Through the Lens of Your Story

How did you ring in the new year? 

Normally, I’m sleeping when calendar rolls over to the new year, but this year, I found myself working as everyone counted down the last seconds of 2016 in to 2017. I was behind my camera lens as one of the second shooters for a local wedding photographer. 


I hoped to sleep in the next morning, but instead found myself tossing and turning. Rather than fight it, Brian and I got up and headed into church. The services we attend are broadcasted live online, and once every 4 weeks, I am behind camera one, two or three to help make sure that happens. When we arrived at church, I noticed that camera three was missing a videographer, so I put on the headset behind that camera and helped grab shots for the tech team as they broadcast the services live. 


On our way home from church I brought up the fact that I spent the last day of 2016 and the first day of  2017 behind a camera of some kind, capturing different shots of the same thing that the other people behind the other cameras were shooting. I thought out loud about how I wondered if this was a sign of things to come in the new year. Would I be spending more time behind a camera of some kind? Maybe, maybe not. But thinking about my work as a second and third shooter did remind me of the work I help others do as a ghostwriter. 


When I work as a second (or third) shooter, my goal isn’t to get “the best” shot out of three shots.  It is to capture a different shot of the same scene. If I’m not shooting the big picture, I’m looking for a detail within the big picture. 


This kind of…..no, scratch that….this TOTALLY reminds me of why I encourage people to write their stories. Keep a journal, write a memoir, even just make a list at the end of the day about what you did, the thoughts you had or something you learned. 


And here is why:


You might think that your story isn’t special or unique. You might think that you shouldn’t write about your experiences because stories similar to yours have already been told. You might think that it isn’t worth writing because there are shelves of published books and articles that are just like yours.


You are wrong.


Your story may look just like the “big picture” of someone else’s story. But your perspective makes it unique. The details that include your thoughts, your actions or reactions, your feelings, make it all yours. The fact that you have different characters (family members) in your story makes it different than anyone else’s story. And if you are writing for the purpose of passing your story down to your family members (both now and in the future), your story will matter more to those you are related to than the stories of others who are not related to you. 


Like these photos taken the night of New Year’s Eve: you may have been in a scene just like this.  Or you may have been in this scene. But your story will be completely different than anyone else in the same crowd. 


The details that can only come from your own perspective make your story valuable.

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