How do you make a photo-story? You do it and see how it goes.

Over two weeks and maybe 450 photos, getting sand blasted and hailed on, suffering a nest of ratt-weilers and camera wrangling, I put together a photo-story short.

Fairly early on I decided to produce in black and white. With natural light and a necessarily high ISO value, many of the original photos took on a natural grain that was accentuated in the grey-scale. Adding a high tonal contrast in post-production made for a gritty, moody and almost vintage feel that suited the subject matter and this was carried through to the rest of the footage. I hope this created a consistency throughout the project.

The project is paced slowly, setting the scene, introducing the character and his environment and building the story. Foley sounds have been applied to lead the story and assist in atmosphere.

Many of the transitions are fades (between shots and to black) and these are meant to convey a sense of passing time. Several shots feature subtle zooms to suggest travel, a movement through the scene. Where harder cuts are used, the intention is to provide contrast with the subtly of the general pace of the project.

The scenes are paced to build from a moody, slow beginning towards the finale which is more up-tempo, brighter and, ultimately, to a happy ending.