photo stories - places as storytelling heavyweights

The sense of place is as essential to good and honest writing as a logical mind;
surely they are somewhere related.  It is by knowing where you stand that you
grow able to judge where you are.  Place absorbs our earliest notice and
attention, it bestows on us our original awareness; and our critical powers
spring up from the study of it and the growth of experience inside it.  It
perseveres in bringing us back to earth when we fly too high. It never really
stops informing us, for it is forever astir, alive, changing, reflecting, like the
mind of man itself.  One place comprehended can make us understand other 
places better.  Sense of place gives equilibrium; extended, it is sense of direction
too.  Carried off we might be in spirit, and should be, when we are reading or
writing something good.

- Eudora Welty

I like this idea that a full comprehension of one place - say, the place in which we
grew up - can help us to understand other places better.  If a writer has let one
place into herself, future places - real or imagined - states, towns, buildings, even
fascinating rooms - might better get in too.  All the better for conveying these
places to others.

By Vanessa Morrow

By Jake Messenger

By Rachel Chew

photo stories and a note on writing intimacy

In a written story, intimacy can be communicated through a variety of things, in a variety
of places, via a variety of senses, but in utilizing these, it's most important for the sake of
the reader for something unique to be communicated, something past cliche, something
impossible to grasp if the scene were portrayed on film.  This is the power of words, after
all, to tell a story - a truth - better than most other mediums can.

See these examples:

He moved his fingers down her whole spine, one by one by one, and during the time it took
to do that, his brain remained absolutely quiet.  It is these empty spaces you have to watch
out for, as they flood up with feeling before you even realize what's happened; before you
find yourself, at the base of her spine, different.
- The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Aimee Bender

Unthinkingly I straightened, so that she would think better of me.  Such was her presence.
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin

The skin of her hand looked transparent in the light, on the edge of his desk, a young girl's
hand with long, thin fingers, relaxed for a moment, defenseless.
- Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

He wants only her stalking beauty, her theater of expressions.  He wants the minute and
secret reflection between them, the depth of field minimal, then foreignness intimate like
two pages of a closed book.  He has been disassembled by her.  And if she has brought
him to this, what has he brought her to?
- The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje

So, these photos.  What could words add to the storytelling present in these photos?  How
could words take these images of intimacy from slightly distant to up-close, vivid,
unforgettable?  What might be said beyond describing the light, the assumed sensations
of touch?  What details might be added to take a scene from typical to truly intimate,
almost disarmingly so for the reader?

By Hana Haley

photo stories - anchors

I love those moments of exposition in books or short stories where the
perfect words, the perfect rhythms are accomplished and the reader is
transported, bewitched.  The moment, the sight, becomes their own,
years later something they look back on as if it had been real.  In these
scenes or paragraphs, certain sights or sounds often become anchors,
be it the way the girl's scarf flapped in the wind, or the way the moss
grew on the rooftop, or how that the toy in the window banged its little
cymbals.  The scene is lodged into the reader's mind, becoming a spark
of life that propels them through the pages.

These photos feel like that - living anchors.
May we write our anchors well.

By Molly Yun He

By Yung Sad

photo stories - write me

I always love looking at photos on Flickr to be inspired.  Here are
three I found recently that are certainly deserving of stories.
Have a go at one or all if in need of a writing prompt...

By Greer Versteeg

By Brad Wise

By swimminginmilk

photo stories - igor termenón

Igor Termenón shoots gritty fashion spreads, which end up looking
like portraits, and therefore, characters.  His work seems like more than
interesting people showing off interesting clothes, but like people with
something to say, a story to move on to, in which they play a major role.

Be inspired.  Onward, writers, storytellers, and dreamers.

write me - kevin russ

These photos by Kevin Russ were taken in various spots of California.
When looked at together, they create an idea of a story that, at some
point for some writer, may actually inspire words to string and puzzle
the photos together into something grand.  Have a look...

photo stories - thomas krauss

Halloween's-a-coming.  Perfect time to post these polaroids by
Thomas Krauss featuring potentially creepy children, and a man
kissing a nun to boot.  Love the delicate strangeness in these.

photo stories - katerina plotnikova

Because so many stories exist about or including a special relationship
between man/woman and beast, I had to post these by Plotnikova...

