Did I make a mistake when I set my writing aside to self-express myself through photography? Having returned now to the written word, I have been contemplating — I do that a lot — what if anything I can take from photography into my writing. Did I waste ten years of my life during which I could have written the next great literary masterpiece? Well, maybe. But I believe nothing we do in life, even menial, unpleasant jobs, goes to waste. Here are a few ways photography has shaped my writing.

I met some great photographer protagonists

In my work and through interaction with other photographers, I “met” a couple of characters who became protagonists in my novels, Pink Ballerina and Decisive Moment. Both of these characters strive to make sense of their lives with photography and art as a refuge from and counterbalance to the challenges they face. I wouldn’t have had a clue about this mindset without my years as a photographer.

I experienced visual story-telling’s power of efficiency

A while back I wrote about the differences between image-based vs. word-driven story-telling. Rather than rehash that here, I’ll add another observation: the most direct, simplest image tells the tale. Photographs that include the proverbial kitchen sink turn into messy, unfocused images that don’t tell a particular story, or where some elements that should have stayed out of the frame detract from the point the photographer meant to convey.

In writing we often use descriptive passages to draw pictures for our readers. Here too we can fall into the kitchen sink trap. Not describing enough is not an option, but knowing the exact detail of the lace embroidered on a woman’s dress can get laborious. Unless the lace is the point, find the most direct way to mention it, or leave it out if it detracts from the true point of the passage. Simplifying to the barest, most efficient wording that gets your point across is your best way to go. Don’t simplify so much that the point gets slashed, though.

Know the rules, but feel first

To improve my photography, I picked up several good books and read some nice articles that told me all about the rules. The rules of thirds, for instance, and the principle of simplification (mentioned above) guided my photography. Likewise, writers pick up a set of rules and guidelines to inform the way they write. Here’s what I found in photography, though: strict adherence to the rules, a form of painting by the numbers, lead me to lifeless, so-what photos. My experience with writing isn’t much different.

I don’t advocate chucking the rules. We must know them, precisely so that we know when they don’t apply and so that we are aware when we’re breaking them and why. Keep them in your back pocket. Know them well enough until you don’t have to think about them while formulating your form of self-expression. Then do what feels right.

That’s right.

Frame the photo until it feels right, then press the shutter button and move on. Write the words that feel right to you at the moment, look back, and go “huh, yeah, I broke that rule, but am I OK with that?” If the answer comes back, “Yes” move on to the next sentence. Later on when you edit, see if it still feels right, and if not, then make it feel right again. The thing you don’t do is ask how the editor or critic will wrinkle his nose at it. You want readers to feel your writing, so don’t rob it of life with by the numbers/rules writing. Everyone else is doing that already.

Dig beneath the surface, look for the core

Photos can be deceptive in their straight-forwardness. Am I just showing you a dead tree stump with a flower growing out of it, or am I representing the renewal, resiliency and persistence of life? As in life, that which we experience on the surface does not tell the whole story. Not even close. In fact, in some cases what we see on the surface may totally mislead us or misrepresent the deeper reality within. We can fall into the same trap in our writing. An exciting, fast-paced story that doesn’t expose all that undergirds it may amount to little more than the nutritional value of whip cream puffs. There’s nothing in an exciting thriller (of the sort I love to write) that precludes the exploration of richer themes and depths of meaning.

I’m sure photography infuses my writing in a few more ways, but these are the main ones I’ve taken away. Take them for a ride and see how you find them.