Putting together a cohesive set of images that illustrate a grand narrative is not an easy process, especially for those of us who taken up photography and end up just shooting single shots for a portfolio and/or to sell prints. This video has some great tips for those who want to break out of that mold and start something a bit more substantial.
In this video, Marc Silber of Advancing Your Photography sits down with documentary photographer David Milnor to discuss some key actions someone can take if they want to tell a story with their photography using a set of thought-out and considered images. Milnor uses his own experience as a documentary photographer to illustrate how this can be done by laying out four pieces of positive advice and six things one should avoid if they want to go down this route.
The preamble to his first point might be the most salient for those who want to get started: he rightly states that there are a lot of people who want to start a project but just can't figure out the first steps. His simple answer to this first important step is time and access. To elaborate, anyone can go and take some photos of, let's say, a rowing team. But in order to weave an engaging narrative, one needs to not only spend some time with the team to get to know them and their individual stories, but one also needs access to the background: their trainer, where the boats are stored, what they do to wind down, etc.
