Stories without motion

    A lot of people, when I talk to them, think that in order to be visually engaged something must be moving.  A car exploding, a person running from police, or even just a conversation between friends.  This idea however neglects the amazing storytelling abilities of still images. A single image can capture emotion and explain an entire story.  The frame is what makes work difficult for both still photographers and videographers.  A photographer has to capture the moment in just one frame, known as the decisive moment, a term coined by Henri Cartier-Bresson.  On the other hand a videographer has to fill 27 frames a second with interesting imagery that helps tell the story.  Personally I think both are difficult to accomplish successfully.  However I find telling a story in a single frame much more challenging.  The Concord Monitor did an excellent job at telling a story that is engaging and emotionally involved with only still images and words. Their work will not be seen by the masses nor win an Oscars, but the quality of storytelling is just as powerful.  This is the quintessential example of great stories without motion.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/sites/all/storage/media/rememberme/index.html

                                             Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson.