You may not be thinking about it, but with every photo that you take, you are telling a story. A small or big story, but story nonetheless. Understanding that story is is actually just answering the question - what is this photo about? Because yes, it's a photo is OF your kids. But what is it ABOUT? 

And that story, that ABOUT can be complex but it can also be simple.

Let's take this photo, captured by one of our grads Kerry Anderson.

On a surface it's a photo about a boy excited to be pushing the big wheelbarrow. If the pumpkins disappeared from view, that would be exactly what this image is about. That would be the story. But making sure that we get to see more - the pumpkins piled up right behind him, the larger view - all of that gives us clues as to where and when this may be happening and also why. 

Or how about his one? By another grad of ours Louise 

Yes, this is a photo OF a baby. He is totally gorgeous and any Mum would be proud of capturing an image like this. But there is more to it - those pumpkins and those leaves - they provide visual clues - they place that baby, at this age in a particular point in time. So this image is also about this little boy's journey and growing and something that can be looked back in years to come. 

And how about this one - this one is by our recent grad Becca Geddes

She captured an unmistakably autumnal image of her little girl. There is not a single falling leaf in sight, not a pumpkin to be seen, but the image absolutely projects autumn. The colours, the warm layers, the slight wind toussling her hair, the muted colour vibe on the image - all of that is conveying some serious autumn clues. 

Important visual clues

In the images above the photographers paid careful attention to what made it into the image and into the story. In each of those images, the photographer included important clues that helped tell a story - the wheelbarrow shot would not be telling us the same story if it hadn't been for the pumpkins etc., the baby photo wouldn't have the same meaning without the autumnal props, the final portrait wouldn't convey the same message if it hadn't been for the muted colours and vibe.

Those visual clues are so important, but we often forget about paying attention and including them when we are in the moment because - well, we are in the moment. We KNOW our kids. As photographers, we ARE where the action is taking place. We understand WHO they are, WHERE they are, WHAT they are doing of feeling. And since we know it all, we're not thinking about it making it into the images. We forget that the image might be seen by someone else who did not have the benefit of being there and we deliver an incomplete story.

The Nan test

I like to pass my photos through a Nan test - it's simple - if you were to send your photo to your Nan, would she understand the story? Who and what it is about? And where and when it was taken? This week, we're preoccupied by capturing images that are all about autumn, so as you snap away, I want you to consider whether what you see through your viewfinder will have enough visual clues to tell the viewer it's autumn?  Would your Nan know those images were taken in Autumn if she were to see them in 6 months time?

Getting to the story

To get to the story, I like to take cue from the writers. Writers take a character, set it in a place or circumstances and then throw in details that give us that bit of extra. And it's easy to translate that process to photography

All you need to do is, before you just snap snap snap, pause for a second and ask yourself those three questions: 

And I know what you're thinking. This feels like a lot to be thinking about and cram into one image while you just want a simple nice photo of your child. 

But what if we broke it down into 3 parts?

We have an exercise that helps you do just that. Break it down so that you can still capture what happens, without the overwhelm. If you're familiar with our bootcamps and courses, you have probably seen this one already, but it makes such a difference, it helps so much with getting into a habit of storytelling, that I can't not include it here. And by learning to take those three steps, and to take them one at a time, you learn to think about the story.

I like to call this little exercise-  1-2-3 story.

It's really simple. What you do, is instead of capturing 1 photo, you take 3. But 3 specific ones that each add a bit to the story. 

And it starts with the photo you take ALL the time. You have one, I do too.

Your GO-TO shot

You may well be the exception, but it's usually a shot that captures your child's face, maybe a bit of upper body. It's only natural - that's the shot that's all about your child : you focus, you shoot, done. And then you take it again and again and again.  Yours might not be a portrait, but I guarantee that in your photo gallery, there is more of one type of photo than another.

Everybody has that go-to shot - the one that we seemingly take over and over again. 

It just feels good, familiar, we like the outcome, we know the composition works.

So what's the problem?

Absolutely nothing wrong with a portrait. In fact, we'll be doing just those tomorrow. But that one type of shot will only communicate so much. The story is limited here. And for a parent photographer, that storytelling through photography is really key because when you go back and look back at it in years from now, you want to remember more than how a person looked.

SO HERE IS WHAT YOU DO :