Context and Storytelling with a Single Image

This video is in response to a comment I had on a video about context. Here are some of my follow-up thoughts....
What do you think? Let me know in the comments
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[@bradenribbens7873]

I feel like a single image can definitely portray a story. A single image can also show a creature's mood, attitude, or even the struggle it has with the environment it lives in.

[@movestattoo4561]

I think the use of word portray is perfect for this. I don’t know how many people use that with “tell” interchangeably tho.

[@frankfurter7260]

I don’t know that an image can “tell” a story but people are inherently storytellers and an image can certainly be the raw material for people to make up a story.

[@gunny2044]

A single frame can absolutely tell a story. Period. The End...

[@craigpiferphotography]

I'm going to absolutely have to agree with you on this. The fun part is that a single image can tell a lot of different stories depending on who is viewing it. It's called triggering the imagination and does more than just provide a pretty picture. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so to say that a single image can't tell a story is like saying you can't tell a story in a thousand words or less.

[@ginasanders5255]

Yes it can. Look at some of the most iconic magazine covers over the years and you'll see many examples. As they say, "a picture paints a thousand words".

[@charlesd2109]

Great question, and thought-provoking as always! I think in rare cases a single photo, with no context, not even a caption, can tell a story, but I think it depends on the viewer and the degree to which they are filling in context (historical or imaginative) in their own mind. Think of a photo of Woodstock - there are some amazing photos from that concert, but when we see one, our brains start filling in the details behind the photo. Picture a photo of an elephant with no tusks - our brains start filling in the story about rangers cutting off elephant tusks to prevent poaching. If the viewer doesn't know that is why the elephant has not tusks, then no matter how powerful the image is, the story will be lost to that viewer. A photo isn't so much telling a story as prompting the viewer to tell one, which in itself is very powerful and in no way diminishes the photo. In my wildlife photography, I use my photos to help tell the stories of what I see and observe in nature. To me, just posting a pretty photo cannot on its own accomplish what I want - which is to tell that story of what I saw or experienced. So I feel a need in almost all cases to add words, a written story of what I saw to go with the photo. Bottom line - the rare, exceptional photo can tell a story, but in the vast majority of cases the context/story is being written by the photographer or the viewer.

[@lindakarlin2980]

Yes it can. The award winning photo of the “Afghan Girl” on the cover of Time Magazine tells an amazing story. I taught a lesson based on that photo where my students had to write a story of her based upon on that photo. So in my opinion absolutely.

[@moondancedude]

“A picture is worth a thousand words” has always been true I’m my mind. Thx

[@kerrygrim7934]

Not all photos tell a story, but a photo you look at and almost instantly consider it a great photo, does, in my opinion tell a story.

[@kentstuart8822]

From the beginning of time, static images, whether etched on a cave wall, drawn, painted or photographed... have told a story. When a person views a compelling image for the first time, they instantly develop a story. This may or may not match what the artist intended, but it is a story in it's own right. I have always felt the art is not complete until someone else connects with it.

[@rschellie]

After watching further, another point I would like to make, is a fellow photographer has a much different take on a photo because they have greater understanding of what it takes to capture and process an image. I think that it also loses it’s magic when viewed by a fellow photographer and they tend to compare it to their own work/photos so it very much depends on where the viewer is on their journey. For example, I had to numerous opportunities to photograph Great Grey Owls so I am much more critical of other photos of these owls by other artist.

[@nwcs2]

With wildlife it is more challenging to tell a full story. That said, there are many historic photographs that clearly tell a story and even years later tell the same story. Many times it is images of war or the aftermath. The extreme nature of the image and inherent relatability tell the story without needing words. I have seen wildlife photos tell a story but I think the key is the viewer’s background. The more knowledgeable a person is about what is in the image the more evident the story is.

[@PStirling89]

As an artist whose medium is a camera for me every picture tells a story. Some of those stories are quick and short and others can be an epic saga. The fun thing is when others view our creation the story may speak differently to them. I love when others see the story I intended. But I enjoy hearing the different stories the observers may see.

