How to Use Storytelling to Enhance your Adventure Photography

This episode of the Travel and Adventure Photography School delves into the unique aspects of storytelling in adventure photography.
Robert discusses the importance of capturing images that narrate a story and the pivotal role of emotion in creating engaging and memorable photographs and introduces viewers to five vital elements to enhance their photography- emotion, composition, timing, subject, and setting. This episode is a comprehensive guide on how to incorporate compelling narratives into adventure photography and make your work stand out.
Throughout the podcast episode, the host shares numerous tips, instances from his experiences, and practical advice that can help both budding and experienced photographers. By understanding and incorporating these elements, photographers can create compelling narratives through their adventure photos.

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Website: robertmasseyphotography.ca
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Transcript

Robert: 0:00

Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back to another episode of the Travel and Adventure Photography School Podcast. I'm your host Robert Massey. And today we've got a fabulous topic for you inspired by the Banff Centre's mountain film and book festival, which is going on right now in the town of Banff. We are diving deep into the wonderful world of storytelling in adventure photography. Over the past 10 days or so, I've had the opportunity to watch a plethora of spectacular films, all about being out in the great outdoors, doing amazing adventures and pieces. They've told incredible stories and I've had the chance to speak to a few adventure photographers and adventure cinematographers, and the work that they do in the way that they tell stories has really inspired me to create this episode today. So. We are going to talk all about how you can have storytelling in your adventure photography. Now, before we unravel the secrets to go into it, let's dive a little deeper into storytelling. And why it is actually a really important part of photography, especially as we start seeing more and more people capturing images, every single day of their adventures. Storytelling is one of those things that is going to set apart, the work that you create. It's one of the things that not everyone can see and not everyone puts the time effort and thought into when they are capturing images, especially in brilliant locations. Sometimes it's good enough just to take a beautiful photo of a landscape, but when you can incorporate elements of storytelling into your photography, that's really. When your photos are going to take another jump and another step, and they're going to set themselves apart from just another snapshot that somebody takes. Storytelling and photography bridges the gap between yourself, the photographer and your viewer. It transcends language barriers and it creates a shared narrative, inviting others to join you on your expeditions. Feel the adrenaline rush as you conquer a towering peak or go on a beautiful hike. More than that though, storytelling adds depth and context to your photographs and transforms them from just another pretty photo that somebody can put on Instagram into powerful dynamic expressions. It allows you to capture what the scene looks like and the emotions and relationships unfolding within that moment. And you can do this in all types. Photography, but adventure photography in particular offers a really unique opportunity to weave really compelling stories. If adventure photographers are constantly putting ourselves into situations where it's ourselves and our own strength and our own mental strengths against. Mother nature. It's incorporating ourselves into nature. It's driving the human body to endurance levels and strength levels and everything else through things that other people could never even imagine themselves doing. And there's just a plethora of stories that you can tell they're of overcoming adversity and showing the grit and determination. It takes to be somebody who loves the outdoors. And the way it allows people to truly discover themselves. And those are the kinds of things you can really tell when you start incorporating elements of storytelling into your photography. Now remember storytelling, isn't just a technique for you to put into your photographs. It becomes the full heart and soul of your visuals. It's what transforms that photograph into a captivating tale that lingers in the minds of your viewers long after they've seen it. We're going to talk about five elements. That you can include and that you can think about, and that you need to start incorporating into your images. When you want storytelling to start taking a bigger role, a more front and center role in the images that you create. Now, sometimes these can be thought about, well in advance and sometimes they have to be thought about in the moment as you were there, as you were creating based on the scene and the light and everything else that's happening around you. And the great thing about incorporating pieces of storytelling into your photography is. It's not gonna be all that different from pieces that you're already thinking about when you are creating your images anyway. It's not learning something new. It's just shifting your perspective on how you use these pieces. All right. So let's get into that first element. And it's in my mind. The most critical element to including storytelling into your photography. And