Natural Storytellers
Posted on October 28, 2008
We all have a story. Actually, we all have many stories. We don’t always tell them - hell, we may not know how to tell them - but if you’ve been alive, you have a story.
We also have many ways of telling our stories. Novels, blogs, photos, movies, plays, musicals, newspapers, magazines and the like are all modes of what we call “communication.” These media - all media - are the focus of this blog. And yet.
I have a problem. The only way I’ve ever felt comfortable telling my stories are through photographs. I’ve never connected with something so wholeheartedly, so perfectly, as I do when I press an SLR to my cheek, peer through the viewfinder, and squeeze the shutter button. I’ve tried writing, but words come to me only in formal and sometimes stilted spurts. Professionally I’m a TV and video cameraman, but even then I’ve never been a great storyteller. Something about the hurried nature of the moving image makes for a difficult transition from my mind to the screen. The only exception to this is my documentary work, which I think I’m fairly good at. I suppose because it’s more passive storytelling - not a bad thing.
When I look through the viewfinder of a still camera, though, entire stories play out in front of me. I see the whole scene through that viewfinder, a story that perhaps an author could spin into thousands of beautiful words. It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but for me, that picture is actually saying those words. The image… well, it speaks to me. And yet.
I have hardly picked up my still camera in years. There are any number of reasons why not, from costs to lack of inspiration to lack of time to… too many excuses. I’m looking into purchasing a DSLR, a technology which I’ve staunchly refused for love of film. But I think it’s time.
And yet…
I’ve been on a story kick recently. My good buddy Rob Blatt made a Twitter post the other night:
It’s funny, the relationships we make in SM (social media) tend to be “from this point on” and we don’t generally know back stories until we meet in person
That post prompted me to ask the question, “What is your story?” I made a video post on Seesmic, asking people to tell me a story from their past, and got some interesting results. It’s something we don’t often think about in real life, because our IRL friends tend to be people with whom we have a history. The stories are built in.
How do you tell your backstory? In this time of living in the moment media, how do you convey to people you’ve only met online or remotely who you are? What medium - or media - do you use to tell your stories? You may tell them in ways you’ve never thought possible, but the stories are there nonetheless. Leave a comment below and tell us your story.
Technorati Tags: stories, backstory, camera, visuals, photography, videography, social media, media, seesmic, rob blatt, communication
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