From Notes to Story
As a trained journalist, I taught myself to take good notes. Get the quote just right, especially the good ones, even if it means missing some other point.
Take good enough notes that a story comes out easily. Organize the notes by question, or by topic, and let the conversation go where it goes.
All this is to say that my notes have helped me tell good stories, even when – in the case of my musicians projects – I’m reading over my notes a year or two later. I can’t remember the details of a conversation that happened months ago, but with good notes, I can recreate it.
My portrait projects are part art statement, and part storytelling exercise, where the story part – what a person says, and the tales they tell – is as important as the pictures that come out. It’s a total package. I can’t seem to do one without the other.
Blame the journalism. Blame the need to get the full story, the background, and the good quotes on my schooling and my past experiences. It never really leaves me.