How to Incorporate Storytelling in Your Photography

One of the things I love about photography is the ability to capture an adventure and re-live it later. 

So often we travel miles or hike to a location so that we can try to recreate the same iconic postcard shot we see everyone taking. But we forget to tell the story of how we got there, and to capture the adventure as a whole.

Storytelling in photography is something I started doing through my work as an adventure wedding photographer and I love using the same techniques in my personal work too. I certainly do attract some odd looks from people out on the trails, but I love getting home and being able to re-live the trip through my images. 

If you'd like to try incorporating storytelling to your photography, here are some tips to get you started:

1. Create A Structure

All good stories have a structure. Most basically, this means they have a start, a middle and an end. Sometimes there are plot twists along the way. Instead of simply taking a shot when you reach your final destination, think about capturing the whole journey to get there (and back again) and use this to create a series of pictures.

2. Change Your Perspective

Good stories aren't all shot from one perspective. Mix up your use of wide, medium and close shots to draw people in to the story. Don't just shoot from eye-level looking forwards. Look up, look down, look behind you. Lie on the floor or climb some rocks. Different perspectives of the same scene will tell a very different story.

3. Use People In Your Images

As humans, when we see images with people in them, it evokes an empathetic response in us. Whilst your friends or partner might not be that stoked about having pictures of them sweating on a trail or gritting their teeth on a hard ascent, pictures of their elation (or exhaustion) at reaching a summit and capturing those moments can really add something to the overall story. Sometimes you don't even need to see a person's face to add an extra level of feeling to an image.