Photographs have been used for many years in Documentaries
and Photojournalism, to tell a story and communicate emotions to the
audience. If you were working in these
fields, you would likely be expected to produce a single or small number of
photographs that capture the whole story.
For example, if you were covering a story regarding a recent
natural disaster, photographs of people looking fearful, desperate, in despair,
birds-eye-view photos of the hurricane destructed or flooded areas, would all
stand for themselves in helping your audience compute the full story with no
words needed. These images would communicate the emotion felt by these people
and the photos of the destruction would evoke emotion in your audience.
Fig.1
This image is a close-up of a soldier. His face is dirty as
though he is engaged in battle, perhaps he has been unable to wash for a long
period of time, void of the comforts that we take for granted. His weapon standing next to him shows the
stark reality of war, he has his head in his hands and a ‘distant’ expression
on his face, as though he is in his own world. He looks as though he cannot
fully digest what’s happening around him. This
image gives the viewer something to think about, questions to be answered but
ultimately, it would draw emotions from the viewer such as empathy, bravery,
commendation or fear for the soldier.
Fig.2
This photograph of a baby elephant conveys a positive, fun,
happy message. The photographer has
captured the elephant walking, perhaps ‘trotting’, with his tail in the air and
the smile on his face, the obvious emotion an audience would feel when viewing
this image, is one of happiness!
Photographs play such an important part in conveying a
message, emotion, mood, story or narrative to an audience. It is possible to tell a whole story in a
single or series of images, or to draw in the viewer and let them question the
‘space’ you've left in the image, or leave them wondering about what they are
seeing. The things that aren't included
in a photo are often as important as what is
included.
For a simple example, you could capture a photograph of two
people sat at a table having a catch-up over coffee. This photo would convey the full story. Or, you could capture just one person in the
photograph, conversation mid-flow, or with a smiling/laughing expression on
his/her face. The absence of the second
person in the shot would leave the audience wondering who the other person was,
what they looked like, what was so funny, and so on.
