Framing the Future: The Canon R and Its Lenses Transforming School Narrative

In this enlightening episode of The Sneaker Principal podcast, join host Uche Njoku as he explores the vital role of photography in school leadership. Discover how the Canon R, coupled with its RF 15-35mm and 24-70mm lenses, is revolutionizing the way school leaders capture and share pivotal moments, shaping the identity and community perception of their schools.

Delve into the world of visual storytelling and understand why professional-grade equipment like the Canon R outperforms smartphones in a school setting. Learn about the specific advantages of the RF 15-35mm lens for wide-angle shots of events and landscapes, and the RF 24-70mm lens for versatile day-to-day photography, from portraits to classroom activities.

Beyond just enhancing enrollment, Uche discusses how quality photography can celebrate school achievements, foster a sense of belonging, and build a lasting legacy. He shares personal anecdotes and encourages school principals to invest in quality photography equipment to effectively tell their school’s story and build their brand.

Tune in to "Framing the Future: The Canon R and Its Lenses Transforming School Leadership" for insightful discussions on empowering school leaders through the art of photography, and learn why the images we create today are crucial for tomorrow’s legacy.

#EndOfPodcast #SchoolLeadership #CanonR #PhotographyInEducation #VisualStorytelling #EducationalPodcast

Chapters

• 0:02 The Power of Cameras in Schools
• 15:26 Choosing the Right Camera and Lens
• 28:15 Visual Storytelling's Importance in Schools

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

This is Uchein Choku, and welcome to the Sneaker Principle Podcast, and in this episode, I'm about to do something that I haven't done in a very, very long time. I'm a little nervous. I'm going to talk about gear technology, specifically cameras and lenses, and a why, as a school principle, you should consider purchasing one for your school. Let's go ahead and start.

Speaker 2: 0:41

When they see me, they know that every day, when I'm breathing, it's for us to go farther. Every time I speak, I want the truth to come out. You know what I'm saying. Every time I speak, I want to shiver. I don't want them to be like. They know what I'm going to say, because it's polite. They know what I'm going to say and even if I get in trouble, you know what I'm saying. That ain't that what we're supposed to do. I'm not saying I'm going to rule the world or I'm going to change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world, and that's our job is to spark somebody else watching us. We might not be the ones, but let's not be selfish. And because we're not going to change the world, let's not talk about how we should change it. I don't know how to change it, but I know, if I keep talking about how dirty it is out here, somebody going to clean it up. And now he's been promoted. His job is principle.

Speaker 1: 1:36

So check this out, guys. It's been a long time since I last talked about gear or even presented a product. Those of you who followed me for a while and do the transformation of my channel. I used to talk about credit cards, so I would talk about a particular type of credit card and the benefits and things of that nature. I talked about sneakers. It was kind of a hot spot of different things and I thought I was talking about gear and equipment. I've done several episodes where I discussed this, all my different things and how I've set up.

Speaker 1: 2:10

Please part in this. Right now. I'm going to try to do something that hopefully won't get me made fun of, especially in the camera, video photography, videography space. Listen, I'm going to tell you this right now. I do not profess to be the best person when it comes to camera gear, but, however, it's an essential part of my, of my this thing that I do podcasting. I have a camera right here that I'm recording with. You can be able to see it right here. It's a Canon RP and it's a mirrorless camera.

Speaker 1: 3:07

That's what I used to record my, all my episodes, at least for the past year or so, if probably even longer than that, and in this episode, I want to talk to you about why I believe schools and I'm going to add and my audience, at least I hope my audience is primarily school leaders, inspiring school leaders why this is a very powerful tool that you need and I know people might say, hey, what are you talking about? Why would I invest in a camera, you know, for photography, when I have a cell phone? And hopefully I'll be able to explain this to you. I'm hoping this episode is going to be about 15 minutes long and I'm already way, way over my time thus far, but if it's 15 minutes, it's 15 minutes. If it's not 15 minutes, then it's not 15 minutes. And nonetheless, my job right now is to convince you, as a school leader, superintendent, principal, whoever that a school should have one of these, not sitting in a closet, not locked away gathering dust, but being utilized every single day. So let's get into it, okay. So typically, I have my those of you who listen to this via Apple podcast or Google, wherever you listen to podcasts from I'm sorry, I want to be saying a lot of things and visuals here, so you can listen to this in the car and, if you want to go, wherever you are and they don't. You can go to my YouTube channel or LinkedIn. I post all my podcast episodes on LinkedIn. You can actually watch and see what I'm actually talking about. But I'm hoping and I'm hoping, and I will do my best to verbally express my beliefs around photography and videography that's necessary to as a vital tool for schools. Okay, let's go ahead and start.

