Every Picture Tells a Story Part 1: How To Write Great Photo Captions
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Is every picture worth 1000 words? Not if you don't write those memories down. Learn how to write great photo captions in Part 1 of Every Picture Tells a Story.
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Similaire à Every Picture Tells a Story Part 1: How To Write Great Photo Captions
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Every Picture Tells a Story Part 1: How To Write Great Photo Captions
- 1. Writing Great Photo Captions The Power of Stories Academy www.powerofstories.academy
- 2. • Imagine these are your great- grandmothers, who you never met. • There’s no other information available about them. • What do you know from this photo? Wouldn’t it be better to have more information?
- 3. • Think about a photo album you have • Imagine paging through it with a grandchild • You bring the photos to life with your stories • You don’t have to be “a writer” Copyright 2012 – Art Gallery of Ontario
- 4. Who – first and last names When – as specifically as possible Where – also, try for specificity
- 5. Character – names and relationships Setting – date and place Occasion – what was the reason for the photo The Armstrong girls and Shaw cousins (Aunt Jan and Uncle Bobby’s sons) Visit to Grandma Hirchert’s for her 70th birthday. Chadron, Nebraska, 1975 Back row: Ken Shaw, Karen Armstrong, Doris Hirchert , Pat Shaw Front row: Kristi Armstrong, Rob Shaw, Kathie Armstrong
- 6. Access memories “Brain dump” Create list Short simple phrases Free flowing/uncensored Remember what you thought you forgot Essential to creation of Photo Stories
- 7. Three techniques 1. Look with fresh eyes 2. The slow reveal 3. Eyes wide shut
- 8. Imagine you are a stranger Seeing photo for first time What would YOU want to know? Take note of: Body language and facial expression Why people came together What was happening before/after photo Look at background of photo Notice dress, shoes, pets, yard, cars, neighborhoods Who is missing and why? What emotions does photo inspire? What memories does it conjure?
- 9. Cover photo with a piece of paper Slide paper slowly top to bottom or left to right Notice anything you missed? Remember anything else NOT in photo?
- 10. Some memories cannot be photographed Close your eyes/turn photos over Just remember – events, time, people, place Jot down words/phrases
- 11. More memories = Great Caption Something beyond just the facts Adds context Enhances photo with info not directly pictured
- 12. Reread your caption Watch for these pitfalls: Meaningless prose “Sunset was beautiful” vs. “Sunset made me feel alive” Trite predictable phrases/clichés “Say Cheese” or “World’s Best Grandma” Repeated information “Kids at Disneyland” for picture in front of sign Jokes May get stale, not very personal
- 13. Copyright 2015 by Beyond the Trees, LLC Writing Photo Stories If you’d like to take your photo storytelling to the next level, try:
- 14. For more helpful information on how to save and share your memories, visit: www.cincinnatiseniorconnection.org
Notes de l'éditeur
- Welcome, everyone. We’re so glad you’re here, and we’re happy today to share our thoughts on telling your stories, and leaving a legacy.
- I know just the bare facts about this family photo. These two women are my great-grandmothers, my paternal grandmother’s mother and mother-in-law, but I’m not actually sure which is which. I know their names, or at least I can look them up, and I know that they were both Iowa farm wives. I know one of them was still living until I was a young teen, but I’m not sure I ever met her. The sum total of my knowledge and feelings about this photo is not 1000 words, but rather more like 50. When it comes to our family photos, most of us expect photo albums or scrapbooks to tell the story of our lives. But the truth is once the person who assembled the albums is gone, many of the stories behind those photos disappear as well. If you know something about a photo, and do not write it down, over time that knowledge will be lost. My knowledge of this photo, along with any understanding of my great-grandmothers, is lost to the sands of time, because nobody wrote anything down.
- Think about a photo album you have…your mother's wedding album, a favorite vacation or your children’s early years. Now consider sitting and paging through that album with your grandchild or some other interested person. As you look at the photos you naturally narrate them, describe them, tell stories and recall memories about the people or places. You bring the photos to life with your recollections. Capturing and preserving those memories, the ones that flood back to you when you view your photos, is what this class is all about. And by the way, you don't have to be "a writer" to make this happen. You just have to be yourself.
