Commercial Story: Rural Clergy Fellows
This shoot was really special for me, because it wasn’t just about taking headshots for this group of clergy persons. All of my passions and giftedness came together at this event. Brian Foreman, Executive Director of Church & Community at Campbell, has this ability to plug me into events and opportunities that allow me to lean into different facets of what I love to do in the world.
This shoot was for the 2021 Cohort of the Rural Clergy Fellows. The Center for Church and Community at Campbell pulls together a group of applicants each year to create a cohort that meets for four retreat gatherings throughout the year, as well as engaging in peer learning groups, webinars and faith-based coaching with the goal of bolstering clergy well-being, friendship and spiritual growth.
Brian invited me to do headshots for students as part of the Campbell Youth Theological Institute in 2018 and 2019. I have had the joy of photographing high school and college students as a part of their two week experience of exploring faith and vocation. It is such a gift to share my story of faith and vocation with these students as they ask good, big questions about who God is and who God is calling them to be in the world.
What started out as a request for me to do headshots during this retreat gathering of the Rural Clergy Fellows turned into a plan where I also shared my story, talking about knowing who we are and how we are seen, and how that can be used to create authentic headshots. The first thing I did with the Fellows included having them think through how their congregations might see them, and how they might want to be seen by their congregations. Are there differences? What about that would you want translated in a professional headshot of you? I asked the ministers to bring this list into their headshot, which we then used to help craft an image that they felt really represented them. Afterward we had a great group discussion about what that exercise kicked up for them.
I love this kind of work in the world… looking at our stories and how they inform who we are and how we are seen in the world. And then in that case, letting that vulnerably show in our photographs to help represent who we are to the world. I love talking about this - let me know if this sounds like an interesting exercise for your group!