Speaker 1: 5:16

Everyday I was, a majority of time you will find me walking through my school with a camera in my hand and it's not this one, actually, what I have in my hand right here, as the cannon are and I will tell you this was my first camera. This would have been, um, maybe about four or five years ago that I had and I would walk around my first school as principal. I would be taking pictures all the time at events, walk into classrooms, I would go into observations and take pictures, take pictures of teachers teaching, students working. I would be in a cafeteria, in the yard taking pictures, because I really believe that Branding is one thing that we're not taught in school. Leadership of courses and certifications we're taught to on how to run a school.

Speaker 1: 6:07

But if you are in a city like I am, new York City you have another responsibility, which is getting people to want to come to your school, those of you who live in places where you know your school is zoned and the kids you just have kids come in regardless. You know you don't have to do anything having to do with enrollment. That's not your responsibility. You know you get kids and you move forward. I'm jealous I don't know what that's not, what that looks like or that sounds like, because, as a principal in New York City, we're fighting. We're fighting for kids, we're fighting for families, we're fighting in communities to Keep our doors open. Anyway, you keep your doors open is by having students and families say I am sending my child to your school and the city like ours, where we have a lot charter schools and private schools and options, and I'm I'll tell you right now, I am not anti anyone else, but I am pro making sure that I'm presenting my best foot, might the best image, the best narrative about my school and I'll say my schools, but this is my third school as a principal and I'm Principal struggle a lot of a struggle with how do we get the message out there. So we do, like you know, we do the open houses and we try to social media.

Speaker 1: 7:29

We do all the different things, and one thing I've learned from my previous life in in sales and marketing is you have to tell a story. You have to tell a compelling story. You have to tell a story. They has people I'm Talking about you, or a minimum planting the seeds in your heads where they can't forget about you, where you're part of the conversation and and for me this might sound like what are you talking about, but I really believe that, at minimum, photography, catching pictures, catching those moments, those amazing Moments in your school where something great is happening in the classroom a child smiling, teachers engaged in each other, just a day-to-day things that are happening in your school. Those amazing moments that often Are not talked about because we're running around dealing with all the other things rather than capturing the amazing things. Like, I'm sorry, I don't care how bad a school may be based on On various factors, there's always those shiny moments, but those moments happen. Absence of Then being documented. So what's happening is, you know, you're trying to find ways to tell a story, one. The story is happening all around you, it's just not being documented. So for me, yes, I'm gonna tell you first of all in prefaces yes, I do have a.

Speaker 1: 9:01

I did major in film and media studies. I am. I Love photography, I love video, like all. This is like amazing to me the fact that what you're watching right now is something that that I Spent many hours trying to figure out how to create this image, this what you're seeing right now, where people are like man, how do you get that?

Speaker 1: 9:25

How do you, how does your video look like that? I did that because I was watching people, other people watching, create YouTube creators. It kind of creates a saying like how do they get that beautiful blurry background, the skin tone and the sound the way it sounds? So I spent a lot of time doing that. And the pandemic For all the bad things that happened in a pandemic, they also gave me a lot of time to figure out how the best Present content to my families and my students in a way that they were engaged. I remember I was teaching classes during the pandemic and kids would ask me mister, why does it video look like that? I was like what do you mean that? I it looks like a YouTube channel and that was intentional because I knew, you know, it had certain factors that no matter what?

Speaker 1: 10:15

no matter what you're doing, if they're not an alignment, people tune out and that is audio.

Speaker 1: 10:22

How do you sound? That is, um, the image stability, like things being still and they can watch it like they're watching a movie or TV show. Lighting. That's pleasing, it's very clear and Video quality, you know. So these things were things I studied because I wanted to make sure that I could present To my students my family during the pandemic something that kept them engaged.

