Telling the story of your travels...or your holiday festivities

A Christmas market in Toulouse, France. I wanted to tell the story of the hustle and bustle, food, lights, colors…

What do the holidays look like for your family? Do you have a turkey, family meal, decorated tree, gifts? For Neal and me it's pretty simple. We don't really decorate or buy gifts (although I did buy Maggie a Christmas sweater last year - it was supposed to be a joke, but she really seems to like it. I'm not kidding).

Sure you can call us Scrooge if you want, but it sure alleviates a whole lot of stress that I see so many of you going through every year. Our holidays are quiet, peaceful, and relaxing.

BUT the purpose of this blog post is not to discuss our relaxing holidays, and lack of participation in normal societal norms. Let's talk about YOUR family. Is there some chaos? Some arguing? Is somebody drinking too many martinis? Now THAT is a good story!

One of my favorite components of photography is storytelling. Not just snapping random photos, but telling a story. But what does that mean exactly?

Remember last week, when we talked about being conscious about what you are composing, what's in your frame? Well for storytelling, you also are conscious, but this time you are conscious of what the story is all about.

For example, you are looking at your family during Thanksgiving. The kids are fighting over the iPad, your brother is hitting the wine pretty hard, Grandpa fell asleep in his chair in the corner, AND there's the gorgeous, mouth-watering pumpkin pie that's been partially devoured by the pack of wild family members. There's your story.

Au Poussin Bleu, all dressed up for the holidays with pastries and chocolates ready to be taken home.

So you might start with the whole scene - try to capture the chaos, or the quiet (you know, the tryptophan-induced post-turkey consumption haze). Then you might focus in on a particular interaction between the kids - either sweet or naughty, both can be fun. THEN you zoom right in on Grandpa's sweet sleepy face. There's your story. The whole novel, one chapter, and then one page. 

We start big, then narrow our focus, then narrow even more.

I really like the details. So what I find when I look back later at my photos are a lot of detail shots. So I have to remind myself to step back and look at the entire scene, the mood, the story. The details are PART of the story, but the whole picture can really set the tone. It's all part of the same tale.

How does this relate to travel? So glad you asked.

The holidays make the perfect place to practice AND the perfect place to capture those important fleeting memories. The kids will only be this age right now. The dynamics between everyone will never be quite the same - not all the same people come every time. Not everyone will be here every year. Now is the time to create memories. AND to practice your photography skills. Yep. Win Win.

Now let's take this valuable practice and go to say…Paris. Oh come on, you knew we were going there…didn't you?

When Neal and I were in France, my sister, Chris and her family (husband Dave, daughter, Katherine, and son, Ben) came to France for vacation.  Of course, photos of Paris as a city are part of this story. But so are photos of Chris explaining the architectural features, and the cat sitting with us a café as we delighted in fresh croissants and café au laits. 

The Musée d'Orsay in Paris - the “big picture” shot.

Also the Musée d'Orsay but from a tighter shot of the family with context of the museum (although I’m not sure where Dave snuck off to).

This is something I do very automatically now. I look at big picture, then narrow down, and then really zoom in on the details. Later when I look at these photos, I can remember the mood, the details, and the context of it all. BUT it sure wasn't always automatic.

With my first attempts at travel photos, I would typically get back and find "holes". Missing pieces of the puzzle, it felt like. I captured the mountain scene, and the close-up of our guide, but where was the group I was with? Or where was the photo of that restaurant where the guide's mother cooked us dinner? I had a photo of the dinner, but not the restaurant.

See what I mean? When you get home and find holes in the story, pieces of the puzzle missing…it's too late. Unless you're independently wealthy, not working, and can schedule an immediate return trip to fill in the gaps. If that is you, more power to you - your learning curve will be much shorter. And I'm happy to go along as your personal photo coach. I digress.

Hindsight. It's 20/20 and infuriating. Why didn't I capture THIS moment? This person? This…

Ahhh…the detail shot. What a sweet little café kitty he was.

BUT with a little FORESIGHT and practice (there it is again), you can start filling in the gaps BEFORE you leave. WHILE you are still right there in the present moment. Think about setting the tone, capturing the details, getting the moments that define the situation. And even do a little peaking at the back of your camera - is there anything I missed? 

Don't spend too much time looking at your camera screen. Seriously. I really don't want you to wander into a manhole, or miss a whale breaching because you were too concerned with what photos you've taken and need to take. This is just a little something you can do if resting at a café for instance.

So there we are. Let's recap. The holidays are perfect for practicing your storytelling skills. Use them as a way to tell the story of YOUR family and find a way to make it fascinating. Look for the beauty in the mundane. AND see this opportunity for capturing those precious fleeting moments that you will never have again. This will be the best practice session you'll ever have. Use it wisely.

And please share the results. I have a particular affinity to drunken family members with gravy stains on their shirts. And if you post in our private group, they will never even see them…I pinky swear.

If you’d like to learn MORE about storytelling with your camera…make sure you check out the super cool photography membership exclusively for female travelers, The PhotoFluent Collective.