Photography isn't just about making pretty pictures. As a portrait photographer I'm interested in freezing moments, in capturing in that precise split-second a feeling, a look, or crystallising a little bit of their soul, but there's also another layer that interests me - I want to try and tell stories.
Maybe you see an emotion upon a face, maybe it's a tenderness or a strength in their eyes, but what I really enjoy is involving the viewer. A photograph can make you feel that sense of wonder you get from an unanswered question; Who is this person? What is the context here? Where have they come from? What are they thinking? What are they saying? How do they relate to the world around them? Who are they?
And so a good image can stir up questions and create a narrative, or leave the viewer wanting more, encouraging one to fill in the gaps, but always causing a pause and a depth of thought that you can only get when you stand still and stare. This storytelling is none more present than with another genre of photography: Photojournalism. Please click the link below to see a selection from some of the moments and stories of 2016. In this incredible set of images we get not just photographs, not just frozen moments, but distilled stories.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/dec/26/the-best-photographs-of-2016-in-pictures
Mike Bradford Photography