Narrative Arcs for Social Media
This week I was invited to talk to the Network Leaders who volunteer for Shine, a cancer support charity I have been involved with in one way or another since 2012 when I was recovering from treatment for a rare form of leukaemia.
The Shine Network Leaders are the hard-working volunteers who arrange meet-ups, days out, and evening events all around the country for the people that Shine supports. Those being adults of working age who have had cancer treatment or have had a cancer diagnosis.
A few months ago, Shine’s Social Media Manager had asked if I could impart a little of my event photography expertise to broaden the variety of images that the network leaders take at their events, yet not get in the way of organising and actually engaging with the event itself. This would allow Shine to better document and publicise the events themselves as well as build up a more comprehensive library of marketing images.
Event photography is partly about capturing the story of the day: the setting, the people, the activity, the ambience, and then the end (if there is one.) so I started by mapping out a typical five-point story arc, typical of most books and films, and putting it into the context of the types of event they might organise so that when it comes to photographing event their mindset is less about “I should get some pictures“, and more along the lines of “I am telling a story”.
The second thing we looked at was framing. Event Photography is, more often than not, used in the context of some sort of marketing so when framing a shot it is important to give whoever might use those images down the line plenty of options.
The main question that should guide event photography framing is “Where will the text go?”, and in considering this take a few versions of a photo, adjusting where the negative space sits to allow for logos, text, and other elements to be added at a later date. Whilst also taking a version that assumes the image might be sat on a page on its own.
As learning should always be more about doing rather than just sitting and listening, split the Network Leaders into groups and gave them free rein to create a photographic story of their own, following the narrative arc. Albeit in only 15 minutes.
The results of their efforts were shared via a WhatsApp group onto the big screen and we all enjoyed the narrative arcs of ‘The Art Therapy Afternoon Coffee Chill Event’, ‘The Awkward Biscuit Eating Club’, and finally ‘The Great Tote Bag Heist’.
Shine Cancer Support (2025), ‘The Great Tote Bag Heist’
It was a pretty quick session, but I hope my quick guide to narrative arcs and framing photos for marketing will be useful in capturing the awesome events Shine run in the future, whilst not getting in the way of enjoying the event itself.
If you are in your 20’s, 30’s and 40’s and have been affected by a cancer diagnosis then go to Shine’s website and find your local network. Getting useful advice from Shine’s team, or just spending time with people in the same situation as you can help build confidence to deal with it, and reduce the sense of loneliness and isolation.