Photography is a visual form of storytelling. Be it a single image, a montage or an entire sequence we can relate a story to the people viewing the images. There are so many forms of photography that are ideally suited to storytelling. Documentary and photo journalism are the obvious ones but think a little outside the box and you will see many others. Travel photography, sports, wildlife even studio shoots all lend themselves to visual storytelling.
But how can we create stories with photographs?
Think of Reading a Book
The opening chapters will establish the setting for the story, introduce the characters and locations. The middle chapters will give the context to the story whilst the final chapter give us a conclusion, either closure, or a hint of things to come.
Visual storytelling requires the same structure. We lead our viewer on a journey through the story that we have witnessed, on the way conveying the mood and emotions of that story.
Despite what you might think, a visual story can be told in a single shot, however a more complex story requires more images.
