Not the photo but the moment is the theme for this week’s tip. I had a gallery viewing with this amazing family and while we were trying to narrow down the choices this came to me.
These photos are interesting because they are essentially the same photo. I kept them both because the one had all of them showing more. As we were talking I realized that there wasn’t enough of Dad to make it a “family” photo and so it wasn’t needed. What is important is the way the photos feels, what memories come to mind when they look at this photo. The first one is nice but the baby is such a minor part. In the second photo you know that there is a great Dad holding her and keeping her safe and a loving mom nurturing her sweet newborn. You know all of that and yet you get to see a closer view of the main attraction, the new baby!
So to summarize, less is usually more. You don’t need to tell everything to tell a story. Sometimes saying less let’s people feel more.
I’m not a writer but I’ve read a lot of good books and I would assume any writer would tell you that it’s the same idea when you are writing a story as it is in telling a photographic story. Any writers out there? What philosophy do you take when deciding what to include and what to leave out?
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