Speaker 1: 10:52

And one thing I would tell you is, in the world we live in right now with social media, how much we spend on on Instagram or TikTok, swiping while watching Video we're hearing sounds, even on Instagram watch different pictures and think about all the things that make you stop just compelling images. They make you go, say they make you say like, whoa Like, and then you're also in your sharing with other people. You know. Now think about how do we put that into our school spaces, and it starts with Making sure that you have the tools to make it happen. Yes, we have amazing phones and we can do all the stuff we could do with our phones and everything else, but the thing about the fund that that I don't like. No matter how better, how much better, even squads getting and the things we can do with our phones, that's not the tool that was intended for what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 11:51

I'm talking about really saying how do I commit energy? Am I saying principles or system principles or school leaders should be the ones doing this? I'm doing it because this is something I'm passionate about, but it might be somebody on your staff who is whose job is to document Listen in one of my previous schools, because as a principal, I'm also busy. You know, even though I wanna be the one to do it all the time, I teach kids some of my students to be the ones behind the lens, taking pictures, recording video and I'm talking about high quality pictures that when you post it on a website or you share images from an event, it looked like it was done by like a million dollar marketing agency. You want your school to look like a million bucks. So that's the thing, like you know, being able to capture those images in a way that looks amazing, but it's also thoughtful, because this is not your phone, okay.

Speaker 2: 12:56

This is not your phone.

Speaker 1: 12:57

This is a camera that has a specific purpose, whether you're recording video or you are taking pictures.

Speaker 1: 13:04

This is when you're in that space and you're using a camera like the one I have in my hand right now, your brain shifts to a different place. It's the purpose you're recording these images. You're taking these pictures and you're gonna utilize them for a purpose of really telling the story about your school. And when you do that, you start to form an identity. You start to create a message or narrative where people see you the way you wanna be seen. And the great thing about using photography and amazing images compelling images is that it changes everything perception. You know how people talk about your school community, how people tell the story about what they're seeing. You know, the same way that we get engaged on social media, the same way, if we do this right way, people get engaged with your school.

Speaker 1: 14:01

So yeah so, yes, for those of you who are saying I have my phone, it's wonderful If you're doing with your phone, great. But I think when you commit to resources to a particular place and then you have the people it might be a photography club, it might be kids who are just doing it, you know, and they're ever honing your skills then what you end up having is a very, very, very powerful tool. So, okay, let's talk about the gear. You know, I know people are like okay, you're saying some of you are like I'm convinced, some of you are like I'm not convinced and you've already, you know, moved on to another video. I'm all power to you. So now, those of you who are like, yes, I'm down, I'm game, but I don't know where to start. I'm gonna tell you one thing this requires some time and effort to learn, you know. But, however, the great thing about cameras is that Allow them a future AI. If you put the right settings on, you Can literally point and shoot and create and get pretty decent images what I mean by decent Way better than your phone, you know. And but the thing is, where do you start? My thing is this my favorite camera walking around and I have a couple of them, but my favorite one is walking around every single day. Those of you follow me on social media and LinkedIn, you see my images. Typically it's right from this camera here.

Speaker 1: 15:26

This is a Canon R is a five-year-old camera, so if you might be like five years old, no, it came out five years ago. You still buy them brand new. You buy them used and I want to say they're like roughly about 1500. I'm gonna avoid saying prices right now because I I don't know right now what they are. I just have estimates. But again, some of you might say 1500. That's a lot of money, but your iPhone probably cost more than this. Call what it is. Let's really call it what it is.

Speaker 1: 15:55

Okay, this is the investment in the right tools to tell your story. So why? Why the Canon R? User friendly, it's easy to use. You, you're learning, turn it on and if you put an auto, you just point and shoot, take pictures. For Beginners those of you are just brand new to even Using a camera it's easy to use and the great thing about it, there's a million no one Lili a billion and one videos on YouTube you can watch. You just to set up a camera, understand how to use it. It's not that complicated, because one thing about cameras, it's all about repetition. The more you use it, the more you figure out the different settings, the more creative you get with it and the more you can you can do so.

Speaker 1: 16:45

And the great thing about this, this arm are the R is the first mirrorless camera, and what do you mean by? What do I mean by mirror? By mirrorless you have? Prior to this, the technology was a DSLR and, and what happens with these DSLR cameras? It has a mirror inside, so the body had to be bigger and the mirror was the technology, and I want to say it's right now.

