Pictures that tells a story

35 Powerful Photos That Tell a Story

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” That is the motto of a photojournalist. It is their objective to produce direct, truthful and bold images that tell the stories for those who have no voice.

According to Mark M. Hancock, a professional photojournalist, “is a visual reporter of facts. The public places trust in its reporters, to tell the truth. The same trust is extended to photojournalists as visual reporters.This responsibility is paramount to a photojournalist. At all times, we have many thousands of people seeing through our eyes and expecting to see the truth. Most people immediately understand an image.”

Photojournalists are doing really a great job over the world for humanity, they are working for peace, for human rights, for raising humanity problems and issues, for pointing out the people living below the bottom line of poverty, for raising awareness about educational and child labor issues and much more… Our today’s post is about Inspirational Documentary and Photojournalism Photos. In this post, we showcase 35 powerful, touching and emotional photos that do not just display state of affairs but also tell a story.

We express sincere appreciation of the hard work of all photojournalists who are working for humanity, sometimes risking their lives for the sake of their duties and responsibilities. This article is a tribute to all of them and their accomplishments and works.

Pro Tip

Man Mutilated, Rwanda

Rwanda, June 1994. Hutu man mutilated by the Hutu ‘Interahamwe’ militia, who suspected him of sympathizing with the Tutsi rebels. About the image, Nachtwey says his specialty is dealing with ground level realities with a human dimension. He feels that people need photography to help them understand what’s going on in the world, and believes that pictures can have a great influence on shaping public opinion and mobilizing protest.

World Press Photo of the Year: 1994 James Nachtwey, USA, Magnum Photos for Time.

Losing

In this picture, Lurlena cries in the back of the family car after losing the contest for Carnival Princess at her school. She spent the day getting ready, with a new white dress and new shoes. The winner was decided based on whose parents bought the most tickets, and Lurlena’s family could only afford eight dollars worth.

Hard Work in Hong Kong

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Sally Mann

This photo, titled Candy Cigarette, not just displays something, it tells a story. It is both emotional and beautiful. This is what the originality of black-and-white-photography is all about.

Pilgrim

Tibetans believe, once in their life, a pilgrimage to Lhasa is of exalted purpose and moral significance. Therefore, we see people like this, especially in spring and autumn, on their journey of faith, sometimes thousands of miles long, kowtowing every few steps.

Arirang Mass Games

Even during the Arirang Mass Games in North Korea, the ultimate expression of the state ideology, an individual can still sometimes stand out from the crowd and break free of the collective. If only just for a moment. (Photo and caption by Brendyn Zachary)

Iguazu Falls in Brazil

“On my second day visiting the astounding Iguazu falls on the Brazilian side I was forced to change to my telephoto lens as my wide angle had been damaged by the water vapor. In had rained solidly for 10 days prior to my arrival and so the falls were at their most spectacular. Standing on the elevated viewing platform I was able to shoot this school group who stood transfixed, emphasizing the incredible size of the falls. (Photo and caption by Ian Kelsall)”

Volcano Eruption and Golfers

When the huge clouds of ash and smoke covered the horizon of Hawaii, some people just ignored it to continue playing golf.
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

People play golf as an ash plume rises in the distance from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island on May 15, 2018, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. The U.S. Geological Survey said a recent lowering of the lava lake at the volcano’s Halemaumau crater had “raised the potential for explosive eruptions” at the volcano.

(Mario Tama / Getty)

Malawian Boy Running After 4×4

“I took the photo while on my one-month stint in Malawi Africa where I mainly worked in orphan day-care centres, also visiting Mulanji Hospital. The photo was taken from the Mulanji Hospital four-wheel-drive ambulance, travelling on the extremely rough roads from village to village, visiting the sick who were unable to reach the hospital.” Photo taken by Cameron Herweynen.

Sewing Machine

A damaged sewing machine after the cyclone hit, Amtali, Patuakhali, Bangladesh 19 November 2007. EPA/ABIR ABDULLAH

Shelter

Child takes shelter with his mother before the cyclone hit. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

New Year’s Eve, St. Jacques, Perpignan, 2006

This picture of a five year-old gypsy boy was taken on New Year’s Eve 2006 in the gypsy community of St. Jacques, Perpignan, Southern France. For Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the men would gather in the Café in their best suits to drink and dance while their wives would prepare dinner at home. It is quite common in St. Jacques for little boys to smoke.

Riot in the City

Riot in Toulouse, France (March 25th, 2007) after the campaign of a politician.

Jump!

Pain and Beauty

Bhopal Disaster

This photograph from December 4, 1984 shows victims who lost their sight in the Bhopal poison gas tragedy as they sit outside the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India.

From the Series “Children of Black Dust”, Dhaka, Bangladesh

A woman holds her child, blackened by carbon dust. His nose bleeds due to infections caused by exposure to dust and pollution during play in the workshop in Korar Ghat by on the outskirts of Dhaka. Many women bring their children along so they can look after them while working.

