How About We Do "Good Enough"

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A single photo can speak 1,000 words. A skilled photographer knows how to let in the exact amount of light needed to capture the single moment of time. Not only can they capture clarity and precision, but also substance. There's emotion, angle, drama, even a story worth getting through. But what if you can clearly see the pixels (individual, colored boxes that make up an image) that should be hidden to the viewer's eye? What if the photo is lacking a focal point? What if the technique's there but the substance leaves so much to be desired? Do you still use it to promote your event, or use it as your header image of the monthly newsletter?

No. Stand down and demand more for yourself.

But Sophia, we don't have enough money to pay big-name companies for licensing on high-quality photos, or have our own in-house photographer with proper equipment. We don't even have the time, energy, or resources to manage it. What we have is good enough, right? Why do high-quality photos even matter?

Because we are a visual people. We interact with Creation using ALL of our senses, not just a select few here and there. Even the Holy Mass taps into ALL of our senses throughout the liturgy! But just because we hear the Word proclaimed or read an impactful reflection doesn't mean we won't be convinced through beautiful imagery of the same message when we go to print. This doesn't mean you can slap the first Google image into your brochure and call it a day—depending on licensing rights that might even be illegal! When we choose to incorporate visuals into what we are doing then we must be intentional about discerning the quality of what we're using to speak truth to our audience.

St. Augustine was known for being incredibly critical with music during liturgy. He wasn't actually opposed to hymns during Mass UNLESS they tore his heart away from the heart of worship. A song can lift souls to God, but it can also tear someone from prayer if the cantor isn't able to carry the tune or the musician doesn't have the skills necessary to lead a congregation. I've heard some argue that it's better to have "good enough" music than having no music at all during a liturgy, but I have to side with St. Augustine on this one. Speaking from experience, it's incredibly difficult to pay attention to the liturgy when the music is serving as an unintentional distraction instead of drawing me into the sacredness of the Holy Mass.

So where can nonprofits and parishes find high-quality images if they don't have someone on hand? Quite a few places actually! Over the years I've come to find amazing resources that are both free and a paid subscription. Cathopic is a great website full of stock images (high-quality images that are premade for general use) for Catholics and Christians alike that I contribute to. I love working with them, and they only accept professional-quality images for parishes and nonprofits alike to utilize in their visual content. Nothing you get will be low-quality, guaranteed. I found the membership to be a great deal, and worth paying for!

Although there's no longer a free account version on Cathopic, there are other great sites to find free, high-quality images. The one I've found most helpful has been Unsplash, Pixabay and Pexels. None of these sites are specifically Christian, but they offer free stock images from a vast pool of sources and have a wide range of Christian-themed content. I've also mentioned in recent blogs about Canva Pro for nonprofits. If you haven't looked into this yet, you can have access to a pluthera of stock images through Canva Pro, included in your FREE account as a premium user and 501(c)3. The key is utilizing the resources readily available so that it doesn't look like you rushed around 5 minutes before printing to make something be "good enough"—even if you needed to!

I don't give away my secrets because I don't want the workload, but to empower you the current, or potential, client to know that you are not limited by the income your organization brings in to look professional and impactful. You don't have to settle for being "good enough" because the Good News that we're proclaiming only deserves our best foot forward. And when in doubt, or you truly don't have the time to invest in high-quality imagery and visuals, I'm just an email away!

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