Photography is in an evolutionary phase where the language of the craft barely fits. Take the word photography for example or even photograph.
photograph |ˈfōtəˌgraf|
noun
a picture made using a camera, in which an image is focused onto film or other light-sensitive material and then made visible and permanent by chemical treatment.
Photography as a practice, hobby, and industry, relies more and more on digital images and digital publishing. From web sites, digital photo books, and magazines on tablets, photography is less reliant on a chemical process, film, or a physical photograph. Photography is more like a signal or a channel. An image can be snapped through mobile device or a high-end Hasselblad and it’s uploaded and shared with hundreds or millions of minds in less time that it would take you to process a roll of film, let alone make a contact sheet for inspection. Photography has changed drastically but what has remained the same is stifling and outdated, and that is this notion that photographers have to find a lane or specialty of documentation such as fashion, weddings, sports, portraits, or landscapes.
What do you shoot? What do you shoot with? Who are your clients? All questions that used to irritate me to no end because i had long answers to them all. Why? Because i don’t seek inspiration from a particular subject. i used to only shoot Nikon but i also used to only shoot Kodak Disc and Minolta. My clients are very varied because i don’t shoot a particular subject. What i was shooting and continue to be amused by year after year, are stories. This sounds obvious in ways but i haven’t had a conversation yet with a photographer, client, or friend where the eyebrows don’t go up before the follow up questions start coming. i’ll spare you the details and just tell you after two years of being a storystyle photographer where the rub is…. A story is intangible. There isn’t a book you can buy that will advise you on the best time of day to shoot a story or what F Stop makes a story better. It is a revolutionary notion that the camera is not meant to capture anything on film or sensory but is meant to convey events, characters, and meaning in a single image or a sequence. Furthermore, who does one know if an image is a storystyle image or not? Am i just branding myself or am i actually on to something here?
Storystyle photography changes the practice of image making from capturing a subject to crafting a story; real or imagined. This is challenging and liberating all at once. This section of my site is dedicated to the exploration of this style of photography i created. A style i feel passionate about that i believe will liberate more photographers and make photography far more interesting. We’ll have to see. Stay tuned and feel free to join the conversation.
kw