that's emotion. It lies at the core of a compelling storytelling in adventure photography. Just imagine a photograph where the sheer exhaustion of reaching a summit is palpable. There's that sparkle in the climbers eyes, the wind tossling their hair and the triumphant smile that breaks across their face. Those raw unfiltered emotions. Make a photograph come alive. I got the chance to listen to a wonderful adventure photographer yesterday. Who was shooting for a trail running brand. And he was saying that they did all the typical trail running photos. Here's a beautiful mountain range. Here's a beautiful blue sky. And. Here's some trail runners in that location and that's fine. And those photos are beautiful. His work is amazing. But he was saying that for him, what was missing was emotion. There was no pull line. There was no through-line for him to really feel connected to those trail runners. And yes, you need to show those shoes in specific locations. You need to show them off doing the beautiful things that trail runners want to do. But you also need to connect. Emotionally with those images and you really want to connect emotionally to. What people are going through when they're out trail running. So what he did. Was he went to his models and his athletes and said, Hey. I want you to run 15 minutes down this hill. And then I want you to run. Back up this hill as fast as you possibly can, right back at me. And when you get to the top, I want you to be. Exhausted and drained and just done. And those are the images that the trail running brand chose for their ad campaign. They didn't use the typical, beautiful landscape shots. They use the ones that showed what a trail runner goes through. They use the ones that showed the emotion behind why you're doing it in the exhaustion. And the joy because. When you hit the top of a summit when you've been running for like half an hour straight up hill, and you finally get to that point where you're like, oh my God, look at this. Look what I've done. Yeah, you're exhausted. But you also have a twinkle and a smile in your eye. And that is. Incredible to be able to capture when you're photographing people. So. Think about how you can tie in emotion. Because when your audience connects with the genuine emotions that you've captured in your photo, they're transported into the heart of that adventure. And really emotion is what is going to bind. Your images together, whether it's one photo with a deep, impactful amount of. Emotion in it. Or the whole photo series where you're supposed to. Feel the highs and the lows and the triumphs and the sheer exhaustion across an expedition. It doesn't really matter. Those emotions can convey resilience and strength and inspire viewers with. That indomitable spirit of human endeavor. You also kind of invite your audience to become active participants in that story that you're telling. And I really find this to be true at places like the Banff film Fest, where. Yes, you're watching people do these spectacular things. But beyond that you're seeing. That because they've done it. You're starting to see what you can do too. And you're starting to envision the things that you can do as well. And that to me is what's so fascinating and so interesting about including emotion in a photograph. Because when you capture these genuine emotions, You really are. Getting people to immerse themselves in the experience. And inspiring them to do something like this for themselves, or even go in and capture images like this for themselves. So the next time that you're out. Think about how you can show your own emotions in an image, whether that's in a self portrait. A selfie. Or any sort of other form, if you're with friends, capture their feelings of emotion and it doesn't have to just be. You know, the broken down bits of outdoor adventure. There's also a ton of joy and jubilation and amazing other pieces. I think back to this photo of Jimmy Chinn and Alex Honnold at the top of. El cap after. Alex Honnold has finished his free climb. And. Alex Honnold looks exhausted, but thrilled. And Jimmy Chinn is hugging him from around the side and you can see that he was bouncing up and down and hugging his friend because his friend was alive and he'd finished this amazing feat. And he was just so. Thrilled. To see his friend again, to see that we was up there and that photo just sits. In a little part of my heart and I will always think about it when I think about things in the outdoors and that moment of pure sheer joy that was up there. I think. Of all the amazing photos that came out of that expedition and out of that. Spectacular thing that Alex Honnold did. That one at the top is one of the ones that sits with me. Because of that emotion that's in it. So. That is your magic ingredient in adventure photography. That is what's going to transform. Something from a pretty photograph. Into an unforgettable tale. So next on our list is composition. Now we all know what composition means in terms of a aesthetically pleasing photograph, you have the rule of thirds, framing, leading lines, the golden ratio, all those sorts of fabulous things. And you need those in. Any sort of really good photograph, you need some sort of really compelling competition. But in storytelling terms, composition goes beyond just those typical terms. We're thinking of, we want to have strategic placement of elements. That can lead your eye to your subject, to the most important pieces. You want to be able to have your subject be noticeable in. A very chaotic environment that can be the