Continuing a series of recent visual-storytelling highlights begun on Sept. 19. To set the scene, here’s a nice reflection on visual storytelling (especially in philanthropy) from last summer, Visual Storytelling: Is Seeing Believing? by Melanie Moore Kubo, who followed that post with “A Framework for Approaching Visual Media in the Social Sector:”

1. Paintings of Rebecca Campbell: “Alice” (no last name given) writes that “Artist Rebecca Campbell combines realism and abstraction to create paintings that look like pictures from our past. Memories from our childhood get triggered but then are combined with more present day experiences. … Her storytelling art [sample above] is created by using huge brush marks that appear almost photorealistic. It’s like you’re looking at pictures from old photo albums and only remembering the emotions that have passed.” In another post, Alice touts the storytelling self-portraits of Cig Harvey.
2. Framework, LA Times: Framework, the photography and video blog of the Los Angeles Times, celebrates the power and explores the craft of visual storytelling. The blog highlights the work of Times photojournalists who, frame by frame, document the drama, the emotion and sometimes the humor of life. Framework also aims to serve as a resource hub for photography, multimedia and video enthusiasts. The folks behind the site intend to “trade insights and discuss the tools and techniques of telling stories through images” Below, a photo of JFK from the site.

3. Survey Select Art Exhibition: A contemporary art exhibition featuring 65 world-class artists, 12 authors, 10 films, 20 events and unlimited inspiration in a museum setting in San Diego, CA, that ended earlier this month. Eclectic by nature and selective by choice, “Survey Select” examined a new tradition of storytelling.
4. Debbie Millman’s Visual Storytelling Workshops: Over the course of six months, Debbie Millman worked with a group of graphic design students at the Academy of Art University who were interested in exploring the art of telling a story through a unique combination of images and words. She writes: “Visual storytelling — the art of using language and images to convey a narrative account of real or imagined events — is something that fascinates me. Historically, humans have used this means of sharing experience to pass on knowledge, beliefs, values, secrets and information. Through stories we explain how things are, why they are, and our role and purpose.”
5. View this Old Spice Commercial without sound, suggests Bill Wren. “This is a great example of how visual storytelling works. Regardless of what the guy is saying, the images communicate the essence of the ad; its meaning,” he writes.

6. Photobus: Daniel Meadows once lived in a double-decker bus, the Free Photographic Omnibus, which was his home, travelling darkroom, and gallery. Meadows talks about the “stories that live in photographs,” offering many storied photos on the Photobus site. You can also view the story of the Photobus.
7. Audio Slideshows — Human Interest Storytelling: This how-to article by Chris Labelle focuses on the making of an audio slideshow about a “‘day in the life’ of a group of laborers, referred to as ‘Hoedads,’ who spend much of their day traversing difficult terrain in remote areas of Oregon in order to plant saplings.” LaBelle notes that “the ‘office’ of the typical Oregonian Hoedad is expansive and oftentimes stunning — lending itself to the visual medium.”
8. A Tom Wujec TED Talk only partially comprises visual storytelling, but Wujec tells how visual storytelling enhances presentations. As speechwriting expert Kevin Ferguson writes, “information designer Tom Wujec discusses why animation, graphics and illustrations are powerful ways to create meaning.” In a talk that is just over six minutes, Wujec discusses how brain function works with visuals to make them meaningful.
9. “…[M]edia experts predict that image-based storytelling will play an increasingly important role within the tourism industry,” says an article posted last month on Adventure Travel News. That’s why at the just completed Adventure Travel Trade Association’s 2010 Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) [October 4-7] in Aviemore, Scotland, emphasized lectures, workshops, case studies and content geared toward videography, photography, filmmaking and social media outlets to help educate, inspire and further engage delegates in building comprehensive multimedia strategies.
10. Pictory is a showcase for people around the world to document their lives and cultures. Anyone can submit one large, captioned image to each of Pictory’s editorial themes. Founder Laura Brunow Miner selects a few dozen of the best items from each theme to appear in each showcase.
11. The 12-minute, 46-second documentary Up There tells the story of the fading tradition of hand-painted advertising (on for example, billboards, as opposed to billboard content printed on large sheets and pasted on the billboards.) Thus, it is a visual story about a dying form of visual storytelling. You can view the short film on Vimeo.
12. “When Giles and Angie decided to get married, they used Giles’ skills as an animator to create … illustrated nuptial invitations,” writes Robyn Currie on Trendhunter. “Mailed out to their guests in a bound book style, the illustrated nuptial invitations will surely have people talking about the wedding before it even happens,” Currie writes.
13. A Thousand Words, a video embedded below, is a touching story that uses no spoken words. Minimal word usage, in my opinion, can be a test of effective visual storytelling. Here’s another nice one that tells a story with no spoken words.

A Thousand Words from Ted Chung on Vimeo.