March Tip

Visual Story Telling, Part 2, Association

As mentioned last month, when we read a book, we all read the same words, but each of us creates a unique vision of the story. With a photograph, we all visually see the same image, but each of us creates a unique story out of that vision.
Intentionally creating a visual story can be done in a number of ways. Three of my favorites include Structure, Association, and Evocation.

This month I want to share the idea of Association. What I’m really talking about is Primal Association, a gut level response. Association at its center is the act of linking ideas and feelings together. It utilizes and links what is already familiar in the viewers mind, the stories that are already there. In primal association you create and associate strong emotion with their story.

For example, you can create a photograph of a familiar landmark, and people who know it will have some kind of associative response to their personal experience, no matter the quality of the image. The goal with primal association is to take that association and raise it to primal intensity. It’s the difference between a viewer saying, “yeah, I’ve been there” vs. “Oh my! Honey, come look at this. We were right there.”

How is this done? By adding an element that links the viewer to the place with a primal response. Examples include: danger, peace, adventure, scale, transportation (as in transporting the viewer into the place), and comfort. Take their experience and associations with the place and elevate that story emotionally.

An example is my piece, Between Storms. Everyone in western Washington is familiar with ‘the Mountain.’ Few have seen it in deep winter, and fewer yet in a winter dawn blazing with violet-magenta sunrise color. When people see ‘their mountain’ lit so perfectly and associated with high adventure, they are struck. I am deeply honored to say that the piece has brought tears to the eyes of more than one Washingtonian. It does so through the power of association.