Finding Moments in Storytelling
Before I see an image, I first sense or feel it; and I then pick up my camera in anticipation. After thirty-plus years of creating images, I’ve learned to always trust my instincts, beyond the very basic technical things. I’ve been often asked to describe this process — which can happen in a matter of seconds — in more detail.
It’s challenging for me to explain it, even to myself, but I’ve come up with an unofficial formula:
Curiosity + Imagination + Patience + Anticipation + Reaction = Moment
I’ve tried to illustrate this with a short photo story below that includes each of these ingredients.
All photos in this gallery © Rodolfo Gonzalez | Jíbaro Photos
Curiosity — During a visit to a tobacco farm in Viñales, I entered a tobacco hut, with its vaulted ceiling, and multiple rows of hung tobacco leaves. The women were doing the very tedious job of passing a needle with string through each individual tobacco leaf to then be bunched and hung for drying, while some of their kids were just hanging out. That image by itself was fascinating, but could there be something more?
Imagination — When assessing what’s before us, there’s often a desire to imagine the perfect image. Creative ideas and possibilities begin to swirl. I wish the light was from this direction. If only the background was like this, and so on. But then sometimes, that’s when the needed element appears, like the silhouette of a farm worker stepping into the open door.
Anticipation – It’s all about strategically placing yourself into position and preparing for when everything converges. Again, more possibilities. Where is the farm worker standing? Whom is he talking to? Where’s my light? What’s in frame? What could happen next?
Patience – Once you anticipate that something is in the making, give yourself the opportunity and time (I can’t emphasize this enough) to figure out what that something is. While the women working was a nice scene, the unexpected arrival of the farm worker, who was also one of the women’s husband, offered the missing element. Patience is everything.
Reaction — Here’s where having patience and then the instinct to react converge. When the conversation between the husband and wife about lunch ended and he stepped forward for a quick kiss goodbye before leaving. But stay with it. After he leaves, her co-workers tease her, and she laughs in embarrassment and delight.
As photographers, we are storytellers. It is so satisfying to me to communicate even the smallest or simplest visual story. This story could have gone untold if I didn’t first anticipate it, have patience for it, and then quickly react when it finally materialized. I think you’ll find the more you follow this formula, the more natural it will feel over time and will serve you well in your own storytelling.
Good luck!
