Photography and Writing; the similarities.

By Megan Langdon.

Until quite recently, the only photographs I had taken were on my mobile photos. They were nothing interesting, consisting of beige selfies and littered with Snapchat filters. So, I decided to take action – I downloaded some photo editing apps on my Google Pixel and started bidding for cameras on Ebay. Soon enough, I was becoming quite proficient at Photoshop, using photo apps and owned a film camera.

I know what you’re probably thinking – This is about photography and writing – but why a film camera? Well, I am a perfectionist. Especially when writing. The pressure to adhere to my own narrative aesthetic is infuriating to say the least. It was one of the reasons why I fell out of writing fiction in the first place. So, I decided I needed a hobby where I would have to tempt fate. A film camera gives me this. I am unable to see the finished product of my photos until they have been developed. It is one shot – if it’s blurry or out of focus I will not know. So why am I writing about similarities between photography and writing if I utilise these creative pursuits for different reasons? Because, it’s through these differences that I found the similarities.

The devil is in the details. 

When writing, I am constantly aware of the details. Whilst it’s all well and good that I have assigned my protagonist a gender, I also have to choose the finer accents of her features. Maybe she has a small buttoned nose, with freckles spattered across her cheeks. Maybe she has the hint of a flush from her neck rising to her cheeks. Perhaps she has a small mole near her eyebrows. It is from these little details that I build up visual imagery allowing the reader and myself to create an idea of the appearance within our imagination.

It is the same with photography. When snapping a picture, I am also visibly conscious of the scenery behind my camera. Whilst it is the beauty of the overall picture which draws viewers into it, it is the tiny details and little pieces of charm that cause the viewers to stop and stare into the picture.

Photography is just like writing as you can go back to it more than once, as there is always something new and exciting to pick up on.

Drafts are everything. 

My skill is constantly evolving and advancing (hopefully). So, it is imperative that I redraft my creative pieces. Not only so that I can check my spelling, but also to help discover any inconsistencies within plots and character arcs.

Photography is parallel with writing in this. Whilst the same photos can be taken again and again on phones and cameras – ultimately one picture becomes the finished product. It may be a matter of the right lighting at the perfect moment, a slightly better angle, a moving subject suddenly stilling. All of these add up to create pictures that need  reworking and editing.

I think of photo-editing as drafting my pictures. I will spend some time having a little re-work of the highlights, shadows, sharpening and saturation. Sometimes it’s just as simple as placing a white border around a picture, to draw the eye inside the photograph. These little finishing touches are just like the finishing touches of proof-reading, checking grammar and spelling in writing.

Photography and writing are incredibly similar to me. Through my new hobby of photography, I am slowly but surely learning to love the little details in writing and am slowly loving the idea of picking up a pen and paper again.