Over New Year's, we went and visited friends up in New England. It was great fun! And it was the perfect opportunity to shoot the latest Shoot to Serve photo assignment, Cathedrals of the Imagination!

It turns out that editing played a huge role in this assignment! Here is the before/after of my favorite shot from the photoshoot. The final product is much closer to what I was thinking in my head than what was actually on location!

There are 3 things I didn't mention in the video that I think would be good to note when shooting assignments like this:

1. Respect private property

I didn't just drive up to any random old church and go trampling all over their property. The church was a location that the Moore family had recommended, they knew the folks there, and we had done what we needed to do beforehand to conduct our photoshoot courteously.

In general, there's no need to get permission to photograph a church, but since I wanted to photograph a person on the church's property and have the freedom to move around on their property too, I considered this a special situation.

2. Consider getting Property and Model releases

Neither of these two releases are required for this assignment. However, if you want to use your photos for other purposes beyond this assignment, you may want to consider getting them. In general, a Property release is for when private property in your photo is recognizably famous. A Model release, in general, is for when a person in your photo is recognizable.

In my final shot, neither the property nor the person are recognizable so I could most likely get by with using this photo for whatever I wanted without getting either release. However, to be safe, I will probably pursue getting a Model release if I decide to submit my shot on a stock website. If nothing else, I should at least ask the Moore's for their permission to use the photo beyond the assignment.

3. Don't go through all this work for nothing!

I know how it feels....shooting an assignment like this isn’t easy! But only one photo will be chosen for this assignment, and chances are, it won't be yours. So, I would recommend you make the most of shooting these assignments by selling your best shots as stock.

And I would recommend starting with Lightstock.com. Lightstock is a good fit because many photos taken for Lenspiration assignments are of concepts that could be considered faith-focused. And that's what their site is all about. It’s also a whole lot more family friendly than most stock sites, and it's professional and profitable too. I'm not getting paid to say this! I recommend them because I really like what they're doing.

And I like what they are doing so much that I even put together this “Getting Started with Lightstock” video (for Lenspiration Members) that explains all the nitty-gritty details about how to set up an account and what you need to know to start selling your pictures with them! The checklist at the end should be particularly helpful for beginners.

Now It's Your Turn!

You've watched me shoot the assignment, now it's you're turn! Challenge yourself. Click to view the full details for the Cathedrals of the Imagination assignment below:

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