Storytelling and Sharing Your Experiences
Image by Gary Hough
“It will be no longer enough to produce a useful product. A story or legend must be built into it, a story the embodies value beyond utility. What is happening now is that the story that shapes our feelings about a product has become an enormous part of what we buy when we buy a product.”
Rolf Jenson, The Futurist.
Occasionally, you find yourself in one of those circumstances where an opportunity arises and you must react. This happened to me at our Santa Fe Event this April 2018. By the way, we had a good turnout and a great time!
There I was, minding my own business in another Mexican restaurant being told by my compadres to “eat your rice and beans.” I was numb from eating the same dishes again and again and longed for a thick juicy Beefalo prime that I cook frequently on the barbeque at our house in Seattle. I was wallowing in self-pity when, suddenly, there she was.
Fortunately, I had my CL with the pancake lens with me, and the compadre to my left provided some cover. I slowly grabbed the CL in my right hand, and began to raise it to eye level when I began to think what if she noticed me – she did not look happy. From the look on her face, maybe this was her fifth husband and she was devising a plot to do him in; maybe she was still angry from an argument they just had, or maybe she was just applying lotion to her hands. These and other contorted thoughts raced through my demented mind as I raised the camera to eye level and fired off a shot. I fired off another. My blood pressure lowered, the adrenalin subsided, and the sweat left my brow. It’s tough being a top-notch world class photojournalist-but somebody has to do it!
Telling Stories
We at LHSA, with our love of photography, are in the catbird seat to share our imagery with like-minded Leica enthusiasts. We all love a good image and a good story (perhaps embellished) to go along with it. I’ll bet that each of you has many stories and images that you could share with your friends at LHSA.
I’ll even bet that you are thinking of one right now as you read this article in Focal Point. Why not dig out some images, write up a short story that adds some flavor and send it to the Richard at info@lhsa.org? Maybe we could start a contest with a prize for the most hilarious, the most colorful, the most social redeeming, the most whatever. We all have photographic talent; why not share with your friends and let’s have some fun?
Stories shape our beliefs and actions, they define us in context of other people. They are the truth as each of us perceives.
Benjamin Franklin once told me, “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I might remember. Involve me and I’ll understand.”
We are entering a new phase of storytelling with the rise of social media. Storytelling is widely recognized as our natural response to memory. Stories connect us to ourselves and our experiences.
The LHSA story is also being crafted by our stories and by those of our members and targets. People don’t just buy what you sell, they buy what you stand for, they want to be a part of something that enhances their lives. They want to believe in our brand.
Crafting resonant, emotionally moving brand narratives, and promoting those narratives through storytelling, that educate, inspire, engage and that ignite real responses in our members and targets is what we need to do to successfully complete our transformational journey. You can help us along the way. You can be a part of this journey as we become ‘The go to place for all things Leica.”
I look forward to seeing your shared images and storytelling. Please send them to Richard for publication.
Happy Shooting,
Gary Hough, LHSA President