[@PStirling89]

I wrote that as I paused your video so I would not be influenced. Now that I watched the complete video I will say I agree a single image can tell a story. And I agree the creativity level of creativity of the viewer will allow them to see a story, short of long.

[@bryceacd]

Yes…a single image can absolutely tell a story.

[@hammer1975able]

“Every Picture Tells a Story” written by Rod Stewart and Ron Wood in 1971, so they clearly thought so. It may differ by the individual's perception or not but we’ve all got our own idea, or “story” to intereperate a scene, book, picture, or event.

[@rakneuro]

Short answer, Yes. I believe a good photo creates a story in the viewers mind, though that story will almost certainly vary between viewers. At least, it provides enough visual interest that the viewer spends time thinking about “what is the story behind this image”, stimulating their imagination. I wrote this answer immediately after your initial question and before watching the rest of the video, so it sounds like we are of similar mind.

[@davidhuth5659]

Of course one image can tell a story. Just search for the most important or influential photos of all time. Then do the same for paintings or sculpture. Humans have been telling stories with a single image since we painted on cave walls. You don't need a complete novel to extract a story from an image. And, as others have said, it may not be the same story to everyone who views that image but it's a story nonetheless. A poem can be a story and in my mind images can be poetry. James Popsys, another KZbin photographer says, "A good photo should be an image about something not of something." I think that sums it up nicely.

[@robertbarrett6904]

Yes! Most definitely a single photo can tell a story.

[@Alan.Daniel.images]

I think a good image can inspire the viewer to imagine a story. It may not always be the same as the story of the creator - FYI - good video

[@guykerr8111]

My opinion is - yes. Your photo of the 2 birds (plovers????) says to me, a young one exploring and being watched by a parent. The story may change too with the different mood of the viewer. Nice job!!!

[@2224jnk]

I tend to agree with the comment you discussed. A single image can express emotions, ideas, and all kinds of other things. But, to me, a story is a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. That's not the point of still photography. I've always been troubled by that concept that "a good photo should tell a story."

[@treelee8485]

A single image can tell a story, esp with text. A collection of images can often do better. There's a lot of bird posting which is aimed to wow, with little explanation. I for one would like to hear more about the experience of getting the shots - how long was the wait ? one keeper out of 100 ? etc its like the posters are on another plane of smart photography and are happy to keep the plebs uninformed of the nitty gritty

[@bjrn-einarnilsen687]

Great video as always Scott. I think it's mostly a combination of the photo and the person looking at it. But for sure, in my opinion, a photo can tell a story too. Wishing you a great weekend. Cheers, Bjoern

[@GeorgeENorkus]

Of course, a single image can tell a story. Although many do not unless things are well thought out. Think about much of the artwork created throughout history. Those are single images and do have very good "stories". When you really think about it, even a good title can sway a person to create a story for the photo.

[@PeterLariviere]

I think a single photo can tell a story..but the question I would have is What story? The one that the photographer wants to tell or story/interpretation by the viewer..so for example I decide to do a photo essay on harvesting by a local elder from my First Nation. If the picture is an animal being trapped or skinned, etc the person who sees it may have a negative reaction. Now if I do photos of the harvest and the community rituals around the preperation of the meat and then the celebration and gathering of the community it shows the whole process. Anyway a really good question and helps make us think about the roles we have in bringing our images to the public.

[@alexwaterton9769]

YES a picture can tell a story, but it may show a different story to different people (Individuals Interpretation)

[@LouisaLee63]

Yes. There are multiple instances where a single photo has done so. It may be that the viewer has to have a frame of reference to understand the story. Multiple images can tell a richer story with more nuances.

[@bigjim4983]

I think it's very difficult to tell a story with one photo. Maybe wildlife running from a burning forest can do that. I think it's more about conveying a mood. An osprey diving into the water can create excitement in the viewer. A mother animal with it's offspring can warm a viewer's heart. A predator catching prey can be exciting. sad. happy or many other things. I know I'm looking at a great photo if it changes my mood

[@movestattoo4561]

Do you think it’s difficult to tell a story with a painting?

