For the last three years, OC Catholic has in each issue introduced you to the priests, deacons and women religious who serve the Diocese of Orange. Through a photograph and a Q&A, we gave you a closer look at who they are, answered what drew them to religious life and even shared some fun facts about them, including favorite foods and hobbies.
Our editorial team now wants to dedicate space in the pages of our diocesan newspaper and on our website to the people in the pews. We want to share with our readers your photos of faith-filled moments in your parish community and in your families. Perhaps you’ve captured a special baptism photo or a poignant moment at a funeral service. Maybe you got the shot of the winners of the three-legged race crossing the finish line at the parish picnic, or a photo of one of the Knights of Columbus flipping a pancake in the kitchen during one of their famous pancake breakfasts. Maybe your camera caught your high school student in action during a sporting event, or your future actor on stage in the school play. We want to share these images – snapshots of Catholic life in the Diocese of Orange – with our readers.
You don’t have to be a professional photographer to have your photo featured, but there are some things you should consider as you’re out and about with your camera. If you’re using your iPhone or other mobile device, be sure to set your camera’s settings to the HDR or high-resolution setting. If you’re using a camera, make sure to send us the highest-quality image you can provide. We have to enlarge it to fill the print page so we need images that are at least 5 x 7 inches and 300 dots per inch.
Close-up to mid-range shots are always more interesting to viewers than photos where the subjects are far away. Finally, photos that have movement or action are more compelling than a portrait shot with the subjects looking straight into the camera. That said, selfies are discouraged.
Along with your photo, we’d like you to identify the people in the shot as well as the location or parish community. We’d also like you to share a couple of sentences about what is occurring in the photo to help the reader to appreciate it.
As we publish your special moments, we’ll be creating a scrapbook of sorts for the Diocese of Orange that depicts life as a Catholic in Orange County. Who knows, your photo may even inspire someone to become Catholic or return to the Church. Then for sure your picture will be worth much more than a thousand words.
Send your photos via email to [email protected] with the subject line “Special Moment.”