Photographs with a story

[danlindberg]

Add a dimension to your photograph!

Quite often when I look at a photograph I wish I knew a little more of how it came about or what it is that I am looking at.
Was it planned, or simply shot by being in the right place at the right time?

Write a couple of lines enhancing the scene. Words to describe atmosphere, smells or who the people are that we can see! A 'not-so-brilliant' photograph might become very interersting when we get some background information that is impossible to know just by looking.

I for one have plenty of photographs with a story in the back of my head. I am going to share some of those and hope you do the same!

You do not need to write a lot, you just need to add another dimension, be it serious, comic or a plain fact. And Any kind of medium format capture is fine.

_________________________

A year ago me and one of my daughters and her two friends went deep into the woods to build a hovel/little kids house that was going to be their secret. We had a great time and they talked about this for a while afterwards, but finally it faded away. Until last Friday!
Suddenly my daughter looked at me and said in a deadserious voice - 'Dad, we must go and check on our little house in the woods'. I thought it would be a nice walk and we called the other two kids that were with us that first time and they wanted to come along as well.
I made some hot chocolate and brought some cookies in one bag, The Alpa MAX + 120N in another bag...Let's go. It is 15 minutes by car and then atleast half an hour walk. Was it going to be there?

First we didn't see it, but finally we did. The little house was there, sort of. It was not in the best of shape but all three kids screamed in happiness and started to collect twigs and repairing. I unpacked the Alpa and started to look for some nice light...

Almost an hour later, I was just about to shoot a scene when all three came rushing towards me shouting for hot chocolate and cookies. I replied that, 'sure, easy now, let me just photograph this one and then we sit down for a bite'. Did they listen? No. They were jumping up and down, singing, annoying me on purpose, not letting go. My daughter shouted to me that they all wanted to be in the picture and that they will keep on dancing and jumping up and down until I take that picture. I believe her. (The problem is, how do I explain that with little light, base iso 25 I need 1 second exposure with the 120 wide open. I doubt that she would grasp the difficulty in this being 8 years old). I made the exposure so that they would calm down a tad. They all rushed to see the preview on the back and imediately one said - 'cool, we're ghosts in the forest'!

Back home I went through 20-25 exposures in the woods and the only one I liked was the one I did not want to shoot. Funny that isn't. The kids did it! They even provided me with the title:

Ghosts in the forest.

 

[pophoto]

It's fun to do things with the kids!

 

[danlindberg]

The argument could be heard by everyone. The half a dozen people waiting for the train felt uneasy. Hard words were being exchanged. The woman was crying and threw her set of keys onto the tracks and started to walk away. He shouted as loud as he could that where ever she'd go, he'll find her. She responded by giving him the finger without looking back, without stop walking.

In the photograph she is walking towards the light. Maybe to a new life.

 

[Professional]

Well, i prefer this kind of photos rather than doing many test shots even nicely done.

I feel day after day photographers here and on another sites such as LuLu just doing normal shots even for projects because they buy many new gear or up to date high end, i lost the feel of art and story-telling shots, so i go to another sites where people don't care about gear or getting latest in photography equipment and just focus on doing masterpiece and fine-arts with whatever gear they have, even i have some expensive gear but i feel myself i only want to compete with others who has more gear and not focusing on getting photos that can last for long time.

Good job Dan, but can you shoot with film or some cheaper gear than your Alpa+SK[lenses]+Leaf?!!!! :ROTFL:

 

[Professional]

Should we post story-telling shots here with MF gear or we can post from any photographic gear even a phone cam?

 

[danlindberg]

Tareq, Thanks and the answer is yes to if I could shoot film. I started shooting in the mid seventies and got a Linhof Supertechnica at the age of 10. I have no idea of how many rolls of film I have exposed, but plenty. However, it has been many years since the last time. One of my favorites was a standard outfit Hasselblad 500CM and the Zeiss 80/2.8 loaded with Ilford HP5. Small, light outfit and lovely grain from the film.
Regarding if it has to be medium format for this thread, well, I do not personally mind but we are in the medium format section and I would like to keep it here....

Talking about film, if you do not mind me cross-posting (which I normally never do) I posted recently an image shot by film and had a story to go with it.....(Fuji GX680III & Velvia)

_____________________

It is 1998 in July, late afternoon. I'm driving a Land Rover Defender outside of Córdoba, Spain. No A/C in the 4x4 and it is terribly hot. The sun is punishing everything and everybody down below. My watersupply is about to end and I am dizzy. Thinking that, this is it, I'll call it a day and look for an airconditioned hotel and put myself in the bar with a cold beer after a long cold shower.

Blinded by this thought I am concentrated on the countryroad leading back to Córdoba Town. Almost there, a bus has turned over and blocking the road. Sitting in a 4x4 Defender I was tempted to simply go around the whole accident (which I easily could have) but there were quite a lot of people already and I felt that a manouver like that could be offensive. As far I could tell the bus was empty except for the driver and he seemed ok, so no concerns on injured people.

Oh well, I'll sit it out. Sweating away with all windows down. Going easy on the little amount of water I still have. After several minutes I turn my head to the right and see farmland in a very typically graphical layout that really always catches my attention. Thinking to myself, 'could be a nice one', but don't have the strength to do something about it.

When half an hour has lapsed and I can see the difficulty the rescueteam has to get the bus out of the way I decide to kill a few minutes with a shot over the field.
I stumble out of the door and unfold my big heavy Gitzo by the side of the road. Take out the mighty Fuji GX 680 III and change lens to the 250mm. Isolating the field completely. Standing on the roadside (slightly above the field) I put on a 5mm fall and add around 2 degrees front tilt. With the camera loaded with Velvia 50 (always) I get a reading of 1/125 & f16 from the Sekonic 508. And bang...there it is. A photograph made almost 15 years ago and it still works.

