Photos Tell a Story
Posted by Curt Franklin on 3 October, 2007
There are many skills I want to improve as I move through my career. I want to write more compelling, richly detailed stories. I want to conduct more revealing, attention-demanding interviews. I want to get my expense reports in on time. And I want to take technically-excellent photos that draw viewers into the story. In the first photo assignment for Journalists’ Toolkit, I wanted to look at the people who repair bicycles as part of the SGA’s free bicycle repair service. There were plenty of shots I wasn’t thrilled with, but a couple pleased me for different reasons.
Photo taken with Nikon D80. Exposure was f5.6 @ 1/100 sec.
In this photo I was trying to show a technician at work. The concentration seems clear on his face, and I liked the way that he was framed between the rear tire and the chainset. The area where the technicians work is a long, narrow space, so photos at this distance were easier and, I think, more successful than some of the wider shots. There’s some clutter here, but I think the overall effect is of a neutral background.
Photo taken with Nikon D80. Exposure was f5.6 at 1/100 sec.
I really like this shot. Once again, it’s a relative closeup, but the feeling is much more like a portrait. In a story like this one, there’s not a great deal of fast action, so I wanted to focus on the individuals. With this shot, I think we get to see one of the techs in a moment of looking at what the next part of the shift will bring. As I look at this, I might crop down a bit at the top, and maintain the aspect ratio by pulling in a bit at the left side of the frame.
If you’re interested, you can look at the rest of my photos for the first photo assignment. I’d be very interested in hearing your opinion of all the shots.
Mid-Career Grad Student 
Sanam said
Overall I like most of your photos, because they tell lots of details, even the medium shots. I specially like the ones with greasy hands. When I first saw the two pictures you posted in your blog, I said to myself I wish he has more detailed photos of their greasy hands, and there they were! As for first photo you’ve posted here, I like the crop better than the original photo. I just suggest that you crop that blurry vertical thing on the left side of the photo too. It adds some noise to the photo. As for the second photo, I agree that it would be better if you crop a bit at the top. Maybe if you crop all the way down to top of the boy’s head, it would become nicer. (I just scrolled down my page down to the point where the head of the boy touches the top of the window, and the photo looked much nicer!)
p.s: seeing your nice photos makes me much happier that I chose to buy a DSLR Nikon too. Thanks for helping me 🙂
philicher said
Love the lines on photo number 11 and the bike jumble in number 20. And look at all the greasy, bloody details! (That’s a compliment.)
Looking forward to seeing your final project.
Mindy McAdams said
How come the photos are too wide for the blog, Curt? Hmmm … ?
Curt Franklin said
Well, that’s interesting. The photos are the right size for the assignment, but the center column on the layout is obviously a bit narrower than the assignment width. When the photos cut, it was in a pleasant-enough spot that I didn’t really notice. I’ll have to do another version of the files, sized for the blog.
Thanks for calling it to my attention.
sshamsi said
Curt-
I like the first photo a lot! When I was taking photos for my assignment, I was constantly trying to get detail shots with a lot of surrounding details to tell more of the story. I especially like his concentrated look. I think it adds a serious tone to your story.
The second photo is nice, but it could be mistaken for just about any other student on a bicycle. I mean, without having read your explanation, I first thought it was a student waiting to get his bike fixed. I don’t know. Maybe, that’s just me. Good Luck!
floraxu1220 said
wow, these two pictures are amazing.How can you focus so well on the subject. Focus seems a big challenge to me while I am shooting.The first one is a good detail shot(maybe medium shot? I cannot seperate these two clearly).When I am looking at the two pictures, I am thinking what is the relation between these two people? and what kind of story you would tell us about their bicycle repair life.
And after looking at all the 20 pictures, I get some idea about the story. Browsing your photos is a kind of exploration. I found other great detail shots there(I am not good at detail shot, so it’s a learning process by looking at your photos).
A Lesson in Photo Sizing « Mid-Career Grad Student said
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