While knowing how to operate your camera and using the ‘right’ gear is essential, I would argue that storytelling is the real heart of photography; It’s the reason why we do it at all. From taking selfies to show our personal journey, to photos and videos from vacations that document every moment we probably should’ve been more present in, to the wide-angle photos I take of my room before and after I clean it.
I click therefore I am
If you look at your photo and can’t think of a narrative to accompany it, if there aren’t any connecting ideas between subjects or questions raised about how the different elements of your photos are related; then you are either taking photos of a blank wall, or are rocking some serious post-modernist style.
The point is, almost every photo we take has some sort of narrative or words that can be connected to it (around a thousand words, on average), but it’s the stories we connect with that make for great photos.
Examples:
Here’s a photo of my shoes back in Nov 2018, and honestly there isn’t much going on here to draw the eye in or to get the imagination going; they’re just some shoes. You could wonder about the oddity of wearing sneakers when theres snow on the ground, or why everything is neon purple when the shoes are definitely not cyberpunk or resembling nightlife in any way. To the stranger’s eye, its a lame photo because there’s nothing here for them to connect with unless they REALLY like Vans AND neon AND winter. However; to me, this photo means a lot because it connects me to when I used to stay up all night watching youtube videos and wasting away and then one night I saw the first big snow storm of the year was coming and ran outside with my camera at 4 or 5am, filled with a motivation that I hadn't felt in a long time. It reminds me of the choices I made to delve deeper into my interest in photography and reminds me of my old self-conscious habit of always photographing my shoes because I felt stupid and embarrassed pointing my camera anywhere else. It’s stories we connect with just as much as the quality of story itself.
A year later (October 2019), a photo I took while journalling one morning. The shallow depth of field brings simplicity and a focus to concentrate on the present. This is a photo of a regular moment I had potentially thousands of times. The mood is calm with muted green and blurred plants in the background, framed by the open book coddling a pen with a clear point in focus (pun intended). The window and great openness in the background make it feel small and close and brings a certain coziness to the insignificance. There’s an overwhelmingly big world out there and its moving fast but right here in this moment everything is still and there’s an open book in front of me and a freedom to express myself. This moment could connect with anyone who loves little moments of peace, who enjoys journalling or writing on quiet rainy mornings (you can almost hear the fuzz and crackle of the jazz sample of an incoming Lo-Fi beat). This photo has a better and more relatable story than a snapshot of shoes in the snow and therefore is a superior photo.
2 years later while doodling on a beautiful early morning in September 2021, I was inspired by an open window across the street that was reflecting a glare of sunshine right in my eyes, yet lighting my desk super well. The storytelling in this photo is potentially more powerful because it is organic and natural rather than being setup and posed, I simply composed my shot by hiding my phone on the other side of the sketchbook and fiddling until I was happy (BTS: I usually have 4 erasers in a pile beside my pencil holder but 3 of them are being used to angle my camera). Everything is a bit all over the place and busy, there’s elements here that distract you from what could be the main focus (a plain portrait of me drawing) but the other storytelling pieces add depth and personality to the photo. I connect with this photo because it is a good encapsulation of my personal life right now. Plants, art, long hair with endless need of headbands/scrunchies, coffee, and developing my morning routine and introspection-induced growth (or a downward-spiral-shaped recession into madness, for all I know). Other people may connect with this photo as they can pick and choose elements that they relate to or desire to relate to more. Perhaps someone is still staying up all night watching youtube taking pictures of their shoes but they yearn to be working on their art in the early morning sun. Perhaps they are onto greater things than this and feel nostalgic looking back at when they were at the place I am currently at, who knows!
If we take a step back, this collection of photos has its own storytelling element. The progression from unhealthy habits and self-destructive tendencies, to an attempt to look inward and discuss the difficult topics with oneself, to starting to take steps forward toward set personal goals and previously day-dreamed routines. Do you feel a connection to any of these photos? Can you describe how any of them make you feel? Feel free to tell me all about it! Or tell me about a photo that you feel connected to.
Stay focused!
Eric
