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Tell a Story
Images

Chris Linder
D300, AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED, 1/4000 sec, f/9, ISO 400, aperture priority, Matrix metering.

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It's likely that most of us got into taking pictures for very specific reasons: to record a birthday party, a vacation trip, a special event. At first we probably didnt think too much about why were making a particular image beyond "I want to remember this!" and "That looks cool!" Then we realized there was more to be accomplished, and we were ready to take the next steps by turning our interest in imaging toward a greater goal: visual storytelling. And with that desire for better communication came better pictures. We talked about this idea not long ago with Justin Black, co-founder and managing director of the Visionary Wild Workshops. Justin told us that visual storytelling is often brought up at the workshops, and occasionally Strategies for Visual Storytelling is the topic of a workshop course. "The focus is on helping people develop themes and put together picture stories," Justin says. "We give them guidance on how to tell a story in the context of a single image or a series of pictures." The best way to get started telling a story is to create an assignment for yourself. "An insight I arrived at from having done some assignment work is that when you're given an assignment, you don't have much choice but to put it together and deliver it," Justin says. "If you're a working photojournalist, you have to solve the creative challenges of how you get a story across." The photos here are examples of single-image or sequence storytelling. They were all taken by instructors at the Visionary Wild workshops. The first step in the storytelling process is to decide on the story you want to tell. Pick a topic or an idea; set some guidelines for the kind of pictures you're going to make and the information you want to convey. "Then," Justin says, "you can set about thinking, okay, how can I achieve such a picture? What are the conditions under which that picture, or those pictures, would need to be made? How do I communicate relationships, or cause and effect, or put detail in the context of a broader setting?" Photojournalists communicate through their photos they tell stories because they think through the process; they evaluate the options and the circumstances. "One thing I recommend," Justin says, "is that if you want to tell a simple picture story in three or four images, take a piece of paper and a pen and roughly sketch your ideas for the photos. Once you've done that, you have a general sense that in a sequence, Picture A is going to set the scene it's the overall view that provides context. The next shot is going to be some sort of cause-and-effect shot. Then come images that inform by providing more detail." For this to work you have to have a plan; you have to know where these images will happen, how the circumstances are likely to develop and even the precise place you'll need to be. Don't wander the area or the location hoping to get a photo. Do some research, some homework, or draw on experience, and be where the picture is going to be. "Think through the situation," Justin says. "Where can I position myself and my camera so I'll get the opportunity to make that picture?"

It's a really good idea to decide in advance the lens you'll need to do the job; and if it's a zoom lens, the actual focal length. Even the camera settings can often be thought out in ad vance so you'll have your exposure dialed in and you'll be ready to go. That's how the pros do it. What they also do is remain open to the unexpected. Don't ignore a great moment because it doesn't fit your storyboarded sequence. You can worry about fitting it in later. Justin puts it this way: "One of the great things about being prepared and aware of the conditions you're working in is that you can be receptive to luck."

Working with a group of scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Chris Linder went to the Greenland ice sheet to document meltwater lakes that were forming on top of the ice sheet. These lakes were carving channels down into the glaciers through which the water eventually flowed out to the sea. The first photo shows a lake formed on the surface; you can see active and inactive meltwater channels. The second photo shows a moulin a shaft within the glacier. In the third photo a scientist spreads dye in order to track the flow of the water through the glacier. Photos Chris Linder.

Justin took these photos in the Yucatan while on a Visionary Wild workshop trip. The Yucatan is dotted by cenotes limestone pits or caves that open to the outside when the ceiling of the cave becomes so thin it won't support its own weight. In the first photo, the cenote rim is seen in the background while the foreground provides a clue to discovering one of these caves. "As you approach through the scrubby jungle there's not much to see," Justin says, "but when you see a healthy ficus tree, that's the clue to a cenote. The ficus trees drop their roots into the water. The prominent agave in the foreground is another clue." The second photo reveals what you'll see as you look down into the cenote. Photos Justin Black . "My intention was to communicate the nature of the interior and make the connection between the subterranean and outside worlds. In ancient Mayan mythology the cenotes were considered the passage to the underworld and the underworld was considered the source of life." In the third photo you see the bottom of the cenote some 60 feet down, the roots of the ficus trees and the ladder-like structures set up to allow locals to descend. "I wanted to convey by the ficus roots the dependence of the ecology on the cenotes, and these ladders created by strapping sticks to the ficus roots communicate the dependence of the local culture on the cenotes. People go down there for ceremonial and spiritual reasons, and, these days, often to get water. And kids from the local villages just go for a swim." Part of the story is that Justin descended using a more modern ladder system along the wall.

Jack Dykinga photographed at the flamingo colony at Celestun on the west coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, where 30,000 flamingos gather every winter. The first image provides an overview and a sense of the density of life and activity; the second depicts one of the brief territorial disputes that go on as the birds maintain their personal feeding space; and the third photo captures the entire process of how a flamingo takes off to fly, from its turn into the wind to its sprint, push and liftoff. Photos Jack Dykinga.
The single image story is...well, a different story. "There are all sorts of methods of telling a story in a single picture," Justin says. "A lot of times they're not lengthy or complex stories. One thing that landscape photographers do is the classic near-far composition: a small subject close to the camera and a wide-angle lens in intimate proximity with the foreground subject. It might be a flowering cactus placed in the context of the broader landscape. Right there that's a lot of information, and it tells a stor y of, say, spring in the desert."

The single image can also be about capturing process or progress, like Justin's image of sandstone hoodoos in the Navajo Nation in Arizona. "It's a geological process story," he says. "in the foreground you see the eroded rock that used to be the base of a hoodoo a sandstone columnlike those in the background. Telling this story was all about position and taking the image in the right light so the erosion can be seen." Photo Justin Black .

Likewise Jerry Dodrill's image of Bowling Ball Beach on the California coast. "These concretions are sometimes completely out of the water, sometimes they're submerged, and Jerry wanted to get a shot when they were partially submerged, with wave action flowing in and out. He felt that a long exposure [20 seconds] would indicate the process of erosion that has occurred over time to give them their shape. It's something you can't capture in a freezeframe shot; motion shows the passage of time and cause-and-effect." Photo Jerry Dodrill.

One of Justin favorite storytelling images is Karen Kasmauski's image of climbers on Mt. Fuji in Japan. "She wanted to make a picture that captured the impression of thousands of climbers who hike up to the summit every year during the short climbing season. They want to be there for sunrise, so they hike up through the night. What better way to capture this than by doing a long exposurefive minutesof an apparently never-ending flow of people coming up the mountain trail with flashlights to guide the way." Photo Karen Kasmauski.

Narrating storytelling images is part of the communication process, of course, but the most important point is that at the very least the picture contains the necessary information and at best the emotion of what's occurring. "To best communicate and bring more depth to your pictures in terms of storytelling," Justin says, "start with subjects you're really passionate aboutbut don't overlook photographing what you can get to know. That's a big part of the storytelling process the personal growth you find through learning about things you want to share with others." You can learn about the workshops offered by Visionary Wild at www.visionarywild.com .

Tips for Taking Storytelling Images

Give yourself an assignment. Plan the specifics, eliminate the variables, anticipate the moments. Think about storyboarding the images in simple drawings (or in your imagination). Remember that effective stories often show changes and differences over time, so consider long exposures as well as and repeated visits to a location. Think through the moment when you'll make the picture you've planned. Where will you have to be? When should you be there? Make sure your gear is as prepared as you are. Anticipate camera settings. Think about how far you'll be from your subject and the lens you'll need to capture what you're after. Will you need flash? A tripod? Will the scene call for an HDR bracket?