The Power of Storyboarding

I have changed my approach to photography over the past few months and now try to storyboard by ideas before heading out for a shoot. I wrote a blog post about it yesterday for those that are interested.

http://www.craigcolvin​.com …r-photographic-ideas.html

I've been surprised by how much this simple concept has improved my creativity. I now get more ideas, more often than I ever did in the past. Of course not all of them are good ideas, but by writing them down I'm finding that the ideas feed on themselves. I also no longer "forget" that great idea I had last week.

Interesting read. Thanks for posting.

I 'forget' a lot of great ideas too. It is amazing how a simple concept like writing things down is elusive until someone else does it
I'm going to try this, thanks.

Good post

This really is a great idea. I always think of different idea's throughout the day, but I have a horrible memory and forget them by the time I get home. I need to buy a sketch book...

I was introduced to this concept when I started to do work with some advertising agencies. This really does make the concept easier to shoot and I have employed it a few times when doing personal projects.

nice post..

Thanks !!

We all have to find our own way of working. When working with clients ideas are usually hashed out before hand. I prefer to work with a general feel or tone of what I need to produce and then leave me with the freedom to create it. I will usually shoot what was in that context and shoot my own interpretation. Sometimes the client goes with my version, sometimes not but what seems to have happened in my case is more often than not I am given a good deal of freedom to create and get hired for my vision.

For my personal work I usually work in the context of bodies of work and will have a basic feel for what I want but again I will just work allowing it to take me where it leads me. Sometime what you come back with is not at all what you set out for but thats OK. Sometimes there is a really good image that doesn't fit with anything else in the greater body of work. Thats OK. Ralph Gibson calls them "points of departure" which can be the birth of a new project or new direction.

Here are a the way many of the greats worked.
"I start with no preconceived idea - discovery excites me to focus - then rediscovery through the lens"-Edward Weston

"One does not think during creative work, any more than one thinks when driving a car. But one has a background of years - learning, unlearning, success, failure, dreaming, thinking, experience, all this - then the moment of creation, the focusing of all into the moment." -Edward Weston

"'Manufactured' or staged photography does not concern me. And if I make a judgment, it can only be on a psychological or sociological level. There are those who take photographs arranged beforehand and those who go out to discover the image and seize it. For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which - in visual terms - questions and decides simultaneously. In order to "give a meaning" to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what he frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression. One must always take photos with the greatest respect for the subject and for oneself." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

"The state of mind of a photographer while creating is a blank...For those who would equate "blank" with a kind of static emptiness, I must explain that this is a special kind of blank. It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed in it at any time. We should note that the lack of a pre-formed pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to this blank condition. Such a state of mind is not unlike a sheet of film itself - seemingly inert, yet so sensitive that a fraction of a second's exposure conceives a life in it. (Not just life, but "a" life)." - Minor White

There are those that work just the opposite. Whats important is finding the way the works for you.

I can relate to storyboarding completely. Some like myself need the organization of creativity. Thanks for your blog post. Bookmarked.

Thanks for sharing this.

In some of my other pursuits (video, music) I often "work up" an initial concept or idea in my head and turn it into something I can then execute. That process can take days or weeks, and because it's stored between my ears it always retains some of that 'foggy-ness' of an idea not fully formed.

I'm really interested in how this might work for my photography...will definitely be giving it a try.

Moose408 wrote in post #13348675
I've been surprised by how much this simple concept has improved my creativity.

It takes a genius to keep it simple, excellent post.

Wayne

airfrogusmc wrote in post #13349486
For my personal work I usually work in the context of bodies of work and will have a basic feel for what I want but again I will just work allowing it to take me where it leads me. Sometime what you come back with is not at all what you set out for but thats OK. Sometimes there is a really good image that doesn't fit with anything else in the greater body of work. Thats OK. Ralph Gibson calls them "points of departure" which can be the birth of a new project or new direction.

I too work in context of bodies of work and I will often be working on 4 or 5 different works during a given period, I have one I have been working on for 3 years, and some just a couple of months. The sketchbook helps me to recall specific ideas I might have had that fit into one of these bodies. It also seems to "tune my mind" so that when I am out shooting my mind if looking for patterns that might fit one of these projects.

For example one of the projects started off as ripples in sand dunes. I wrote in my sketchbook variations on the ripple theme, but all within the context of sand. Three months later I was out shooting a model at a river and saw the same ripple patterns that were in my sketchbook on the surface of the river. I'm not sure I would have made the connection if I had not sketched a bunch of variations months prior.

The other point to take from that is not all of my sketches are storyboards, some are just exploring general themes and variations on patterns that intrigue me.

Also when I'm out shooting a storyboarded theme, I'm not locked into that exact sketch. I get the shot I sketched but then will often explore and see what other creative angles occur and occasionally hit on something even better (that "point of departure" which is a very good description).

I've recently started doing this too. Of course the photographs never follow the sketches exactly. There's almost always some pretty heavy improvisation done. But yeah...I've also noticed an improvement in the work.

Another nice thing I like about it...I like to draw. Granted, my drawing is never serious and I'm not at all good at it. But I just enjoy doing it. So when I'm feeling stuck and am having a hard time coming up with any ideas to photograph, it's fun to just take a little break, switch gears a little bit, and just sketch some ideas out.

That's pretty good stuff there, and some nice photos have come out of it!

The table in the river one was pretty cool!

Moose408 wrote in post #13350382
I too work in context of bodies of work and I will often be working on 4 or 5 different works during a given period, I have one I have been working on for 3 years, and some just a couple of months. The sketchbook helps me to recall specific ideas I might have had that fit into one of these bodies. It also seems to "tune my mind" so that when I am out shooting my mind if looking for patterns that might fit one of these projects.

For example one of the projects started off as ripples in sand dunes. I wrote in my sketchbook variations on the ripple theme, but all within the context of sand. Three months later I was out shooting a model at a river and saw the same ripple patterns that were in my sketchbook on the surface of the river. I'm not sure I would have made the connection if I had not sketched a bunch of variations months prior.

The other point to take from that is not all of my sketches are storyboards, some are just exploring general themes and variations on patterns that intrigue me.

Also when I'm out shooting a storyboarded theme, I'm not locked into that exact sketch. I get the shot I sketched but then will often explore and see what other creative angles occur and occasionally hit on something even better (that "point of departure" which is a very good description).

My advice is try everything before settling into a method to create. I have found I do my best work without a lot of pre planning or pre thinking. Letting the work take me where I need to go.