Frame to Freeze
Currently listening to: Campanile by Unwed Sailor
Given the current state of newspaper industry, here’s a start to this post …
“Information is golden. I want everyone to get as much information as possible – you cannot have a democracy without an informed people.” - Helen Thomas, White House bureau chief, United Press International, 1999
With that being said, I’ve been in Kalispell for two weeks now so here’s a belated post with what I’ve been up to.
While it wasn’t my first assignment, I was able to catch the tail end of High School basketball before the State tourney. Spring sports won’t get up and running for a while and unfortunately I didn’t do the most incredible job getting shots at peak action. I’m hoping the “break” from shooting action photos will give me some time to explore better ways to visually communicate. Freezing a moment is a remarkable and often times an accurate and “reliable” way of defining a story but I’m looking to push myself to see what other aesthetics I can bring into my shooting in order to better translate a scene.
An example (albeit a poor one) is trying to use my framing to draw attention to the subject. The shot itself is very basic and not very interesting but the symmetry in the lines helps make the image a bit more interesting. Finding the middle ground between an “interesting” picture and one that can pull in the viewer to the story is where success really comes. In this case of this story on lunch ladies at a local high school, a better image would reveal some level of interaction in the frame to communicate the relationship the employees have with each other and/or students. Pushing to communicate the emotions that exist in stories apart from the factual elements of the story can transcend an image from static to magnetic.
With all that being said … moments are still golden. Despite wanting to experiment with new ideas of how to communicate stories visually, looking for and finding a priceless moment of excitement or pain and all the responses in-between, creates a remarkable connection. It’s the beauty of still photography. Of course, the medium of using a single still image isn’t as common place as it was even a decade ago. Using multiple stills or simply video is redefining visual storytelling. Look for a post featuring a multimedia piece I’ll be working on during the week and how using traditional visual communication in new ways can reveal more of the story. Cheers.
