Avoiding stock art by implementing photo shoots
Part of creating media in a youth ministry means creating materials such as web, print and video pieces that advertise the ministry. In doing this one of the things we are always in need of is pictures of students. Often the choice is between buying an image from istockphoto.com or using one of our own. We try as hard as possible to avoid using istock or sites like that when possible because it just feels unnatural. Using photos of students in our ministry feels more authentic and original and really gives students ownership in the organization. The problem with using photos within your ministry is that you may not have time to do this when you are trying to create something for a pressing deadline. One solution to this predicament is to have a gallery of photos that are waiting to be used for future projects. Consider having a photo shoot with some of your key students two or three times a year to allow for a quality photo gallery for you to pull from when creating all kinds of media materials.
Recently we held a student photo shoot in our studio and had 10 students show up for about 2 hours. All the photographs were taken by one of my student volunteers who really loves photography. Below is one of the concepts he came up with taking the name of our ministry and using scrabble pieces to spell it out on some-one’s face.
- Creating a student ministry website with wordpress
- Using media to honor students
- Creating a video sharing site for your ministry
- Vote for our film
- Student ownership in your ministry
