If you work outside of an informed setting then it can be hard to know whether the work you’re producing is reaching your potential and even harder to try and figure out how to move your storytelling forward. Without colleagues or leaders to connect with and learn from regularly, you are all you’ve got.
If you’re feeling like you are stuck and don’t know what to do to get out of the rut, here are some thoughts on how to move forward. Most have to do with assessing how you’re now making pictures and approaching storytelling.
Seeing light?
Bring up a set of pictures you’ve made recently and spend some time looking at how you saw light and color in those settings. Does light as you saw it add to the photos. Don’t think in terms of the light either being good or bad in a given setting, there’s almost always some quality of light, it’s just a matter of you seeing it.
If quality of light isn’t a strong presence in your photos, fix that going forward by first spending time in a setting you’re going to photograph reading the light, seeing where it comes from and varies in different parts of the setting. Then make photographs from where there is a quality of light. It might be that the light has quality in only some parts of a setting and nothing of note is happening in that part of the scene. But it’s often not the place within a setting but the angle from which you make photographs that expresses a quality of light.
Moving Color?
Do the same for how you’re seeing color. Squint your eyes a bit when looking at your photos and see where your eye lands in the photo, based on color leading you to that spot. If that’s not where you wanted people to start looking at the photo, the schism is a reflection of not seeing color well.
How far?
Now notice how often you vary the distance from which you’ve made photographs. If that doesn’t change, chances are you’re saying the same thing about what’s happening in front of your camera, no matter what it is. Not varying distance can be intentional but it’s usually not. Proximity can be a powerful expression and backing away can give context and meaning to a set of pictures.
Composing uniquely?
Does composition vary within this set of pictures? Are you putting stuff in the frame the same way from scene to scene? Rethink the frame, see it as a three dimensional space. Start people’s eye in different depths and points within the frame.
Does Rhythm vary?
Rhythm in this context means how many frames you make of a given thing you’re photographing. Most people make generally similar number of photos of what’s in front of them. What if you’re making tons of photos but miss the fully realized frame? That’s usually a reflection that you think the camera will make the frame, if you push the button enough times - excluding action sports. Too few frames and maybe you didn’t let the situation come to fruition, which can reflect an overthinking. Find the right rhythm by cluing into the flow of what’s happening and challenging your self to see and re-see things as they’re happening, move into and away from primary elements.
Is There Storytelling?
Does the set of pictures tell a story. Or is it a set of pictures that show different aspects of what happened, that collectively don’t go beyond showing. If the answer is that there isn’t a story, a narrative, then chances are the light, color and distance aren’t working effectively and your rhythm isn’t helping.
Ask what narrative you could build, to speak to some aspect within the setting. It doesn’t have to be about showing everything that’s happening. Challenge yourself to respond to aspects within the setting and build complete sets of photographs about those aspects. Look for relationships between people and between people and the spaces they’re occupying. Stay connected with the flow of events in a given part of a setting. Watch for mannerisms. Narratives exist, it’s up to you to see and create them.
If you want me to do this type of assessment of your work, just ask.
I speak to all of these aspects in my book: Visual Storytelling Through Photography. It’ll be published within a year. Stay tuned.
One way to assess your work is by looking at a set of photos in grid view. Look at your response to light, color, how you composed, variability of distance and narrative. These are photos I made of Ira Ryan as he was building a bike frame, as part of a project about people who build bikes by hand.
