Tag Archives: photography

Getting great photos for your nonprofit’s marketing needs takes planning.

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a primitive figure, like a petroglyph, shots through a megaphone

I’ve been working at a local Habitat for Humanity affiliate for more than a year now. It’s been a challenging, enlightening, really fun experience.

I have said repeatedly over the years that working at a local nonprofit or in a local government initiative can be fantastic training to work internationally in humanitarian and development programs; it’s also true that working in humanitarian and development programs is great training for this kind of local work! For instance, because I’ve worked internationally, I already knew the importance of not engaging in poverty porn: not sharing photos that present clients as weak or desperate, not sharing photos that show only clients receiving charity, etc.

I’ve spent more than a year hyper-focused on creating a robust archive of a diversity of volunteers in action at our house builds, our home repair projects, our neighborhood cleanups and in our ReStore. Talking to our field staff about how to take and share photos and recruiting a volunteer specifically to come to events to take photos, as well as being at as many events myself as possible, have all been essential in creating this large archive. At this point, I could take a year off and still have more than enough photos of volunteers-in-action for all of our communications needs in 2024 (however, I will NOT be taking a year off).

In the next year, I’ll be hyper-focused on a different communications need: photos of clients. We do not have nearly enough! And I don’t want to have to over-rely on Habitat’s excellent compilation of photos from all across the USA that I could use; I don’t like using stock photos, because I prefer to have my own photo archive representing our own community (and you should too). It’s going to be a challenge: we don’t want to overburden our partner families with requests, we don’t want to make some very shy folks do anything that would make them uncomfortable, and many of our families have moved on to many other priorities, things far more important than a photo session with me. We have written the families and asked for family photos – like of everyone gathered around a Christmas tree, if they celebrate such, and we did end up with one great one!

What’s going to be required is more relationship-building on my part. I need to make sure the clients know me and trust me. For our home-buying partners, that’s easier, because the organization already has a long-term relationship with them. But for home repair clients and people living in neighborhoods where we have cleanup events. it’s shorter-term interactions, and a lot of homeowners are embarrassed to need such help. It’s going to take careful conversations and being there with staff they already trust to make this happen.

One thing I’m also going to do is to try to get a series of shots that show progress on our house builds: I’m going to take the “same” shot from the same place every month from the start to finish of a house build.

As I pursue more client photos in 2024, I want to remind you all of some things to keep in mind for your own photo-taking for your nonprofit or community endeavor (and I’m assuming you will be taking the photos with just a camera phone / smart phone):

