Great storytelling can help your audience connect emotionally to your images. But understanding how to weave a narrative into your photography can be confusing. How can one photo tell a whole story, with a beginning, middle and end?

JP has spent the last 5 years photographing the same group of Mexica or Aztec, dancers. In that time he learned how connected the Mexica are to their mythology. To the stories passed down across many generations. Stories that, in some cases, are thousands of years old. That's when he decided that as these stories were so vital to Mexica culture, they needed to play a bigger role in his portraits.

This is a talk is about what happens next. About how a desire to tell actual stories visually ending up changing his entire creative process, and the way people react to his photos.

Using examples from his Cultural Photography work in Mexico, JP Stones explores different ways to improve that emotional connection. Including how myths and character archetypes can be harnessed for better storytelling. Working with narratives won’t just change the way people engage with your photos, it will fundamentally change the way you create them. Because that narrative can also be used to guide decisions on posing, composition, lighting, and color. Focusing your creative decisions and ensuring you create cohesive work.

In this talk, JP will cover

* How being more intentional has changed his approach to photography.
* Why his goal isn't just creating beautiful work, but making an emotional connection.
* How much of a story can one photo really tell?
* How thinking in stories will help guide your entire creative decision-making process.