Taking Pictures is Storytelling

Your photographs tell a story, a true narrative. This narrative can be your own, or of the community you are photographing. To be able to take a picture in the rain that shows how the community feels about the weather, it is not enough to sit in the water and make a portrait. It is not enough to stand in front of the community and wait for the storm to pass. You must sit in the water and let the community tell the story.
You have to go where the people are and make a photo.

Look on the subject you are taking pictures of as a human being, not as an object. You must feel connected and immersed in his life, his eyes. When you are not immersed in the scene, you may miss what it says about you. I’ve always found that my best pictures come from the inside, the real me.

When you are taking pictures, ask yourself why you are taking them. The moment you begin to feel guilty, or you are trying to make the picture look like it’s your own, you have lost the element of surprise and I think this makes your picture. This is how you become a professional photographer, not a hobbyist.

If you want to be a professional photographer, you must be willing to go to the dark places in your soul, and in order to get there, you must be willing to give up your comfort zone.