Tabula Rasa

The other day I had someone ask me if I thought that photography could tell a story.  As a beginning photographer, she found herself intrigued by some images she had seen which appeared to tell a story in and of themselves but she still isn’t sure how this idea will play itself out in any photographic work she does in the future.  Right off the top of my head, I thought that there are many ways to tell stories with photography.  My first thought was in the setting up of a show in a gallery, in which all the images portray a certain theme, and the other idea I had, was in the concept of making a book.  At the time of our conversation, I didn’t think much about the story which can be told with one singular photograph.  But, of course, almost all photographs can be said to tell a story, and the story is one that is as much made up by the viewer as whatever – if anything – the photographer had in mind when the image was created. 

My personal brand of photography is more documentary in nature, with natural scenes being my primary subjects. Do I think they tell a story?  Well, yes, actually I do.  For some ways in which nature photography tells a story, you can read my article “Visualize This”, which can be found here:  https://adventuresonearthandbeyond.com/2023/01/28/visualize-this/

Metaphysical meanings aside, a photograph will still tell a story regardless of the subject matter.  The story may tell more of a tale about the photographer than the scene, or it may tell a story that combines the two.  I don’t necessarily think it’s fair to the viewer to fully explain everything about every image, but rather, to allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions about what the image portrays beyond the most obvious pictorial aspects.  Nevertheless, I have also found that more people tend to respond to images that are explained somewhat, to give them a starting point.  I don’t know why this is, but it seems to be. The fact is, we’re bombarded with images and information constantly these days, so much so, that we don’t often feel we have the time to sit with an image long enough to decipher any meaning out of it.  This kind of makes me think of Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Family Vacation, where he gets the kids moving after viewing The Grand Canyon for about 30 seconds, “mmhmm, mmhmm…ok, let’s go!”

The more abstract a photo is, the more difficult it becomes to make any meaning of it, or to understand what, if anything, the story line is, but there is one there if we take the time to decipher one.  The most common form of photographic story telling is of course photographic journalism, but even those images require some explanation as to the Who, What, Why, Where, When or How, in order to have full impact. 

Ultimately, the meaning of any image, is the meaning we give to it. Photography as a 2D medium and an abstract of the 3D world, will always require a bit of a mental leap. 

The image accompanying these words was taken in winter, in southeastern Utah, near the interstate, and north of the National Parks.  Some people think of this area as miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.  With the snow cover, it could also be considered Tabula Rasa, always a good place to start.