Photo Storytelling

What Documentary Photography Taught Me About Shooting With Intention (Thanks to Tish Murtha)
Video Tutorials

What Documentary Photography Taught Me About Shooting With Intention (Thanks to Tish Murtha)

There’s a difference between taking pictures of people and actually photographing them. I spent years on the lifestyle and travel side of things before I really felt that distinction in my chest. I could frame a shot, nail the exposure, find the light. But something was missing from a lot of my work, and I couldn’t name it until I started paying closer attention to photographers who built their careers on truth rather than aesthetics.

What Empathy Actually Looks Like in Documentary Photography (Lessons from Jim Mortram)
Video Tutorials

What Empathy Actually Looks Like in Documentary Photography (Lessons from Jim Mortram)

There’s a question I get asked constantly on my Sunday morning photo walks: “How do you get strangers to actually let you photograph them?” My answer used to be pretty surface-level. Smile, be friendly, introduce yourself. But those are tactics, not a foundation. It wasn’t until I sat with this Sean Tucker tutorial featuring documentary photographer Jim Mortram that I found the right word for what actually makes that kind of photography work.