  • Make sure all employees, consultants, clients and volunteers have signed a photo release, and you can lay your hands on that signed release easily. It’s best to have this release signed at the time they sign anything else with your organization, like an application or a contract. This allows you to take photos anywhere and everywhere without worrying if you have permission to do so.
  • But even though you have signed, written permission, be sure to announce to everyone your name and that you will be taking photos. Tell them the photos are for social media, for your website and for your publications, like your annual report. Tell people how they can request copies of any photos. Assure people that you are going to take respectful photos and always ensure anyone in a photo looks terrific.
  • If clients or volunteers say they do not want their photos shared on social media or in print, honor those requests. If you might have trouble remembering, ask them, when they see you taking a photo that they would be in, to hold up their hand, palm out. That way, when you go through the photos, you will get the reminder that that person did not want to have their photo taken, and you can edit them out of photos as needed, or not use certain photos.
  • Before the event where you are going to take photos, make a wish list of photos you want most: women using construction tools, a young person and an older person working on something together, volunteers gathered around a lead volunteer for the morning orientation, etc. That makes it easier to be on the lookout for those moments.
  • Take a photo at the start of the event, or whenever you remember, that will tell you where and when this event is. It might be a sign welcoming attendees or an information board or the sign on the venue or the front of a t-shirt created especially for the event. Your photos will automatically be dated by your phone camera, and when you go through them, and see the sign or information board, you will remember where the event was, who it involved, etc.
  • Yes, you MAY stage photos. You are not a journalist; you are a marketing person. Don’t hesitate to tell a group to turn to the camera and smile, or to hold up their hammers triumphantly!
  • Front-lighting illuminates a subject. Back-lighting can hide faces.
  • Photos can be easily cropped, especially if you are taking high-resolution photos. Don’t worry if you think a photo isn’t framed perfectly while you are taking it; cropping may do that later. Filters can also sometimes fix photos that are too dark.
  • Capture people in action as much as possible (especially volunteers).
  • Smiling faces are not absolutely necessary. If someone doesn’t smile when you say “smile”, that’s okay.
  • If you think a photo is especially unflattering to a person, don’t use it.
  • Avoid “butt” shots. These are the photos of someone who is bending over away from the photographer.
  • You can’t take “too many” photos. You can go through them later and weed out the unusable ones.
  • When you look through your photos, delete the ones that depict unsafe conditions (or put them aside and talk to the site supervisor about these incidents). For instance, at Habitat sites, volunteers under 18 may not use power tools or work above ground level, volunteers must wear safety goggles when operating power tools, tools should not be placed on ladders, hard hats should be worn at all times and, when on ladder, a person should maintain three points of contact and avoid leaning.
  • Use only first names when identifying people in photos on social media or in any print publication for the public, or say something that identifies the family but protects privacy, like, “the Hernandez Family.”
  • Google photo share area is AMAZING. If you have a gmail account, you have a Google photo archive. Just log into your gmail account and then go to photos.google.com and you will come to YOUR photo account. Don’t be shocked if you see photos there already; if you tie your apps on your phone to Google, this happens automatically. The problem is that you are using your own phone, and switching back and forth on a phone between a work Google account and a personal account is a pain. How I do it: the photos go to my personal account and then, on a laptop, I download the most recent, then upload them to my work account.

Note that I’m not the only photographer where I work: I ask everyone to take photos if they are at any event with volunteers or clients “in action.” They don’t take many, so I ask them to send such to a gmail account we have set up especially for photos; Google makes it super easy to transfer photos that are email attachments in that account over to the photo drive.

But be sure to have a backup of your photos elsewhere: on whatever backup system you use, on a separate Google account, and/or on a hard drive.

Also see these previous blogs which have links to sample policies and guidelines for taking photos of vulnerable people:

humanitarian stories & photos – use with caution

Poverty porn, survivor porn, inspiration porn

The opposite of poverty porn: erasing clients from storytelling

What I’ve learned working at Habitat for Humanity

Do you welcome people with your language?

a hand is receiving money

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Photos & videos by & of volunteers online – privacy issues?

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Following up on the post from yesterday regarding why nonprofits, NGOs and other mission-based organizations shouldn’t use stock photos, let’s talk today about privacy issues with photos of volunteers, particularly children.

Back in 2010 on UKVPMs, a discussion group for volunteer managers in the United Kingdom, someone wrote:

I have vague memories of this issue being discussed before, but I’m looking into guidance (mainly for volunteers, but also for paid staff and service users) around people posting photo’s or video clips etc on You Tube and similar sites. If working with children and/or  other vulnerable groups, are there clear legal responsibilities we need to be aware of ? I don’t have a deal of experience in this area, so don’t know how much vetting the sites carry out themselves and how reliable this might be. Is data protection an issue

Video and photo-sharing sites do NOT vet any photos or videos submitted to their sites, just as the phone company isn’t responsible for what you are saying in a phone conversation.

It’s important to remember that, in most countries, you cannot legally control what people take photos of or film at a public event. Think of it as the picnic in the public park rule — you cannot control someone taking photos or film of you if you are having a picnic in a public park, regardless of whether or not kids are present.

That said, you should ask your staff and volunteers (same rule for all) to adhere to certain rules regarding taking photos or filming at any of your organization’s activities, public or not, and to adhere to certain rules regarding what they do with that film and video. You need to determine what those rules should be. You need to let volunteers know this includes whatever they do with their cell phones (so no one can say — “Oh, I thought you just meant cameras“).

