I’m not giving talks right now — but you can still bring one of these photos home. Shop prints →
Photography Talks
I’m not giving talks right now, but here’s one of my favorites: Storytelling for Photographers.
Great storytelling will help an audience connect emotionally to your images, but understanding how to weave narrative into your photography is far from obvious.
I’ve given my talks over 250 times since 2020. Each one is an exploration into Narrative Photography, using videos and photos from my photoshoots here in Mexico.
What an amazing photography talk! JP’s work transcends photography alone.
JP has spent the last decade photographing the same group of Mexica, or Azteca, dancers. In that time he learned how connected the Mexica are to their mythology, to ancient stories passed down across generations. That’s when he realised that, as these stories were so vital to Mexica culture, they needed to play a bigger role in his portraits.
Thought provoking and inspirational. Unlike anything we have had before!
This is a photography talk is about what happened next. About how a desire to tell stories visually, ended 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.
An incredible presentation! Our members are still talking about this!
JP has given talks for professional organizations and camera clubs across the US, Mexico, and the UK. His work has been featured on the cover of multiple publications, including Good Light Magazine. He’s been teaching his Cultural Workshops for close to 10 years. You can watch some of his videos below on his YouTube channel.
About the talk: a live 90-minute photography talk by JP Stones followed by a Q&A, given in English, French and Spanish. It isn’t available right now, but you can still shop prints of the photos.
Storytelling for Photographers
TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS PHOTOGRAPHY TALK
- How much of a story can one photo really tell?
- How being more intentional can changed your approach to photography.
- How photography can be about making an emotional connection as well as creating beautiful work.
- How thinking in stories can help guide your entire creative decision-making process.
GET A FEEL FOR WHAT MY PHOTOGRAPHY TALKS ARE ALL ABOUT
My YouTube channel is a good way to get a feel for who I am.
PHOTOGRAPHY TALKS TESTIMONIALS
See what people who attended my photography talks had to say:
Wow! That was the best presentation I’ve seen in a long time.
JP. Wow! That was the best presentation I’ve seen in a long time. Your images are absolutely brilliant! The use of the word “story” in the context of photography has always troubled me. But the way you explained things, it really gave me a much better understanding of the term and how to go about visually communicating it. Thank you so much for the presentation. I have a limited number of living photographers that I call my favorites and I have now added your name to that list.
An Incredible Presentation!
Thank you for your incredible presentation.Your talk was like a gift that kept on giving, or maybe like a good story that keeps unfolding. You were so effective in creating a mindset of not just striving to capture a nice image but to establish the framework for conveying a narrative. Your images had so much depth, not just conveyed by creative exposure but through luring the viewers’ imagination into the image. You successfully created captures that prompted questions about the character, more that just viewing a model. Reading between the lines, it was evident though out your presentation that you think and plan your images.
A very entertaining, inspirational and thought-provoking session.
A very entertaining, inspirational and thought-provoking session. JP's passion for photographic storytelling is obvious and his message contagious. He inspired our members to consider how to best weave a narrative into their images. I purchased a smoke machine and have the inspiration to include in my portraiture!
You even motivated some individuals to purchase fog machines!
Everybody really enjoyed your presentation last month – very informative. You even motivated some individuals to purchase fog machines. I know Denice got hers 2 days later!
Our members are still talking about this talk!
Haslemere Camera Club members thoroughly enjoyed an inspiring evening via Zoom with JP Stones in which he took us through his recent professional development – how he recognised the need to develop a new photographic philosophy, the steps he took to perfect his new approach and how he applied this to theatrical, sporting and cultural portraiture, creating a clear and compelling narrative in each case. Our members are still talking about this talk - a great success!
Enlightening!
JP presented us with a really terrific program. It was enlightening and very well organized.
A passionate and inspiring photographer!
A passionate and inspiring photographer, JP gave our audience plenty to think about and was an excellent start to the new year for us!
So much more we could hear you share with us about this topic!
It seems like there is still so much more we could hear you share with us about this topic! Your presentation on Storytelling for Photographers was very informative and very enjoyable.
Enjoyed your presentation very much!
Enjoyed your presentation very much and you gave us some great ideas and practical suggestions. One good thing that came out of the pandemic is the acceptance of distance learning and great presenters being available for small clubs like ours.
An informative and thought provoking evening.
An informative and thought provoking evening. Really helpful in stimulating the thought process to help us achieve the sort of ‘narrative’ we want to get across but sometime fall short. The devil is in the details, and we could see that in the way you reframed your images to demonstrate the point and achieve the intention. Thank you so much JP.
I was engrossed all evening and learned much.
have been to many, many camera club presentations and I must say that JP Stones talk on Storytelling in Photography last night was right up there. His photographs are first rate. His location in Mexico gives an interesting new subject setting and perspective I've not seen before. And in the presentation he openly and generously describes his journey and methods of photography. I was engrossed all evening and learned much.
We came away with a better idea of how to tell stories.
JP gave us an energetic and informative presentation. His theme of "intentional photography" was something we hadn't seen before and was quite refreshing. I particularly appreciated the critique of his own work with the hope that we might learn a thing or two. We all came away with a better idea of how to tell stories with a simple picture.
A very interesting and enjoyable evening.
It was great to hear how JP made a connection with his models and was able to portray them as a character(s) in his story. JP's images were stunning and very atmospheric – these, together with the explanation of his intentions for making each image, and how he placed his models for the best effect - made for a very interesting and enjoyable evening.
