Tell a story
It probably goes without saying that we all aspire to tell a story on some level every time we take a picture. This is one thing that leads to a successful image – one that a viewer can find understanding, question or relation to.
A great way of practicing this – or even taking a step further is to create what’s known as a photo narrative or image sequence. One of the masters at this is photographer Duane Michals. Duane is a master storyteller and often created series’ of these narratives. Basically each frame or image in the sequence tells part of a story. Think of it as a movie made up of still frames that change slowly so you don’t see motion, but you do see a progression between images.
These can be quite a lot of fun to make and get creative with. But check out the piece below and note how Duane has such an amazing way of surprising you with each image. What you think comes next actually is replaced with something else.
Duane Michals – Things Are Queer – 1973