Hhaing The Yu

Hhaing The Yu, 29, holds his face in his hand as rain falls on the decimated remains of his home in the Swhe Pyi Tha township, near Myanmar’s capital of Yangon (Rangoon), on Sunday, May 11th, 2008. Cyclone Nargis struck southern Myanmar a week ago leaving millions homeless and has claimed up to 100,000 lives.

Culture

Sandra Gil

A long line of visitors forms in front of Sandra Gil outside the Krome Detention Center in Miami where her husband, Oscar Gonzalez, is being held. On the morning of November 8, Immigration and Customs Enforecment (ICE) officers arrested the family at their home. They detained Gonzalez and released Gil with her son, American born Joshua Gonzalez, 5, with orders to leave for Colombia within weeks, The family was denied asylum after seven years living and working legally in teh country.

Memories

Sitting alone on a little place surrounded by cars traffic. Self-isolation. Waiting for nothing. He talked to me for about an hour. Of a lost life. An ordinary life like mine, like many others. And now…

Tap-Tap

Tap-tap buses waiting to get full and depart for their regular route in the downtown of Port-au-Prince.

Swiss Pilot Yves Rossy

Swiss pilot Yves Rossy, the world’s first man to fly with a jet-powered fixed-wing apparatus strapped to his back, flies during his first official demonstration, on May 14, 2008 above Bex, Switzerland. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

María A.C. (ernieland)

Unknown

Gold Price

In Wall street, a man holds a placard of ” We Buy Gold”, as the gold price has increased due to the current financial crisis or economic melt-down.
New York, Oct 13, 2008.

Child Labor In Egypt

Construction Worker, Soweto Township

Final construction at the Maponya mall in Piville township, Soweto. The 650 million Rand mall is one of the largest shopping centers in South Africa, and its opening is a sign of the commercial awakening of Soweto.

Child Labor. Bangladesh

Child labor is not a new issue in Bangladesh as children here remain one of the most vulnerable groups living under threats of hunger, illiteracy, displacement, exploitation, trafficking, physical and mental abuse. Although the issue of child labor has always been discussed, there is hardly any remarkable progress even in terms of mitigation. 17.5 percent of children aged 5-15 are engaged in economic activities. Many of these children are engaged in various hazardous occupations in factories.

Aftermath of Earthquake in Balakot, Pakistan. 2005

This image was taken about one month after the earthquake in Pakistan. People were still coming down from the mountains trying to find shelter and were suffering from trauma. Winter was on the way and the need for shelter was urgent. This father with his child had been collecting food. I spent ten days in Balakot documenting the situation after the quake. People were still digging for their family members.

Seen in Ludwigsburg, Germany

Huge Wave

Kerby Brown rides a huge wave in an undisclosed location southwest of Western Australia July 6, 2008, in this picture released November 7, 2008 by the Oakley-Surfing Life Big Wave Awards in Sydney. Picture taken July 6. (REUTERS/Andrew Buckley)

The Head of a Male Student

The head of a male student, still alive, trapped under the debris is pictured at the scene of the church school that collapsed on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, November 7, 2008. At least 30 people were killed when the three-story La Promesse school building collapsed while class was in session and some of the walls and debris crushed neighboring homes in the Nerettes community near Port-au-Prince. (REUTERS/Joseph Guyler Delva)

Starving Boy and Missionary

Wells felt indignant that the same publication that sat on his picture for five months without publishing it, while people were dying, entered it into a competition. He was embarrassed to win as he never entered the competition himself, and was against winning prizes with pictures of people starving to death.

(World Press Photo of the Year: 1980 Mike Wells, United Kingdom. Karamoja district, Uganda, April 1980).

Afghan Girl

And of course the Afghan girl, picture shot by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry. Sharbat Gula was one of the students in an informal school within the refugee camp; McCurry, rarely given the opportunity to photograph Afghan women, seized the opportunity and captured her image. She was approximately 12 years old at the time. She made it on the cover of National Geographic next year, and her identity was discovered in 1992.

Sichuan Earthquake

A man is crying while he flips through a family album he found in the rubbles of his old house.

Credits & Resources

Verve Photo – A New Breed of Documentary Photographers
Magnum Photos
Boston
World Press Photo
The Best of Photojournalism (BOP)
Jan Sochor Photography
Lightstalkers
Abir Abdullah
Chad Stevens
Shehzad Noorani
Rene Burri
Paul Fusco
Abbas
Briansokol
David Snyder
Danny Ghitis
Q. Sakamaki
Mat Moyer
Heather McClintock
Maciej Dakowicz was
GMB Akash
John Loomis
Lucia Nimcova
Pieter Ten Hoopen
Hatschiputh
Noesunjoc
Mads Nissen
Allianz Knowledge
San Francisco Sentinel
Kevin Carter
Karl Schuler
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Stockio offers a bunch of free stock photos for your creative projects.