Speaker 1: 17:11

This is not a tech review, like with all the low numbers and all that stuff. Now this is more qualitative. So the old versions of these kinds of cameras were much bigger and those are the form factor, you know. But they were still great. And if you have a DSLR and that's great, you know because, again, it's still the same thing it's just that the mirrorless are just newer technology, which also comes with Much better focusing, these new Joints. Right here I'm telling you and this is five years, five years ago the quality would you get with focusing and being able to, like, get crispy, beautiful pictures with buttery backgrounds. You know new technology, so you have these right here and. But what you see right here my hand is just a camera body, if you're noticing I'm sorry for those of you who listen into this in your car or you listen to your headphones All I have in my hand right now is the body, that's it. If you could tell, you can see there's no lens, or you see you in front of me here. It's just, you know, the camera body with a cap in the front. So I want to get the pick up the cap and there's where you put a lens.

Speaker 1: 18:25

Why get a camera with a lens is because you have more options. You can get a point and shoot camera, which is just literally that way, has a fixed lens on there. But you're limited. You can only go, but you can only take pictures, typically a white, nice white angle, which means you get a good chunk of space into the image and you can zoom in, probably Maybe where you're standing. If I say you want to get a picture of a student or a teacher teaching the classroom, you'd probably have to be a few feet away from them, maybe two or three feet away from them to get a nice picture. And in the school space yes, be honest here, that's not ideal. You know you want to. You don't want to be walking up to somebody's teacher teaching to get a picture, or it's an event. You know you want to be able, if need be, be far enough away and zoom in and zoom in the your lens so you can get closer without having to physically get closer to them.

Speaker 1: 19:19

So this one I prefer to have a camera with, with where I, where I get to choose what lenses. So I'll tell you this for the purpose of this video. I would tell you what I would say to purchase with this camera. Okay, and again, one more thing. There are several other cameras. I'm just saying this will do what you need to do because if and again, it doesn't have to be canon, it can be so many Fuji, whatever you choose. I'm a canon guy, I know can is and I'm comfortable can and so I tend to not move away for what I know and Can is typically it's probably the most popular camera. Most people have cannons, but hey, whatever you choose, but you have to have a lens that you can put on here. So my Fave. But first, lens house, I'm gonna suggest two, and and it's a budget constraints I'm gonna suggest one. I Okay, they can kind of fit these two, but again I'll tell you why I'll suggest it to.

Speaker 1: 20:19

So the first one is this this is a 13 to 35 millimeter camera. 13 would give you a nice white angle. I can stand in the corner of a classroom and take a picture of everything pretty much From presenting that corner that I can see by naked eye. Okay, that's a great thing. Remember, schools. You have classrooms, classrooms typically not a lot space in there. So you want a lens that you can get a nice decent Angle shot and incorporate the full field of the classroom. Right, this would do this for you. So you can zoom from from from a white, nice white shot at 15 millimeters, and then you can also Come as close as 35, and 35 is typically what they say the human eyes can see. So this is where maybe you're Looking at a student working, all group of students working. You can get them all to fit in that frame with a cap, with a lens like this.

Speaker 1: 21:20

Okay, and the great thing about this, this is a About to get technical right now. So if you can be like. What are you talking about? So this is a 2.8 aperture and make sure, and and that's all that means is how much light can get in there. Just be honest here. A lot of our classrooms are not the most well-lit spaces, so you want to be able to have lights. You know enough light because it gets into the camera. What did you remember about photography? Photo means light. Graphy or graphic is the capturing of an image, right? So the more light you have in there, the better images are.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Some people might say Well, let me just put a little flash on my camera. Do you really want to be having flashes going off in the classroom as things are happening? Or you want to be as inconspicuous as you can to get images, document to what's happening in school? So I Choose to go to fast lens. All that means is that 2.8 or the aperture it's the lower the number, the more like the camera takes in.

Speaker 1: 22:27

So again, I would suggest this 1350, 1335, perfect lens in the classroom, right? Get, if you want to get white shots, you know, and get more of what's happening in the classroom. No, now the other lens. Number two, again, if you have the Canon R, and I would say You're able to do it. Get two lenses again the 15 to 35, second will be the 24 to 70.

