We believe what we can see. And, used wisely, photographs can add zest, power, and meaning to the speeches you give.

“Photographers use their cameras as tools of exploration, passports to inner sanctums, instruments for change. Their images are proof that photography matters—now more than ever”, Robert Draper, National Geographic

You’ll likely have heard it said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’.

And as a speaker, that’s a notion you should take to heart if you’re planning on using visual aids to bolster your talks.

Forget about myriad detail or words, they’re dull, forgettable, and likely a waste of everyone’s time…

Think instead about how you can use images to complement and enhance the effect of your messages – making it easier for your audiences to see and experience what you mean.

And in that vein…Listen in as I interview one of Ireland’s leading professional photographers, Justin Mac Innes about what it really takes to capture images that’ll cause your audiences to sit up and pay greater attention and remember more from what you say.

Surefire Ways to Get Better Photos for Every Talk:

In today’s podcast, Justin and Eamonn O’Brien discuss:

• The secrets to achieving greater emotional connection through your photographs
• Why, while not wrong, generic photos can rob you of the effects you want
• Questions you should ask to get better images for your talks, first time and every time
• Tapping into the power of photos to pique audience imagination and new ideas
• How to avoid common roadblocks to capturing awesome photos
• And more

Over to You

Please feel free to share any questions, comments or opinions you have about today’s podcast.

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Full Interview Transcript

 
Eamonn O’Brien:       I am especially delighted to be joined tonight by one of Ireland’s leading photographers, Justin Mac Innes of Mac Innes Photography.

The idea today is that we’re going to talk about what we can learn from a world-class photographer.

When I’m talking with our clients about connecting with our audience, I’m constantly talking about emotional persuasion and connection, and helping people to see what you’re talking about.

As a photographer, what’s involved in helping people to get the emotional connection out of a photograph?

Justin Mac Innes:      The difference between a good picture and a great picture is the ability to convey emotion in a photograph.

Eamonn:   How do you get at that?

Justin:        Let’s say a silhouette scene, for instance. A couple on two deck chairs at dusk at a beach, holding hands with the sunset on the background. That can show a great loving emotion.

You could have a war scene, of a family standing outside their bombed house, standing up. The family is standing there with just the clothes they have.

Eamonn:   So it’s almost visceral.

Justin:        Yeah. They have absolutely nothing. They have nothing but themselves.

Eamonn:   Many speakers feel that photographs can really pique imagination and really set people off with lashings of different ideas.

Do you have a thought or two about the difference between a professional versus a generic photograph in doing that job?

Justin:        Yeah. I think most of your audience will spot a generic picture and say, “I’ve seen that before with another speaker.” Those people look American. They don’t look Irish or English or something local that you’re trying to put across.

The ideas within those generic pictures can be very good, but you’ve got to make them your own and you’ve got to translate that into something that’s very much a local thing for your own audience.

I think people will see the effort you’ve put in and empathise with you a little bit more.

Eamonn:   I think that’s the important word. It is really about empathising with your audience.

Justin:        Yes.

Eamonn:   Because if the audience thinks it’s a wee bit contrived or that’s not them, they’re not going to maybe draw as much inspiration from it.

Justin:        Yeah. I think people like to associate with like-minded people.

As such, they’re more likely to be more interested in, let’s say, pictures that reflect them and their own situation in life.

Eamonn:   Yes, absolutely. So you want to capture where people are coming from and make it a hell of a lot easier for them, if you like, to take it on to the next level for themselves.

Justin:        True, true, true.

Eamonn:   Tell me though, as a professional photographer – whether speakers or others are coming to you and they want to get the best possible images – if you had your perfect scenario and you are arming people to ask you the right questions, what are the right questions to ask a professional photographer to get the best results?

Justin:        It depends on whether you’re talking about people shots, product shots… let’s say shots of somebody’s offices and so on.

Let’s start off with people shots.

Lots of people come in and have very, very few minutes to actually do a photograph. They have done no research except maybe look at a photograph of somebody else and they think, “Oh, I’d love to look like that.” Somehow or another, they think the photographer can actually do brilliant things.

Photographers can do brilliant things, but it’s important that a photographer doesn’t show you in a light and in an image that nobody will recognise you.

Photographers can make you look like a film star. But everybody’s going to look at you – having seen that – and say, “Oh, I don’t recognise you,” or, “That must have been a very good day.”

[Both chuckle]

Eamonn:   So first of all then, you’re saying you invest the time. That’s the first thing you’d say.

Justin:        Invest the time. Talk to your local photographer, the photographer that suits the particular project you have in mind.

So many people turn around and say, “Oh, he’s a photographer. He can do fashion. He can do general photography. He can do social. He can do weddings. He can do all this.”

Photography is very much something that you specialise in a particular area. We particularly specialise in corporate and social photography.

