Stories

I thought we would go for a minimalistic challenge this week – a good excercise, but I know you as I know myself… So, that doesn’t mean you must only use one, single image…I am sure you have several stories to share! Pick one or two, maybe three? As long as you use only one image for each (possible) story you have captured.

What is a photo story? Some photos are staged, or taken just for their story, and some stories come up first when you see your photo on the screen. A lot of photographic storytelling involves capturing shots of interesting scenes and phenomena that cannot easily be explained through words. These photos either tell the story of an interesting person or persons/animal or animals, or maybe occupy a human rights or awareness angle by depicting the plight of people in poverty-stricken or war-torn places. There are so many stories to capture…and to tell – we are looking forward to seeing some of yours!

I have chosen three different stories. The opener is a staged image at an exhibition of painted (artist Martin Jacobsen) back drops from a famous Swedish play: Queen of F*cking Everything, starring Jonas Gardell. Here Jacobsen uses landscapes in a dialogue with art history and popular culture. We easily recognize the Disney castle and the beautiful Swan Lake hint.

Standing close to a theatre back drop is indeed awe inspiring, just the size of it, and I always wonder how an artist can paint at such a large scale and get the perspective right. Be it in churches, street graffiti or elsewhere. I guess that is what the people in this image are expressing too.

The above image is from an outdoor exhibition in Denmark, where a big ring was set in the grass, and children were happily jumping in and out of it. – Suddenly the ring started sending out smoke (smoke-rings, haha…), which got parents (and me…) swinging up their cameras. An ordinary thing doing extraordinary things… this had to be immortalized!