by Lourens Durand 
Edited and Published by Yvette Depaepe, the 21st of July 2023

'Anna's Story' by Sergey Parishkov

Visual storytelling has been with us since the dawn of mankind, with our ancestors presenting ideas through crude scratchings on the walls of caves in ancient times, followed later in time by oral storytelling, reflecting historical events, tribal and family history, the supernatural – stories handed down by elders to successive generations, many becoming myths, legends and fairy tales.
The success of these stories hinged on the ability to touch emotions, to provide motivation, education, amusement, terror, and the conception of superheroes. No doubt many of these stories relied on embellishments to add amusement, mystery, or horror.

Then came the written word, via books, newspapers, and magazines – thus reintroducing the use of pictures to aid the telling of stories. Nowadays we are inundated with pictures via movies, internet sites and social media.

But it is in the arts and photography that we can tell a compelling story through a single image.

“Every picture is worth a thousand words,” they say but, to do justice to this, the picture must be perfectly planned. To capture emotional impact, meaning and mood in portraiture, for example, requires careful preparation in terms of:

·         lighting - choice of back or side lighting, soft or hard lighting, and the use of dark and light areas to enhance the atmosphere,

·        colours – warm versus cool colours, stronger, softer colours, and primary or secondary colours to create different atmospheres

·        composition – careful use of rhythm and patterns, movement, contrast, and negative space

·       costumes – what a model is wearing and how he or she wears it can add to the atmosphere of a story

·        props – clever selection of props is essential to complement the story

·        symbolism – symbols play a large part in adding meaning to a story

·        mood – the mood portrayed by the model, supported by the mood of the lighting, colours and composition can make or break the story

·         model - the model’s attitude, expression, posture, facial expression, posture, and sense of presence all add to the narrative

·         narrative – dictates how the viewer reads the story, and reacts to it

·         post-processing brings everything together and can be manipulated to strengthen the mood of the story.

It is not only in portraiture that photographic stories can be told:

·        By capturing the beauty of nature, landscape photography allows viewers to share in the awe-inspiring views and stories visible in the environment itself

·        Still life is a less common form of storytelling, but it allows the photographer to get creative with lighting, composition and texture and, using symbolism to evoke emotions more abstractly.

·        Sports and action photography can tell stories of ambition, experience, success, and courage

·       Travel photography can often contain narratives about different cultures in an interesting way

·        Great stories are to be found in wildlife and macro photography.

Whatever the genre, through a carefully planned and well-executed set of shots, a photographer can create an interesting narrative that can leave viewers with a lasting impression. It requires foresight by the photographer to tune the visual picture to obtain the desired emotional response and to add layers to the story, thus preventing it from being one-dimensional.

Please enjoy the following selection of work by 1X.com photographers that make full use of the storytelling possibilities of photography.

Lourens Durand 

'GOODBYE....' by Heike Willers

'...If this is to end in fire we should all burn together....' by Charlaine Gerber

'Way home' by Magdalena Russocka

'escape...' by Magdalena Rossocka

'Campsite stories' by Pavol Stranak

'It's too late to apologize' by Samanta

'The alive?' by Sergey Parishkov

'Isolated' by Anja Matko

'The photographer' by Monika Vanhercke

'Elderly smoker' by Sergio Pandolfini

'Take care' by Stanislav Hricko

'Saint Jerome' by visionsandpictures

'Broken time' by Harry Bünger

'Still life with kangaroo skull' by Deborah Gugeri

'Morning has Come' by Redmere Photography

'Father's Daughter' by Lus Joosten

'Surfer' by Assaf Gavra

'Sunset in Amitges' by Joan Mercader Illera

'Beach Sunset Rocks Stones' by TAKEDA HIDEO

'Breakfast is ready.…' by Sita Gramich

'Love is Universal' by Marketa Zvelebil PhD CrGP

'Desertstorm' by Marcel Egger

'Leopard Ascent' by Morkel Erasmus

'Damselfly lovers' by Piet Haaksma

'Avci' by necmettin oba