Do all of your staff and volunteers already sign photo release forms, saying that photos may be taken of them at organization activities in which they participate and may be used in your own outreach activities (your web site, your blog, brochures, slide show presentations, posters, etc.)? Do parents of all children participating in your programs sign such a form? If not, you definitely should get busy getting such a form put together and signed by everyone now, and everyone who joins later. You can find lots of examples of photo release forms on Google.

I don’t know how much these releases would count in a court, but they do create awareness among participants that photos are sometimes taken. I haven’t lost any volunteers over the signing of such a policy — has anyone else? (I’d be interested to hear how you handled such in the comments section below — or did you lose the volunteer altogether?).

Do you already have a policy regarding how your organization identifies children in photos? (first name only, no names at all, etc.) Make sure all staff and volunteers know this policy. If you don’t have such a policy, again, look on Google — lots of organization’s share their policy. Some I found:

With the photo release and children-in-photos policies taken care of, talk with staff and volunteers and involve them in the development of further policies regarding taking photos and film during organization activities, and how they use these photos and videos. Reinforce your confidentiality policies and children-identification-in-photos policy during these conversations. Be clear about what cannot be filmed or posted under any circumstances (personnel discussions, staff meetings, counseling sessions, etc.). I find that involving people in the conversation about policy development (asking for their feedback in my online discussion group for volunteers, at onsite meetings, informally when we meet, etc.) better guarantees people will embrace it and make sure it is enforced.

If you are going to prohibit all such photo and video-taking, you need to have very clear reasons why (in writing and in conversations), and you need to talk about what the consequences will be to staff and volunteers if the prohibition is violated. You also need to consider the consequences of such a draconian ban — you will be losing out on a significant public outreach tool. Volunteers can create a LOT of interest among their friends, family and associates for your organization when they share photos and videos of their activities as a volunteer. Also, you will probably lose more volunteers over such a draconian ban than you will if you allow photos to be taken.

One of the guidelines I have is to ask staff and volunteers to always announce to their colleagues “I’m taking photos/video now!” before they start doing so, and to respect the wishes of people who say they do not want to be filmed. Ask staff and volunteers to respect the wishes of their fellow volunteers who may contact them and ask that an image that features them on their own Flickr account (or other photo-sharing site) or YouTube account to be removed (note that these accounts are owned by them, not you). Ask staff and volunteers to share links to videos and photos with the organization, as a courtesy. Talk with volunteers about what a photo dispute might look like and how such could be negotiated/mediated (you could give them two or three fictional scenarios for discussion). And, as noted above, ask for their own suggestions for policies.

For whatever you come up with in terms of guidelines, you will have to reinforce the message frequently — you can’t just deliver the message once and expect it to be heard.

Related blogs and sites:

Social media policies for mission-based organizations

Forget the stock photos; make your own photo archive

Photos of me at work

Tags: photos, communications, communicating, mission, outreach, story, news, volunteering, volunteers, community, engagement, volunteerism, smartphones, PDAs, camera, phone, cell

Don’t use stock photos; make your own photo archive

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One of the many online communities I’m on had a posting by someone from a nonprofit organization looking for stock photos of volunteers to use in a brochure they were producing.

And I cringed.

Stock photos are professionally-produced photos made available for companies and organizations to use to express a certain notion or idea. Stock photos are also of people who have no affiliation with the company or organization that uses them on their web sites, in their brochures, etc. You see stock photos in picture frames for sale.

A stock photo used by a nonprofit organization on its web site, in its brochure, or on a poster is obvious — and dishonest. To me, it screams, “These are professional models who don’t actually volunteer here/aren’t actually clients here!”

Unless the identity of your volunteers or clients needs to be protected (and that certainly does happen — for instance, with domestic violence shelters), you should have a folder on your computer system (on your local network, in the cloud, whatever) filled with digital photos showing genuine volunteers, clients, staff and others, ready for use in your marketing materials and fund-raising proposals.

