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Story Telling Imagery

Booking projects in 2024 sounds like a long ways away, but in reality, it’s just a couple of weeks at this point. Now I wear a lot of different hats at various times and my project focus varies with the needs of the clients, but I primarily consider myself a photographer. What I enjoy most about photography is capturing moments in time in photos which can tell a whole story all by themselves. I’d love to help tell your story in 2024. But for now, let’s look at a few stories through my lens.

How does that happen

The adage, a picture is worth a thousand words is one you hear often. A single image can capture the viewer’s attention to draw them into the scene in ways that tell both intentional stories created by the photographer and imaginative stories unique to the viewer. Those stories may be told directly through the image’s content, composition, or style, but depending on the audience’s perspective, it also allows them to see their own story unfold in the minds eye. I may make another post about composition at a later date, but a single image can tell a whole story all by itself in a variety of different ways. I’ll share a few examples here and then maybe we can explore them in a little more detail to explain my thought process and what I mean.

Imaginative Story Telling

Let’s dive into these first two images together. Both are some of my recent work and the images both feature young ladies in very storytelling photos. I’ve had several people tell me that both could be book covers. Well, they could be, but what would the stories in those books be about? Now that’s very different for each photo.

In the first book, I have to imagine a farmer’s daughter reading a book one late summer’s afternoon and maybe telling the story from her perspective placing herself in one of the characters in the book. Maybe she even nods off at some point in her reading and wakes up in some antebellum time lost in the past. Now see the first part of that story can fairly easily be discerned from context clues in the image itself. But that last part is my own perspective because I know her dad loves history. A different viewer who doesn’t know that may have a totally different story from this image. We have both a story being told by the content of the image and the perspective of the viewer.

The second photo is also very storybookesque. This photo may even be the story the first girl is reading about depending again on the perspective of the viewer. For the sake of this example, let us assume that is at least part of the story from the book the first girl is reading. Another similarity between the two photos besides the young ladies in them is the use of light. This image features a setting sun behind the girl is back illuminating her and separating her from the background. The other features a light leak of a setting sun coming in from the right. These features help add to the feel of telling the story of a late summer/fall afternoon. The second photo takes on a little bit more of a dreamy feel. Now I didn’t plan these photos for this example by any means but I was very intentional about my light placement and the feel that I wanted to illustrate when I shot these photos. I wanted to capture the dreamy feel here in the image with the horse. I felt like at least from my perspective that this was the dream vision of this girl Clair in relaying the love she has for her horse and the bond that they share. It is me, the photographer using creative lighting and composition techniques to tell her story.

Commercial Story Telling

This image is much different than the other two. In this image, we have a hunter, sitting in the snow with his back against a tree while aiming his rifle at some distant target. By the composition of the photo, we are drawn to his bright orange jacket and his sight line carries the viewer from the dark wooded area on the right across the image to the expanse on the left.

The story being told here is obviously of a hunter, on a cold winter day, but it allows the viewer to imagine what he might be aiming at. What does he see through his rifle scope? Is it a 160-class whitetail or could it be a giant elk? This created interest in the photo, makes it a very useful photo for marketing purposes. There was no specific client in mind when I shot this photo, but it could have easily featured the latest Leupold optics or Christiansen Ridgeline rifle or some other outdoor brand. I have published this image and used it for a client’s Christmas sales ad for firearms.

All images tell stories, but I think its important for effective images help tell good stories. Some just come alive to me more than others and some tell better stories.

Documentary Story Telling

Here’s another recent example and I’ll wrap up with this one.

Along with some of my commercial-type photos, seniors, and outdoor photography, from time to time, I shoot some rodeo and action sports photography. I love capturing the action found in moments in time that tell stories as well.

A few weeks ago, there was a bull riding event at the Evers Arena here in El Dorado, Arkansas.  There were some great bulls and great riders.  The whole thing was an event put on to help Colt Cates, brother of PBR bull rider Reese Cates, raise money to help offset some medical expenses from a recent car accident.

Well, the photo below is another one of those photos that tells a story but this one is not planned in any way. The photo is more of a documentary image captured from live unscripted events as they unfolded. There were lots of great action photos from the event, but this one photo speaks volumes to me and is unlike any of the other photos from the event. Partly because of the firm beliefs and values that I hold that give me and many like me a unique perspective on what’s happening. I won’t go into any technical details of how the image was shot here because this all happens so fast that there is no time for that. I shoot what I see unfolding in this type of situation. In this photo, I turned and snapped.

So whats the story

I’ll try to condense this down a little bit to just the story it tells me, but there is a lot there.

This bull had just been ridden and bucked off its rider. I forget now whether the rider covered him for the full 8 seconds or not, but I don’t think so. This was a pretty mean, rank, snorting bull who wanted some more action. He was not ready to leave the arena. You can see by the ropes on him that the cowboys had tried but not yet convinced him that his show was over and it was time to leave the arena.  He hit the fence pretty hard just seconds before I shot this photo. The little boy running off had been standing at the fence when the bull hit it hard enough to bow the fence out and the boy took off running back to his mother a little startled but no worse for the wear.

I think he was mostly oblivious to any real sense of danger.  Part of that is because of the strength of the fence but also because you can see his father standing firm and confident staring the bull down as he stretches his arm out to usher the little boy behind him.  Nothing comforts a child more than the presence of their father. The father in this picture is protected himself by the fence also but should the bull come through or over, he stands watch, ready to protect those he loves.  

