A professional storyteller is exactly what my friend Kami Couch is. She is a filmmaker, writer, photojournalist, photographer, and all-around story teller who uses her gift to "help people see their greatness," as one of her clients put it in summer of 2017.
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| Kami Couch at the Bonneville Salt Flats, posted on November 20, 2018. Credit Evelyn Soha @evelynrosesoha on Instagram. Photo link https://www.instagram.com/p/BqaFrlYAKui/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link |
Much of Couch's work, including articles, videos, and photos, can be found at her blog https://www.kamicouch.com. Working from her home base, a tiny home in Washington State, Couch travels wherever her heart and the stories she tells lead her. From Alaska to Arizona, from Nashville to the UK, up and down the west coast and everywhere in between, the most notable skill Couch displays is her ability to tell robust stories with what seems like very little to write about.
In "The Storyteller, Episode 1" Couch introduces her viewers to her mission, beginning with Nashville, Tennessee.
Couch's composition and photo opportunities speak to a level of trust and relationship that she develops with her subjects and friends, an important skill any multimedia professional must cultivate. In Nashville, Couch said she worked on a farm where a welder named Jack would come to do projects for the farmers. Jack always brought a good time with him, Couch said, and he wore a good nature and tattoos very well. After several interactions with him and longing to take photos of him driving in his truck, Couch said she finally got her opportunity when her gear was with her and the sun struck his face at golden hour. Couch said that Jack asked her if she was going to use his photo in the corn fields to scare crows, and as he laughed, she captured the photo below:
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| Jack smiles in his truck on a Nashville farm. Photo by Kamirin Couch (https://www.instagram.com/p/BkeN1C5ALY6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) "...You have to build trust fast, especially since photography makes people feel vulnerable," Couch said. |
"People want to be immersed, to know they are not alone," said Couch. "People want to get involved in a story, to carve out a role for themselves, to make it their own ... Stories are recognizable patterns and in those patterns we find meaning."
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| Couch's work for a lifestyle shoot in Portland, Oregon. https://www.instagram.com/p/Blen_hVgyq7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link |
Couch said that the science is there to back up the general human affinity for storytelling. " Our brains are far more engaged by storytelling than by cold hard facts," She said. "When reading straight data, only the language part of our brains work to decode meaning. But when we read a story, not only do the language parts of our brains light up, but also any other part of the brain we would use if we were actually experiencing what we were reading."
Kami uses her childhood memories and experiences as fodder for her stories and work today. Because her father is a commercial fisherman, a lot of Couch's work is based in Alaska. Couch grew up accompanying her father on fishing trips and helping on his boat. In a blog post last summer she wrote about her father, who was born and raised in Alaska: https://kamicouch.wixsite.com/blog/blog/to-the-greatest-legend-in-my-life
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| Couch's father waves on his fishing boat. Photo by Kami Couch https://www.instagram.com/p/BkIWuO9A9Ui/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link |
One of Couch's five mottos, "Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary," is clearly woven throughout her portfolio. I think we can all learn from Couch in that many wonderful subjects for photos as well as people for relationships and life stories aren't in a wonderful high-end studio somewhere, but right in front of us.
Maddie
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