Fly a drone and you’ll crash into one. Whether it’s through Katrin or through other esteemed SVA faculty, such as Greg Gorman, Elizabeth Avedon and James Estrin, the school incorporates a constant stream of guest lectures from creators and creative decision-makers into the curriculum, both in-person and through online video, including people like,  Kira Pollack, Brad Smith, Steve Winter, Ira Block, and Ruddy Roye.  The school has a podcast channel where you can see and listen to speakers from their i3 Lecture Series.

Even a top-notch New York copyright lawyer who speaks in their business class puts the fire of copyright under them. What a relief to have photo students who are schooled in business! Can I tell you how incredibly frustrated I am by other photo programs that don’t offer such a class?

I’ve seen, heard about, and read about many photography programs out there. I’ve been largely unimpressed. In fact, some have just made me plain angry. I’ve spoken to graduates of photo programs who have been so abandoned that they’re like sheep without a shepherd.

If you’re going to spend money for a master’s degree in photography, whether because you need a master’s degree to teach at the university level, or because you’re switching careers and need a structured setting, you want to make sure your money is well spent, both through inspiration, instruction and the connections you make.

So when I believe in something, I’ll put it out there. I don’t make any money signing anyone up for this program, so no, this is not a sponsored post.

If I needed any confirmation about what I was sensing – just recently I was hired by a branding firm in Connecticut for an assignment here in Chicago. The principal of the firm used to work for Apple and IBM – very successful. We got to talking and it turns out it was an SVA graduate. He talked about how great it was to meet and speak with top talent in New York while completing his studies. Indeed, through the connections he made there, his career got started.

But if you’re looking around at photography programs, I would recommend giving serious consideration to SVA – both the online and the on-site version. Applications for the fall are now being accepted.

On top of that, weather changes. On the day that we were due to travel down the coast of the Caribbean to an indigenous community called Bangkukuk, we were forced to move ahead and sail into the ocean during a small boat advisory. (It was just an advisory, right?) It didn’t look bad from shore, but once we got out onto the open sea, our boat was airborne at certain points because of the huge waves. A writer in the boat was thrown to its floor so we ended up holding onto each other, in part because I was concerned she would simply fly out. The motor putted out, as it became entangled by seaweed. At that point, I was looking for flotation devices to help get us to shore and barked at everyone to get vests on. All my equipment? Surely a casualty. I switched to an iPhone and ended up accidentally taking a picture of me doing an impression of a wet dog. The first image below was taken with my phone, when our first mate was trying to hang on like riding a wild bull. The image led one of the days of the piece.

We survived and of course had a good story to tell. Below are some favorite images from the project, as we sought to tell the stories that mattered – the people whose lives would be potentially affected by the canal. I’ve added images to my main site. It was a five-day series, so if you have some time, please be sure to read about the fascinating project.

All photos ©2015 Alex Garcia