What is a Photo Story?

A photo story, also known as a photo essay, means presenting a story primarily through images and is a powerful form of visual storytelling. Photojournalists craft these narratives by arranging a sequence of images to provide a deeper understanding of an event or subject.

Photo stories are meant to be as truthful to the original event as possible, removing any bias from the photographer's work in order to present facts and details. This means the photographer favours a simple display of the subject matter in more documentary-style photos.

A photo story may have more than one contributor, meaning one event may have more than one photographer. This can be very impactful, as it can show a wider range of perspectives and photography styles. This is where getting photos of an event not just from the official photographer, but attendees of the event can show more of the action.

What Do You Need to Tell a Photo Story?

First, you need a story to document, obviously. Any event can be a photo story, as long as it allows you to capture lots of photos in a short amount of time.

Next, you'll need photographs (also obvious). When taking the photos, think about your narrative...don't just walk around a shoot with no plan; instead, try to understand your subject to capture a more authentic series of photos. You may go for a chronological narrative which is simple to create, but you may also want to highlight the major developments in a "big moments" narrative.

Once you have the story, images, and narrative, it's time to put it all together.

INCORPORATING PHOTO STORIES INTO SPREADS

Choose your photos according to whether or not they relate to and support the photo story's title and reject any that don't. Make sure that there is variety in the photos; unique angles make viewers curious and interested, and they break the monotony of rows and rows of student portraits. However, it's important to create a "whole" and not a bunch of random parts. Recurring themes, moods, styles, people, things, and perspectives work to unify a project even if the photos tell different parts of the story.

THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN CAPTURING PHOTO STORIES

• Approach people without your camera first. Get permission before taking out your camera.
• Talk to people. Get to know them. Let them direct you with their words into the story you are trying to tell. You might have come into it with a story in mind but be open to changes.
• Follow through with your images when you are finished – share some copies with your subject. Remind them that they will be in the book and that they will want to buy a copy.
• A photo story is like a movie edited down to single frames. Look at how cinema handles storytelling, the camera moves around. As a photographer telling the story you want to change your camera angle, distance, orientation, wide angle, detailed, etc.
• Think about telling a story to someone who knows nothing about the subject. What would you use to explain it?
• Look for tableaus – things arranged by someone that tells their story
• Before going to shoot the event, make a list of the photos that you want to look for or take. This gives you a starting point. Remember, to get photos of 1 person, 2 people, 3 people, small group, large group. Try using verbs to dictate your shots. Coaching, dribbling, shooting, cheering, etc.
• Every photo needs to tell a different aspect of the story. Too often the images “repeat” the story. You don’t need 3 pictures of a student spiking the ball, it’s like writing the same sentence over and over. Recycling the moment. If you are including similar photos, use the captions to differentiate and tell a different part of the story.
• Two approaches – Time story with a beginning/middle/end or a space story with wide/tight/medium/detail photographs.
• If you are starting out or want practice, try capturing a space photo story, a space story is easier than capturing a story of an event or time.
• Be patient. Don’t rush into the story but spend time figuring out the best way to tell it.
• Be honest. The story needs to be important to you. You won’t do your best storytelling if you don’t care about the topic.
• Shoot vertical. Shoot horizontal. Shoot low. Shoot high. And observe.
• Shoot enough images that you have plenty to select from when you edit. That will help ensure that you get a variety of images.
• When placing your photo story on your spread or in your module, the dominant photo introduces the viewer to the story, the secondary photos tell the rest of the story.