mountains or a forest, or a lot of places where adventure takes place. It can actually be really difficult to have your subject pop out. So you need to be really certain about your composition to help tell that story. Let's think about taking a photo of somebody who's rock climbing. A lot of the rock climbing photos you'll see from people are actually shot from below shows the climbers, butt, and they're going up the wall and here's this big wall. And if it's a pretty sunset or another peaks around or something, it can look really cool. But that doesn't really get into the story of telling that image. Really impactful climbing photography typically comes from above. Or from the side, or even from another mountain top, depending how you want to tell the story. So let's say instead of being below the climber, you get above them. And what this gives you a chance to do is to show the scale of the wall that they're on because all of a sudden, you're not looking up at it. You're looking back down at the ground and how far that climber has come up. And you can really show the distance that they are up in the air. You can also show the intensity on their face and you can show like the veins and their muscles and everything popping and pulling as they're working their way up that wall. And you can show even when they try to clip into something or if they have to jam a piece of gear into the wall themselves, that's going to hold on. And you can get their eyes and you can get them looking towards that next bit of your objective, or you can get their hand jumping towards the camera. There's all sorts of other compositional pieces you can add. Just by going from being below that climber. To being above them. That's because a well composed photograph has the power to captivate and really linger with your viewer. So take into account those typical compositional elements that we all really want to see the foreground elements in the background elements and the pretty peaks and, and all those kinds of things. And then. What's going to really make a difference is. Picturing where your subject is going to be in that composition. So one of the really powerful piece of advice I was told by an adventure photographer, she was a mountain biking photographer. Was that she would envision. A beautiful landscape shot. And then she would put a cyclist into that landscape shot and her shots are. Epic. Ran into a briefly. Honestly don't remember her name, but it was a beautiful piece of advice. And. That comes back to me every time I'm out. Looking for a place to put a subject into an image. So when you're building out that composition, Don't just think, oh, look how beautiful that is. And forget about the main subject in that photograph in that main subject. Should be your climber should be your hiker. It should be. Your person is in there. Maybe it's the main peak. You also have pizzas. The landscape is the main peak, but don't get distracted by all the other elements in that scene. Really show off that subject in the best light that you possibly can. Which is a pretty good pun, because one of the best ways you can compose a scene is using light to show off your subject. Compositionally when you're looking for where to place your subject in a scene, including them. In a light beam, including them at the end of a bit of light, including them in the bright spot, in an image is going to be the most impactful. We are naturally drawn towards the bright spots of images. And so if you have a light beam popping over a mountain and it lands directly on your subject, that is a beautiful place to place them. Or if you're in a forest and you're walking down a path and there's a spot where there's a Sunbeam. Place them into that Sunbeam. It's going to be where people are going to look for them. It's going to be where it's going to allow you to have them pop out the best. Obviously. You might need to light their faces. You might need to have some reflectors. There's some other work that might have to go in depending on the quality that light that's coming in there at that point. But that's going to really help. Elevate your composition once again. One of the ways you can change your composition is with color. So we've talked a lot about color being really important on this podcast. I think we did this a couple episodes ago, so I'm not going to really get into it, but especially in the adventure world, color plays a crucial role in your storytelling. Vibrant, bold colors, really convey energy and excitement. And they really help. Have your subject pop off against what is typically a very cool expanse, especially in mountain landscapes and forests and other places like that, where reds and yellows and oranges are really going to help highlight where your subject is in that scene. And. Kind of bring a sense of energy and vibrancy to that scene as well. They're also highly contracted, so you can see them pop out against the shadows. So. It looks really, really good when you pop people off in the right colors. Having somebody in a dark green might look really good in person. But honestly, in a forest, you're going to lose them. It's not going to work really well. So really when you're working with people, if they're models or if they're just your friends or anything like that, or if you're just going out for yourself and you're gonna be taking a lot of self portraits, Getting a bright colored coat can making massive difference. I went intentionally bought a yellow coat because it makes me stand out in the photographs when I include myself in them. And I can throw