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Tell Me A Story?
October 25th, 2007
I’m in the middle of writing a couple articles on storytelling within a photograph, one of my favourite theoretical hobbyhorses. I’ll have them up when they’re eventually finished.
I wanted to toss this out there and ask a favour of you. I get about 500 readers a day and I don’t ask this often, but I’d like some feedback from y’all.
Discuss:
What does it mean, for you, to tell a story in a photograph?
What makes a good storytelling photograph for you?
As a photographer do you think it’s important to tell a story in an image?
How do you do that?
Do you have any questions about story and photography?
I’ve got pages of thinking on this, but I’d love to hear from you. Consider your feedback the small price you pay for me putting my heart and soul into this site. Lines are open…go!
The essence of good storytelling is to open a gap in the audience between what they expect and the result, arousing curiosity or concern and causing them to ask questions about the story.
For example, Steve Curry’s famous photograph of the Afghan girl… the intensity in her eyes and the framing of the colours fills an otherwise normal portrait with mystery.
You can arouse curiosity and/or concern for the “characters” in your story by creating a bit of empathy (showing they’re human), including enough information that we have a context for their story, and a opening a gap in what we know about them by including or omitting something in the frame that says there is more than what meets the eye in this photograph.
So in essence storytelling with photography is not telling the whole story, but enough for the viewer to want to know more.
What does it mean…to tell a story in a photograph?
I’d be better off telling you what it means to see a story in a photograph. I can see the story when there is some point I can identify with (perhaps an expression…) and some other point I couldn’t get to on my own. Something either completely outside my experience, or something so part of my day-to-day life that I’ve lost the ability to see it anymore.
It has to take me somewhere.
To me, telling a story is about igniting emotions in people. Stories are only good stories if people feel what they are hearing or reading or seeing… to capture an emotion in it’s purest form – as in not posed – tells a story to me. It may be a different story than the one intended, and it may arouse my curiousity to find out his or her story, but it’s a story nonetheless. When I see an image of a smiling child in a slum, I know the smile happened for a reason and the story behind it just opens up the world of that child’s story as a whole.
I think I’m rambling. As a photogrpaher, to tell a story I must connect with the subject in the photograph in some way so that my photo represents a part of that person or situation. The connection can be after the shot is taken and bring understanding, but there must be a bridge somehow… a story to see, and a story for the viewer to find…
This is something that’s definitely hard to quantify. Storytelling is important to an image. In fact, I believe it’s the difference between a good photo and a great one. A story in a photograph to me is mostly about the viewer’s imagination. There has to be just enough information there to tell me part of the story. I get to infer the rest. How that’s done is the real trick, though, isn’t it? Eyes can tell volumes about a person, but so can dress and environment. The photo that illustrates this post is a great example. It tells a story without even showing the man’s face. I see the man reading. I don’t know what, but I’m guessing it’s a prayer book. He appears to have walked to a remote location for some peace and solitude. I know nothing else about him, but I want to.
People ask me “why are your photos better than mine?” and part of the answer is “the story”…usually I tell people to think about making pictures “about” things rather than “of” things (i.e., don’t just make snapshots). The story has to include something about context–the situation, the issue, the problem, the excitement, etc.–and the point of the story. That could include the smile on a child’s face, the wing stretch on a bird just landing or taking off, the grimace or tension on the face of a kayaker going through difficult white water…etc. The story must make me care about the content of the picture, not just the “prettiness” or how striking the image might be. How to tell the story and get it into the picture…that’s the tough part.
Ultimately photography enhances our connection to God’s story. There is a continuum of creation and redemption that we fit into. I’m trying to see that more and more — I don’t know if it’s making it into what I do or not, but I’m trying. Moments of utmost humanity demonstrate that most clearly, and sometimes that’s in me, even if there are no humans in the shot. It seems like stories just come from simply paying attention.
Most of my absolute favourite pictures involve some kind of happy accident. (Come to think of it, which photos don’t…?) To me that says “we’re never in as complete control as we try to be. And that’s entirely OK!” And man is it funny to watch photographers try and take the credit for all of that!