Speaker 1: 22:57

We think about 24, 70, 24 still reasonable, you know white or white lens. It falls right in between a 15 to 35 sweet spot, because the 70 70 millimeter allows me to stand Pretty much where I want to in the classroom and take pictures and because I'm able to zoom in without having to be in a kid's face, and often when I'm taking pictures I don't even know if I'm taking pictures of them, because I'm using outside room a few feet away. So I can get great shots or the teacher's teaching and I want to get that still shot for, for for Twitter or X or for Instagram or for the website I can be. It's more versatile. I don't have to be in your face, I can stand further away from you with this lens and again, if we're having events at school.

Speaker 1: 23:50

I don't have to be all up on stage trying to take pictures. I can still be. Recently, far away enough to get nice images was happening in the space. So these are two lenses right here, that the 15 to 35 and the 24 to 70. Right, but now If you're like, okay, that's too much, and again I'm over here telling you about lenses, let me show you. You have your camera, you know you take up the cap and then you take your lens Lens right here to get the cap from the back of the lens. This is the 24 to 70 and you are lining up and then click Now to see how your camera right here, right and and again to.

Speaker 1: 24:41

I recommend two lenses. If I'm in the classroom, I just go with my 35 to my 15 to 37 because I'm trying to get big shots. If I want to be more into getting more shots of particular students doing stuff, the 24 to 70, again, was suffice. I don't walk into class with both lenses, switching lenses out. I just figure I asked myself what is it I'm trying to capture? Where am I walking into? And I put the lens, the lens on the camera. It's most appropriate. So I would tell you, typically, I'm walking to a class with 24 to 70, but I want to keep as much distance between the camera and Life that's happening in my, in my classrooms, right so, or even in the hallways, wherever outside, to have put this on here and this is what you have.

Speaker 1: 25:28

But some of you might be like, listen, I don't want to have to think, do all that thinking between Facing 13 millimeters to 35 millimeters, or 24 mil, 24 millimeters, 70 millimeters. And then you might ask, what if the person I'm trying cats a little bit further away? What do I do then? Then I would recommend this guy right here, which is actually cheaper than these other two lenses. This is a 24 to 105 millimeter lens. So now, why is it cheaper? But you would think, wait a minute, these two that lens can go. I mean, it's not as wide as 15, but it does start at 24, like this, like the 24 to 70, and goes 105. But again, the 24 to 70 is also a very fast lens. It's a 2.8. It gets a lot of light in there. So the thing is, with the 24 to 105, this lens right here, do what I own is a has an aperture of four, so at four, so it doesn't end as much light. It's not doesn't mean it's a bad thing.

Speaker 1: 26:39

Okay, I don't get into all the little unnecessary details for what we're doing Big taping in the school building. A four is perfectly fine and the great thing about it stays as a constant four, so it still gets pretty good light. You're not gonna get crazy blurry backgrounds. But that's not what you really want to do in a school. You want to catch as much as what's happening in the backgrounds, right? So this lens, right here again, could be your one lens. It's your camera and again, you're taking pictures. You you're going around Documenting, but a great thing, by these chemistry to do video. You know you could hold the camera and do videos, interview students, to get moments. Then you have all these quality images up to 4K. Okay, I stick to 1080p, which is a standard high quality video.

Speaker 1: 27:28

People always assume that my videos are 4K, are recording in 4K. Now, this is 1080p. I've always done 1080p. It's easier to manage. I don't have big files. I can edit, post. It works perfectly for me. So this right here again, you can walk into a classroom. You're not gonna get as wide as 15, but I'll be honest with you, there aren't too many times that I need to go that wide. 24 tends to be work perfectly for me. But with this lens here, depending on where I'm at, it's perfect because I can stand across the room and zoom in. I can stand back out of the room and record a teacher, or even zoom in close to them to take a picture or do a video, and again, this lens right here would do it. This is probably the most versatile lens. It's just that, my creative side being I don't wanna say I'm a filmmaker, but the filmmaker hobbyist in me and the photographer in me, I want, like the first, fertility that I get with these other two lenses.

