Icon Photos

One of the hardest subjects to photograph, is someone that’s famous.
Why?
Because our emotions can get in the way when we are trying to photograph famous people.
For example, when I used to work at the Register as a photojournalist, we would always send the interns out to photograph the president with a tripod. From the moment the Air Force One touched down, till the president left in the limo, it was our job to have the camera on him.
Just in case.
Sounds morbid, but what if something happened and we didn’t have a photo of it?
Well, regardless of your political leanings, photographing the president of the United States of America is a pretty scary thing, the first time you do it.
The tripod ensured no shaking & no emotion.
In fact, one of the seasoned veterans told me to think of him as just another bag of skin.
I know, not very respectable or honoring, but it did help to take the emotion out of the moment.
I can’t tell you how many times that I’ve seen people try to take a photo with some celebrity and their emotions get the best of them.
Lens caps left on, cameras not turned on any number of mistakes that befall the poor star-struck photogs.
I share all of that to tell you of a moment I had this past summer.
Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Costa Mesa started the Harvest Crusades over 20 years ago.
He turned them over to Pastor Greg Laurie, who has seen great success with more than 100,000 people coming to the crusades just in Anaheim every year.
Pastor Chuck is like everyone’s grandpa.
This past Sunday he told his congregation that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer.
It made me think back to the last few times that I’ve been able to take his photo.
My wife and I attended his church in the early 80’s and were even baptized at Pirates cove back in 1980!
Every time I saw him at the Harvest event, I’d get a little excited and started acting like a newbie if I had the chance to speak with him.
I’ve been shooting celebrities, presidents and famous folks for over 25 years!
Yet, I’d have to get a hold of myself whenever I saw him.
This past August, he spoke briefly and the crowd gave such thunderous applause that he wept.
He blamed it on some medication he was taking, but he smiled such a huge smile, I could see he was overcome with joy.
Send up a pray for this man that has impacted southern California and our world in such a positive way.
I especially love a couple things in this image.
1. Pastor Greg is looking on from the wings.
2. The light was overexposed behind Pastor Chuck, like a bit of heaven shining down on a special man.
Be inspired!
Michael worked as a photojournalist in southern California for 20 plus years and has taught photojournalism at UCLA. He currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, CA where he teaches photography. He is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now!”
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