More than anything, Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird has taught me the importance of flexibility.
When making a picture story, you have characters, a story arc, and an ending, just like a text story would. Sometimes you get so set on how you want to tell the story that you lose sight of the real story that is unfolding in front of you. Don't avoid taking a certain picture just because it doesn't fit into your ideal little narrative. If you set out to tell a happy story then realize there's tragedy beneath the surface, it's your job to capture that, otherwise you're being unfair to your subject.
You also need to be open to the opinions of others, because sometimes you're not the best editor. A fresh set of eyes can see story arcs that you never would have seen or considered. The in-class editing session that we had for our one day stories was sososo helpful. I didn't even think about putting the girl standing alone as the first image; I had always arranged it near the end. Your opinion matters the most in the end, after all, it is your story, but you should always keep an open mind.
1 comment:
SoSoSo glad to hear that the works-in-progress editing session was helpful. Thanks for letting us all know.
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