[@Shannon-q2n]

I believe it can!

[@rschellie]

In today’s s world of extremely short attention spans, I think a photo needs to be compelling enough to catch the viewer’s attention long enough to see the story you are trying to convey.

[@CelebratingOutdoors]

Yes. Most definitely. A single image has the ability to tell a definitive story. The cavet though is this ... its rare. Captures like this are few. So, what about all those other images? It all depends on a persons individual experences as they see an image and then somehow tie back the emotions of that image to what they have had or would like to imagine to have, if they were in that moment. And yes, only those who have had a like experience or a wish for that experience will connect.

[@WCIN]

Yes! Folks with imagination can come up with a story of their Owen with different type story! Some folks look at them with the literal point of view… I guess that’s their story…. Still believe “A Picture of a thousand words!” Thank you for the different points of view.

[@jackstutts6439]

Yes it can. The ability to create an image that does that is what makes a photographer great. Think of the images created by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorethea Lange, or Ansel Adams and tell me they aren't telling stories. Its not that the image has a single story to tell, but that it sparks the viewers imagination to create their own unique story.

[@9930sam]

Yes, one image can tell a story. Just look at the work of good street photographers. That does not mean that all photos tell stories, or they have too, but they certainly can.

[@michealpociecha8351]

Of course a single image can tell a story. It may be what really happened or what the viewer thinks happened.

[@Livingthewild]

For me, a great wildlife photo will represent the sense presence of the moment - reality. Heavy post processing (digital painting) has diminished the art of photography and the real story. As that orange thing would say, Make Photography Great Again!

[@BillFerris]

Yes, a single image can tell a story. More precisely, a single image can inspire a story. It can connect with a viewer in a way that the viewer sees a story in the photo. The examples I'll share are Steve McCurry's "Afghan Girl" photo, Cartier-Bresson's photo of the boy proudly carrying two bottles of wine, and Tom Mangelsen's "Catch of the Day" photo of an Alaskan brown bear in the process of catching a salmon. While I agree with the comment that it is not easy to tell a story with a single image and is, arguably, very difficult, I disagree that it simply can't be done. Great photographers and photos tell a story. I don't even consider this to be controversial. I would challenge anybody to look at a collection of truly iconic photos and not imagine a story that goes with them.

[@shortypictures]

yes, a single photo can tell a story. But the keyword is 'can', it's not always possible. I would also like to add that 'telling a story' doesn't mean that it has to be the true story what happened in the captured moment. It's up to the viewers imagination to see a story or not. It's much harder to see a story with a bird sitting on a stick with just a green background, no expression, just sitting there than seeing a photo of an eagle chasing another bird.

[@VinceMaidens]

I think this person quoted me heh. I say this all the time and will always go out to shoot with the intent of telling a story. I don't find much value in just image..bird stick, other than it might be pretty. If the image doesn't help you form some context to what is happening, then I don't think I did a very good job of making the image. Sometimes it's just a snapshot and i'll put that on IG, if its a real story or something special I'll save it for alternative viewing platforms or media where it will have more impact. So yeah I think it's a very valid comment to say an image can tell a story, in fact its exactly what is should do.

[@zorrosbigadventure]

Hey Scott. Love your channel. "Thought" you should know that the thumbnail has a typo. 😊

[@photosbyjoeendy]

It absolutely can.... But it must be done properly.

[@brucewiebe6490]

Yes it can.

[@johnscott9869]

Yes a good photos can tell a story, by capturing action or when your subject has context, and especially if it creates an emocional response in the viewer... to solve the debate though, the "story" is information about whats going on with the subject at the time. inferred and is subjective. 8:41

[@cliftonwhittaker260]

Yes. But just like jokes, some people can tell'em and some can't.

[@victorlim5077]

Yes, it can. But I think the audience will interpret the story differently from an image, just like someone looking at a painting.

