Through the Lens Sports Photography Stories | No 12 – Do images really tell stories?

We often say that images tell stories.

It’s something that comes up a lot in photography, and if I’m honest it’s never really something I’ve fully got or bought into.

That said, I’ve definitely said it myself. More than once.

And not just in sport either. Pretty much across all the styles of photography I’ve had a go at.

But as I’ve started getting deeper into producing images for others, it’s something I’ve found myself questioning more.

What’s actually telling the story? The photo, the person looking at it, or the words that go with it?

Joy to be there? A successful lift? Getting psyched up?

Take something simple.

A player takes a mark.

It might be a good mark. High, contested, full stretch, the kind of moment you’re hoping to catch.

But without anything else around it, it’s still just a good mark.

That same photo could be early in a game, or it could be in the last couple of minutes where it decides the result.

From the image alone, you wouldn’t really know.

It also depends on how you see it.

The same moment can look completely different depending on the angle.

You could have two photographers shooting the same play and come away with two very different images.

Not because one is better than the other, just because they’ve seen it differently.

One might show the clean mark.

Another might show the pressure coming from behind.

Another might have the ball just leaving the hands, or just about to be spoiled.

Same moment, but it doesn’t feel the same when you look at it.

And because of that, people take different things from each image.

One might feel like control.

Another might feel like chaos.

Another might feel like it was about to fall apart.

Is it defeat? Is it exhaustion? Is it preparation?

Even when we think we’re reading emotion from an image, I’m not sure we’re always right. We’ve all had someone ask if we’re angry when we’re not.

From the outside it looks one way, but the reality is something else.

Photos are a bit the same.

They can suggest emotion, but they don’t confirm it.

And even when context gets added, that doesn’t necessarily make it the subject’s story either.

A caption, a write up, even what I say about an image, is still my take on what I saw.

Then someone else looks at it and takes something different again.

So instead of one story, you end up with a few different versions of what that moment might be.

In sport this stands out more.

A photo can show effort, pressure, interaction, all of that.

But what it meant in the game is often missing.

Time on the clock, score, what was on the line.

Without that, the image still works, but the meaning is open.

And I don’t think that devalues photography.

If anything, it makes me think more about how the image is used alongside words.

Learning to ride? First cyclocross? community inclusion in sport?

For me, that’s where captions come in.

Naming players, teams, the moment.

Not because the photo isn’t enough, but because I don’t think it tells the full story on its own.

It gives the image something to sit on.

Even then, it’s still my interpretation, but it helps anchor it a bit closer to what actually happened.

So I don’t really see images as telling stories in a complete way.

More that they show moments.

And those moments can support a story, suggest something, or make you feel something, but they don’t lock it in.

Through the Lens is my way of exploring those moments — the ones that show what sport gives us beyond the scoreboard. Each week I’ll keep searching for them, camera in hand, and sharing what I find.

Curious what others think.

Do images tell the story, or do they just help us build one around what we’re seeing?