I was hired to photograph a 5k fun run last weekend.
Visual story telling is the answer to informing our friends where, who and what we did recently.
Here’s a few tips.
1. Think like a reporter.
The 5 W’s of reporting will help you to frame your photos. The Who, What, Where, When and Why, will tell you what to communicate for your story.
In the first photo, we have the What. Looks like a race and that’s exactly what it was, a 5k charity race.
You can photograph a sign or the runner’s numbers or as I have here, a human interest story.
The winner of the race ran back to find his sister and finish the race with her holding hands.
Some of that information is needed in a caption, but there’s lots of clues in this image. The boy already has a medal and their numbers are in sequence and they are running around a track.

2. Did something interesting happen at the event?
It rained like cats and dogs!
These friends gathered under an umbrella to have their photo taken. I focused with my long lens and made an image as they were being photographed.
3. Interesting or humorous event?

These boys gave up running early in the event and popped up their umbrellas and kept walking.
It tells the story quickly, but also gives us more information about the event, too.
Like it was raining hard!
4. Establishing shots help ground the viewer.

I always try to make a quick shot that tells where we are or what’s going on to include in the story to help the viewer.
In this set of images the beginning of the race shows the mayhem that occurred and also establishes that there was a race with quite a few people involved.
I’ve always wondered why more children aren’t trampled during these starts?
5. Details! They move the story along.Detail shots give information that is quick and concise. Visually it helps to move the story, without taking too much space.
Each of the racers were given snacks at the end of the race. Bananas!

Grab a hold of these quick tips and try them out at your next event that you want to share with friends.
In only a few images you can tell an entire story without being redundant or more importantly boring.
Be effective and concise.
Be inspired!

A picture is worth a thousand words, and most of the time we as photographers have writers block.

Visual storytelling is an expression of our vision, in images, rather than words. So, many times my students or even peers will tell me about the situation they were trying to capture and it seems their descriptions are more vivid than their actual photos.

Why is that?

One of the problems is that we try to include too much in every image. Sometimes all we need is part of the whole that will speak volumes about our story. Be subtle, be gentle and your vision will be heard loud and clear. This was obviously a wedding that I photographed. Hands are always so important but so overlooked IMHO.

I’ve composed the image with the groom’s hand in the upper left area of convergence. The viewer doesn’t need to see either of the couples faces to know that they are in love. In fact, I believe it is better without them. Less equals more in this image.

Next time you go out to shoot, try looking at pieces of the whole. Compose, check the lighting and wait for the perfect moment and capture it. Then your images will truly speak of your vision. Enjoy!