Stop telling 'stories' with your photos

Everyone says we should tell stories with our images.

But what the hell does that even mean?

Do we need a long, emotional caption on our Instagram posts?

Do we always have to invoke deep emotion and mystery?

Or is it just about being lucky enough to capture a perfect, fleeting moment?

It was never clear for me, and the term 'storytelling' had so many definitions that it confused me completely.

The fact that many of my images didn't fit the purpose of 'typical storytelling', it made me feel like I'm lacking as a photographer.

That's why I am writing this. To make it clearer for me, and hopefully it helps you too.

I'm here to define storytelling for you, and to understand it better in order to make your photos much better.

DEFINITION

Storytelling, in generic terms, is telling stories.

Haha I'm just kidding. It means communicating a feeling in photographs with the use of subjects and environments.

To invoke either an emotion or curiosity in the viewer's mind.

To make it even clearer, I'd like to break storytelling into two: Direct and Indirect.

Direct Storytelling

This is the traditional storytelling, where you are simply capturing a moment that exists.

You simply froze the moment. Works particularly well with photo journalism, where the photographer might be already deeply connected with the location, and it capturing moments that represent the current situation or feeling of that place.

Think about war-prone areas, capturing the last southern white rhino almost dying, a wounded lion, Messi lifting the World Cup trophy, etc. These are things that are happening and you are just freezing the emotion.

Of course, technical expertise is needed, and lighting and composition are important, but timing is more important because the moment itself does most of the heavy lifting.

In wildlife, I'd say action shots are the most common in this category. Less about aesthetic, and more about the action.

Today, direct storytelling still wins competitions - if that's what you're going for.

Let's look at some visual examples.

Deep Dive Into the Afghan Girl - Steve McCurry

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(Screenshot) Afghan Girl - By Steve McCurry

This is one of the most famous photographs of all time. I like to call it the Mona Lisa of photos.

It was shot by Steve McCurry, one of the greatest photographers out there. He had an extraordinary ability to find raw moments and capture them in very simple ways.

He definitely did not think about setting up studio lights, and asked the girl to pose the way she did.

He just captured the moment as it was.

What makes the photo so interesting? Many things.

The expression. The beautiful eyes. The context (war). The torn clothes. Contrast of beauty and tragedy.

Even though the intended emotion of the photograph seems obvous, it's open for interpretation, and that's a sign of a great photo.

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This one's my picture.

Technical excellence required? No

Is it a beautiful moment? Yes.

Does it invoke curiosity? Yes.

The point is that you can get lucky with photos like these, where you just react to a scene, which is often what we need to do fast in wildlife photography.

But the ones who do it consistently, like Steve McCurry, are the ones who have really nailed the art of direct storytelling.

Now, when it comes to wildlife photography, we don't have so much time to capture great stories directly.

Things happen very fast; therefore, we'd photograph more reactively. We want to get the most out of one sighting.

This is where indirect storytelling helps you.

Indirect Storytelling

I'm just putting my own definition of this.

This is when you use a photograph using visual tools and style to invoke an intended feeling.

Instead of capturing, you create.

More than the moment itself, it's the additional and intentional use of elements that act as supporting characters to communicate a feeling.

The colors, the background, the foreground, the angle, the light, the shadows.

You anticipate and move yourself so you hit the right angle and light.

You bring a specific color to the image to add mood.

This is artistic expression.

In indirect storytelling, technical knowledge and expertise is definitely useful.

Understanding composition, lighting, color theory, importance of angles.

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For this image, I didn't find it as it was. I saw it before it happened.

I positioned myself before the elephant even crossed. I even shot from pretty low to capture that stunning, lush foreground. And timed the elephant to cross exactly below the mountain.

This is my area now. I love to create images rather than just capture moments.

And as a wildlife photographer, I personally believe that direct storytelling limits me creatively.

When I aim for indirect storytelling, suddenly I feel a lot freer with a lot more tools and options when photographing animals.

Nature becomes my playground.

RAW images become my canvas.

Post-processing helps me complete my art.

The Ultimate Goal - Combining Both

Now that you have understood both types of storytelling, I think it's fair to say that the absolute best images happen when both types are combined into one image.

Like when you freeze a powerful moment, with the use of exceptional lighting/compositional tools.

Is it impossible? No

Is it extremely rare? Yes.

Imagine a landscape silhouette of a leopard hunting an impala. Dramatic red sky. Clear ground separation to outline the leopard clearly, taking an impala down from the neck.

You captured the moment, but in an artistic way (silhouette).

These are images I dream of, and I probably have a handful of images that even qualify for this.

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The Three-Headed Giraffe - Shot in Malawi

Direct Storytelling: Reacted to this moment very quickly.

Indirect Storytelling: Shot it in a silhouette style, in blue hour.

Effect: Curiosity (How is it even possible, is it AI?), Mood (Blue, relaxed, mysterious)

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Play Ball - Shot in Malawi

Direct Storytelling: The lioness stretches herself, waking up from a nap.

Indirect Storytelling: Positioned myself low, against the sun, and underexposed the image to allow the warmth to be shown beautifully.

Effect: Curiosity (How is it even technically possible, what was the lioness doing, why is she hitting the sun? is it AI?), Mood (Warm, playful)

Did I get lucky? Kinda.

I wasn't expecting this exact images. I just wanted to capture the sun hitting the lionesses face when it comes down.

But she woke up before the sun dropped completely, and this moment happened.

With luck, I also created this image. Positioned myself properly, used my existing knowledge on lighting and angles, somehow timed it blindly, and perhaps nature gifted me this!

The greatest moments in wildlife photography happen when your technical knowledge meets some natural magic.

You just have to be ready for it.

With experience, I find myself chasing these types of images. They are incredibly rare, but also the most rewarding.

Shoot With Me On Safari

If you want to experience both types of storytelling in the actual field, whilst learning the key photography fundamentals, whilst having a lot of fun, just reply with 'TOUR,' and we'll chat about my photography tours in 2026 and 2027.

Until next time,

Dhir