Jonathan and I wanted to do more than just “punch the clock”. We wanted to take our job seriously and fulfill our assignments with excellence! So practically, what did this mean we would need to do?

Home Educators Association of Virginia hosted Day at the Capitol last week in an effort to help homeschool families from across their state participate in the government firsthand in a creative and pragmatic way. HEAV is one of the greatest organizations I have worked with, graciously providing opportunities to teach photography at their annual Conventions for the past three years. And last week, in a totally unanticipated gesture of encouragement, they invited Lenspiration to come and cover their Day at the Capitol event.  I was thrilled! And indebted for such an opportunity. Teaming up with my brother Jonathan as the “media team”, we wanted to do our best!

This was the first time for either of us to attend one of these events, so we knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge. But we didn’t just want to walk away hoping we had done a good job . . . we wanted to be proactive about making sure we had done our best! So how did we attempt to do that?

How would you do it? If you were hired to shoot an event for someone, what would you do to go the extra mile? What would you that would show just how much you cared about the success of your employer?

If you’re into photography, you’ll be asked to take on some jobs before too long. What character qualities are you building right now that will help you be prepared to shoot with excellence on the job site?

There are always lots of ways to go the extra mile or conduct a job with excellence, but one of the practical ways that Jonathan and I figured was appropriate for our situation that day was to arrive at the Capitol grounds early . . . early enough to grab some b-role and location oriented shots at sunrise during the golden hour before everyone arrived.

Would you agree that, sometimes, going the extra mile can be a lot of fun? Yeah. We were in our element!

Artistic, environmental shots of the Capitol may never be used by HEAV. But at least they have option to use them.

The sun didn’t come out and paint our subject golden in true, landscape photography fashion. But at least dynamic clouds provided unique variety for HEAV to work with if they chose.

We may never know if our “extra efforts” are noticed. But that’s not what matters.

What matters is that we know we did our best in every area we could. And for that mornings’ specific application of pursuing excellence—arriving early for sunrise—was made possible by many years of developing Christian character and the basic skill and discipline of early rising.

To gather ideas for pursuing excellence in a completely different genre of photography, take a look at the PRO-exclusive featured article, An Honorable Approach to Maternity Portraiture, in the newly released February PRO Report.