What is the art of storytelling? How does it work? How can someone else tell your story?

Everyone has a story to tell and every story has chapters. Whatever is going on in your life right now is part of you and part of your story. I think that people worry that if they aren’t the weight they want to be, their house isn’t quite as they pictured and maybe they haven’t quite found the job that will define them then it isn’t time to document it.

IT IS. Why? Because it’s you right now and this ‘you’ will lead to the ‘you’ that will make you stop one day and think that it is time and it’s ok to document it by booking a photographer… who gets a buzz out of the art of storytelling!

My job is to take the photographs however it isn’t just that. More often than not I will go into someones’ home or their office and when there I have to open my eyes, ears and also a part of me in order to work with people to make sure that what I capture is them. There are so many different ways that people smile for starters! What I want, what I need are the smiling eyes (if it’s a face to camera moment) and if I can’t see the eyes then the next thing would be a happy body.

One client recently told me that he felt like his Grandma was directing him! I didn’t take offence because yes, I was being bossy. It wasn’t the bossiness that protected me from the Grandma comment, it was the fact that I knew I was pushing him to be him, the best version of him and the one that he would look at the photographs of and be proud of. I had known him for twenty minutes.

Watching someone, gauging them, learning from them; all of these actions are as important as setting the camera up properly.

In a digital age, where love letters aren’t stored in a shoe box like they once were (are they even written any more?!), or old diaries aren’t hidden away how do people tell their stories? For many it is through images. So, why not book a photographer (preferably me!), capture some memories and then compliment them with some words. It can be as simple as writing down why you like your favourite colour, just like Belinda Brock did in her Huffington Post article.