[@alexey_perevezentsev]

Yes it can. Especially street photos or reportage. Can a photo of a bird tell a story? Yes, but it’s much more complicated to capture and there are much fewer stories to tell)

[@ChrisKoehn]

You're describing scenes, not stories.

[@exposedhntrmillr2168]

I haven’t read all of your comments and don’t reply, but having shot one of a million that tells a story I have feedback and yes it’s possible. First a story is made up of a subject, event and conclusion. Words are used in both poetry and prose to create imagery that supports the story and usually leaves underlying themes that relate to the readers’ own life experiences. In short is a bird sat on a stick in the pretty light a story. So what’s more what’s missing and what other imagery could be added to the photo to support a happening that we all can relate to. All short and quickly thrown together without edit so forgive any typos, misspellings, or misinformation I may have recklessly forgotten. Not all stories are good or interesting so I believe they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. After 4years and one million billion photos I have yet to shoot a great one. Good topic because often I feel that this topic is based on an old song. Personally I think that the story is just an addition to a beautiful photo which is my true goal and motivation. Love your photos btw and find them inspiring.

[@mikebrownhill4662]

My take on this - a single image can't in itself truly "tell" a story. A story needs context. While an image can suggest context (sometimes very strong context), the viewer cannot know with certainty that the story they are interpreting from the image is true. Therefore, I would say that a single image can provoke a story in the viewer's mind which may or may not be the true story, but without context (for example, honest text from the photographer who witnessed a scene) they cannot verify whether their story is the true story. Stepping outside of wildlife photography and into news/journalism - editors (good ones, anyway) go to great lengths to verify the story behind a picture they receive. There are many examples of misleading pictures that have been used to convey a false narrative in news. The same can be true in wildlife - the story we tell ourselves when we look at a wildlife image may or may not be true. Does it matter? In wildlife, probably not - but in other genres it can matter a lot.

[@4gharpure]

It depends… the image should have some action or environment to tell some story. A bird on a stick with pretty background colors does not tell a story. It’s up to the interpretation or imagination of the viewer.

[@SinisaPopovic33]

Not every image tells a story. Some images are just snapshots and nothing more. However, the best images almost always tell a story.

[@WildSotaPhoto]

Famous journalism photos come to mind and if these don't tell a story in a single photo then it can't be done. 1945 V J day Sailor kissing woman in Time Square. 1965 Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston. 1972 Vietnam napalm attack. 1975 Soiling of Old Glory. 1989 Tiananmen Square...

[@amendegw]

Adding to your list... The Dust Bowl Woman Photo, The Napalm Girl, Kent State Girl. Even the Marilyn Monroe subway grate image. It's harder with wildlife photos but IMHO, the best photos do tell stories. Mother fox attending to her kits, territorial battles, animals feeding, etc. I recall seeing a photo at a gallery near Yellowstone where a pack of wolves were chasing elk on a ridge - what a great story it told of predator and prey.

[@amendegw]

Google "The Chase by C Thomas Hoff"

[@ChrisKoehn]

These are scenes. If you had no additional context and only saw those images they would require some conjecture to make them stories. A sailor kissing a woman in a city. A boxer standing over a boxer on the mat. A girl running toward the camera with flames in the background etc... These "storied" images all had accompanying context. The reason they're memorable is they captured a moment, a scene, in a broader story. A sailor kissing a woman after returning home from war after victory was declared is not necessarily something you're going to be able to infer from the image alone. The Afghan girl someone mentioned elsewhere is just a portrait until we are given the story in additional images and print articles.

[@seanadowling3]

@@ChrisKoehnI see what you are saying but I don’t agree. I saw that photo of the Afghan girl when I was young and it has stayed with me all my life. I didn’t read the story in the magazine, I don’t know that I even read the title. But I was drawn in by the image, wondering who she was, where, what had happened to her. I imagined she had seen war and loss and terror. Her haunting gaze told me there was something to learn here, that she has a story. There are thousands of images and paintings that evoke this connection, that prompt the viewer to look for and imagine the story. I think you are looking for the literal story, the facts that are happening. In which case, yes, it can be difficult to convey a full story with the facts in a single image. Whereas most people commenting are talking about the emotion and the connection, the imagined story behind and in the image. It’s what they walk away with after seeing the image. Which can be different for different people and therefore not always based on the full facts of the story, the beginning, middle, and end. This probably reflects some personality type differences in our interpretation of the word ‘story’.

