Using images to prompt creative reflection

ABOUT THIS PROMPT: I have no idea where I got this one from, but I’ve modified it slightly for readability. Many apologies to the original source!

Some people are more creative in a visual mode, so another way is to find an image that moves, inspires, disturbs, or affects you, and build a story around the image. For example, if you found images of the following (perhaps on the Flickr Creative Commons collection), you might brainstorm emotions associated with the image.

Sunrise- a time to re-energize, start over…
Road – a theme of travel, movement, going somewhere
Traffic accident – devastation, loss of hope, travesty
Elderly person – someone special in your life

Once you’ve found a photo that you like, brainstorm answers to this list of questions:

* What’s happening right now in this image? What happened 10 minutes before the picture what taken? What might happen next?
* What do you know about the people in the picture? If there aren’t people there, where might they be?
* Create a list of adjectives to describe what you’d see, feel, smell, touch, or taste if you were IN the picture.

Any story you develop in response to an image you find on the web will fall into the realm of fiction, so this is a good warm up activity before you apply a similar process to your own photos.