The Unseen Narratives

photographyeducationcompositionentertainmentlife advice

May 12

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live”

This line, which opens Joan’s Didion renowned essay *The White Album*, has become a symbol of reflection on how we give meaning to our existence through storytelling. In this autobiographical collection, Didion wrote not only about the events of the 1960s but also about herself — her uncertainty, fears, loss of control, and her need to bring order to the world through words. She portrayed reality as a place full of chaos, which we try to understand precisely through narratives — both conscious and unconscious.

Everyday photography serves a similar function. Modern humans document reality almost instinctively — with phones, cameras, sometimes accidentally, sometimes deliberately. Each photograph, even the most seemingly ordinary one, becomes an attempt to capture a fragment of the world. It can be a keepsake, a record of a moment, but also a way of telling and understanding what surrounds us.

Perhaps we do this in order to give those moments meaning, to find order where there once was only randomness. Photography becomes an act of narration — an attempt to capture a moment that helps us create a story, understand reality, and find our place within it.

The great photographers of the 20th century also turned to the everyday, making it a space for personal and universal reflection. Robert Frank, in *The Americans*, portrayed ordinary life in 1950s America, revealing its tensions and shadows. Vivian Maier, anonymous for decades, crafted her own quiet story, photographing city streets with remarkable sensitivity and distance. Saul Leiter captured a world that was misty, poetic, built from reflections and colors — his frames speak obliquely, but deeply. Each photograph is a form of commentary, a subtle act of interpreting daily life.

Everyday photography, though often overlooked, is one of the most democratic and authentic ways of storytelling. It allows us to give meaning to the days as they pass — quietly, yet never insignificantly.

So let’s not be afraid to experiment, to express ourselves through the image. And more than that — let’s try to discover ourselves through photography. Because perhaps within that quiet, everyday framing of the world lies our most important story.

Photos

Vivian Maier (first row), Robert Frank (second row), Saul Leiter (last row)