[@ChrisKoehn]

@@seanadowling3 I would never contend that an image can't be thought-provoking or haunting etc... but that's not a story. Stories can certainly provoke, however, and remain with you long after taking them in, but the Afghan girl portrait is a scene in a broader story. Whether or not the viewer imagines a story behind the image is irrelevant to the point. A viewer inferring a story from an image is not the image telling the story (which is the question of the video's author). Since you filled in the story for the photographer by imagining what the Afghan girl's situation was, you kinda proved the point that the image alone did not tell a story. You made the story and you told it to me, the image did not. As for the definition of story, personality type shouldn't dictate what "story" means. Otherwise, what's the point of a definition? Whatever it is that other people are talking about with regards to how an image makes them feel, that's not story. Story has the potential to make people experience feelings, but they're talking about something else and they can't think of a more apt term, so they redefine the idea of story incorrectly. What they're describing is thought provoking, inspiring, intriguing, stirring, etc... all of which a story can be, but is not the definition of story.

story yes, history no.

[@WildlifeInspired]

i like that

[@ChrisKoehn]

No to both questions. It would be near impossible to tell a story with a single image unless it's absolutely clear what's going on in the picture but even then there is room for miscommunication. For example, when a photographer takes a photo of a soccer player crying who just saw his teammate taken off the pitch on a stretcher after suffering a heart-attack, the viewer may incorrectly infer that the player is upset after losing a championship match. Without that additional context--a player on a stretcher or the other team hoisting the cup--the viewer is lost after viewing only a single image. The story is merely, "a human appears to be sad." That's pretty weak. Same with the nature image equivalent: "A bird is sitting on a hippopotamus." There's no story there. If the photographer is trying to leave it up to the viewer, then that's pretty lazy isn't it? The viewer creates their own story based on the image they see, but they're not telling it. The photographer is implying/telling while the viewer is receiving/inferring. It's fine to snap pics of a sad person, or a bird on a hippo, but photographers should know better than to pass those off as stories. I think they mean scene, not story. But a story is made up of scenes.

[@lindakarlin2980]

Yes it can. The award winning photo of the “Afghan Girl” on the cover of Time Magazine tells an amazing story. I taught a lesson based on that photo where my students had to write a story of her based upon on that photo. So in my opinion absolutely.

[@ChrisKoehn]

It's a portrait. At best, a scene. There's no story there until additional context is provided within the pages of that issue of National Geographic. If it prompted you to imagine a story, that's your inference, not the photographer's implication. There is no story in that portrait until you read the article inside. Then it becomes ancillary to the article, an image corroborating some facts. Whatever your students wrote is their idea of what the image means, and is not what the photographer implied. If you disagree, then please describe the story that image tells without using any of your knowledge of the subject of the photo.

[@joshuasmith2107]

I completely agree, I do think that just an image can tell a story and I also think that IT’s the viewer Too. Some ppl aren’t wired that way, and that’s ok, they just need more to spark that imagination. I myself can just look at a picture or an image and my brain goes wild with what it’s trying to portray and some times I can look at a pic or image and see automatically what the story is bc it’s telling it so perfectly.

[@flightographist]

No. The image requires the imagination of the viewer, each viewer in fact...until reviewers , marketers, critics, propagandists etc. get involved. Then, an image can indeed tell an entire story...sort off, kinda, maybe.

[@tonyp1479]

IMO this is a case of confirmation bias about what a story and/or photo is. Being open to experience allows to the maker to generate art that is not ordinary (confined to normal expectations). It can be argued that this is one way of distinguishing art from technical competence. Again, imho.

[@TheWildlifeGallery388]

YES