Do you want to go here and take a horseback ride? If you do then I succeeded.

Telling stories sometimes is about capturing an essence of the place and creating a mood that triggers the soul of the audience. 

I think the best storytellers are those who can take a present moment and capture a nostalgic moment. The moment is so timeless that people are taken to their own memories.

Does this photo trigger memories for you from your summer camps?

I find that many of the memories from our past that we tap into from time to time are not moments of extreme exaggeration with camera angles. The compositions are more simple and straight forward, but yet they are very timeless.

I remember going to camp as a young boy and having fun playing in the pool and as well remembering finding a girl friend. For me this photo triggers those memories. Does it trigger your memories?

Some photos we take can be big picture like the photo of the horses near the lake. Sometimes the photos can be much closer and help bring us into those moments we remember of a horse ride through the woods.

I used a flash to be sure you see the person on horseback. I think her expression captures the relaxation and joy of horseback riding in the woods.

Many times photographers are communicating moments that do not trigger memories, because the audience has never had a similar experience. I believe if the photographer is truly in touch with their emotions when they are photographing and understand how to use light, composition, expressions of subjects and those defining moments they can communicate even to those who have never experienced these moments a desire to want them.

This is truly a snapshot of my daughter when she was 3 years old.  That is some 10 years ago. While I know this is mainly a memory jogger for me of my daughter, I know on some level it will connect with many people because they too have made similar photos like this.  I think the photo works only because I think you can tell my daughter is connecting with me in the photo.  Would I use this photo in a communication package–I don’t think so.

You need to start with the snapshot as I did with my daughter.  What in this photo makes me like it so much? It is my daughter and it means something on this level for me. I like the expression of Chelle in the photo as well. I think on one level many people would like the photo.

What is missing for me is that she is a little too far away for me in the photo.  I wanted to get closer and make it work better.  Do I have one showing that I did that, no I don’t.  I made this photo for me.  That is perfectly OK to do even for a professional photographer.

I do make a lot of snapshots for me. These are my nostalgic moments. I have learned they don’t connect as well as those photos that have taken a little more thought and time to make.

Are you in touch enough with how you feel about a place to capture it? Good communication photos help your audience connect to a location using visual stimulants that make a moment nostalgic and inviting. Hire a photographer who consistently shows this in their portfolio the next time you want to get folks to come to your event.