Why do we tell stories? Personal notes on visual storytelling in photography

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2313222_(Table of contents)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between visual storytelling and photography practice over the history, reasons and different approaches of storytelling. Besides, it aims to evaluate the role and effects of visual storytelling on my photography practice with examples from the history of photography and visual arts. During this evaluation, this study questions the reasons for choosing photography as a means of storytelling and explains the development along with the production process of my photographic series titled “Ida: The Story of a Mountain”. This photographic study conducted through practicing a personal narrative approach, aims to experience that geography by means of photography in the context of the relationship between human and nature in the region of Mount Ida. This study, which spans three years in total and is still ongoing, does not aim to make determinations on the economic, political and sociological conditions of this geography. It examines the relationship I have established as a photographer in the context of the relationship between the guest and the host.