”…I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendos…”

– Wallace Stevens

When I consider the unique challenges of telling stories within the confines of a single photographic frame, two aspects of storytelling come to mind. The first is the study of themes that tie the image to our deeper, more universal human experience. The second is conflict, revealed in the frame by contrasts. With regard to technique, the photo essay is the time-honored means by which photographers have told longer stories, and composition the means within our single or multiframe stories to move the plot forward.

From duChemin’s book Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision

While I can feel the wind, the elation at seeing a friend and her dog after almost a year, and a beautiful autumn day, I didn’t quite capture the story. Movement, either hers or, in this case, panning her with the camera to create more blur in the background as she and the pooches ran, might have helped to create more of a story.

Practice needed!