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Improve your photography by writing about it

33 min • 25 november 2016

Do you often feel stuck in a rut with your photography? After spending a day shooting do you come back at photos look the same as all the others that you’ve done in the past? Are you looking for a way to improve your photography to find your vision? Often times the answer is using a different part of your brain.

Photographer Ed Walker, who was featured in the October 2016 issue of Street Photography Magazine, tells us he turned the corner by writing about his work. That’s because the act of writing helps us crystalize our thoughts and filters out the less important information. This cause us to identify and focus on what’s most important. Here’s a link to Ed’s blog to see an example of how he does it: http://www.edwalkerphotography.com/blog/.

The big question most people have is, “how do I do this?” Ashley and I created a simple photography writing framework that you can use to guide you in writing about your own work.

Photography Writing Framework

Take a group of five recent photos or a collection of photos from a project and write one paragraph that answers each of the questions below. Take your time. Put it away for a day or two, then sit down and revise it.

What are you doing?
Why are you doing it?
What were your expectations at the beginning?
What obstacles did you face (or are you facing)?
How did you overcome them (if at all)?
What was the end result (if you’re finished)
How do you feel about it?
What have you learned from the experience?
What was your biggest surprise?
What are you going to do new as a result?
What will you stop doing or will change as a result?

If you like the results of your writing then submit the copy and photos to Street Photography Magazine to be considered for publication. Send the text and images(1024px on the long side) to [email protected].