Storytelling with a Sequence ~

Based on the ideas of Portland Photographer Holly Andres, take at least 3 well-composed photos (edited to show mood and using a common element in each to create unity) that will tell a story. Make it good. The Fall of Spring Hill is one of my favorite Photo Stories. Look through it more than once and see what foreshadowing you can pick up on. How can you implement that into your story?

Sometimes I think about…well what happened before this or after this photo…How did they get here? etc.

Post at least 3 .pngs that tell a story on your Padlet.

Be safe, but be creative in real life.

Planning

Let’s look at Holly Andres Photography.

Holly Andres (born 1977) is an American photographer^[1] and writer based in Portland, Oregon. Andres’s work focuses on flamboyant, movie-like scenes which draw inspiration from her experiences as a child. Andres has said that she views her photo subjects as protagonists within a larger narrative.^[2] Usually, Andres’s photographs take one of two moods: either “dark and mysterious or bright and witty.”^[3]

We will start investigating one of her editorial shoots called The Fall of Spring Hill.

http://www.hollyandres.com/the-fall-of-spring-hill

Look through the Photo story one…thinking about the story.

Look through it again thinking about foreshadowing and how elements of art: line, shape, color, value, and texture, were used to unify the series and hint at what will happen.

Process

When something catches your eye and calls out to you to create a photograph, your subconscious has already identified a story element. That’s why you have an interest in capturing whatever it is that you’re looking at. Step one is accomplished. Some story is there.

You want to communicate a message from your mind out to viewers of your photograph – that decision puts your photographic process into the loosely defined category of storytelling. Now it becomes a three-part process.

Step two, you must figure out what it is you’re trying to say with your photograph. That’s called developing the story. Thirdly, you must make the technical choices to transform the story into the photographic medium. That’s being a photographer and not simply a snap shooter.

That’s something to keep in mind when you are photographing and want your photo to tell a story.

You can read more about it on page 15 of the Effective Storytelling guide by Kent DuFault. It will help you dive deeper into the subject of storytelling with photography and teach you how to instill the ‘story element’ into your photos.