 

[PeterA]

Great idea this thread..:thumbup:

I will be back with a story or two!

 

[malmac]

This was taken on the IQ180 not far from Mount Isa in North West Queensland.
I have been reading Arthur Koestler's book, "The Act of Creation" where he writes about planes of reference which overlap at a point which is logical but an unexpected connection.

Here the rocks crashing down the hill side made a graph like profile, reminding me of the 2007/2008 stock market crash.


Mal

 

[Professional]

What kind of story to be captured, the problem some photos even posting some story details i still can't see it in the photos, so i don't know if i understand the story or not, i want to get the story from the photo itself without reading anything as details, for example, out of the 4 photos posted above, only the second one got my attention and told me a story, the other 3 i see it more as just moment snapshot and don't make me to think more or beyond that moment of shooting.

 

[Hosermage]

Well, Tareq, that's the point, isn't it? A shot that you normally would not have connected with, now with the added background, provides an extra dimension. I've always liked when songwriters will talk about how the lyrics came about, and it's sort of the same idea here.

I agree, though, the second one needed no story as the image had a story of its own. I suppose one could even argue that it may be even better to leave the story in the mind of the viewer to wonder. But, suspense kills me, I rather know the real story

 

[Professional]

Well, Tareq, that's the point, isn't it? A shot that you normally would not have connected with, now with the added background, provides an extra dimension. I've always liked when songwriters will talk about how the lyrics came about, and it's sort of the same idea here.

I agree, though, the second one needed no story as the image had a story of its own. I suppose one could even argue that it may be even better to leave the story in the mind of the viewer to wonder. But, suspense kills me, I rather know the real story

Well, as you mentioned, the point, and i will say that is true to a point too, not everything written could be understandable, mostly if some shots are about culture or part of life somewhere, sometimes that can be interesting, but on another hand it might not, and shame to tell you that and i am so ashamed to say it that we are arabs are not good in reading stories, we just go with what we see not what we read, so whatever you write about your shot, if it doesn't attract my eye i will never care what did you write [explanations, descriptions,...etc] about your shot or what is between the lines, so for us arabs if you want to tell us about stories, how can you make our minds accepting your shots?

 

[glenerrolrd]

Daniel

Great post and a few thoughts . The art of visual story telling is a really fun part of photography . As an amateur ....I play for the joy of the game . Your illustrations certainly convey a love for the process and its shows that you are really looking .

The two examples however are quite different . The ghosts in the forest image tells the story without words . I can hear the laughter just by looking at the image . The story is somewhat interesting but very personal . The 2nd example looks to be an interesting composition where the women plays a key role . However it does not draw my attention to the woman s situation . In this case the photograph falls well short of the story which is much stronger ..so I would say its a very nice photograph but not a good illustration of visual story telling .

I read the Lens Blog at the NYT everyday ....you can see the story in the image ..the words might provide context (like location and key people in the image ). but each photograph tells a story .

Excellent post.

 

[Professional]

Read the story from this shot if you can

 

[BANKER1]

I'm tempted to post a picture here, but the subject was killed about two minutes after I took the last shot. I was the photographer for my niece's wedding, and we were at the dinner after the rehearsal. The dinner was more of a picnic held at a grass airfield in a brand new hangar. The bride's father was taking people up in his private airplane and another pilot was taking people up in aerobatic bi-plane for thrilling stunt rides. After taking the last pictures of the groom's brother as the passenger in the front seat of the aerobatic airplane, the pilot, and the mother looking on in pride, the airplane took off. A short time later the airplane went down after losing power on takeoff. The groom's brother was killed instantly, and the pilot died one month to the day later.

My pictures were used at both the funerals. Out of respect for the family I am not posting images here. So, I guess this is a story without a picture. Sometimes we do not realize the importance of our pictures, but I can tell you that many of my pictures have been the last taken of an individual.

Greg

 

[Geoff]

Back in 1996, I was doing some work for the Chicago Housing Authority, to outline their rebuilding effort. This included an honest assessment of the current shortcomings, some of which was very grim.

This shot was taken after walking through some apartments. After this, my client wanted someone who could fit in and approach the residents more casually. I thought the emptiness in this shot was fitting.

 

[danlindberg]

That's the beauty of humans. We do not think alike. The same joke might drive somebody to tears in laughter and the neighbour does not find it funny a bit. A favorite dish to somebody might be disgusting to his best friend. A background story attached to a photograph might ruin the perception of it for some, while it might enhance the feel and atmosphere for someone else.

I believe this is a good thing.

 

[Professional]

Cool if that is the idea, i agree about it to be different, i thought it was to accept all the stories telling even it is not our cups of tea, i respect all the stories and i may understand some, but i am not forced to accept them all if they are not going with what i think/belief/feel...whatever.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Practically all my project work has a story attached but it's not MF I'm afraid

 

[Hosermage]

I think maybe the thread title could be misleading... it suggested that here are pictures that has a story built-in.

Re-reading OP's intro, he's suggesting for the photographer to write a few lines to fill in the story for a photo that may not have that quality, and by doing so, completing the picture for the viewers.

In either case, more pictures, please!

 

[Professional]

This is a road that i go by when i was working in a far area belongs to our emirate/city called Ajman, i was driving about 120km one way 3-5 days every week, i hate driving to that area due to no much works there and i hate my job, but this trip way is giving me an opportunity to see nature around, in the winter it is very interesting, not in summer, just i will miss passing on that road again because after i left my job last year and then returned this year i told them i no longer able to drive to there.

Here is another shot along that way: