Elements in Photography Storytelling
Think, what are the elements of a written story? In photography storytelling, the elements are basically the same. We need a beginning, middle and an end. It needs to visually create tension, suspense, release, danger…..in a nutshell, it needs to create emotions. And, it must have a logical sequence where the viewer can deduce the narrative, the plot, the story.
These four photos are part of a story called “Message in a Bottle” which I will publish in its entirety when it’s finished.
Let’s analyze the elements in these photos.
We see a grainy black and white, symmetrical, 1x1 (square), close-up photo of a woman sitting on a bench. Her posture suggests that she is waiting for something or someone, she’s not relaxed. Due to the graffiti and the weeds we deduce that it’s a rough urban setting. There’s no color to distract us and the 1x1 format draws all of our attention to her. All of these elements bring up some questions. Questions are the hooks that keep our viewers wanting to continue with the story. What’s she looking at? Looking out of the frame always brings up this question and peaks our curiosity. It develops a need to know. Where is she? We have a slight idea due to what I mentioned before but we really don’t know, do we? This adds to the mystery. One element is enough to keep the audience moving forward, but there are two compelling questions that need answers. Aside from our curiosity we’re probably developing a sense of “this doesn’t look good”.
Nikon D750, ISO 2000, 70-200mm lens at 200mm, 1/80s, f/2.8.
From a close-up we jump to an establishing shot or a long shot. It’s still symmetrical but having the subject dead center puts our focus on her again. Now we know where she is! But, this in turn raises another question (we love photos that raise questions, remember?). What or why is she at an abandoned train station at dusk? Abandoned…..what emotions does that evoke? Dusk…..What happens when we start to lose the light of day and we haven’t finished what we set out to do? We become desperate, nervous, anxious. Great emotions for storytelling! Where is this place? Where is she going? How did she get there? We need to keep going through the photos to get answers that’ll only give us more questions.
Nikon D750, ISO 400, 35mm prime, 1/125s, f/1.4, color graded (colder temperature and desaturated) to create a mood that matches the emotions I want to convey.
The third picture in our sequence changes our point of view. We see that she’s still at the abandoned train station but she is standing and is looking, again, out of frame, down the tracks. The fact that she’s at the edge of the tracks and looking suggests that she’s impatient, anxious. Remember, it’s dusk and she’s running out of time. The original photo is in color and the sky was spectacular but the story isn’t about the sky, so I changed it to B&W to remove any distractions. Compositional elements that add to the photo are leading lines and the placement of the subject on a vertical third (Rule of Thirds). Notice her “S” posture. It’s aesthetically pleasing but her expression adds tension. And what’s that lantern all about? It’s actually a clue in the story. This is still a long shot because the scenery dominates and we can see the entire subject.
Nikon D750, ISO 2000, lens 70-200mm @ 200mm, 1/60s, f/2.8
Sometimes the gods of photography smile down on us mortals. I’ll stop here to state the obvious. TRAIN TRACKS ARE DANGEROUS PLACES. Never stay on them and before you cross STOP, LOOK, LISTEN. I was about 4 meters from the track getting ready to take some more photos when out of the corner of my eye to the left I saw a bright light. The train couldn’t have been 50 meters from me (half a football field) and I didn’t even hear it and it was coming fast! I knew I was safe because I was nowhere remotely close to the track. The conductor was probably cursing at me because he lay on that horn as he blasted past me. But I was ready. Camera raised and focused on my subject. I was hoping for a lucky shot of framing her between the cars. I knew that it was hit and miss, a shot in the dark. I must have taken 15 to 20 frames, one after another and I was rewarded with this photo. Talk about luck! One in a million. Does this raise questions for our viewers? Sure! Was she waiting for a train? Did she want to hitch a ride and couldn’t because it didn’t stop? Now what’s she going to do?
Nikon D750, ISO 2000, lens 70-200mm @ 200mm, 1/60s, f/2.8
