Can a single photo tell a story?

[Dan Daniel]

My own opinion remains unchanged, that a single photo cannot tell a story on its own.

If someone can change that opinion with logic and reason then I'm open to change my mind.

This isn't your *own* opinion. It's pretty common. For example, this is the essence of Winogrand's thinking contained in his aphorism, 'I photograph something to see what it will look like photographed' or whatever the true quote is. Read his interviews and he expands on this. Berger, as I've given you references to elsewhere. Barthes, Sontag. Nothing unique here.

So, I guess you can sit here waiting for someone to prove you wrong. Reminds me of K waiting to get into the Castle in the Kafka novel, but hey, whatever you want to do. But I'd suggest that you take this certainty of what a photograph can't do and go out and photograph until you find out what they *can* do.

By the way, what kind of story can you make from this single photo?

 

[kxl]

Five basic elements of a story: Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme & Setting

I can see how a single image can depict the latter 4 elements, but plot?

 

[Sparrow]

We have limited time on this planet and we should do our best to understand what motivates us.

If photography is a means of finding some attention online, then I much rather do something else. So for me photography is a serious thing.

... it seems you have stumbled into the philosophy without realising that people hold views different to yourself ... and we sometimes have a laugh before attracting the attention of the pale horseman

 

[nongfuspring]

Interpretation drives narrative not the photograph.

 

[Lss]

My own opinion remains unchanged, that a single photo cannot tell a story on its own.

What do you then consider the minimum number of photos that can tell a story on their own?

 

[Dan Daniel]

What do you then consider the minimum number of photos that can tell a story on their own?

2!!

A story- 'Life of Ball'

Photo 1: A ball sits on the corner of a table. In the middle of the table is a clock showing 9:12

Photo 2: The clock showed 9:13, the ball is sitting on the table in the same spot.

The End.

 

[maggieo]

Maybe. I think this one might, albeit a very short story:


Cedar Bowl, North Platte, NE, 1980 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

 

[goamules]

Good grief. I can write a story around an orange. And it would be different from someone elses interpretation of the orange. So can a picture represent facts and sequence of time incontrovertibly, clearly, and with noting open to interpretation? Of course not. That's why we write. Painters and Photographers are artists. And art is open to interpretation. That picture of a baseball below a broken window could mean anything at all.

A good storyteller can make up 15 different stories about the same picture. My dad used to do that for us as kids, pointing to a picture on our bedroom wall.

 

[paulfish4570]

no, but it can be a poem: a haiku, perhaps, or a sonnet, or an ode ...

 

[Sparrow]

haiku a poem
that do never rhyme
just this time

 

[mike rosenlof]

Remember your high school English teacher saying "don't tell, show"?

I think photos can show a story. The photo of the Hindenberg zeplin burning. It shows a story. "This airship caught fire and burned" It's not the complete story, but you can infer a story from it. You don't learn from the photo that it was 1937, the airship had crossed the Atlantic, burned, a number of people died, and the event basically ended the zeplin for commercial air travel.

Take a look at most of the Pulitzer prize photographs. They almost all show a story. Few tell the whole story.

 

[Addy101]

This question was asked a couple of years ago - to cut a long story short: most think no, some (me) think yes. They never meet and this will be a long thread.

I agree with Mike on the Hindenburg picture, however, people in the opposite camp will point out that it is only a story because of previous knowledge, but philosophical that is flawed reasoning, as everything we know is because we have prior knowledge.....

 

[fdarnell]

If it's a good one.

 

[daveleo]

A picture can invoke a story in the viewers mind.
Actually, I don't understand how it could not.
Is it the same story the photographer intended to tell?
Neither of them will ever know unless they talk to each other, and even then I'm not sure the "message" will get across.

 

[Ranchu]

The fantastic richness of the imagery the semantic interconnection. It rapidly became clear that their differences were more than semantic. It's not strictly a political question-more of a semantic one. They tirelessly search the entire historical published corpus of science for any semantic meaning. They'd still be wrong of course, but would be closer to having a semantic point.

OK, now it comes down to the dreaded semantic arguments. Whether it was a leading cause or trailing result makes little difference except for semantic wrangling. The determination of when a human life begins is a semantic opinion, based on culture. The tone of the discussion here shows how formalization doesn't get rid of all semantic tussling.

My two cents, seems to me that some semantic manipulation would help the cause here.

 

[noisycheese]

Can a single photo tell a story?

In a word, yes.

 

[daveleo]

In a word, yes.

😛 can a single word paint a picture ? 😛

 

[locheeboy]

Originally Posted by Hsg
My own opinion remains unchanged, that a single photo cannot tell a story on its own.

If someone can change that opinion with logic and reason then I'm open to change my mind.

We have limited time on this planet and we should do our best to understand what motivates us.

If photography is a means of finding some attention online, then I much rather do something else. So for me photography is a serious thing.

Do ye not just need a hug? 😎

 

[Dan Daniel]

😛 can a single word paint a picture ? 😛

http://www.wikiart.org/en/edward-ruscha/honk-1962

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Depends on viewer life experience, awareness and else.
Those who aren't so primitive will be able to add missing lines. And imagination is going to be different.