All Great Photography Is Great Storytelling
All Great Photography Is Great Storytelling (Including Great Toy Photography — I am writing this from the perspective of a toy photographer but you can cross out the word TOY and insert ______ whatever YOU photograph and it will all still hold true…)
I’ve spent my adult life as a photographer. I’ve photographed lots of subjects. Mostly birds and wildlife. I did that to make a living and now I’m retired. So I’m photographing toys and I am doing that just for fun.
But no matter what I photograph, I try to photograph with a storytelling mindset.
How does that work? What are the mechanics of it? It’s an ethereal concept that few people can or will break down because it’s hard to do.
So I am going to try.
This is how I go about having a storytelling mindset. These tactics and this approach may or may not work for you but hopefully they will give you a starting point that gets you close.
1. Determine who the audience is for your work.
There are lots of reasons to photograph toys. You may want to document an expensive toy’s condition for insurance purposes, especially if you have rare or vintage toys that would be worth more than a typical new toy.
You may want to photograph toys to illustrate their condition so you can sell them on Ebay.
Or you may just be like me and want to treat toys as art objects or inspiration.
You may need to photograph toys for a book or for teaching purposes or for use as a creative prop.
You may need to photograph toys based on pop culture (such as Star Wars) to illustrate a story about the series creator, George Lucas.
I do all of the above and more. But it’s important to note which audience I am photographing for. I would document a toy very differently if I were selling it on Ebay verses just making a pretty picture for posterity’s sake. To make a “record” photograph of the toy, i.e., an image that captures the best possible view of the toy to show the viewer what it looks like in reality, I would shoot all angles and look to document special features or flaws in the toy for an Ebay audience. I may indeed decide to limit the angles to something that is flattering and avoid all together documenting flaws if I am trying to make art.
These are very different approaches that are audience dependent.
Set out your goals for each photo shoot based on the needs of your audience. What do THEY want to see from your toy photography? How will they use the images? Put yourself in their shoes and arrange your toy photography session based on that information.
My first rule is to always keep it simple. Remove anything from the shot that doesn’t advance the story you want to tell.
2. What are the BFDs (beliefs-feelings-desires) of your audience?
If you are photographing toys for someone who sells them v. someone who collects them, you can bet that they do not have the same exact BFDs.
For example, the person who sells toys looks at them as commodities that need to go so they can make room for the next one.
The person who collects toys doesn’t think about anything other than lovingly gazing at or displaying or using that toy.
Making photos for the salesperson is not the same as making photos for the collector. One wants photos that will sell the toy. The other wants photos that commemorate the toy.
As the photographer making the photos, you benefit greatly by knowing the types of clients you have and what they feel about your subject.
Everything from the backdrop you use, to the lighting you select to the angles you shoot should be impacted by such knowledge so spend a few minutes thinking about that. And if you don’t know, ask. Find out how the images will be used and by who. You’ll thank me later.
3. What is your why?
People don’t care about what you do, they care about why you do it. So why do you photograph toys (or anything else?) If you can articulate that with specificity, you will be a better photographer than if you cannot. It’s beyond the scope of this article to get into all the reasons behind this thinking but I urge you to read “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” by Simon Sinek. (https://amzn.to/3dlxmTJ)
The best toy photographers tend to be people who love, collect, play or know a lot about toys. They develop a passion for their subject and that drives them to work just a little harder or longer than the next person. Think about the why. Even if you cannot articulate it, at least thinking about it will mentally prepare you for your photo session.
4. What feelings do you want your photos to evoke?
This is something that few photography books talk about but it’s important. Emotion is at the heart of all great art. If you can think about the client, who they are, what they believe, how they will use the photos and then why you want to make that photograph then the result of all that is you’ll evoke emotion with your images. Is it joy, sadness, happiness, or something else? Thinking about the emotion you want people to feel when they see your photos will make you a better photographer.
5. Whatever you do, do it deliberately.
Give thought, time and attention to every detail of your photography. Then do the prep work, the execution, and the post work. At every stage, you should strive to be deliberate in your actions with a clearly defined goal. When you hit your stride, the images you end up with match the ones you saw in your mind’s eye. Masters of photography know what the final image will look like when they press the shutter button, even if what shows up on the rear LCD of their camera doesn’t immediately show it.
People who are extremely accomplished at their craft tend to be able to make the results they produce look effortless. Simplicity of thought seems to be behind all great art. One concept, carefully illustrated, designed to convey a story, or a feeling or an emption. That’s a lot to unpack. Don’t worry about all that now, just pick one thing you can work on with your photography to help move you in this direction. The rest will come. So let’s start with being more deliberate.
Professional photographers aren’t professionals because they get paid, although most do. They are professionals because they are PROFICIENT. The dictionary says to be proficient, one is well advanced in an art, occupation, or branch of knowledge.
I like to think of it as being able to regularly, routinely, at beck and call, produce reliable, consistent, DELIBERATE results. In other words, moving from hoping the picture “comes out” to making a deliberate image, designed in the mind’s eye, before a camera was ever involved.
If you want to level up your photography, regardless of your subject matter…spend time being more deliberate. I bet your images will improve.
Remember, toys are joy.