it onto a model and be like, here, we're going to help you pop a little and if they fit it and it looks good on them, that can really help bring your composition together because it's another element. That you can add into the scene. So. Start with your typical. Rules of composition. Rule of thirds framing, all that kind of good stuff. Don't forget about simplifying an image as well. And this can be really difficult to do in the outdoors. But the more complicated an images, the more likely you are that you're going to lose your subject somewhere. So if there are layers upon layers upon layers upon layers, upon layers of mountainous regions, and there's a valley and a lake and all these other pieces that in-person like, oh my goodness, this is amazing and beautiful. And your climber, your hiker, your Mountaineer, whoever it is is. It's you know, maybe a centimeter big on that frame. That's not helpful. You can't see your subject in that you can't see the story that is going on in that moment. So instead you want to eliminate some of those pieces and really simplify that composition, and you can still show off some of them. But it's also important that you see that human struggle that's in there, that you see that subject that's telling that story. So composition. It's a very critical piece of the storytelling. And honestly, in my eyes, I feel like a lot of adventure photographers that I talk to, especially myself. We can do a lot more to simplify our images, to help tell stronger stories. I find it really difficult to want to cut out even a small bit of one of these turquoise lakes out here, or to maybe not include that one more. Mountain peak just off to the side, but by simplifying down and by cropping in a little tighter or by zooming in a little tighter, when you shoot. Or just changing up the background. That's behind somebody a little bit. That can dramatically enhance your story. Alrighty the third element we're going to talk about today. Timing. Adventure photography is so often about just seizing the right moment. Now timing in adventure photography is about capturing that definitive moment that kind of defines the essence of an adventure. It can freeze raw emotions. That triumph at the summit that we've talked about or focus as you're in the middle of a really beautiful climb or just moments of laughter that Jimmy chin and Alex Honnold image, we've talked about. And it's these kind of fleeting. Authentic moments that can really bring together your story. And it could be a split second of action too. Mountain biker in the perfect moment of midair. The horseback rider flying past you, anything like that, that can invite a viewer into your image, but it's not just about having a high shutter speed when you're thinking about timing, because that's all the examples that we've talked about there, and that is critical. You need that right moment to capture something, but. Your timing also needs to be focused on. Telling the right part of that story at the right time. And this is where a little bit of pre-planning can be huge to be able to tell this story properly. And so it's critical for you to be prepared. So looking at advanced to where the sun is going to be looking at advance to. What you're going to want to shoot and the storyboard that you want to tell and building that storyboard out in advance that you're ready for these kinds of moments to happen. So when you're planning out that shoot. Think about those essential moments that you're going to have to hit and you might have to time it perfectly. Let's say that you're capturing a race and you are one of just a few photographers on that scene and you have. Four or five shots he need to get, which means that you have to know exactly your times to be able to get from location, to location, to location with all your gear. With the ability to capture everything by the time you get there. And. Not spending too much time and not getting too lost and just shooting the one thing that's right in front of you. So you need to work out your times properly to be able to get to each one of these locations or. You need to have your timing right so that you know that when you're leaving and you want to capture the sun, just cresting over top of a mountain, or just about to sink behind it. That's a matter of. Not even minutes, like maybe a minute, some days where that sun is perfectly positioned on the edge of that mountain to cause that sun flare. You miss that you're done. You miss that shot. So your timing has to be. Perfect. You have to know exactly how long it's going to take you to get up that mountain or to ski there, to do whatever it is that you're going to do to get that shot. But your timing has to be dead on. So you need to get that down to a T and it's not just about timing in your photographs. Obviously we need that. You need the right shutter speed. You need to click the shutter at the right time or have the right high drive mode on or whatever it's going to be. Because that moment of, you know, the mountain biker flying through the air off a jump is critical. But your ability to get there on time is critical as well. And then beyond that. Timing. Isn't actually just about the length of the shutter speed. It's about telling the right part of that story. So there are. Amazing moments on pretty much every expedition, but not every amazing moment helps tell the story. This is one of the things I really realized watching a bunch of these films at the film Fest this week. Was that. Epic landscapes don't necessarily make the, be all end. All of a story. It's