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Storytelling Q&A

Lesson 5 from: Fine Art Photography

Brooke Shaden

Storytelling Q&A

Lesson 5 from: Fine Art Photography

Brooke Shaden

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Lesson Info

5. Storytelling Q&A

Build on the concept of storytelling with questions from students like you.

Lesson Info

Storytelling Q&A

we wanted to cover some questions from last segment film mallory you have a question for us ideo thank you all so much for joining us and asking questions really good ones davey photo asked when I go conceptual in my work sometimes I don't want or need a viewer to understand exactly what I was shooting for sometimes it's very personal I like to see what other people think can you speak to that in regard to explaining why you did what you did as opposed to leaving it up for interpretation definitely won take it away I'm gonna let you answer that okay so yeah you know this is something that I think about a lot because people have stories that are personal and that's really important to keep that for yourself and to not say okay internet this is exactly why I've done this this and this and I need you to know because this is my story sometimes it's not about that sometimes it's something that you want to keep for yourself and you want other people to explore that and that's why I'm so inte...

rested in all the mechanics of storytelling because it goes beyond what is your personal story and that translates into many many other stories so when I put an image out there I am very rarely saying this is what I intended exactly I'm saying I'm passionate about this I did this because I love it really vague things about my motivation for doing it but not necessarily specifics about exactly what the story is because I want you to interpret it for yourself like when I read josh's interpretation that was so exciting because it's the opposite of what I might have meant but it's just as valid of a story and it makes sense so I think that art is more successful if it's personal on one level but it also translates into many other stories so I think it's great put your art out there do what you love let other people know that you love it but then let other people interpret it and don't take that interpretation in a negative way and that can happen sometimes like I might have read josh's interpretation and been like I failed because that's not what I meant at all and then I would get really discouraged but that's not what it's about it's about understanding your personal and operation and letting other people be inspired that is fantastic we have another one kind along similar lines from c shoot can we find the story afterward when taking the picture as a photographer do you ever go on that just taking pictures see what happens and then construct a story after absolutely I don't typically work like that it's kind of interesting because I'm very much of this sort of old school like film photography filmmaking kind of background where you have to think about the story and then do it because you're shooting with say thirty five millimeter motion picture film you don't have that many options to get it done unless you've got a he huge budget you have to know what you're doing and then shoot it and that's my background so when I create an image I'm not so much saying okay I hope this works and then I hope I can find meaning in it but I don't think that there's anything wrong with that and I think that this goes back to understanding very specific elements of how you becoming aspired so let's say okay I know that I'm inspired by the forest I go out to the forest I play with the model we do all sorts of different inspiring things but I don't yet know why I've done that or what exactly the story is I don't think there's anything wrong with going into editing having fun being creative adding elements in later and then seeing where that takes you and I do this most often with my failed shoots where I've gone out the story didn't come through I didn't like it but then I say you know what why does this have to be in the trash why can't I just take this image that maybe didn't turn out how I expected but turned into something totally different that's just really really exciting to me in a different way I did that recently where I had I had a picture of myself in my room I haven't actually posted this or anything but I decided to add different props in way after the fact so later like a week later I was like I don't want to throw this in the trash so I photographed a ship and I photographed a bird and then I put that all into the same picture and then I was like you know what I like it now because it's not what I intended but it's something different it's something that I could be inspired by later so I don't think there's anything wrong with that I think the biggest problem really with with any of anybody who thinks that you have to do something a certain way is that there is no one way to do it so you know what if you want to be inspired later and you want to take a picture and then a month later say you know what now I understand the story behind this why not and then you put that out there and you say yeah this is it this is why I did this that's just a cz good um sam cocks in colorado is asking brick do you express yourself in ways other than photography you mentioned that you're writing a novel are you also into painting or acting or poetry I wonder if being expressive in other areas helps you with your photography yes that's a great question I I'm very much inspired by writing that was my first passion in life in general when I was very very young I began writing stories and that was I thought I would be a writer I was convinced that I would be a writer and as I grew up I started realizing that there was this whole visual component to storytelling that I was also really inspired by so I started writing more visually where I would write longer descriptions of things and really put a lot of detail in that translated into filmmaking that translated into photography and so it's a constant growing thing in my life where I mean I'm not that old so ivan twenty six and you know I did writing for about the first eighteen years of my life s successful writing when I was two or anything but you you know what I mean at that point I discovered filmmaking and then a few years after that I discovered photography so the photography is relatively new to my life and so I consider that to be just another way that I express myself I do poetry I d'oh write short stories I can't paint can't sculpt I'm very bad at those things anything with my hands in general but I consider all things to be an art form so you know if you ask me what kind of art do you do I'll probably tell you that I goes you know sit in the forest and become inspired and that's an art in itself is understanding what you loved to do and being inspired by that so those are my main areas of inspiration but I truly feel is though if I didn't have that writing background or the filmmaking background my photography would not be what it is in any way shape or form I was inspired by the words that I could write in the freedom with which I could write those words and the films that I would make and how you had to make all these decisions first and that all went into how it how it tell stories and so if I didn't have that I don't know where I would be when just the same if I didn't have photography right now who knows what I'd be doing in the future so I'm excited to see how photography inspires whatever I end up doing all right I think we've got let's do one more before we get into the self critique this from arena how do you get your models to feel the story you want them to illustrate will you ever actually just tell them the story or you use other techniques yes I tell my model stories all the time and it gets to a certain point with some models where we've worked together one hundred times and they don't need to know they want to know sometimes but they know that I don't want them to look at the camera I want their hair covering their face I want them to look creepy blah blah blah so all these things they know and so sometimes you don't have to do it other times though like we're working with jane the next three days I've worked with her a few times before but not to the point where she understands every little nuance of exactly what I want from her so I'm going to have to explain things and we're going to go over this in the posing segment just a little bit later today where we're going to be talking about how to tell a story to your model to make them understand the character and how they can embody that character I think that the biggest thing though is it yourself you understanding that story then being able to tell them this is what it feels like to be that character because that's really important when posing a model

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Brookes Posing Guide
Self Portraiture
The Art of Self Critique

Ratings and Reviews

Kirsteen
 

Brooke says she wants to be inspirational - she has achieved this and so much more during this course. I am so inspired to follow my dream of becoming a fine art photographer and step out of a life as an academic and stop finding excuses. Watching other photographers shoot and edit is always a great way to learn, everyone does things slightly differently and I enjoy Brooke's no fuss techniques. Seeing so many of Brooke's beautiful images through the course has been great and seeing shots from the shoot through to editing really makes them come alive. If you are looking for inspiration or you want to learn techniques or new skills then this course provides all of these things with a big dose of positive thinking thrown in.

user-a81eeb
 

Brooke is amazing! I love this course. Brooke is easy to listen to. She has a beautiful insight into creative fine art . Love it! I have learned so much. I especially love that she is so candid about everything.

renee Akana
 

I love Brooke and the wonderful way that she teaches. She is a gift to us all. Jane, her model, was lovely - a beautiful girl, a wonderful attitude and a real professional.. I could not do what Jane did to help Brooke convey her story.

Student Work

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