- Basic captions are fine for many photos, particularly if they are in an album that has a theme or structure that conveys additional meaning or explanation. For example, if the two photos from the previous lesson were included in a scrapbook titled “Kristi’s First Years” and surrounded by other photos from that time period, in chronological order, the pages could bear titles that give more information and we wouldn’t need extensive captions for each photo. But photos can be easily enriched with additional information, creating better captions that will help your descendants just a little bit more. To write better captions consider these attributes of your photos: Character – WHO are the people in this photo, full names and relationships Settings – WHERE and WHEN was the photo taken. Think specifics. Can you pin down the year, or even the month? Not just the city but the exact location? Occasion – WHY? What was the reason for the photograph or gathering? Here’s an example of one of my old family photos that has lots of great caption potential.
- There are techniques for excavating the building blocks for great photo stories from the rich mine that is your brain. We'll introduce you to techniques for helping you access more memories than you think you possess. These techniques will allow you to easily create a list of everything you remember about people and events in a photo, or from the time of a photo. It's a "brain dump" of memories; nothing is too trivial or unimportant at this stage. You will find that by opening the spigot and letting your memory flow, you will tap into a well of long-forgotten memories. We're going to turn these memories we uncover into a list - anyone can write a list, right? It's a similar technique to the one Ray Bradbury described in Zen and the Art of Writing. Bradbury was a prolific list writer, specifically, lists of nouns to generate story ideas. He found that the process of list-making tapped into his intuitive mind, and in the patterns of his lists he began to see the outlines of story.
- There are techniques for excavating the building blocks for great photo stories from the rich mine that is your brain. We'll introduce you to techniques for helping you access more memories than you think you possess. These techniques will allow you to easily create a list of everything you remember about people and events in a photo, or from the time of a photo. It's a "brain dump" of memories; nothing is too trivial or unimportant at this stage. You will find that by opening the spigot and letting your memory flow, you will tap into a well of long-forgotten memories. We're going to turn these memories we uncover into a list - anyone can write a list, right? It's a similar technique to the one Ray Bradbury described in Zen and the Art of Writing. Bradbury was a prolific list writer, specifically, lists of nouns to generate story ideas. He found that the process of list-making tapped into his intuitive mind, and in the patterns of his lists he began to see the outlines of story.
- Now that we've uncovered more memories buried in your photos, it's easier to write a truly great caption. A great caption adds something beyond just the facts of the photo. It adds context, and enhances the photo by including information not directly pictured. For example, if I were to rewrite the caption from yesterday using my list of excavated memories, it might go something like this:he Armstrong girls and Shaw cousins (my mother's sister Jan's sons) on a visit to Grandma Hirchert's double-wide trailer in Chadron, Nebraska in the summer of 1975. This trip also included a drive through the Black Hills to see "The Faces", what everyone in Chadron called Mt. Rushmore. Grandma loved to have a houseful of grandchildren, since she had lived alone since my grandfather, Herman, died of lung cancer in 1965. Back row: Ken Shaw, Karen Armstrong, Grandma Doris Hirchert, Pat Shaw, Front row: Kristi Armstrong, Robby Shaw, Kathie Armstrong, The eldest Shaw cousin, Ron, is missing from this photo. So, the new information in this caption includes: A reference to my grandmother's double-wide trailer - she was the only person I ever knew who lived in a trailer. "The Faces" - I didn't think much about this colloquialism growing up, but now it strikes me as funny that everyone in town was so familiar with the nearby monument. A notation of who is missing from the photo, including my grandfather, of whom there are precious few photographs.
- Now that you've written a caption, a bit of editing might improve upon it. Here are a few pitfalls that can bring your captions down. Meaningless prose: Even if the sunset was beautiful, that is probably obvious from the picture. Try saying instead how the sunset made you feel. Trite, predictable phrases - cliches: Many people include cute, funny captions in their scrapbooks or albums. "Say Cheese!", or "World's Best Grandma". But that's not what these kind of captions are about. Repeated information: A picture of your kids in front of the Disneyland sign probably doesn't need to say "The kids at Disneyland". Instead try writing some other memory of that day. "We visited Disneyland on the hottest, most crowded day of the summer. But the kids couldn't have cared less; they were in heaven!" Jokes: You don't have to be too serious, but a flippant joke doesn't tell as much information as a well-considered caption.
- I hope that by now you’ve been convinced to share a few of your stories with your loved ones. Now, I’d like to get down to nuts and bolts, and talk about the actual ways in which you might do that. I’ll give you 10 ideas, and briefly talk about each method’s pro’s and con’s as well as their average cost. You’ll find that you can make a very meaningful gift of your stories for little more than your time. Of course, if you want to add bells & whistles, or maybe bring a professional in to help, it will cost a little bit more. Even the most expensive option is probably little more than a few good dinners out. And we like to think it is worth a lot more.