[slideshow] I do a lot of photo-journalistic type work. That is what you get when you cover events that your children do. I find telling a story with photos and then placing them into a slideshow is an effective method of sharing images and providing context for the whole sequence.

These three photos helped me illustrate our Scouting for Food event. The words Boy Scouts of America provide context to the event. Scouting for Food was written on the opening screen. When that is followed by "Boy Scouts of America" the average person usually conjures up the image of young boys doing good deeds. The Pack Number on the shoulder was in my opening sequence, and showed off who specifically the photos were about. The photo of an adult hand recording numbers lets you know we are tracking a number of collections over the course of the event.

By using only parts of uniforms or hands I made the focus not on an individual, but rather on the event, the group and its results. I told a story not just of my children, but one that many people involved would be desiring to dive into. It is funny to me, in retrospect, that using parts of a whole person or event can be a very effective way of telling a much larger story.

I guess I should not be surprised. The trick is as old as time itself. It is just the first time I created photos during my story collection phase where I was entirely conscious of what my intended results would be. One more baby step towards being a real photographer. Now if I can do it two more times it won't be called beginners luck anymore.

Here is the video I made

Scouting for Food 2011

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