Secrets for using a photo series to creatively tell a life in pictures
First published November 2 2017: This article has been updated and improved.
When I was a photojournalism student at art school I had a lecturer who told our class to shoot an assignment with a 24-hour deadline.
This was to compile a photo series of our city’s Anzac Day memorial parade.
My classmates and I were positioned up and down the procession, some hanging off buildings Spider-Man style and others trying to hitch rides on parading army trucks!
We took hundreds of photos that we whittled down to tell a complete story of the day.
Over the course of our lives we similarly collect hundreds of memories that can be pared back and polished to tell a complete and precious life story.
Certainly this can be written in book form but also creatively done as a photo series or scrapbook album.
Keep reading for tips on how to record a life in pictures for yourself or a loved one.
I promise you won’t need to hang off any buildings in the process!
A life in pictures: See the forest for the trees
Firstly, there is no way we can include all memories in a life-story photo album.
Certainly this would simply be too time consuming and let’s face it, dull in a few spots!
Therefore what we want to do is narrow our picture selection to images featuring key times or memories.
For example, it can be handy to think like a film director who is crafting a holistic life-in-pictures story with a beginning, middle and end (present day).
Here is a suggested list of photos to include to help get started:
- Ancestor pics
- Baby pic
- Family pic of parents and siblings
- School pic
- Marriage pic
- Family pic with children
- On-the-job working pic
- Houses or locations lived pic
- Interests – vacations, hobby pic
- Other milestones – retirement, special anniversary pic
- More recent pic with extended family
- Present-day portrait pic
Feel free to include more images or topics to create a well-rounded album of 20-plus pages.
I would suggest using one main photo per page, however, you could instead use several related pics as a montage.
But remember, as in fashion, less is often more!
Related article – Book covers: How to create a memorable cover design
Get to the heart of the story
The second step for creating a life in pictures is to add information explaining each image/page.
You can do this in many creative ways as a scrapbooker but the most concise would be a short caption (one sentence) or a longer extended caption (up to five or six sentences) that tells a concise story.
For example, an easy way to do this is to imagine what you would tell a friend or relative if you showed them the pictures one by one.
A well-written caption is in present tense and will address the 5Ws & H: WHO is there, WHAT is happening, WHEN is it happening (date and time etc), WHERE (the location), WHY it is happening, and HOW it is happening.
However, don’t be shy about adding extra details.
Furthermore, try to think of facts that can’t be ‘seen’ in the picture to add more depth.
For example, perhaps you have a photo of yourself on your 21st birthday.
You could choose to note: who made your cake, why you chose that outfit to wear or who is missing from the party (perhaps your grandmother was sick, for example).
Related article – Feature article guide: Helping you write a life story super fast!
Layer the story
The last step for compiling a life in pictures is my favourite and most creative!
Once you have a selection of images and captions add extra layers of detail to make the memories come to life.
The easiest way to source these is to take a look through your ‘treasures’:
- Pull out old school reports and yearbooks
- Review letters and diaries
- Dig out newspaper clippings
- Uncover other memorabilia and keepsakes
Certainly telling snippets can help: embellish album pages, add depth to memories, highlight themes, and help recreate moods of specific time periods.
You might not want to ‘sacrifice’ original treasures so try scanning, photocopying, photographing or even sketching them instead.
If this step inspires you, take it further by heading online to research specific time periods or physically revisit places from the past (such as an old school, neighbourhoods, etc).
Related article – Story detail: Identifying key details in a story to make your autobiography shine
Final say: A life in pictures
In conclusion, telling a life in pictures can be done in any number of ways.
Above all, a photo series or scrapbook album is a creative and expressive way to share memories.
Create one using these three steps: narrow down your photo selection, add context with captions, and layer in extra detail.
You will create an extraordinary family record that is unique and special.
Happy writing and scrapping!
This article was written for Scrapbook Campus, a place to document stories and share them with digital scrapbooking. Many thanks to owner and main instructor Cassel for your support and encouragement!
Free gift!
If you like making life-story scrapbooks a natural next step is the Your Family Stories System. It shows you how to interview a loved one and write their life story. Get the first few sections for FREE! Sign up here or fill in the form below.
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Please let me know if you are planning to make a scrapbook to celebrate a life in pictures. I’d love to hear about it! Drop me an email or leave a reply in the comments section at the end of this article.
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This article first appeared on the website Forever Young Autobiographies.com.