that human connection and it's that achievement of an objective. And so if you miss your timing on that critical shot, where this person has worked for years to get to this location, you hiked for 16 days just to ski down one specific mountain. And there was lots of other beautiful scenery shots and lots of other beautiful moments, and all these other pieces that were worked in there. And. You get to this critical moment and you miss your shot. You're not there. Your timing is off. Anything goes wrong with your timing in this critical moment. You've kind of missed the core element of your story. And timing's not just about the shutter speed in this case, you need to decide. How your time is going to impact the way you want to tell that story because we can choose. And the safe way to go about in most situations is just a freeze. The action. Don't risk. Anything else. Just freeze that person in mid air, freeze them as they slide down the mountain, whatever it is that they're doing. But work with that high shutter speed and then play with everything else that you need to in there. But you can also choose to maybe encapsulate that moment by having a little bit of shutter speed blur, having a little bit of blur in your subject as they take off running. Or a little bit more movement in the snow so that you can see the depth of the powder that they're in. There are all sorts of different ways that your timing can be used. To enhance that storytelling method now. Don't just choose to do this. If you are working with an athlete who is expecting you to tell a story for them. Talk to them first, show them examples of what you're planning on doing. Show them how your shutter speed is going to affect these various pieces. And you'll work to capture a photo that feels like this, especially if it's a one-shot. If it's not, if you can get them to do it again, and they can do it a few times over, you could play with top styles and timing and all those sorts of pieces. But if you have one shot at this. Really work that out with them in advance because your timing in that sense is so perfect and so critical to the story. All right. And the fourth element we're going to talk about today is your subject. This can be your athlete. This can be your model. This can be a mountain range, whatever your subject is. Honestly, your subject needs to tell a compelling story. And that is up to you as the photographer. There is also a bit on the model and the athlete to have a compelling story to tell, but it has also really up to you as the photographer to find that compelling story, to tell with your subject. They are the central character, the anchor that guides your viewer through their narrative. Whether that's your hiker against a rugged mountain backdrop, the Explorer forging through dense jungle. Lone surfer, riding a wave, anything like that. Your defined subject is. Probably the most critical thing in telling a good story. Because even in a single image, your viewers should connect. With that subject. They should feel drawn into them. They should feel an emotional connection to that subject. And really your subject is whatever you make that subject to be. It could be a beetle. It could be your dog. It could be a blade of grass for that matter. You just have to find a way to make that subject your central character. And that's where all of your other elements of this come into being, that's where your timing. Your composition. Your emotional connection. All of those come into being with your subject they'll are centered around your subject. So for me. Especially when working with human subjects, I really like to talk to them. And if it's their story to tell, obviously you need to find out how they want to tell that story. What they're looking to say, how they're looking to present themselves. But if it's your story that you're building into, if it's your story that you're working on and you're bringing people into it, talk to them about how you want to show that story off, talk to them, how you want your subject to act and what you want them to do. And. How you want them to be, you are the guide in this situation. You shouldn't be sitting back and just being like, oh, that's great. Do it. You want. No. That's not going to tell your story, that's not going to successfully show off a fabulous subject. What you need to do is guide this situation. Now, obviously. If they are an athlete or if they are doing something dangerous, safety is first priority. Never put people in unsafe situations unless they are fully up for it. And they are fully prepared and you are fully backed in. You know, you know how to get to a hospital and get rescued and all those other sorts of things. Safety is priority. Number one. That will never change for me. But when you can get out there with that subject and they are in agreement with what you're doing and you can work through them and you can guide them through this piece. You can tell an amazing. Story. And one of the things I really find about working with people or animals. Is that eyes really are the first real connection point to telling a really powerful story. So if you can include the person's face and you can see their eyes. That's going to help draw people into your subject a lot more. We are drawn into the eyes of animals and into the eyes of other people. And we're going to feel connected to them because of them. So use your subject's eyes to draw your people in, use your subject in powerful situations and in the right stances and everything else, and guide them through that situation to really help your viewer understand and connect with your story. Now the other couple of key things about your subject is that it is well-defined and it's clear. So often the outdoors is. It's really easy to lose your subject. To all the other amazing things that are going on. And so your subject needs to be very, very clear. You don't want your view of that photograph. Guessing about what the subject is in that image. If there is even somewhat of a doubt. About what the subject is. You've either got to get rid of that image, or you've got to strengthen that composition. You've got to change something up there because your subject should be very, very well-defined. All right. The fifth and final element that we're going to talk about is the setting. Now, this is a pretty standard storytelling element. Your setting makes a huge difference, but especially when you're out doing some adventure photography. Because if you're, you know, taking photos of a raincoat and it's a bright blue sunny day. That's not going to really show off that rain coat. That's not going to make any sense whatsoever. If you're taking photographs of climbers and they're. Hiking the entire time and they don't once climb. That's not the right setting. You need to put people in the right settings, in the right locations, to be able to tell the story that you want to tell. It doesn't mean that your adventure stories have to take place in the mountains or on the ocean or in the desert or anywhere like that. I have seen a couple of fantastic adventure stories that are told. Inside of cities. There was a great one at Reel rock a few years ago that showed off how climbing has exploded in urban centers and people who have never seen rock before. And the story was, was about showing these rock climbers real rock for the very first time, but they grew up climbing in gyms. They grew up climbing on the sides of buildings and in playgrounds and anywhere they could get their hands on to climb, they did. And so this story was about taking some of the world's best gym climbers who had never, ever seen or touched a mountain in their entire lives and putting them in those settings. That's a beautiful story. And that is a perfect use of two. Very, very different. Settings. So putting your story in the right setting. Is critical to having people understand your story. And this goes into the little details in your settings as well. Because if you're trying to talk about like, This amazing back country adventure, where you're all out there and you're surviving against the elements and all these other kinds of pieces. And then. You know, we can see a Starbucks sign up above the trees or something. That. Destroys your story. Obviously, that's not true with what you were doing. So think about your setting, think about how you want your subject interacting with set setting and what you really need to show to help tell your story and how the setting can help do that. And this includes, if you're doing something like a documentary. And you need headshots of your subject. I have seen a few where they've been out and they've been doing these epic adventures and doing all these other kinds of things. And then they did like a corporate headshot for them. And it just was so incongruent with the story that they told that it really threw off the whole photo essay. Or if your videographer it, you know, get some elements in the background of like rock climbing helmets or whatever adventure that these people are on. Don't just throw them into, you know, a blank office sitting on a couch or something, which I have seen. And it, it actually does ruin the story. You're trying to tell. So think about that setting. Even when it comes to the basic images and the basic photos about how that setting is going to help tell your story. That's in there. All right. And that's it. That's our five elements of storytelling and how you can use them to help with your adventure photography. And. What I would fully suggest is that. Take a listen to this, write some of these down, come up with your own ideas here. And then. The Banff film Fest has an online portion to it. Maybe go get a ticket to that, to watch some of these amazing ones. Go on Netflix or prime or any one of the other streaming services that you use and go find a few outdoor documentaries. And watch how they use. All of these pieces that we just talked about in here. To tell masterful stories or how they missed pieces and you noticed it and it really didn't help you enhance the storytelling piece. Because in the end, especially if you're an adventure photographer. You're a storyteller. That's really what you are, even if your art form. It's just beautiful landscapes. All of this still applies. You still need that emotional connection for people to feel it. You still need to feel them drawn and you still need a subject in the right setting. And fantastic composition. All of this still applies, even if you just want to create landscape art. Let's go. Play with some of these ideas, write some things down for yourself, and you'll find that the more you think about this and the more that you think about this while you're creating images. The easier it's going to become to see stories in the world. Thank you so much for coming along on this journey. I'd love to hear your feedback, but the episode or anything else that you'd love to learn about. Reach out to me on Instagram at Robert Massey photography. Find stuff on my website at robertmasseyphotography.ca and get out there and explore this big. Beautiful world of ours. All right. Bye for now.