How to tell a story with photography

Solving a #OceanEmergency with Surfers Against Sewage

Group of school children with hands on petition box containing signatures for Surfers Against Sewage Ocean Emergency campaign — The kids holding the petition box containing almost 68’000 signatures

Sometimes photography is straightforward, and sometimes your images have to serve a variety of conflicting purposes. On a recent trip to London with Surfers Against Sewage, simple photojournalism wasn’t going to cut it. There to document the handing in of a petition pushing for ocean health, our images needed to document the days events, be striking enough for social media, and give viewers a sense of the emotions of the day in a way that only storytelling can. Read on to find out how we managed it, the key elements to storytelling , and practical tips on using photos to tell a story.

The gig - #oceanemergency petition hand in

Surfers Against Sewage are an organisation close to our hearts at Tin and Copper. Working to protect the landscape we love here in Cornwall; we’ve worked with them over the last few years, producing photography and videos for their campaigns bringing much needed to change in areas from river pollution to single use plastics in business. That said, it was a no brainer when we got the call to head up to London and photograph the handing in of their momentous Ocean Emergency petition. The plan was to meet outside Westminster Tube station at 09:00, where we would not only be meeting the SAS team and our good friends from Here Now Films, who would be filming the day, but also 20 school children from Surfers Against Sewage plastic free schools. From there we’d move en masse to Downing Street, collecting Olympian Hannah Mills on the way, and knock on governments front door to deliver a list of demands backed by 68’000 people.

School children holding up signs outside Downing Street, protesting climate change with Surfers Against Sewage — Outside Downing Street, the kids displayed the protest signs they had made

The challenge – photojournalism vs storytelling

On the surface of it, it seemed like a straightforward photojournalism job, albeit with the unique trials and triumphs that come with photographing children (read our top tips on that here). Photojournalism is rarely, if ever, considered an artistic pursuit, and in that spirit, we were to focus on honesty over beauty, creating a frank and digestible report of the day’s events. That seemed easy enough, nothing we hadn’t done before. Big open images, capturing detail and action, the kind of all-encompassing snapshots you see in every news report. The actual project turned out to be just a bit more complicated.

We soon learned that the images were going to be used not just to document the day, but as attention grabbing snapshots for social media, on the SAS website, in press releases and on their blog. That changed things a little, no longer dealing with pure documentary photography we were now tasked with communicating the sense of hope and triumph that the event stood for as the final action in a months long campaign. In other words, we weren’t just documenting an event, but telling a story.

Telling a story with photography is a far cry from its documentary cousin. Whereas the old adage, a picture is worth a thousand words, fits perfectly with photojournalism, where the object really is to efficiently impart maximum information with a short set of photos, if not a single image, when telling a story with photos we are looking to guide the viewer through every nuance of the narrative. Here, the feelings and emotions, tensions and triumphs are just as important as what’s actually happening. We want our audience to feel like they’re a part of what’s going on, illustrating every step of the journey so they feel as though they’re experiencing it themselves, and exploring every angle, every feeling along the way.

A teacher talking to a school child excitedly — Excited smiles as teachers got the kids ready for the big day

Tips and tricks

Remember the details – this can be photographs of closeups or scenes away from the main ‘action’ that on their own may not tell you much about what’s happening, but give you a sense of the emotions at play – yes, we were documenting children handing in a petition but showing them both nervously chatting beforehand and proudly displaying their ocean activist badges outside No.10 tells viewers a lot more than a head on press shot ever could.

School children holding up ocean activist badges outside No.10 Downing Street — Kids proudly holding up their Ocean Activist badges from SAS

Establish a scene but show it from every angle – For this shoot the location was obviously important, it’s not every day you get to shoot on Downing Street and the classic, head on press style shot was a must. But that doesn’t mean it tells the whole story – behind the scenes shots or shots just before or after that perfect photo-journalism one give depth to the story – the SAS team laughing and taking a selfie on Downing Street shows your audience the pride and triumph swelling up inside of them as a campaign they’ve worked long and hard on comes to a head and they make a real, demonstratable impact for the good of the environment.

Surfers Against Sewage team taking a selfie outside No.10 Downing Street after handing in environmental petition — The SAS team proudly taking a selfie after delivering the petition

Introduce relationships – be careful about who you include in each shot. Teachers are there with kids but that doesn’t mean they have to be together in every shot – these kids were self-motivated and independent – no responsible adult was going to let them walk through London alone but that doesn’t mean they needed them there. In terms of telling the story, leaving the adults out of some shots shows just how brave and steadfast in their beliefs these young activists are.

Children protesting climate change in London — Unprompted, the kids began protesting along the street

How did it go?

On the day, things went great. Whenever kids are involved, things are always a little chaotic and there was the added challenge of shooting around a film crew who just like us, only had one shot as we made our way to Downing Street on a strict schedule. The important thing to keep in the back of ours minds was the mix of images we needed to produce. Waiting to begin walking, the kids were wrapped up in that giddy blend of nerves and excitement that come before any big day. Something we could communicate to audiences down the line in photos of restless feet and giggling faces full of suspense and anticipation.

Children chatting in London — Giggles of excitement and nerves before setting off to Downing Street

Once we were on the way, we made sure to photograph for context as well as showing the kids underway, capturing scenes we passed like the crowds watching the changing of the guard, signs for Downing Street, and London’s iconic architecture which would help viewers sink their teeth into the narrative and feel immersed in the story. Outside No.10 we of course got the all important photojournalism shot, edited and released not even an hour after the event took place but we also took time took take some behind the scenes shots, photos which told the story from our perspective too and gave depth and character to the smiling faces holding their petition box in that one photo.

Check out all the images from the day here.

Children and Surfers Against Sewage posing for press shot outside No.10 Downing Street after handing in environmental petition — The press shot