Storytelling through image not words: is it the same thing?
An exploration into the relationship of stories, photos and words
What’s your story really about? What’s the heartbeat? Why should readers care?
These questions have often elicited a sharp intake of breath and a panicked widening of the eyes on my behalf.
“Good ah… good questions.” I’d say as I nodded in response, hoping the attention would shift from me to the next poor individual who didn’t have a clue either.
I’m no longer just writing a story; I’m crafting a narrative.
When it comes to my own writing, sometimes it’s hard to get past the kneejerk, ‘I’m writing it because I want to, dammit’ reaction. However, countless writing workshops have taught me reflecting on these questions does actually make a difference. As much as I resent them in the moment, when I take the time to stop and think about what it is I want from my writing and what I want others to gain — inevitably my writing gets better. I’m no longer just writing a story; I’m crafting a narrative.
It’s a fact the editor in me has fully embraced, while the writer in me still needs the occasional pep talk. So, when I discovered I’d be participating in a photobook collaboration project as part of the RMIT Professional Writing and Editing program I was equal parts thrilled and terrified.
Narrative photography? What business does a writer and editor have delving into the realm of storytelling through image? Is storytelling through image the same as it is through words?
How do you find the story?
It’s not as simple as taking a bunch of amazing images and slapping them in a book. Just as a writer needs to delve into the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ behind their story so to do photographers. On this point, photographer Kevin Landwer-Johan says in his article,
“Journalists would sometimes request I take the photos first. They wanted time to think of questions to ask the person they would be interviewing. I would always refuse. I would tell them I could not illustrate their story without any idea what it was going to be about. I needed to know their train of thought so my images would be able to support what they were going to write about.”
With this in mind, I couldn’t have been more intrigued to discover the ‘why’ behind one of my photographer’s stories. One night on a bar crawl, Josh, the photographer, met members of the Melbourne Uni Surf Club. From hear he heard whisperings of the Tiki Bar, a share house homing some members of the club with an open-door policy to all. As older members graduated and moved out of the house, new members rotated in. The house and its walls were steeped in wild stories, friendship… and mould. The images he had taken told not just a story, but a history. That was it. That was the narrative. My editing partner, Sarah, and I just had to help him tell it.
But how do you know which photos tell the story? Which images actually go in the book?
Ah. This was the struggle. When you work with talented photographers you have the unusual problem of so. many. quality. images.
Sarah and I sat down (virtually) with our photographer and sifted through countless photos. There were many times we found ourselves saying “Oh! I love that photo — but does it tell the story?”. Unfortunately, the answer was often ‘no’. As an editor, it was easy to look at the images and pick out which ones did and didn’t tell the story. As a reader advocate in pursuit of a narrative, editors can be ruthless be it words or photos.
But, as a writer who knows the struggle of parting with a sentence you feel is the result of pure magic dancing on your fingertips, I empathised with my photographer. In front of me were images that had taken hours of watching, waiting for the perfect shot and then even more time spent editing. Who was I to say these images didn’t tell the story best? In this way the storytelling is the same. An editor can advise, but we cannot make the final decision — because ultimately it’s not our story to tell.
Then what role do words play if the images tell the story?
Words are so important to writers and editors. They’re the golden threads we use to weave our stories, the salty water that floats our narrative. But in a photobook, our beloved words play the role of supporting actor, not lead.
It’s a delicate affair. Writing an explanatory caption that doesn’t explain too much or adding a quote that enriches meaning without pulling focus from the image. According to Nancy Newhall,
“the basic trouble about captions… starts with the photographer. [Their] aim is to get a photograph so expressive no words are necessary.”
However, the reality is that not every photo can live up to that expectation, nor should it. Sometimes a photo doesn’t need a caption, it speaks for itself. Just as sometimes a writer needs to show, not tell. But… sometimes in both cases you do need the words and you do need to tell. It’s just a matter of identifying what’s missing.
Does the reader have enough information to understand? Will the narrative flow better if there’s something more explicit? Is there a quote that tells us something we cannot see?
But at their core, they’re the same.
We tell stories to find common ground, to teach and make meaning. In many ways using images instead of words is a vastly different method of storytelling. But at their core, they’re the same. They still need a what and a why. They still need a heartbeat. They still need a reader who cares.