Eamonn:   So if we took it on a step and we’re talking about maybe the top few things – and it can be anything; this is a broad topic – that speakers might consider when they’re choosing a photograph to make sure that it’s interesting to their audience, what comes to your mind? What advice would you give?

Justin:        The unusual. Firstly, firstly, that’s the very first thing.

Eamonn:   Something different.

Justin:        Something different. That could be any… different is different to many different people.

Eamonn:   Like a people shot, for example. How would you make that different?

Justin:        If you show your audience something that they’re not expecting, let’s say not necessarily a person at work, at their desk or something like that. You want to show something that’s more exciting, that they will want to aspire to.

They will say, “God, that was a really good…”

Eamonn:   Love it. Because what you’re talking about is being less corporate.

Justin:        Yeah.

Eamonn:   So being less corporate may be one of them.

Justin:        So many of our clients and so many clients out there will start off by saying, “We want something really different with this.”

By the time you get to doing the actual assignment, you find that they have retrenched back into, “We have to do this safe, because somebody upstairs has actually told us we can’t go and be too daring.”

Eamonn:   I love it because you’re absolutely right. As a speaker, it’s terribly important that you have to move people on to something new, something different. Otherwise, why would they remember the blah from something else that’s equally blah? What’s the difference?

Justin:        Well, it’s rather like going to a movie and coming out thinking, “My God, that was fantastic. The acting was brilliant. The props were great. The whole thing was really brilliant.” And the story line is probably the same story line that you’ve seen a hundred times before.

Eamonn:   Yes.

Justin:        But what makes it different? Very often, it is the visuals. If you can make something different…

And it doesn’t have to take a year or two to come up with the idea. You literally get online. You have a look at what’s out there. You actually see what people have done before.

Then you go to the opposite of the scale and look at other things people have done not in your industry. You very often find that there’s an idea, there’s something there that you can build on to actually make your photograph a really–

Eamonn:   So push boundaries. Break the boundaries.

Justin:        Break the boundaries, yeah.

Eamonn:   Break the boundaries, yes. In fact, set the boundaries. [chuckles]

Justin:        Well, I don’t know about setting the boundaries. But at least if you go out and do that, you’re going to be in with a better chance of coming up with really good pictures.

I think most people like safe, because safe is safe. But really, that’s not going to inspire your audience. Your audience is sitting there for one, two, three, four hours.

Eamonn:   Please don’t speak for four hours to the audience.

Justin:        [Laughs] They actually need stimulation. Good pictures will stimulate their ideas.

When you’re talking about your subject – and that’s probably a subject that they hold dear to their hearts and they’re interested in it – what adds more interest is very good imagery, and imagery that they’re not expecting to see.

Now, you can’t do that every time. But at least–

Eamonn:   Mix it up.

Justin:        –at least mix it up. You create a start.

Then once you start doing that and you come along with good imagery, good, original imagery… you can base it on things that you’ve seen. As we’ve noticed, there are very few original ideas, and they’re all… [chuckles]

Eamonn:   There are no new ideas, really. But the key thing is, how can you make your ideas more fresh and meaningful for what people need to do at that given point in time?

What about things that you must not do, the common mistakes? If you were to think about things that people really need to avoid to get great photographs, what’s top of your list?

Justin:        Top of my list, I would have to say would be not putting enough thought into what it is you actually want from a photographer, what you want to get out of it as a client, not conveying that to the photographer or talking to the photographer and teasing out ideas…

The photographer is delighted to be able to put his tuppence worth into the pot, to actually help you achieve what it is you want to achieve.

You have this great idea maybe or maybe not. You’ve seen something somewhere. And you’re expecting the photographer to create something that’s in your mind that you haven’t conveyed across to that photographer.

Certainly not giving enough time to do the shot or shots. That’s a huge bone of contention with photography. Photography does need time to get right.

The other one big bone of contention is the location in which you’re doing the pictures.

Eamonn:   Now why is that so important?

Justin:        Well, it’s all about visuals. Photography’s about visuals.

And it happens for every photographer, every corporate photographer everywhere in the world. You get shown into this room that is totally unsuitable for the picture or pictures that you want the photographer to get right.

Very often, again, it comes back to talking with the photographer, showing him around, showing various areas within your business, within the confines of the university you’re in or whatever.

He’ll pick out a dozen areas that are going to be far better than the room with Venetian blinds.

Eamonn:   Get the advice is what you’re saying, rather than dictating maybe.

Justin:        Absolutely. I mean, yes, the photographer, if you don’t like what he’s saying, you don’t have to go with his opinion. But get his opinion.

Really important to actually get his input. If you do, you’re going to come up with a far superior product.

Eamonn:   Justin, listen, it’s been fantastic. I’m delighted to interview you this evening.

If you would like to learn more about Justin and the kinds of things that he can do with his photography, you’ll see the links here.

I want to thank you for joining us again.