Let Your Photography Tell the Story

[@parthasur6018]

"A fuzzy picture of a clear idea is better than a clear picture of a fuzzy idea" - Henri Cartier-Bresson

[@FlosBlog]

He must have known - quite allot of fuzzy imaged that guy made :D

[@LateBloomerMedia]

Ooo, good one! I like it.

[@tonyhayes9827]

They say art is only completed by the observer who observes it. This is the ART of communication and communion and exactly why art is so important.

[@MajorMkor]

Wow, thank you so much. Photography books can be expensive and just seeing the few examples you showed has given me access to a lot of new ways of seeing. Love it!

[@serhiiherasymov4809]

Man, I need to admit that I love your videos. Content, passion and deep commitment to photography. What’s most important (and sorry that this can seems weird) consistency and personality of you as human being - calm voice, positive message, your personal story and people around you, your family. KZbin is a bizarre place, in general, but channels as yours, and your’s particularly, always remind me that there’s still place for sincerity and that special human to human touch, very inspiring, very personal, very helpful. Thank you, Matt, and please keep up

[@rosemanbridge1000]

Great episode about photography not gear fondling 👏

[@richardmarkdobson]

Yes gear fondling is all a rage here on KZbin. This is refreshing. Getting into the aesthetics of methodology.

[@kuraxxkura]

This is a topic that I have also struggled with in my photography. Whenever I want to share a picture, i try to give as much context as I can to the viewer through a caption, especially with people portraits. This whole video gave me some insights on how to present my work and communicate with the audience. Definitely a challenge to find the right balance between giving context through words and the picture(s) itself.

[@coenietorlage1231]

I’m busy preparing a workshop on Photographic Storytelling. This was such an informative video. Thank you!

[@brentkollock8370]

Interesting topic, well handled. As someone who has worked as both an artist, a painter and writer, and a photojournalist, it is often a tricky balance. I think different outcomes require different approaches, obviously, and that seems like a personal solution situation. One can be too obvious but also too oblique! Where is just right? Only each of us knows for our own work, as you properly stated! Keep putting out the good content.

[@Awabarts]

To us, as photographers, most of our photographs may have some meaning. This is because when we took a photograph, we knew the context and the story of every image. However, for viewers, not all photographs may have a meaning because they may not know the context and the story behind them. Many photographers try to fill the void between the photograph and the meaning through words; they write a description for their photos so that the viewers know the context of the photograph and the story behind the image. Describing our images with words may be a good strategy to make the photographs convey more sense to the viewers. However, the famous expression “a picture is worth a thousand words” seems to fail here because our images are unable to tell the whole story without the help of words. Thanks for sharing the video and letting us know how we can add more meaning to our images through visuals, with words and without using any words.

[@Moodboard39]

Interesting point.

[@Moodboard39]

It has to be a story

[@julianverrat-ich-nicht6130]

Great Video Matt! In my opinion, these videos where you just sit down with a couple of your favourite photobooks are maybe the most helpful and important ones to me :) highly inspiring!

[@adventurecoalition3690]

Great video, raises some thought provoking ideas for me. Thx for sharing

[@syracuselux1450]

❤ I can’t believe it took me so long to watch this video. Ironically and perhaps by design, I am starting to assemble my first book and this gave awesome advice! Thank you!

[@alexandermatragos]

That's such an interesting subject to talk about. I had some thoughts but had never spend much time on it. I think there is no "one way" approach to this. Each project is different and some may benefit from a no title approach while others may completely be missed without a description. What fascinated me while thinking about it is that a picture without a description may have an even stronger effect to a particular viewer than to the creator of the image and vice versa. An image that is emotionally strong to the creator may be completely indifferent to a viewer. As for the books, beautiful work on every each one of them. A book I really hate I missed is "Here for the Ride", such a beautiful work. I hope Andre decides to reprint it in the future!

[@richardmarkdobson]

Nice content Matt. Yes the nuances of to write or not to write. That is the question.!

[@joncothranphotography9375]

Thanks Matt! I have been researching the concept of telling a story with my images. I seem to have an abstract idea of it, buy I would like to refine my understanding.

[@Limud613]

This was a very helpful video, makes me want to go out and practice!

[@TheMarkos1982]

I think it depends on the subject - I like to tell photo stories using just the images, but there is one series where I imposed a particular Redscale-type filter on the images and included captions explaining the history of the landscape (which was post-industrial, the Redscale filter represented the "heat and light" of heavy industrial processes) and I don't think the series would've have made sense without them.

[@Poesyfan]

Great video (as always)! Yes! Fingers crossed that the podcast featuring Andre Wagner is going to happen! I'm a bit envious of them being able to do street photography given that it's illegal in Germany to take (and publish!) such close portraits in public without asking the subjects (ideally) beforehand. Anyways, thanks for sharing your knowledge + those examples!

[@theronsan]

Thanks for the tip. Definitevly going to check out Andre Wagner.

[@terrywbreedlove]

My photography always tells story and it always starts with, Damn it !

[@tffols227]

Freakin awesome video. Hit home on many levels. Being intentional while making the photo is definitely “the idea”, but the way you laid it out makes even more sense. Thanks for all you do!

