Digging Up Story Ideas in Photoblogs and Picture Books
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I’ve written before about how the stories in Wired Magazine are created with awesomeness because of terrific writing and unusual, compelling stories. I deconstruct and literally rip apart each issue, stuffing story ideas away in a file for later use.
This is one to share. I came across this article recently about an photographer who visits haunted places around the world.
“Belgian pilot and photographer Henk van Rensbergen has been exploring abandoned places all his life—defunct factories, crumbling villas, shuttered hospitals.
‘I started taking the photos 25 years ago to prove to my friends I had been to such and such a place,’ he says. ‘Today, the quality of the photos has become as important as the exploring itself.’
Van Rensbergen is willing to wait as long as it takes to get the right shot—and to soak up the traces of life left behind.”
Visit wired.com to read the article about van Rensbergen’s travels and photography.
A story’s setting is a character
This sort is article intrigues me because it doesn’t leave anything to the imagination. I find that useful because I can soak up needed details and accuracy to create atmosphere and setting.
Digging up story details
Photoblogs, articles and even children’s storybooks – especially stories told by illustrators Chris Van Allsburg – have provided me with tons of story fodder over the years. Some ideas still sit in a file, others have been used and exploited. Besides the Wired.com article, here are other links to articles that might help you squeeze a little more creative juice out of your right brain.
- Photoblog: brooding autumn (summitcountyvoice.com)
- A Hausa Photoblog from Kano (hausaonline.wordpress.com)
- Illustrator/Writer Chris Van Allsburg (clarbojahn.wordpress.com)
- From MSNBC’s photoblog: “One of two people rescued… (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
- Haunted Places In Indiana (mademan.com)
Enjoy!
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