All posts by Jeff Curto

Camera Position 138 : Telling a Story with Pictures

Photography excels at storytelling. While a single image can tell a story, we can tell much more complex stories with sets or series of images.

If we set out to create those images with a story idea in mind, it’s much easier to have our stories make sense. This episode presents the essential elements of storytelling with images.

We’ve all known great storytellers and we know that what they are able to do is tap into both the personal and the universal when they tell a story. They also understand that a story has to have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Typically, a good story has most, if not all of these elements, each of which is explained in the podcast:

  • Introduction
  • Situation
  • Main Character
  • Detail
  • Setting The Hook
  • Tension
  • Consequence
  • Conclusion

I’ve found that photographers have a much easier time with storytelling if they photograph with story in mind. If you start thinking about the story that you’ll tell before you start to photograph, you’ll have an easier time of making a story work than if you try to impose story on photographs you’ve already made.

Storyteller, Roma, 2012 - Photograph by Jeff Curto
Storyteller, Roma, 2012 – Photograph by Jeff Curto

Camera Position 137 : An Update

While Camera Position has been quiet for a while, a whole lot has been going on in my life as a photographer, a teacher and a traveler. This episode is an update on the past, the present and the future for Camera Position and for me.

Play Podcast:

Interactive iBooks by Jeff:

  • Basic Photography – An overview of the components of a camera to an exploration of exposure, aperture, shutter speed, lenses, depth of field, composition and more.
  • Resonating Images: Communicating Messages Visually – An introduction to the visual concepts of gestalt psychology, helping you see the cognitive reasons that some images resonate with us and others don’t. Using both graphic and photographic visual examples, I show you how to go beyond making images that are just visually pleasing and look at how images communicate messages to viewers.
  • The Lakeshore in Winter – I’ve spent nearly every summer on the southern shore of the largest of the Great Lakes, Superior. I’ve sailed across the waves and I’ve braved its cold water to swim all summer long. In January of 2013, I was able to spend a week in the same place that I enjoy during summer. This book is a record of that time on the lakeshore in winter.

Teaching in Italy:

Apple Distinguished Educator:

  • Apple Distinguished Educator – Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) are part of a global community of education leaders recognized for doing amazing things with Apple technology in and out of the classroom.

Camera Position 136 : Persistence of Vision – Olivia Parker and 40 Years of Moving Forward

Photographer Olivia Parker has been an influential and prolific photographer for more than 40 years. We look at Parker’s work, her background, her persistence and the way our networks can help inspire us and help us move us forward in our work.

Play Podcast:

Olivia Parker's 1987 Book, Weighing the Planets
Olivia Parker’s 1987 Book, Weighing the Planets

Olivia Parker’s website:
www.oliviaparker.com

Olivia Parker Books:
Weighing the Planets
Under the Looking Glass

Society for Photographic Education

 

Camera Position 135 : Off The Wall #3 – The Digital Story

In this episode, we take a third look at how we can get our work “off the wall” by creating digital stories. Using iMovie, Final Cut Pro, ProShow Gold or similar software to combine image, motion and audio, we can get our photographs in front of viewer’s eyes. I discuss content, tools and process with the goal of getting you to tell your own stories. Once you create your digital story, post a link to it on the Camera Position Facebook page.

Play Podcast:

The Digital Story: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Penfield House

Penfield House from Jeff Curto on Vimeo.

Camera Position 134 : Off The Wall #2 – iBooks

This episode offers a second look at how we can get our work “off the wall” by creating ebooks using iBooks Author to get our photographs under viewer’s eyes.iPadebook
You can download the free book The Lakeshore in Winter from the iBookstore using the link below.