by Chris Cho

Since the launching of the Photography Ministry, there have been constant pictures of the events documented and updated on SmugMug. Officially launching the ministry enabled more professional task handling, which in turn resulted in vast improvements of the event coverage and the photo quality. Thankfully, new members have joined the team: Andrew Lin and Christina Chon who help out eagerly on many events. Because of the departure of the San Jose team, the Photography Ministry decreased in number; however, it won’t be affecting the quality of the photos due to the improvement of the photo-taking skills of the team.

There have been concerns about the selection of the photos uploaded on the website. It is inevitable that the photos might not be the most pleasing to the one whose photos are taken. If anyone is offended by the photos on SmugMug, it is crucial to let the team know as soon as possible; it is likely for others to feel the same way about certain photos. There is a strict self-examination among the team members before uploading the photos online. We first focus on what glorifies God the most through these photos while protecting the reputation of the church and members, especially our elders. But it can be difficult to define something being “fun” from something being “offensive”. The last thing the team wants is stumbling the church members due to the photos taken from the events. Communication between the photographers and members are very important. We as a team want you to feel comfortable when the photos are taken. So please talk to us and “smile” when there is a camera pointing at you.

I thought this would be a great time to introduce some of the team members as photographers, and I would like to highlight some of the distinctive styles of the team members. First, I like to introduce the most active yet former member of the team, James Lim. As a professional part-time wedding photographer, James has encouraged the members of the team to take the ministry more seriously. He challenged many of the team members to seek the ways to improve the photo quality while not losing focus on why we are serving in the ministry. He is the most influential member at criticizing the photos and make suggestions to improve the quality. His strong point as a photographer is that he can frame the photos that convey a unique perspective not found from other team members. His distinctive style enables viewers to distinguish his photos from the rest of the members’. He mainly serves in the video ministry these days but he always helps the photography ministry members by giving advice.

Courtney Chow, who is a member of San Jose church plant team, has left the team; however, her unique style is worthy of being mentioned. Her style as a photographer is very different from the rest of the members due to her use of bright natural light to highlight the object (in photography jargon, over-exposed). Her photos, therefore, convey the style popularly used in wedding photography. Her photos are also easy for the viewers to distinguish from the rest of the members.

Last but not least, Chris Cho, myself (hopefully you may not feel uncomfortable referring myself in third person), is a photographer who fell in love with heavy photo processing that shows neither blemishes nor imperfections in the photos. However, this can be skipped occasionally when he is busy with other stuff while the deadline for uploading photos has passed. Then the most natural and almost non-post-processed photos can be seen on SmugMug. He is not very photogenic, which results in him avoiding cameras while asking people to smile in front of his camera. His photos can be easily identified because of his use of vintage style filters on pretty much all of his photos uploaded on SmugMug.

There are many more members who are not mentioned in this update faithfully serve in the ministry to glorify God. They are precious gifts from God. They serve the body and carry out the Great Commission. On the next update, the styles of the others members will be mentioned.

Our goal as a team is to serve the body of Christ faithfully while using our passion for photography to benefit the church. Our focus is on Christ and carrying out the MVP of our church. One request from the photography ministry to the church members is to get to know the photographers in the church. It is natural for photographers to take pictures of people whom they are comfortable with. This results in absence of many members in the event photos despite their participation. So please talk to the photographers and they will appreciate it very much.

Editor’s Note: In case you missed it earlier in the article, you can check out all the LBC photos on the SmugMug page.