photo: Mende Fisherman, Waanje River, Sierra Leone, West Africa photograph © Edwin de Jong for Christian Reformed World Missions (now Resonate) resonateglobalmission.org

In this and many subsequent trips to 30 countries, I attempted to capture what evangelism LOOKS like, what church growth looks like overseas, even what faith looks like . . . all in some vastly different cultures.

...and sports, sports, sports.

Of course, there were also the usual feature/fun stories...

In 1983 I won CSULB’s Robert E. Steffes Photojournalism Scholarship for Best Portfolio which consisted of all black and whites, including this photo of a nursing home resident.

More often, though, it was just to finesse the image a bit, like the candid of Amy here: straight print (top); or burned in around the subject (bottom). Which do YOU prefer?

Usually the point was to focus attention on the subject and draw attention away from distractions that may have been unavoidable, especially during a fast-moving news shoot when you didn’t have time for artful composition, or a "clean" (non-distracting) background.