Picture perfect: we asked the experts what makes an outstanding photo story

“The key point I look for in a photo story — or indeed any artwork — is whether it prompts me to look at the world in a different way. I’m not thinking of a piece of campaigning photojournalism here. Rather the way a great story can knock you off balance through the force of its aesthetics or the particular sensibility of the photographer responsible for it.

“What I always say and what has always served me well, is just make a work that has meaning and value to you. As soon as you go looking to get “noticed,” you’ll never get noticed. You have to be driven by fire and driven by the desire to say something. If you can dig deep within yourself and understand what motivates you to make work in the first place, ideas will come to you that have ultimate significance. In other words, who are you as a photographer, and what are you trying to say? Or, even simpler, think of the Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” In other words, make something that matters and others will respond. Outstanding stories to me are ones where I sense the photographer is absolutely committed to their story, they have a total and almost frenzied perseverance to their subjects and can provide the story justice in terms of understanding what the story is about and how it needs to be told. All told, of course, in the utmost professional, technical and creative execution.”

“In an outstanding body of photography I am looking for something that feels fresh and has a distinctive presence. It may be completely abstract or very ideas or issue-based, but what matters is that form and content are equally important, and that they work together to make the whole.”

“Time spent in places.
Time spent with people.
Time spent waiting.
Time spent thinking.”