It’s a powerful image because the world we live in is full of rank bulls and evils intent on destroying everything in their path.  Some are as equally ugly as this bull, But unfortunately, some aren’t so obvious as a snorting bull.  In this one image, you can see the purpose for which God intended husbands to fill in their roles as fathers.   To take on the world and subdue it is what God commanded Adam to do when God created the family (Gen 1:27-28) and he blessed them in that context.  It is the duty of husbands and fathers to provide for, and possibly more importantly to protect their families from the evils of the world.  But it is the sanctity and safety God ordained in the marriage covenant which is the image of the love that Christ has for his church that does that. God never intended for fathers or mothers to go it alone, but instead, to be united in the covenant of marriage he blessed them in that context.

He created men to be strong and women to be tender so that men might stare down evil with the strength and faith he has given us and women to be equally faithful, nurturing, and caring for children to run to when evil shows its face. The two became one for this purpose in order to create a cohesive and complimentary family relationship. Gender roles and male headship are important biblical concepts under attack by the world for a reason. But when strong fences like marriage vows before God don’t exist, chaos ensues. Even then, when sin creeps under the fences it wreaks havoc on marriages. It requires men to be obedient guard dogs, discerning and ever watchful.

God, the ultimate good shepherd, built good fences.   He formed the sanctity of marriage to surround this union as an image reflecting of his love for us, his children.  Its purpose is never to subject women or for men to be used as purely providers, but to protect and provide for women and children and for husbands to be honored and respected. Men step up to the fence at the altar before God and man in a promise to love and to hold, to cherish and protect their families until death do us part.  It is husbands and fathers who stand at the fence to guard their loved ones as a sacrificial last line of defense.  But it’s those fences that are the boundaries for healthy families to exist in.  They are only as good as the steel, the welds, and the concrete, they are made of.  God gave us his word in truth as a firm foundation that can not be broken as long as we cling to it and build strong biblical marriages within to keep the world out.  

The world doesn’t like that.  The world wants to tear down fences, with open borders like our southern border with Mexico, and along with it, the family structure God intended.   This is a major piece of Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter talking points.  Our culture says “Men can be Women.” “Strong women don’t need men”. “Just live together.” “Traditional marriage is outdated”. “Masculinity is toxic”. “end the patriarchy” But it is the strong biblical foundation of the covenant of marriage that is under attack because when it fails, society falls with it.

The world does not want strong men to be the spiritual leaders of their families in the context of Biblical marriage.  The world attacks those who do. Our society paints the father in almost every TV show as the village idiot. But without men standing at the fence in the covenant of biblical marriage always and forever, women are at risk.  The world needs more Godly women (and men) striving to be more like the bride of Christ (the church) and less like the world, and whose husbands are respected at the city gate. (Proverbs 31:23) A healthy family cannot be built if either partner has one foot out the door. Marriage is the promised covenant that protects the intimacy building trust between husband and wife. Men have to boldly step up to the proverbial fence at the altar accepting responsibility to love their families regardless of what society says. And women are not subjects they are equal in submission to their husbands when their husbands are living in submission to Christ. It is therefore men who must kneel before Christ to stand against the world. 

The world needs more than just cowboys.  The world needs Godly Men, Husbands, and Fathers who will stand firm on God’s word without flinching at the angry bulls roaming through the world and without apologizing for what His word says on every front.  Who will stare down evil as the last line of defense to protect their families? The world doesn’t need more manipulative, greedy, Beth Duttons. It needs more Godly wives and mothers, for children to run to and learn from. Those who will stand on God’s word with their husbands as one.

Storytelling Images Stimulate Action

Now some of that stuff may be more than you want to think about, but that can also be part of the role storytelling images play. That’s exactly my final point. Good images tell stories that cause action. It may be a thought to ponder or it may be a physical action or it may even be a purchase decision. Maybe the image below will make you want to buy a new deer feeder, a sack of deer feed, or maybe it empowers you to take your son hunting to teach them about the outdoors and conservation. But one thing is for sure that good images tell stories that invoke change none the less.

Now we all love cute family photos too, and not every photo has to have a deep story behind it. Some are simple stories and maybe personal stories that just highlight your life or lifestyle. And that’s ok as well. But all photos have a story to tell and not all photos have to be agreed upon to illicit a warm fuzzy feeling like puppy dogs and rainbow photos do.

Some photos though, like the bull photo, do both depending on your perspective. But with good photos, some scream at us, and sometimes they whisper, but great photos enact change. Like the old quote goes and I don’t know where it came from, but “a man never steps in the same creek twice. For when he returns, the creek has change and he is no longer the same man.” So, Imagine a world without images that stimulate us to be better people. Imagine a world where there was no tank man in Tiananmen Square in 1989 or no Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima?

There are volumes more that I see in the story of the images above and many others. There are an infinite number of other stories that need to be told. There are stories of true happiness, joy and powerful images yet to be captured that encourage positive hope-filled things in the world. I hope that you’ll look closer at these images and those you see around you to see what stories they tell. How do they speak to you? What do you need to change for having seen them? If you have a story to tell, and we all do. I’d love to work with you to help tell your story through my lens in 2024.

But for now, I’ll leave you with this, Its one of my favorite images. What story do you think is being shared between this young boy and this giant horse?