Write Like A Photographer
Where did I get the idea for this article?
Yesterday a college student interviewed me for a class assignment. She asked what advice I’d give would-be writers. I told her, “Be like a camera.”
The more I thought about this idea, the more overlaps I saw between writing creatively and being a photographer.
Me, a professional photographer as well as developmental editor? Hardly. As a teenager I once wandered around Greenwich Village with a friend’s little Leicaflex taking snapshots. When the pictures were printed, the friend said I had a rare talent, and my pictures were good enough to publish.
He was trying to inspire me to take lots more photographs. But his encouragement ended my photographic ambitions. “Photographer? Check!”
No check marks next to Writer though. After 60 years working at it, this is still a work in progress. I still sometimes despair of ever getting as good as my literary heroes.
I still love fine photography, and took courses such as photographic composition and techniques. So answering Jessica’s question yesterday led me to ponder these two creative pursuits together: how is taking a good photograph like writing an article or book?
Here are some similarities I came up with.
- Find a shape
Whatever the genre, the need for a shapely subject comes first.
What makes a subject shapely? The design principles we see in most natural objects around us. Principles such as balance, tension, efficient movement, the promise of growth, symmetry and transformation. We see them in a beautiful leaf, a classic photograph, and the shape of our favorite story.
I’ve always loved Kurt Vonnegut’s introduction of story shape. He obviously loved it too, since he presented it to many appreciative audiences in several media.
Guess what? You demonstrate your interest in shape every time you fall in love with something you’ve read. It shows you’re instinctively drawn to stories with an attractive and satisfying shape.
And so are your readers.
When a photographer frames a photograph, he or she instinctively assesses how pleasing the shape will turn out to be.
A good shape begins to appear in the very first paragraph of an article, blog or book, and the first glance at a masterful photograph.
We’re hardwired to appreciate and be inspired by shapes. Since we were cave-dwellers and a friend first scratched designs on the cave wall, people have been naturally drawn to the visual and story shapes that help us make better decisions and choices in life, as in the jungle.
The beauty of a picture’s shape is usually instantly accessible. But both art and literature resonate and move us in similar ways.
The next time you have an idea for a story or book, handle its shape gently. Roll it around a bit mentally and consider how pleasing it feels. Trust your instincts; at this point instincts may be all you’ve got.
Take all the time you need to accept a shape as being the most pleasing and intriguing for you. It’s time well spent.
2. What’s Your Point?
Looking thoughtfully at somebody’s story shape or photograph will hopefully tell you its point or theme.
And the more relevant somebody’s point is to you, the more forcefully and logically you’d be able to present it to your own audience too.
Because if there’s no clear point in something, what’s the point of reading it?
No timeless story is without a point. A message. A strongly-held point of view. In a photograph, this can appear anywhere, not only at the center.
In his iconic photograph, Henri Cartier-Bresson captured the strutting walk of a young Parisian carrying two large bottles of wine and clearly enjoying the admiration of two little girls behind him. There’s a lot going on in that unforgettable photograph, but its point and focus is his smile. It’s what the brilliant photographer wanted us to remember vividly, and why he put the impish grin at the heart of his photograph.
Whatever we are writing, we should think carefully and compellingly about what our point is, until it shines in our piece, reinforced subtly through the last sentence.
During yesterday’s interview, I suggested that writers keep a small notepad handy, even when they aren’t thinking about writing. Allen Ginsberg was famous for constantly taking notes during conversations and his strolls around the East Village. He could never be sure in which poem these notes might end up. That’s what gave his notes adaptable power.
As the writer, you have complete control over where and how to use the careful observations of people, events, and thoughts in your note pad. Some random note taken in the middle of a business meeting or shopping trip might grow into the point or focus of your popular, and powerful piece.
3. “The rule of thirds”
It’s one of the first things a student photographer hears about. It gives their photo a sense of balance and integration their viewer will enjoy.
A good writer, after identifying the Story shape and Focus or point, should think about where different sections of a story will interact and balance each other. Then he or she can integrate chapters or sections into a pleasing whole.
Start thinking of transitions that connect words, sentences, paragraphs and sections as the invisible lines a photographer employs to set up the photo.
In my opinion, structure isn’t the first or second thing a writer should consider. Memorable stories will have already started developing around their shape or main character, rather than leaning into a fairly rigid plot.
But the plot shouldn’t be left for too long. Many excellent books and courses teach plotting; the best include various ways to develop yours without smothering the life out of a story. The best plots balance and energize action, logically Integrate sections as they move past a reader, and give amorphous shapes the structural support they need.
4. Clarity
Unless you’re writing a genre that stretches the boundaries of imagination and reality, be crystal clear.
Or you’ll soon be talking to yourself.
5. Fill the Corners
Revisiting the Cartier-Bresson photograph, we see a great photographer filling the frame with questions and stories. For example, are those two little girls his friends, or just new admirers? What promise do their smiles hold for their hero? Is his swagger habitual, or come with the bottles of wine? How much of that wine will he imbibe?
To improve your writing skills, become an expert at the art and science of asking great questions. Make asking insightful questions integral to your writing process. The more small and intriguing answers you can come up, the more sparkle and captivating your writing will be. Again, all the notes taken during your day will prepare you to insert vivid details in all the right places, and for all the right reasons. And many details should increase the story’s tension.
6. Tension
Every great piece of literature is chock-full of juicy tension. Very few readers can gloss over well-written suspense, irony or surprises. As a comedian adds a bit of “Bada-Bing” to get a laugh, a good writer uncovers and capitalizes expertly on the implied or obvious tension in human interaction — tension ignored by bad or lazy writers.
Just as a dream helps us sleep longer at night, tension keeps readers engaged. Find clever ways to maintain suspense.
7. The Background Supports The Center
The little girls smiling in the photograph are cute and flirtatious. Cartier-Bresson was lucky and skillful enough to have them support his focus from inside the background. Their positive energy makes focusing on and appreciating the little boy’s smile and moment of triumph more pleasurable.
Find details and background stories that keep your readers pointed to and interested in your message. I often provide author clients with memorable background, atmospheric details or leading questions. Such details and side stories can make or break a story. Take them seriously, and use them wisely.
8. Keep Smiling
Marketing gurus or experts say to place a small mirror in front of us while we make marketing calls to prospects or customers, to make sure we’re smiling. People can hear a smile over the phone; and readers sense how much fun you were having as you wrote. Fun is an intangible value ignored by many writers, but the more fun you’re having the more fun your readers will have, and the more inclined to keep reading.
I like to imagine the instant right after Cartier-Bresson took his photograph. I couldn’t say how long it lasted, but I guarantee you his smile of joy and satisfaction looked like what was on that little boy’s face on a Paris street in 1954.
Surf’s Up!
