Capturing a story with your photos is a great way to make a record of your travels. It is also a wonderful way to remember all of those special places and moments in time, captured during your journeys.
I like to tell a story with my travel photography. Don’t get me wrong, I would still love to land that one perfect, award-winning shot, but most of the time, I am working on a story. Think about what you would like to share or remember about your experience in a new place and start with the small details. A series of photos usually tells the story in more detail than one photo.
If the hotel is unique or is a place you want to remember, photograph some of the details. It might be the chandelier in the lobby, a sample of unique architecture on the exterior of the building, the cool carpet in the hallway or even the entry way or the view out of your window. Do the same with the area or town you are visiting. Sidewalk details, architecture, shop doors or signage that might have the town or city name. If you are in the wilderness, it might be the plant species or scenic views. The small details make great covers for books and title slates for portfolios.
If you want to remember how a certain event felt, take a sequence of images to record the event. For example, I took a ride on the London Eye and wanted to remember the beautiful scenery but also the sensation of height during that ride.
I took photos of the details and of the scenery to help me remember the feeling of how big and grand this Ferris Wheel is. Looking at all of these photos took me right back to that ride! I remember feeling slightly scared and I definitely did not want to test the sign that said, Do Not Lean Against Doors!
I have documented many places with my photography and have thousands of photos in my archive. When trying to figure out what to do with these, I decided to make a coffee table book of each trip that was an important memory for me.
In Part Three, we will cover some of the options for archiving your photos that tell a story, whether it is a book, a video photo album or an online service like Instagram.
All Photography by Porteen Photography – Robyn Porteen