An engaged group of young and not-so-young people recently gathered for our latest Storytelling Workshop at Lighthouse Christian Community in Alabang, Philippines.
The gist of the afternoon session veered from the usual, technical aspects of photography that we cover for “gearheads” like myself. Instead, we covered some of the “why-for” and “how-to’s” behind the telling of a story.
Things like:
- Collaborating with the Creator
- Prominence: Thumbnails are the new Cover Shots
- Lead Layout Ideas – Orientation, Ratios, Composition, etc…
- Visual glitches: Noise, DOF, Motion as a narrative device
- Human behavioural rules of attention
- The Photo Essay: 8 Rules of Life
- Story Arc & Types
- Perspective, Narrative and Duty – It is your narrative, but it is His story.
What's your big takeaway?
Pictures are powerful, they can change people's mind.
As artists, we often base our identity on what we do. We are more than our work and must not be defined by that.
Context is important in any photograph, because from that context springs the actual story that is to be told.
The internet can teach us the technical aspects of photography, but here we are learning the heart of storytelling for the Kingdom,
It is a blessing to be a part of this... all this knowledge, indeed our story, is all about giving Jesus the glory.
In photography, there are only a few variables within the vocabulary of exposure control; but to use those 'words' to tell a story is a gift that must be honed.
So many things... not just the technical, but to be working closely with God. We are going home happy because we learned so much.