Compelling dynamics and characters worth writing about.

from unexpected places - accidental archive

For some reason, I find collections of objects very inspiring, however
they're organized - color, shape, era, etc.  So these photographs by
Sara Cwynar really caught my eye.  Maybe it's the overall impression
that inspires, or being forced to pay attention and sort the items out,
but there are magical stories here - magical or scientific, surreal,
romantic, quirky, and more.  Sort through and see..

Observations often tell more about the observer than the observed.
- Chris Geiger

photo stories - isabel o'toole

Isabel is skilled at capturing her subjects in a moment that perfectly
expresses something deeply true about them - the perfect candid
portrait.  And a portrait is a great way to start a story...

Do any of these characters belong to you?

photo stories - randy p. martin

What wheres have we wanderers won?

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost,
to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer
experience.  - Eleanor Roosevelt

happy fourth of july!

A little pic inspired by the day - how would you turn it into a moment
from a fantasy story, horror or science fiction?  Happy fourth!

photo stories - news - four leaf clovers

My short story "Four Leaf Clovers" is now up on The Colored Lens
to read for free.  Head on over for a spot of entertainment..

By aco

And below the fold...  some black and white photos I stumbled
across on Flickr today that seemed to me to beg for stories.
What is going on?  What will happen next?  Any ideas?

photo stories - the impossible project

I love polaroids, often as inspiration for stories, or inspiration
in general.  Maybe it's the mood they so effortlessly evoke.. the
blur and contrast or lack thereof.  These are from the "Outside
the Lines" Impossible Project exhibit.  Enjoy.

By Dustin Yager

By Ritchard Ton

from unexpected places - alex jochim

If you're looking for a story trigger exercise not based on starter
lines or single images, use these photo collages by Alex Jochim,
which could be twisted and turned to conform to any genre.

What do a palm tree, a raccoon, a man dancing by himself at
night, and a crowd of spectators have to do with one another?

photo stories - nastya kaletkina

When I see these from Nastya, I am prompted to think she found
a mental institution for fairies deep in the woods and they let her
take photos for a day.  Though I doubt this is true, her pictures are
wonderful...

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping
than you can understand.
- W.B. Yeats, The Collected Poems

photo stories - brock davis

These photos by Davis, taken with his iPhone, delight me.
Not only do they flirt at story, but they evoke a certain
melancholic, dazed dreaminess.

And what's fun (and an interesting exercise) is to brainstorm
what causes the perception of one mood or another in these
photos - the sun glaring on fine blonde hair, wet pavement,
a scowl, the churning of the clouds, contrast or lack thereof.
Then think of how you could and would express these
elements in writing, how you could make them come alive,
dancing before readers' eyes as much as they do in the photos.

Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons
you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It's
not just a question of how-to, you see; it's a question of how
much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only
reams of writing will help you with the how.
- Stephen King, On Writing

photo stories - shiho

These are snapshot-fairy-tales, aren't they?  I can't help but
think that next Snow White will bite the apple, some man will
fly through the air, a mermaid float on by, a fairy will kiss the
leaves brown, and (in the last) the camera will pan to chase
a boy in his descent down a snow-framed hole.

Be inspired.  Happy Weekend!

photo stories - max wanger

Max Wanger deals with some pretty interesting characters.
Do any of these raise their hands and volunteer a story for
your writing?

The time will come when your characters will write your
stories for you, when your emotions, free of literary cant and
commercial bias, will blast the page and tell the truth.
Remember:  Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow
after your characters have run by on their way to incredible
destinations.  Plot is observed after the fact rather than before.
So, stand aside, forget targets, let the characters, your fingers,
body, blood, and heart do.

- Ray Bradbury, Zen and the Art of Writing

from unexpected places - pretend vintage magic

These photos - whether real, photoshopped, or manipulated in
some way - are stunning, capturing a vague and compelling
feeling of magic.  Rapunzel, the borrowers, tinker bell, wizards
and witches.  It's interesting to see magical images caught in
photographs instead of illustrations for a change, photos
treated to feign being fished out of your grandmother's attic.
Maybe one of these could inspire a story - what magic and
whimsy is being glimpsed here?

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother
to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

By Charles B. Carma

By Joanna Pallaris