The good news is that you can easily compile such a stock photo archive!

Begin by ensuring that you have a signed photo release for every volunteer at your organization. Volunteers should be asked to sign such a form at the time they attend the first orientation or volunteering session or with their completed volunteer application. If you intend to take photos at an activity or event where clients will be present, you will also need to get a photo release form for any clients (or anyone else) who might be photographed. You can find samples of photo release forms by typing in this phrase into Google.com or your favorite online search tool:
photo release form

Next, make sure every paid staff member, every unpaid volunteer, every client and every parent or guardian of a client knows your organization’s policies regarding taking photos in association with your organization’s activities (again, just type photo policy into Google.com or your favorite online search tool to find examples of such), and within the boundaries of those policies, invite them to take photos in association with your organization’s activities and to share these photos with your organization. With most smart phones and other handheld tech coming with a camera, your volunteers and clients may already be taking photos. Remind everyone associated with your organization, via regular meetings or regular online or print communications, both of these policies and that you would like such photos shared with you (people need to hear messages more than once in order to have them in mind).

Note in your event or activity announcements if photos might be taken. Whoever takes photos should identify him or herself to those being photographed. This should be a part of your photography policies that you have communicated organization-wide.

When photographing at events where people may not know me, I ask that whomever kicks off the meeting to announce that I’m taking photos that could appear on our web site or in printed materials, and that if anyone does not want their photo used, they should raise their hand any time they see me taking a photo they might be a part of so that later, when going through photos later, I will delete any photo of a person who is raising their hand, or crop them out of the photo. This worked really well when I took photos at community meetings in Afghanistan (more about Taking Photos in the Developing World, a resource I developed while working in Afghanistan in 2007).

Frequently encourage volunteers, employees and clients to share photos they have taken at your events or during volunteering activities with your organization (they need to hear this message more than once!). The best way to share photos is, IMO, via Flickr (photos can be shared with just your organization, without sharing them with the entire world) or via Drop Box (don’t accept photos via email – it uses too much bandwidth and will slow your emails down!).

As photos come in to you, create a folder on your computer or drive for photos you might want to use on your web site, in a brochure, in a fundraising proposal, etc. Look for photos that have at least one of these qualities:

  • shows action
  • shows smiles
  • shows diversity
  • teens
  • seniors

If you don’t have software or an operating system that allows you to organize and search photos easily, create a naming system for photos, sub-folders and files on your computer so you can easily find photos for certain kinds of images, such as photos that show:

  • female participation
  • senior/elder participation
  • multi-cultural participation
  • physical action
  • enjoyment/happiness
  • caring
  • etc.

If you can afford to use a professional photographer and have photo setups, where volunteers pretend to be in the middle of a service activity, or where staff pretend to be engaged in their work, great! It’s okay to set up a photo — just use your own folks, not professional models.

Stay genuine! That attracts people much more than even the slickest of stock images.

March 26, 2018 update: I was working on a very large PR campaign with a colleague. I wanted to solicit photos from various sources to use in our campaign, photos of people engaged in an activity that related to our campaign. She wanted to use stock photos. I relented for various reasons. A year later, I stopped at a gas station in Kentucky, and while inside, looked up at a poster about job opportunities with this particular company. There was a series of photos that I guess were meant to represent people that work for the company. And among that series of photos was one that we had used prominently in our own campaign, which had nothing to do with gas stations… I realize it’s unlikely that anyone else made the connection, and I certainly don’t dislike gas stations – I’m quite fond of their services. But it was a reminder of why using stock photos is often a very bad idea.

March 8, 2021 update: Here is a fantastic blog about a company that created its own photo stock library, using its own assets (it’s own offices). I think going round your building with a smartphone, taking snaps and adding insta filters will always trump purchasing stock images. What a great task for volunteers to undertake for your organization!