Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Lately, I have seen a lot of photography training offering instruction on “revealing the narrative.” Every time I see it, I wonder what they would be teaching.

I love my photos to tell a story. I have found that my background in journalism education helps me be a better narrative photographer, and to really understand what it means to capture images that tell a story.

Let me take a trip down memory lane and tell you about some of the ways that I helped my students discover the stories.

First, how I discovered I needed to better job teaching them to discover the narrative… I first assigned students to talk to ten people each week during lunch, so two per day. I wanted my students to find students they did not know and ask them some questions about themselves. My students would be given a weekly assignment grade for doing this.

Well, things did not go the way I expected. One of my students created this list of questions and asked everybody the exact same things. Other students saw this, and decided this was the best way to approach the assignment. The questions did not delve into anything deeper than “What is your favorite type of athletic shoe?”

One-word answers with no follow-up questions.

I knew there had to be a better way. Especially after this girl I had in English class, Kim, who was a miracle athlete, playing three varsity sports with only one lung, had been asked the five questions and nothing ever came up about her incredible story.

Everybody has a story. I just had to prove it to my students.

The next day, I had four red plastic cups, one for each grade 9 through 12. Each one contained little slips of paper with the name of every student in the school. Students had to choose a random slip of paper, interview the student whose name was on the paper, write a profile story on him or her, and get photos to accompany the story.

It wasn’t easy. Even some of the students chosen said there was nothing about them worthy of a story. But we kept working on it. Those students were invited into my classroom, and I sat down and asked the questions while my students listened and took notes. We never failed to find the story, and some of the stories were pretty fascinating! It wasn’t long before my students were bringing students in for interviews without having to choose from the cups. Students they’d struck up a conversation with in one of their classes and discovered there was a story.

I don’t write as many profile stories as I used to, but I am constantly reminded when I am out photographing a wedding or event that “every picture tells a story.” Most weddings have a requirement of certain formal photos that everyone expects, but one of my favorite things is to get some photos that reveal the narrative.

When I deliver a gallery, I always go through every last image to make sure it doesn’t need any last editing tweaks. When I do that, I get to relive the entire experience of the wedding day again. Inside those folders are always a few real gems that tell the story.

Sometimes, and I love when this happens, the bride and groom notice these photos and comment on them. They usually remember that exact moment and will always remember the story behind the photo. Or, they don’t remember, and they mention to me, “I don’t even remember that happening!” And then I get to fill them in on the story. It is so much fun when I get to share the story of something special that happened behind the scenes or on the other side of the venue at their wedding while they were in a whirlwind of wedding-related activity.

One of the best things about being a photographer is being a visual storyteller.