Why photograph a series of images when one good image can also tell a story? Photographing a series of images with a common thread asks the photographer to become focused on a subject or theme. That subject could be a person, place, or an abstract idea. It is wonderful getting your teeth into a project. From the initial idea to organising and photographing it. There is a great sense of achievement creating a photo story that flows and captures the essence of a person, place, or event.

Two weeks ago I was invited to Ravensthorpe as part of Fitzy Unearthed Project. Helping locals to create visual stories which will ultimately populate a YouTube channel created by the Community Resource Centre. What better way to learn about a region than from stories told by the locals? 

I stayed in Ravensthorpe for 4 days and held an evening workshop at the CRC, a morning session at the Ravensthrope District High School. A photo walk down the main street and finally an editing and ordering workshop where we turned all our images into coherent stories or abstract series. During the weekend I also visited each participant to help them with their story and also take their portrait

At the end of the weekend we printed off the images and edited and ordered them together.

I was thrilled with the ideas and images created. Some people chose to shoot a narrative, others a series of portraits and a few people chose abstract themes.

Karrina Smallman photographed the Fibonacci Spiral in nature. Different spirals included shells, plants, spider webs and even aboriginal rock art.

Aidi Kivimagi photographed the connection between her man and his dog

Meghan Symonds wanted to show how dogs spend much of their day locked up so she used her own dog to photograph an emotional series depicting this.

Jarvis Smallman photographed two very strong photo stories. One called Glass factory showing the ocean’s many moods and the other showing fascinating creatures close up.

Megan Lemon photographed a series of portraits of two friends showing their different personalities.

I have recently changed the format of my community projects so that I stay in a community for four days instead of visiting three times. I found that people are much more productive if they have a deadline and that having a longer timeframe to complete a project does not make you more productive. Fitzy Unearthed was a great example of this.