Let Your Photography Tell Your Story

Let your photography tell your story part 1Start telling your own story with your photography, capture the essence of exactly what makes you want to take a picture

Today the first blog post in a series of 4 posted every week in March about telling your own story in your photography.

Have you ever been to a place and been awestruck by what you saw and then snapped a photo and came back home and could not see the magic of that place in your photo? Or perhaps you went to an iconic place and came home with a picture that could have been anyone else's?

Most of the time this is due to being a tiny bit too enthusiastic when you see of fantastic sight or it may be due to seeing lots of pictures of this place which left an imprint in your brain that then quickly puts the stored image over the scene that you see and before you know it....you have a picture that does not convey your view of this beautiful place. It all comes down to pressing that shutter-release button a bit too quickly and not stopping for a moment to think about what it is that actually attracts you to the scene

Lonesome walker on a forest pathA photograph of a lonely walker on a forest path on an early autumn morning just when the fog had started to lift

What is it that draws your eye?

It is only when you stop and start asking yourself some questions that you start capturing more of what is captivating you. Ask yourself what it is that draws your eye? Let's say you are looking at a forest path and there are people walking on it. Is it the path that attracts you or the people against a natural background? This would result in entirely different pictures. Perhaps it is one tree that catches your eye in this path or perhaps you are drawn in by the colours. As soon as  you recognise what it is that you find attractive in a scene, you will start taking pictures that tell your story. 

Just take in everything for a few minutes and feel what it is that makes you gaze at it with this sense of wonder. Then walk around to find a viewpoint that will amplify your story. If your story is about a lonesome hiker you might want to make the hiker the only person in the frame and if you want to tell the story of how tiny humans are compared to trees, you choose a viewpoint from which the walker looks tiny and forlorn. 

Take your time, become still for a few moments and ask yourself some questions before taking the picture. It will make a world of difference

Let your photography tell your story part 1Start telling your own story in your photography. Capture the essence of what makes you press that shutter release button