Developing A Volunteer Photography Team

Developing a photo team takes a little bit of effort but the impact is huge. So I encourage everyone reading to start a team. If you already have a team, then grow it. Below are nine tips to help you launch or develop this team. In turn, they will visually showcase what God is doing in you and through you. Also, if you’re looking for coaching on this topic beyond this article then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation. I would love to help you determine the obstacles you're facing and if I’m the best person to help you overcome them. 

9 Tips for Developing a Photography Team

1. Have Fun.

Having your photo taken should be a fun experience. It means something interesting and exciting is happening that deserves to be documented. The tone and attitude of the photographer should match this energy. They should be having a fun time. 

Here’s another reason why it's important for photographers to have fun: Sometimes it isn’t fun. Sometimes it is awkward, like when families are overdressed for the obligatory Mother’s Day photo booth. Sometimes it is artificial, like when babies are crying in the nursery and volunteers pretend they’re enjoying ministry. These moments are not fun. But they need to be documented. When you bring a fun attitude into the awkward and hectic settings, you change the tone and create an environment in which you can capture decent photos. Practically speaking this means keeping a smile on your face and engaging people in positive banter. Creating a rapport with a fun attitude helps subjects relax and makes the photos better.

2. Keep It Simple

Frame your photos using a simple background that helps focus the viewer’s eyes on the subject matter. Use this technique to create a crisp and sharp photo. As you compose your photo, move around your subject to find the simplest background. Take a practice shot if you can, and make adjustments to reduce background chaos. If your camera allows, you can adjust the aperture or f-stops to bring the background into or out of focus. Unless the background is of interest, it may be best to leave it blurred so your subject stands out even more.

3. Map Out The Space

Show up to the event early to get a sense of the space. Where are people entering from? Where are they going? Where are they exiting from? Mapping out the space helps you understand how the event will unfold. This will allow you to anticipate the event, and be one step ahead, not behind, the action. You also want to get a sense of where you will be located. Is there a secure side room where you can set up your base camp? If not, will the janitor's closet work for you? Getting a sense of the space will let you know where you can set up and interact with gear throughout the event.

4. Be Boldly Inconspicuous

You need to be bold enough to get into the best positions to capture the best photos. I once had to grab a young and timid photographer who was planted in the back row by the arm and drag them to the front row so they would be close enough to capture the event. But you also need to be inconspicuous enough so that the attention is not on you. I’m sure you have been at a wedding in which the photographer ended up stealing the show and being the main attraction. Not cool. Manage this tension by boldly navigating the venue but then being inconspicuous when you are in position. A very practical suggestion is to wear all black. This helps you blend into the background. It also gives you an air of professionalism.  

5. Curate And Edit

You want your photographers, not yourself, to curate and edit their photos. You don’t want people that click and dump - photographers that hand you a full memory card with all their photos, the good, the bad and the “what were you thinking.” When your photographer curates and edits their work it ensures the team's output is scalable, that it is not dependent on your ability to curate and edit. Creating this system allows for rapid growth. It also allows for instantly shareable photos because the team has already identified and edited the top 20. 

Also, make sure to have a clear naming convention and folder structure up front for your team. This will avoid hours of confusion and frustration on the back end. For naming convention, it could be event, date, photographer. Whatever you decide, just keep it consistent from event to event. For folder structure, it could be event, photographer, and then RAW and JPEG. The RAW folder would have all their decent photos and the JPEG folder would have the top 20 edited photos. 

6. Create A System To Store

After you have taken the photos, you gotta store them. People often ask me if I should store my photos in the cloud or on a hard drive. The answer is both. But managing your content in two areas can seem overwhelming for some. And in the end, they don’t store them anywhere. If this is you, then I would archive your photos in the cloud now and on hard drives later. 

The cloud gives you greater flexibility in accessing the content. And because the cloud has grown its stability over the past five years, it gives you greater reliability than hard drives that can become corrupted. A good photo storage service has five things.

1. Space - Plenty of room to keep all of your photos in one place.
2. Quality - Your photos are preserved in their original high-res versions.
3. Ease of Use - You can easily upload, view and download.
4. Ease of Access - Finding photos by date or by tags should be easy.
5. Shareability - Sharing photos on social sites should be as easy as taking them.

7. Create A System To Share

The dust has settled. The event is over. Photos have been taken, edited, and archived. Then what? For a lot of churches, not much else. And this isn’t good because the goal is to take and share photos. If you don’t have a system to share, your execution will be hit or miss. Some sharing options to consider for your system are to display them in a Facebook album or a page on your website; show them during hosting on Sunday; create posts with them on social media throughout the week; and include them in your weekly email. All these options are great for your organization to share. You want to also make sure your system has an option for guests to access and share. Maybe that is linking from your website to a publicly accessible Dropbox folder. Maybe that is handing out business cards with the URL at the event. Whatever it is, make sure your guest can access and share as well.

8. Create Release Forms

No one wants to talk about release forms but we have to, to protect our butts legally. First, don’t give release forms to your photographers. You want them to take great photos, not to run around trying to get a bunch of signatures. Instead include a release statement on your intake form for your family ministry. I say intake form because it only has to be done once. And I say family ministry because parents are the only ones really concerned with this. Here is a sample. “Our church uses photos and videos of our guests for communication purposes. Signing this release grants us permission to use your and your child’s image for these purposes.” 

To cover your butts legally for general church events you could have small disclosures printed and posted at your welcome center saying something like “Photos and videos are taken at our events. By walking onto our site you grant us permission to use these for communication purposes.”

9. Pastor Your Team

Since photography can be done in isolation it can be an isolating experience. But it doesn’t have to be. If you pastor and mentor your team, you will not only sharpen their skills and care for their souls. So get together for a couple minutes every Sunday one-on-one as their leader to review their work. Consider connecting as a team monthly or quarterly to grow together as a group. Do group experiences like visiting galleries or photo walks. Anything that will connect the team and allow them to build community and grow their craft. Honor the unseen time and effort that goes into their photos.

Those are my nine tips on how to develop a volunteer photography team from the ground up. Hopefully, these tips will help you showcase what God is doing in and through you. Let me know what best practices I missed. I would love to hear from you and learn from you. And if you want additional help in this area then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation.