Introduction
Through photography, we can express our stories, recount memories, and explore what mattersmost to us. Meaning, which is our interpretation of our lived experiences or the greater purposes we seek in life, is linked to our psychological well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction. Photography coupled with storytelling can help us construct and share meaning about ourselves and our environments. It’s allows us to share our stories and encourage others to do the same. These stories solidify what is meaningful to us, and that sense of meaning becomes a source of well-being and a defense against suffering and misfortune.
Objective #1
To use photography to tell a story – your own story.
Objective #2
To use photography to tell a story – someone else’s story.
Prompts
Meaningful Object
Choose an object that has meaning for you. Take 3 different photos of it. Focus on the part of the object that really captures why it means something to you. What does this object say about you?
Your Best Self(ie)
Take a selfie or a self-portrait. Change your position, the lighting, color, or contrast settings. What changes can you make without heavy filtering to capture a photo that really looks the way you want to be seen? What do you want to show?
Find your Strengths
Take the strengths questionnaire from the VIA Institute on Character.We all have different strengths, talents, interests, and perspectives based on our life experience. These are what make us and our contribution to the world unique. What are yours?
Old Photos
Find 5 to 10 photos of yourself and your family. Place your selfie and your best meaningful object photo within the mix of old photos – where do you fit? How have other people contributed to who you are?
Construct
Tell your story – the story you would like to leave as your legacy.
Pro Tips
Try converting some images to B&W. Ted Grant once mentioned, “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes, but when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”. It is true that color can add to the positivity of a photo but sometimes we want to focus on a person’s character or mood, and this is best done in B&W.
Reflection Questions
- Who are you? How did this module help you to show yourself to the world?
- What matters to you most and how did this module connect you to it?
- Did this module help you to use photography to tell your story? In what ways?
- Did this module help you to tell someone else’s story?