(The article was originally composed by Aquil Akhter, but has been updated since.)

(Featured Image: Depositphotos)

This article is originally published on May 01, 2018, and updated on Jun 23, 2022.

15 Amazing Photographs That Successfully Tell a Story

Every photograph we see tells us a story in some way. Some photographs do it exceptionally well, though. As the popular adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. A really strong image can captivate a viewer's attention and can truly convey a message. Think of the iconic images like The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson, or Dorothea Lange’s Depression-era work, or Churchill’s historic portrait photo by Yousuf Karsh.

This post is a collection of some images that successfully tell a story. Interpreting an image is oftentimes subjective. As you will see below, a human element is usually the main subject of such images as it evokes emotions in the viewer. However, a lack of any human element in a photo can also tell a great story in certain situations. We hope these images inspire you towards storytelling through your photography.

Photo by Thomas LeuthardPhoto by Jon southcoasting

If you'd like to learn how to tell a story with a photograph, take a look at Kent DuFault's guide on effective storytelling.

Photo by Houman Khosrozadeh

Usually in a photo story, a photographer may use a series of images to tell a story. But often times, the photographer if perfectly plans and executes the shot can tell a story through a single image. So plan well before taking the picture as it is the most important part of the storytelling process through photographs.

Select a topic and the message that you are planning to shoot. Think of times, locations and subjects for the story you are trying to tell. Also you need to decide if you want to tell the story by shooting in colour or black and white.

What if you did not plan? All photo stories do not need planning. You can just go to one of your favourite spots or locations and look around for inspiration. You can stay for a while looking at what is happening around and photograph your favourite stories. Sometimes stories can happen in a short moment and as a photographer, you need to be ready to capture the moment.

Photo by Konrad Lembcke

Make sure you include strong emotions in your image and the light used in the scene needs to go well with the story you are planning to tell. Soft moody light for moody scenes or stories and golden light for cheerful or happy stories, etc. The photograph should evoke strong emotions in the viewer.

Photo by Thomas LeuthardPhoto by Professor BopPhoto by Konrad Lembcke

When you are out and about photographing, for example in the streets making street photographs, you need to be quick and look around to find the perfect story. There are stories happening all around and as a photographer, you need to look, plan, trust your instincts, frame and shoot the photographs. We also need to make sure we respect people's privacy and not get into their personal space.

Photo by Thomas LeuthardPhoto by Rajarshi Mitra

Choose the right background or location when photographing your subject, for example, if you are photographing an artist or a labourer at work, you will want to shoot at their work location so you can include the environment and maybe the co-workers so you are able to bring originality into the story you are telling.

Photo by Judit Klein

Try to show relationship in images. This can be achieved by having more than one person in the image and show the bond or relationship between them. This can be relationship between friends, family, etc.

Photo by Bengin Ahmad

Watch out for the composition in your images as it is very important to create powerful storytelling images. Arrange the elements/subjects wisely in the frame so as to draw the viewer's attention into the scene. Also try various focal lengths and aperture values to see what works best for the story you are trying to tell.

Photo by Konrad LembckePhoto by Tuncay

Have a strong subject and keep distractions to a minimum. Having too many elements or subjects in the frame will give rise to a chaotic look and have the viewers' eyes wandering all over the frame. Your photo needs to be powerful enough to have the viewer hooked on to it for the few moments they will be seeing it.

Photo by Syy2005

In general, storytelling through photographs is a complex topic and is subjective. So it is not essential that the story you are telling to tell needs to be understood by everyone viewing the image as it depends on individual's interest and imagination.

Also, do not over process your images but make necessary edits and keep the colours original and the scene in order to show the viewers what you shot at the location. Overprocessing can make the image look unreal and the viewer may not feel the emotions or other feelings you are trying to show through your photographs.

Learn the Art of Storytelling Through Photography

If you'd like to understand what photographic storytelling is and learn how to instill the ‘story element' into a photograph that you want to capture, make sure to check out the guide Effective Storytelling With Photography over at Photzy.

The Effective Storytelling With Photography E-Book. See more details here.

37 photos with history | Blog for Life

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is the motto of a photojournalist. It is their goal to photograph truthful and bold images that tell their story without any words.

According to Mark Hancock, a professional photojournalist is “a visual reporter. The public believes journalists if they tell the truth. The same credibility extends to photojournalists for their visual reporting. This is of great importance for the photographer. There are always many people who look at the world through our photographs and expect to see the truth. Most perceive and understand images.

Man mutilated in Rwanda

World Press Photo of the Year: 1994 USA, Magnum Photos for Time. Rwanda, June 1994. Hutu man mutilated by Interahamwe Hutu militia, who suspected him of sympathizing with Tutsi rebels. James Nachtwey feels that people need photography, he wants to help them understand what is happening in the world, and he believes that photography can have a big impact in shaping public opinion and mobilizing protest.