A Story of Pictures

The summer of covid-19 lockdown was a long one. For my family, our world was reduced to working and playing in our home and yard, and going for walks around the neighborhood at least twice a day - even in the sweltering southern heat!

And yet, something amazing happened for me that only happens when we’re paying very close attention to what’s right in front of us. I saw my family, especially my children, growing closer every day - laughing together and leaning on each other through the difficulty of a situation we had little control over. I don’t mean to suggest there wasn’t arguing or times when all we wanted to do was get away from each other, but I found myself wanting to capture the preciousness of this time together.

I decided to stage a “photo shoot” outside one day as an afternoon activity to help fill the time. Little did I know that these photos would tell the story of that summer with our children so eloquently - and without words! After saving the image files to my laptop and editing them using Adobe Lightroom, I arranged them as a photo book in an online photo service and ordered a printed copy to keep.

These pictures tell the story of two girls facing the wilds of the unknown from their own, all-too-familiar backyard. That summer their physical world may have been small, but their experiences of home and family were large.

For resources on telling stories through digital photography, check out this Tutorial on the LF! Hub (free during the month of October), and plan to attend our next Learning Live web session on Tuesday, October 24th at 1:00 pm Eastern. I’ll be there to give you tips and answer your questions about finding, creating, and using digital images to help tell the story of your organization.

written by Sarah Lawing