Talking with pictures: photo experts offer tips on how to better tell your co-op story with strong photos

Rural Cooperatives, July-August, 2003 by Dan Campbell

A good photograph not only communicates visually, it can also attract readers to an article they might otherwise pass by, in much the same way an effective sign or window display beckons to customers and draws them inside a business. A strong communications program is essential for a cooperative to keep its members informed and committed to their co-op, and good photography can play an essential role in improving the quality of co-op publications--be they newsletters, newspapers, magazines or Web sites.

But what makes a strong photograph?

This question was recently addressed by a panel of three photography experts who evaluated nearly 200 co-op photos and publications as part of an annual communications competition sponsored by the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA). CCA is an organization of some 350 communications specialists who work for cooperatives in the United States and some foreign nations. The photo judges included Earl Dotter, a prize-winning photo journalist based in Maryland, Bonnie Stutski, photo editor for Smithsonian magazine, and Susan Moeller, a photojournalism professor at the University of Maryland.

Asked for their overall impressions of the photos they judged in an all-day session at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C., the judges said they were impressed--even surprised--at the overall high quality of the work. But they also saw room for improvement and offered a number of constructive criticisms and "photo philosophy" that can help refine the approach to the way we talk to our members through pictures.

Portraying your "human capital"

"I would stress that the strong suite of the co-op is the human capital--the people who are the members," says Dotter. "Next in importance is the product they create that provides for their well-being and supports their communities and lifestyle. I would really encourage the photographers to explain to their subjects that we want you to live out your life, rather than act it out, in front of the camera. We want to photograph you with the dirt under your fingernails, because that's how you make your living. We want to photograph you in a way that projects the honest labor that you perform."

A photo assignment, Dotter continues, is a collaborative effort between the photographer and their subjects. So take a little time to get to know the subject before beginning to photograph them.

"The rules of common courtesy apply in rural America," Dotter says. "I let you know who I am and, if I'm lucky, the favor will be returned. Give your subjects a basic understanding of why you are there to take their picture: to show the accomplishments and hard work that create the food on the table and the sustenance for America. That's what you really want to capture. To a large degree, you see a surface view of life rather than the inside, intimate story. It's the photographer's challenge to get behind the closed door or inside the farmgate in a way that really projects a sense of the life and work and rewards of that experience.

A good photographer, Dotter says, engenders a sense of collaboration, so the subject knows what you are looking for. "I have to let you know who I am, and you need to have a sense of trust in who I am. Sometimes that involves just sitting down with a cup of coffee at the kitchen table with the camera still in the car before you take the first shot."

This process need not necessarily be a long one. "Sometimes you can get to know your subject fairly quickly," adds Stutski. This might help you show subjects from a perspective we wouldn't normally see.

"Think about how you can make something more interesting than a straight-on snapshot, either by virtue of lighting or background," Stutski says. "You want photos that people will say--'How did they do that, or catch that moment?'"

Wearing two hats poses big challenge

For many co-op publications, the reporter/writer is also acting as the photographer, which greatly increases the challenge of getting good photos. "You finish your interview, you put down your notepad and say, 'OK, now I'll take a few pictures. Why don't you stand there, hold this and smile," says Moeller. "It's very difficult to do both. It's a big problem. But when you have a small budget and small staff, you may not be able to get around it."

A combination reporter/photographer may have to come into an assignment with a different mind-set. "Maybe it means coming back twice," Moeller says. "Or thinking through the photos in a way that many of these photos (that we saw today) were not thought through."

Too often, she said, the thinking is 'I am going to go out and report on this, and I'll take what photos arise." Instead, try to think like a photojournalist who thinks in advance about the images wanted, she advises.

The way photo or story assignments are made can also impact success or failure, Dotter says. One way to transcend that difficulty of serving as photographer and reporter is for the photographer's boss to give them enough discretionary time to work on some ongoing assignments where they can take pictures on a member's farm--for example--throughout the year to develop a strong photo essay. "You may catch him in the midst of some crisis that reveals the life of a working farmer in a way that is a little bit unexpected. In this way, you are not starting from point zero, and you will have time to get inside a story. This can work well for a publication where you may "cross paths" with the subject with some regularity in your travels.