Heidi looks at how photos affect your writing

I was intrigued by something said about Pacific Northwest Magazine during the class visit by Bob Young and Kathy Triesch Saul. It was along the lines of ‘we don’t do stories that don’t photograph well.’

I started to wonder, how do you approach writing if you know that photos will be telling the same story? Does your approach change if there won’t be photos? Does every story even need photos? Or like Bob and Kathy talked about, there can be a ‘third effect’- the photos tell their own story.

I will admit that I used to only look at the photos in National Geographic. I still browse the photos in a magazine before deciding to buy it. I went right to the photo section in "Indifferent Stars Above" before reading a word. I think this is a sign that photos are an important part of storytelling for me.

If you are interested in how visual stories mesh with written stories, here are a few great links:

Vewd -- storytelling through a visual medium.

Picture of the Day -- stories that need to be told.

Lens -- Photography, video and visual journalism (New York Times).

Camera-works -- The day in photos from The Washington Post.