Speaker 1: 28:33

And I have a bunch of other lenses, but these two little ones that you're gonna see me walking around the school with. But this lens right here, which was much of my first lens that you came with, the Canon R. This did a lot Proms like listen, I do not hide photographers from my proms. I bring my camera and the goal is to train students who will come to our events and be the photographers. It is a skill. It's a skill that pays really well if you know what you're doing. So, despite here, the Canon R 24-105 F4, that's the job just as well. So, yeah, that's, I'm forgetting. I'm going through my notes. That's why I make sure I got everything.

Speaker 1: 29:23

Now, again, when you have these tools, you can tell a story. You'd be surprised how a photograph, one image, teaches laughing kids, laughing kids doing works something amazing. Or a video, a short clip, can really, really, really define you as a school community. You know, and one of the things, too, I say all the time is principals, please learn how to be in front of a camera. Learn how to be in front of a photography camera or in front of a video camera, because you are the chief executive of your school and often you are the one that determines when a family says, okay, I'm bringing my skills, my kids, to your school and I've learned this the hard way because I have families who come who bought their kids because I was the one there, because I told such an amazing story about my leadership that they were like whoa. I want my child to be at that school. I told such an amazing story about my teachers and my students and images and video and they're like whoa. I want my child to go there.

Speaker 1: 30:28

Look at that, think about it. It's like a commercial. Let's be honest here how many of you guys have ever bought something because you saw a commercial and hopefully the thing was good? But sometimes you get that thing. You're like this thing sucks, but it's such a good job in promoting and creating a narrative and the image of that thing. I mean, please, I hope I just realized what I just said. I hope that your school doesn't suck and you're doing everything to make sure your school's up to par in the story and the message you're putting out.

Speaker 1: 31:00

There is alignment with what's happening in reality in your school. But again, it's very important to realize we live in a world where images and sounds are the first thing people relate, rely on and making their decisions. Often, decisions are very impulsive because we have a very short attention span, so if you don't hook people in early enough, then you find yourself in a position where you're like why am I not getting any families, why am I not getting kids coming to my school? It's because they don't know what the story is, and that is completely in your hands. So document, document, document, document. Buy a camera. I think every school should have a camera and have at least one person who's the chief storyteller for your school. Okay, I'm not just talking about the yearbook, you know, but think about this we have a great camera and people who are not using it using it. This was happening. You have all this content for your yearbook, which is amazing, but better yet, you have amazing marketing material for your brochures, for your website, you know.

Speaker 2: 32:14

And again.

Speaker 1: 32:15

We live in a world where these things are important. Now, I think that's it. I think that's it. Hopefully I didn't do a sucky job at this and I didn't tell lies, like doing numbers that were not correct.

Speaker 1: 32:30

I'm a very instinctual user of these technologies because I've used it for so long and I know how to take a shot. You know, at least within my school's spaces, that tells a story. And the other thing too I'm always telling the story. But one thing I've learned is you can tell a story all you want, but at some point in time it has to live somewhere. It has to be in a space where the story can be seen, be heard and people can really be engaged with it. And that's the purpose of having a camera and having the tools to tell that story. Lastly, a lot of you out there I've seen it spending a lot of money with companies who will come in here and tell the story for you and send a photography and all that stuff. It's great, but they're often charging 10, 15, 20, $1,000 to do that and, to be honest, you're often it's okay, it's better than what you had.

Speaker 1: 33:30

In some cases, if you're not aware, you're thinking this is like amazing. But what if you were able to do it for yourself? But guess what? You're there every day, your team is there every day. What if you actually created, you actually collected the content and put together the story yourselves? Have people who are trained to do it, get people trained on how to do it. Then guess what? You have this all day long. Every event, every situation. Pictures are taken, yet posted Social media on a daily basis, weekly basis, and you become something amazing, something that people are watching, people are following and, as they have children, you become the first person or the first school that they wanna go to, because they already have a story. They already know what the story is. Yeah, how much time do I take? Ooh, that was 34 minutes. This was supposed to be 15 minutes. It ended up being 34 minutes, but it is what it is. Probably nobody's gonna watch this, but hopefully people do watch this, specifically school leaders, because again, we need to create our own narrative.

Speaker 2: 34:41

All right.

Speaker 1: 34:41

with that being said, this is Uche and Joku. Thank you so much for your time and until next time be well.