Here's my core philosphy: A photgrapher doesn't tell stories.
Telling is reserved for language. We show them. We get a single frame (and maybe a title) to pass on everything we know. Our job is to make the story visible—even if that means drawing an outline around what's missing.
I love two kinds of photo stories: The ones happening now and the ones implied by what's left.
Sometimes "what's happening" is a lie. It's just what you saw being there, then, looking that way. That doesn't make the story accurate.
But it's what makes it true. From that perspective, in that moment, your tools set as they were… it's the only way it makes sense. Headshots and portraits work like this.
Sometimes nothing is happening; it already happened. The story is forensics. The image is a mystery, a little puzzle the photographer left for us to piece together.
I love them both for different reasons.
