Photography may be at its most powerful when it tells a story. But is that story more powerful when it’s a truthful story? I think that’s a false pursuit.
Erin Feldman, of Write Right, quoted Jason Fried recently on Twitter from his Inc. column:
“It’s not about telling a story. It’s about telling a true story well.”
He’s talking about business writing, but a story is a story. And the truth is, in storytelling, there is no truth.
Art is the perception of an artist, usually objectified. That perception will not be the perception of the viewer. The more unique the art/artist, the further from the viewer’s perception the story will be; no matter how honest the artist is to their own vision. The story is not truthful. But that doesn’t mean it can’t reveal truth.
What’s required is vigilance in the consumer of art to either seek what’s real or decide not to seek what’s real and just enjoy the art for art’s sake.
Seth Godin had his own take on this today that may state it better than anyone:
“There’s no such thing as a true story.”
Lesser photography doesn’t necessarily mean analogue photography, it just means finding ways to boost your creativity by recognizing the power of constraints, editing and storytelling.
For some photographers, that means choosing film over pixels. Why? There are still some things film does better, while remaining a constraint.
There are obvious technical differences that makes film a great choice for long exposures and easy panoramics, but more intriguing are the differences that affect more than can be measured.
Eric Kim recently wrote about why he switched over to film for his street photography projects (via Mike McKniff). He noticed that not focusing on individual images in a monitor helped him concentrate on the story he was trying to compose. He could also refuse to delete an image when asked, because it wasn’t possible. His camera doesn’t need to be upgraded every few years - in fact, it will last the rest of his life. But over all, he reports a sense of mindfulness that comes from the process of telling the story and developing the images by hand that seems missing from digital.
Mahesh Venkitachalam wrote about why he’s a better digital photographer, because of his slide film use (via Peter Wingard). Slide film is an unforgiving mental boot camp that forces you to consider everything you know about exposure and composition before every click of the shutter. You can’t hide the holes in your photography education when using slide film. It’s a learning process that can’t be taught any other way.
One more thing digital can’t do: be archived.
The best books get you to rethink your approach to life, career, country…you name it. Hugh MacLeod’s first book Ignore Everybody was just such a book for me back in 2009. It was the kick in the ass every creativity-driven person deserves at least once.
Today, his newest book, Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear, was waiting for me on top of my mailbox. I tore through it in no time. It’s an ode to the platform that brought him fame, fortune, freedom and family (in more ways than one).
There’s something here for photographers to learn. As a group, photographers have been quick to reject the blog as a platform, opting for online galleries, portfolios and sharing services. None of these options helps to tell a story quite like a blog can. None of these options builds an audience like a blog can.
There’s a freedom that comes with being able to fully tell a story and owning your platform. Blogging is due for a resurgence; but only among the smartest of photographers.
Sure it can. But would it be as compelling as a story with a handful of carefully chosen photos combined with words?
Of course, an iconic image demands attention and, often, a backstory. But such an image is rare, even for legendary photographers.
The real question should be: why do we set ourselves up, by default, to tell single image stories?
Every once in a while, I get email about why I don’t plaster this site with my photos. After the TWiP episode, I got a few more. Here’s the lowdown:
This site first started as a way to document my lesser photography experiment and I published the photos from that experiment frequently (check the archives). But as the site matured, I wanted it to be about ideas and your photos, not a showcase for mine.
I even considered creating a Flickr group for us all, but this didn’t stand up to the philosophy I was preaching. After all, Flickr groups don’t allow for much in the way of storytelling.
So, for now anyway, I think the solution is to call attention to your stories - your blogs. This book is about to come out, singing the praises of the blog and I couldn’t agree more. It’s the best place we’ve devised yet to tell a good story, using a variety of media. Post your links below or send them in for the newsletter. I’d love to see what stories you’re itching to tell.
The 2012 National Magazine Award Finalists have been announced. I see the usual suspects for photography honors: National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, Harpers and TIME.
What I don’t see on the list: Popular Photography, Outdoor Photographer, Shutterbug, Photo Techniques, JPG, Aperture, etc., etc.
It seems real stories still matter.
Far too often, we equip ourselves to stumble upon a photograph. We get lucky occasionally and that carries us through the next several failed attempts.
For years, my biggest photographic failing was my tendency to commit the crime of drive-by photography. I jumped in the car in search of as many inspiring scenes as possible within a 100-mile radius of the city, as many weekends as possible. 9 times out of 10, I came back disappointed. It was a waste of several prime years.
It wasn’t until I started I started searching for stories, instead of scenes, that the 9 out of 10 decreased to maybe 6 out of 10. I targeted specific places, with a specific angle (story angle, that is).
Failure is still a requirement for growth, but now I judge failure based on the story I bring home, not the technical aspect of the images.
Where would you go today, if your goal was to seek out the most interesting story in your area?
Photography classes would be better served with textbooks like the forthcoming book from photographer Jerod Foster, Storytellers:
Sprinkled among the 288 pages are numerous tips, anecdotes, and exercises to help challenge readers to push their storytelling abilities.
To me, that could be the entire book and it would be pretty great. I’m hoping the author doesn’t neglect the importance of writing skills for the future of photography.