So many positive comments from our club!
It was great - so many positive comments from our club. Its talks like yours that make us bless the invention and use of zoom.
Our members were on the edge of their seats for the entire time!
Thanks for an excellent presentation last night! Our members were on the edge of their seats for the entire time!
Our members enjoyed it and were inspired!
Thanks so much for the knowledge and insight you shared with our club. I know our members enjoyed it and were inspired.
We are all enriched by this experience.
JP's method asks the photographer to build cohesion by being true to the intention and letting slip those rules we have all been taught about how portraits "should" be shot. The beauty of this method is how it helps produce narrative work of power. Any scenario, properly planned, will likely produce powerfully narrative results. JP's work is exceptional and inspiring. His delivery was well paced, comprehensive and motivational . He brought the exotic into our homes - and a new method into our thought processes. We are all enriched by this experience.
Very unique, very innovative, and very professional!
Storytelling for Photographers, by JP Stones, is very unique, very innovative, and very professional. His quest to build a narrative into his still shots puts a whole new slant on what we can do with photography, and really got us thinking through a whole new paradigm of what we can do with our cameras. He shared with us how to work with models, clothing, background, lighting, the use of smoke, where to have the models looking (not at the camera), things we sometimes don't consider. We recommend him to you!
You have reset our perspectives!
Your presentation this evening to Sale Photographic Society showed a refreshing approach to our art. In fact you have reset our perspectives on what we should seek. The images which you used to illustrate your approach were superb. We will think more about telling a story with our images in the future.
Thought provoking and inspirational.
Thank you so much for your wonderful presentation this evening. Everyone present found it thought provoking and inspirational. I could tell by people’s expressions that they really enjoyed it. I for one found myself thinking of ways to start setting up some storytelling shots. We look forward to welcoming you back again!
Everyone enjoyed the striking photography!
Thanks very much for the extremely interesting presentation. I loved the way you were so honest about how you felt about your work and it was interesting to see how sometimes, just a tiny change can make such a huge difference in a photo (I'm thinking of your Mother's Day image). There were definitely some good pointers for all of our club members to keep in mind, and everyone enjoyed the striking photography!
A winning blend!
JP's work is so cinematic each image is a feast for the eyes. He spoke full of enthusiasm for photography, explaining narratives and the thought process into how to tell stories with your images. I found JP's talk really inspirational and it was one of the best ones we've have had. I look forward to trying some of his storytelling ideas in the studio next season. He was really engaged with the audience and answered questions throughout the talk, I really learnt a lot. The chat box was full of compliments 'Beautiful pic' 'Epic' 'Stunning' and so on. I would happily recommend JP Stones to any club.
We are all still talking about our evening with JP!
We are all still talking about our evening with JP. He is a dream guest for Camera Clubs! Affordable, humble, quick to respond and equally good in front of the camera as he is behind it!
I thought your presentation was fabulous!
I thought your presentation was fabulous! It really makes one think about the reason behind taking a photo. They always say you have to tell a story and your photos really hit it out of the ball park in that respect. The culture of the Mexica people really came through as well. Great work!
Bravo pour vos photos, pour leur esthétique et leur visée narrative
Je tiens sincèrement à vous remercier pour votre présentation de mercredi dernier. J'ai trouvé votre approche extrêmement intéressante, et donnant matière à réflexion. Je suis sûre qu'à l'avenir je vais pouvoir m'inspirer de cette perspective, ainsi que de votre message de cohérence globale. Bravo pour vos photos, pour leur esthétique et leur visée narrative.
Every screen remained live until the end – not one dropout!
Thank you for your excellent talk. It was very well received. Every screen remained live until the end - not one dropout! Our members commented on the impact created by your storytelling approach to photography.....clearly the message is getting through!
I found your talk both engaging and inspirational.
I would also like to personally add my thanks for last night. I found your talk both engaging and inspirational, and the photography was excellent. Thanks once again.
An invaluable session!
An excellent presentation! JP covered intentional narrative photography very clearly, and in such a way that everyone will be able to put the concepts into practice. We are often reminded (mainly by competition judges!) of the value of a narrative image, and I think this will be the first time that most of our club members will have been taken through the subject in such a detailed and informative way. An invaluable session.
JP demonstrated a different way of looking at things, for which we are grateful.
We really enjoyed seeing how JP constructed his images to express stories. The resulting portraits are superb! JP demonstrated a different way of looking at things, for which we are grateful
Thanks so much for the inspiration!
On behalf of our Camera Club, I just want to forward a big thank you for your inspiring presentation last night. Your thoughts and approach on how you have evolved and improved to reach current level was an amazing story in itself, and personally I walked away with a lot of ideas on how to change my approach to photography and hopefully improve the final result, and I am confident that will be the case for most of the audience as well. I have always thought that a story-telling element always separates the great images from the good images. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Storytelling for Photographers (90 mins)
I’m not giving talks right now — but you can still bring one of these photos home.
ABOUT JP STONES
“I started my Cultural Photography Workshops because I was frustrated at not being able to create the travel photos I wanted to. Candid photos are fine, but I wanted my portraits to show the personality and history of the people I was photographing.”
“A great portrait is a blend of multiple factors: the model, the environment, the lighting, and the composition. But as a tourist you can’t control many of these factors. I wanted to change that, bringing tourists and local communities together, in a harmonious way. The more we learn about someone else’s culture, the more we’re likely to embrace and respect it. As a foreigner in Mexico, that idea means a lot to me.”
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