[@Noealz]

I always tell myself that people don't care about how you took a picture, they just care about the picture

[@gogol44260]

Storytellers I love are the one who let me create my own story about their art. Photography is only a medium. Whatever one do, there will be only one truth : yours

[@AwesomeCameras]

good work Matt~ miss ya buddy!

[@danfauss]

Great vid 👍🏼

[@westphillybabe]

I liked how you instantly held my attention from the first choice of words.

[@naturalessentiallove6310]

Great points thank you so much.

[@andrewhkim]

love these. more of these videos for those of us who don't have extensive photobook collections :)

[@jesusdespicht2596]

Great video ! It make me think about Tim Carpenter work Local object, a book with, for words have just the title

[@LaZanyarr]

This video got me subbed! Could you please do more of these?

[@steveleeart]

I do a daily subverted selfie project and I do include a caption story but often it’s like more memoir style. I don’t always say what specific things that go into the photo itself. Both are artworks in and of themselves and could probably exist independently of each other. I struggle from major depressive disorder and sometimes it gets a bit dark.

[@Moodboard39]

How does that feel ? Curios

[@hoangtrang5045]

Love the last photobook

[@nelsonm.5044]

Very interesting video, I much prefer those over gear review

[@charlesluck3536]

Great video Matt. I have been Doing a similar thing for a while now. Keep it up with this kind of video. They are very enjoyable.

[@ddaly20111993]

Here for the ride is one of my favorite books!

[@MS5]

I agree that a single image should speak for itself and captions might be unnecessary (but giving a record of time and place is good etiquette I think). However, I disagree with regards to zines and photo-books. They, as a medium, need text (a point often made by Paul Strand I think). In documentary work, usually images are used to illustrate and accompany text; so the opposite can be true, text accompanying and illustrating the images. Engaging with the written word can make you connect with the photographs more deeply. Any photo-book without text (not necessarily written by the photographer) is just lazy. If there is a series of photographs but we can't think of something to say with it, I feel it means that the project is half-baked and should not be published yet.

[@hasanmoula5395]

Yes, i enjoy this video. Thank you matt ♥

[@marvineastman460]

when you get him on the podcast, ask him how he approaches his metering to these quick moments! (a lot of them being in lower light on the subway).

[@alvareo92]

He probably knows what kind of settings he needs for the subway. It's not that wide a range on that amount of light

[@ohihonmaomo-eboh2237]

I've been looking for Andre Wagner's 'Here for the Ride' since it came out. I know it's out of print but I need to find someone who has a copy so I can have a look. He's a great photographer & printer.

[@tomc8273]

Hi Matt; Fairly new to channel, enjoy all your vids., Really liked this one. Interesting. I am going to try something based on this video when I go to NY in a few weeks, hope it works. THANKS!

[@mellonman9299]

Excellent 👍

[@nickmoys22]

Really thoughtful content - great stuff.

[@bleepbleepohio]

Are there any quality zine making companies that don't cost over $25 a pop?

[@zenvuthi7462]

beautiful

[@tammylong111]

Really loved this one!

[@guymills6096]

So so good man

[@nikedelman]

Thanks for the inspiration

[@mdbdoc]

loved this.

[@miguelbmelo]

Great episode! Do you think that it comes easier to build narratives when making photos of people you know (given how you document your own family) from doing the same when on the street? Does it even have to include a human element to it?

[@Lestersoterol]

I wish one day I can learn it, And I'm feeling down now, And I don't know How to tell the story in my Photo, I don't have any Photographer friend that could teach me

[@paulharding5922]

I think that photo books don't all ways need a caption some time its more fun to work out what was going on in the photo to be gin with .

[@joshfynbos]

amazing video man!

[@theatre3814]

more videos like that please

[@markgarcia8253]

Nah dawg, I don’t like the viewer to make up their own interpretation for my photos. I want them to know EXACTLY what I’m feeling

[@BrianLackey]

Can't wait to get Dom's zine in the mail :)

[@biancajimenez2023]

Brian Lackey I really want it! I wish I could’ve got one

[@nikedelman]

Cool beans 👍

[@6wop]

my boy dom ❤️

[@justcallmesando]

It was tea instead of coffee but I am watching already. If the message within the image or the work is really really important for me I wouldn't hashtag about gear at all.

[@jenohogan9254]

Andrea Wagner is out of print. *sad face* Can't wait for the podcast.

[@AdaptAnalog]

Are you accepting zines from your audience? If so, would love to send you mine.

[@terrywbreedlove]

Adapt Analog yes he does

[@ginatinyverge9661]

Time travel 😂😂😂

[@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631]

No Andre???!!!!!!! December 22nd

[@mattdayphoto]

Still planned, things have just had to be pushed back.

[@jonathanclarke5763]

I think at some point we all end up here. Show it don't say it.

[@JohnKrill]

Rarely does a photo stand alone. Every photo needs a title and most, if not all, should be captioned. No exceptions.

[@filmerdennis]

John Krill lol what.

[@alvareo92]

Rarely does a photo need a title. No photo needs a title and at the least, if not at all, shouldn't even be captioned. No exceptions.

[@thomasjames7644]

John Krill yep crap photos need titles and explanations, great photos need nothing.

[@KoalaMeatPie]

Ahhhh! Another one Joins the Ranks of the Death of the Author! :-D