A resident physician with a need for story.

To me, story is the greatest art form of all. It empathetically engages the mind and thereby delivers new experiences. Underlying all of my creative interests is this passion for story. Previously, my chief storytelling outlet was filmmaking (as you can see in this feature length documentary of a backpacking trip across the Grand Canyon). However, the harsh time demands of video production don't mesh well with my life as a physician. As such, I started committing myself to exploring photography, seeking to capture the same sort of storytelling possible with video, in photos. This led to my passion for what I call "Photographic Narratives" (visit my website to read more on how I define photographic narratives, and my path to this storytelling medium).

This term "photographic narrative" is thrown around a lot, but I found that it's usually used to describe a collection of images, which together, demonstrate a concept rather than tell a true story. You can read my nuanced thoughts on this topic on my website, but put shortly, I think story should have a character and some temporal dimension. And so, in my photographic narratives, I present a group of photos meant to be viewed together in sequence. This sequence of photos tells a true story, almost like a collection of stills from a movie. Of course, Flickr is perhaps best set up for displaying individual images, but you can still create stories using albums, or you can post full sequential narratives on your own website! For example, a trip up Mauna Kea to watch the sunset and gaze at the stars, or an epic day riding trains and planes to reach Denali basecamp.

Thinking of photography in service of a story, rather than for the purpose of creating individual beautiful images has made it more engaging. Instead of capturing snapshots of beautiful places, I want to take people through an experience. I would encourage every photographer to give this approach a try, and if you do, please tag me! I'd love to see how others create their own photographic narratives!