Posts
The
Power of Photographs to Inspire Writing
“Words and pictures can work
together to communicate more powerfully than either alone.” William
Albert Allard
American Photographer
Show a photograph to a child, and
the youngster will point to it, trace its image, and respond with a variety of
emotions. Show another to an adult, and you get a frown, a smile, or a
gesture—rarely will you draw a blank. Then show a photo, or a series of photos,
to people at any level, and they’ll respond with many different ideas that will
lead to the creation of many interesting poems, essays, and other works.
Why do students respond so
enthusiastically to graphic images? Here’s one theory. Early humans drew
pictures on the walls of caves. That’s visual orientation, the kind of
communication that doesn’t depend on the written word. Then along came paper
and ink, and with them, word orientation. Meticulously copying texts, monks
labored for centuries with this kind of mindset. True, they also embellished
these works with colorful designs and images—the illuminated manuscript— but
the text prevailed and the visual orientation of the cave was slowly being
edged out by attention to the written word.
Then came the printing press
followed by machines that could set type and reproduce images that would have
astounded the medieval monks who labored in their cells. Later, during the 19th
Century, innovators discovered how to capture images on film, and still
photographs and motion pictures were born. During the 20th Century,
children in schools found themselves in groups called “Bluebirds” and “Robins,”
where they were encouraged to master the printed word. Frozen in time, little
Johnny and Betty roamed the pages of primary readers or scratched out weekly
compositions on topics like “My Vacation” or “My Favorite Pet.”
Today the pendulum of history is
swinging back toward an emphasis on visual images. The explosion that began
with the invention of photography recalled our early attempts to communicate by
drawing on the walls of caves. From still photography came motion pictures.
Then came television, and what was a trickle burst into a torrent. It was, in a
sense, a return to the cave. Finally, the digital revolution has converted the
torrent of images into a tsunami that floods the senses and is virtually
impossible to ignore.
Often maligned but never out of
sight, these visual images captivate us. Show students a simple photograph of
waves beating against the shore and you’ll be amazed by their responses. Some
will recall memories of seaside childhoods; others will visualize sea stories,
shipwrecks, mysteries of the deep, and more. Still others will venture into the
abstract—the world of simile, metaphor, and personification—perhaps
transcribing a bit of themselves into their writing.
For
teachers who recognize the power of photographic images to inspire writing, the
rewards are great. No longer will students complain, “I don’t know what to
write about.” Why is this so? Perhaps it is because there is something magical
about photographs; something that causes students to respond spontaneously and
creatively; something that reaches into the subconscious and triggers
responses.
A Light Bulb
One of the many good things about
using photos to inspire writing in the classroom is that you do not have to
look very far to discover suitable images. Consider, for example, a simple
photo of a light bulb and the ideas it triggered in the mind of Becky Brown, a
student at Peak To Peak Charter School, Lafayette, Colorado.
Inspiration
So cheerful
Yet so grim
The inspiration hits.
The pencil caresses paper
Turning dreams into realities.
The words flow freely,
Unhindered.
Simply written as thought,
As fragments pieced together
From disorganization to art.
The pencil writes still,
As if it has a mind of its own.
The words just keep coming
And you sit, helpless to stem the
flow
Like the mouse versus the mountain.
You keep your head down
Oblivious to the world
Until the poem is done
And the inspiration trickles away
Like the stream in the desert.
It
could be that digging into students for personal responses, abstract notions,
creative concepts, and subconscious ideas is the real value of using
photographs to inspire writing. But that is not the end. Photographs can also
be used to teach such writing skills as sense impressions, cause and effect,
and analysis.
A Simple Photo
No
photograph is too simple or mundane to stimulate writing. Take, for example, a
picture of the exterior of a deserted house. Gloomy and low-keyed, it lends
itself to many interpretations. But it also makes possible the teaching of many
skills. “What’s the difference,” you might ask, “between the appearance of the
structure shown in the photo and the way it must have been when it was new?
What do you think happened to the people who once lived in this house?”
Responses will vary, of course, but quite often a student will come up with a
gem like the following by Eve Milrod, a student at Baldwin Senior High School,
Baldwin, New York.
Scarred and Pitted
The old house is scarred
And pitted. It once
was smooth and shiny.
Its windows are two eyes
Gazing out at nowhere
Devoid of glass.
Shadows lurk inside
Reminders, it would seem
Of long forgotten occupants.
Man's Best Friend
Even
a simple photo of a dog painted on a doorway can serve as inspiration for
writing. A student of psychology, astronomy, and philosophy at Massbay College
in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Rose Scherlis responded to this image with the
following poem.
The Dog With No Name
Your furry head peeked out at meYou lived on a banana field in Costa Rica,
And it was beautiful, but the pesticides
For years underneath your delicate paws
Had twisted them until they grew like poison ivy
Bent in the wrong directions.
Your ear was tattered, a page in a book
With the corner folded down,
Signs of an ongoing war
With a world so menacing
When seen from way down there.
But still your tail wagged
Like a stick in the hand of a drummer,
And your fur shone
Mottled with brown splotches,
Just puddles of mud
Surrounding your two copper eyes.
Paired with such keywords as dogs,
loyalty, friend, and dedication, this photo—or one that is
similar—will trigger ideas leading to student writing, either poetry or prose.
What’s more you can always add a quotation like this one by Gilda Radner to
encourage even more creative thinking: “I think dogs are the most amazing
creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role models for
being alive.”
Different Points of View
And how about an exercise in point of view? Using the photo of
the protester shown here, divide the class into groups of twos, and ask the
members of each group to respond in writing from the point of view of either
the woman holding the sign or an observer who disagrees with the sign’s
message. Some students may choose to do this in the form of a dialogue. If you
really like to organize things, arrange other appropriate photographs into such
opposing themes as children and senior citizens, urban and rural, handcrafting
and mass production, leisure and industry—whatever will elicit responses from
student writers.
Perhaps
by now you are thinking of other ways in which you can inspire writing by using
photographs as stimuli. Here are just a few. (1) Use family photos to encourage
writing about parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, (2) Use photographs to
trigger the writing of haiku, (3) Create an anthology containing student photos
and the written works the photos inspired, (4) Use photographs to encourage
students to act out what they see in the photos before they write about them,
(5) Simply project several photographs on a screen without comment and let the
students take it from there.
In
the long run, what approach you take really doesn’t matter. When you use
photographs to inspire writing, the images speak for themselves. What’s more,
the poetry or prose your students will create will be more honest and
meaningful than most other student writing you have read.
About
the Author
A
veteran of the Korean War, Hank Kellner is a retired Associate Professor of
English currently based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He is the author of 125
Photos for English Composition Classes (J. Weston Walch, 1978); How to Be a Better Photographer (J.
Weston Walch, 1980); Write What You See: 99 Photos To Inspire Writing (Prufrock
Press, 2009); and, with Elizabeth Guy, the co-author of Reflect and Write:
300 Poems and Photographs to Inspire Writing (Prufrock Press, 2013). His
other writings and photographs have appeared in hundreds of publications
nationwide. Visit his blog at hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com, and read more
about using photographs to inspire writing at
http://www.creativity-portal.com/prompts/kellner/.
See also Hank Kellner’s
e-books at https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=hank+kellner
