"For you specifically, I just love your storytelling style, maybe you could discuss your process of how you take a shot, or you could even share your thoughts on the project, whatever you wanted! Lemme know what you think, and we can discuss further!!"-Yosef Adest
Yosef asked me if I would contribute a piece on how I go about Storytelling when creating an image. I was flattered that he asked and also that he would ask for a specific technique or advice concerning a particular style. I do like to tell a story with my photography and often try to think beyond the obvious theme/challenge. For instance if one thinks of love, many images immediately come to mind. Hearts, roses, romantic couples, child/parental bonds all come to mind. For the "Love" challenge last year I choose to ignore the obvious and looked around my home at an example of true love. I had to look no further than one of my children with the dog or cat. This photo captures 11 year old Oszkar the dog and 10 year Liam together. My sons have not know life without either of their two pets and the comfort and love they share for each other is felt. So my first suggestion to telling a story is to look beyond the obvious.
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| "Love" 2014 |
Before creating a photo I often brainstorm with myself several different ideas. When it comes time to photograph it's a somewhat private process for me, which can be tricky if I am working with others. That's why standing in for the subject in a self-portrait becomes useful as you see in the following images. I know what I want the model to do and don't have to pre-arrange a meeting time and have my handy remote that is very useful for self-portraits or multiple exposures. The downside is not knowing what the pose looks like in camera, and focusing so it takes practice. Below is a sampling of that and some of photos lend themselves to a story or a question as to what is going on in the image. A self timer was used in some images and I love my remote!
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| "Silhouette" 2015 |
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| "Greetings from Point of Rocks" 2015 |
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| "Action" 2014 |
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| "Movie" 2014 |
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| "Books" 2014 |
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"A Painting" 2014 Recreation of Andrew Wythe's "Christina's World"
At some point you are lucky and happen upon a scene at the perfect moment. I had photographed this place once before then revisited it for this theme. I shot this church and it felt too cramp so I ended up going back one more time at a different time of day and was so glad I did due to the light. Often you know when you have captured it, but sometimes I go home and tweak it in Photoshop.
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| "Contrast" 2014 Some say this reminded them of Hitchcock |
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"Stairs" 2014
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"Black &White" 2014
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