In a few words, visual storytelling means telling a story with images.
Photography is made up of two elements: the practical side, and the intangible ‘look and feel’ that no-one sees but which defines each photographer’s style.
Think of the photographers you admire. Would you recognise their style without seeing their name attached to the picture? When you’re on Instagram, some people’s galleries are instantly recognisable. Some are muddled. The successful ones have learned how to tell their story with images, and this is what my course will teach you.
When I changed career from interior design & styling to photography & visual storytelling, for a while I struggled to find a clear direction. I looked at what others were doing, at what their message was, and I searched for similarities that could apply to me, and so be part of my story too…that didn’t work very well though, and it was only when I turned within that I was finally able to create my own story, and find my voice.
I explored what I honestly valued and found important: focusing on what brings me beauty and joy (hello flowers!), creating from the heart, looking at the world with a sense of wonder, sharing and inspiring others. This 4-weeks course is based on my experience, and was born from my desire to help you create Your story, and tell it with Your voice.
I will teach you how to explore your story, find your key words, and identify the style elements and scene setting of your visual storytelling. After this, we’ll move on to creating inspiration boards and collages to keep you motivated, and a moodboard for your style elements.
This is not a technical course about photography and composition. It is the first step in a journey of discovery, with lots of creative exercises to help you build the foundation of your storytelling.
This is a course for creative individuals, bloggers, Instagrammers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs. With this course you will bring clarity to your brand, and at the end of the course you will gain a clear understanding of what your story is, and how to tell it with images that are infused with your own photographic voice.
Visual Storytelling 1: create your story, find your voice is a 4-weeks course to help you lay the foundation of your visual storytelling.
Each week you will receive your lessons by email, with detailed explanations and prompts for the creative activity featured.
There will be no emails at the weekend, to give you some breathing space and time to catch up with the exercises.
You can email me with any questions or doubts regarding the course you might have, for two months from the beginning of class.
At the beginning of the course you will receive a workbook especially designed for this course, and at the end of the course you will receive a beautiful ebook with all the modules covered in the course, yours to keep forever.
Week 1 – After an introduction to get you started, this part of the course is dedicated to brainstorming. You’ll use simple techniques and prompts to filter your ideas and explore in depth all the important aspects of your story.
Week 2 – You’ll review all the brainstorming material to discover your key words and style elements, and craft your mission statement. After this, you’ll use images & text to create an inspiration board based on your key values, to keep you focused and motivated even when the going gets tough (happens to all of us!).
Week 3 – You’ll learn to really look at images and see how different style elements communicate different messages. After this, you’ll use images & other materials to create a moodboard that reflects the style & feel of your visual story.
Week 4 – You’ll explore and discover the scene setting of your visual story (including props, places, people & animals).
The course is delivered online, so you will need access to a computer and the internet, an email account to receive the emails.
You will also need a notebook, pen, coloured pens or pencils or highlighters, and a few magazines/catalogues to cut out images from.
Absolutely! The course is online so you can take part from any place in the world :) The fee is in Euros but when you pay it will be converted into your own currency. To check an estimate of the current conversion rate, visit this site.
No, you don’t need to be in class at a certain time. You will receive your lessons & prompts by email, and you can do the exercises at any time of your choice. We are all different, and we all process information at our own pace, but you should factor in a minimum of 10-12 hours for doing all the exercises. Of course you can spend more time on them, or less…it’s up to you.
No. This is a course to build the framework for your visual storytelling: your message and key values, and your photographic voice and style. Basically, it’s about finding clarity on what your vision is, and what kind of story you want to tell with your images. After all, there is no storytelling if there is no story :)
You will learn how to create your story, and find your voice and style, but there won’t be any technical lessons on photography or composition.
You can expect to:
Yes you can! Your currency will be automatically converted when you check out using either a credit card or Paypal. Visit this online currency converter for an estimate of the fee in your own currency
“I just wanted to say a heartfelt thanks for all of your support on the Visual Storytelling 1 course. I’m really missing your email lessons – I loved that they were there every morning when I woke up! They were incredibly encouraging and packed with huge amounts of content, knowledge and insight into how you work. I love that every process was clearly explained step by step and if I needed extra support you were always just an email away or I could go into our Facebook group and chat with my other course-mates. This made it all very accessible and I can’t wait for the next course! Thanks so much again. It has been an invaluable learning process, and the workbook you gave us is firmly glued to my side.” – Siobhan Wolton
“Your course has totally changed my perception of my story and, actually, allowed me to hear my voice. It’s enriched my dream of starting my own small business, which has been bubbling away, but I just didn’t truly know my direction, so I had become stuck (I’ve not posted on Instagram for over 6 months, because I didn’t know where to go with it).
Your course slowed me down and the techniques just let my creative being play! It was like returning to art college again. I never envisaged the course would make me change my business name and find new direction for my website/instragram/blog. I can totally feel that you create and write from your heart and this is so inspiring. It made me look deep within myself and find the inner ‘me’ and I’m really so thankful.” – Sarah Harland” I think your course was superb! The amount of detail and effort you had put into each lesson was fantastic, but not only that, I also felt you had the balance right: you gave the student enough to do each day without overwhelming, and giving each weekend free helped if I had to catch up on something. I cannot fault your delivery, in terms of content or style. Friendly and directive. Personally, your course was a major turning point. It really made me look at my Instagram, and helped me create a mix of images that tell my story.” – Susanna Jarret
” I loved the course. I learned so much about myself and how to present my ideas visually and with key words, colours and images. I highly recommend the course to anyone serious about going deep to find the clarity of their own voice and message.” – Cheryl Ford
” I adore your course Cristina!! Bravo to you for all the time, energy and talent you put into the design and development. The clarity I now have, from all the wonderful class materials and tools, is my true guide as I now cull previous photos, my Pinterest boards, and even my prop stash. Your classes gave me clarity on the process for discovering those keywords that describe my photo art, and taught me a wonderful and enlightening process for color palettes and themes. Your course allowed me to open my soul to what I really and truly love about photography, and I’m truly grateful. Your Visual Storytelling 1 class was exactly what I needed and the materials and instructions were precise, easy to understand and follow, along with exciting and fun. I loved the hands on parts of making boards, journaling and word lists. They are tools I have now gathered in one place and can revisit whenever the need or desire arises. I am looking forward to your future classes… your teaching style is a perfect fit for me. Let me say, you helped me turn the corner to go down a new path, and I love it! I now feel so confident and good about all of my photography styles/genres. Thank you ever so much!!”- Beverly Cazzell
“Visual Storytelling 1 was a surprising journey. I thought I knew my own taste, but what came out of the exercises was very unexpected and quite inspiring. It felt like I was experiencing the class in person, with the other members of the Facebook group. I looked forward to every email and to every time someone posted their style or mood board online.
I know I’ll be using Cristina’s teachings often, to keep my photos on topic and to clarify things in my own head. And I can’t wait for Storytelling 2.” – Marie Iannotti“I’m so grateful that I took your course, it really forced me to think about my story. Using the exercises, I actually reworded what my brand is truly about. I thought it was connecting people through my floral images. However, I’ve realized it’s really about connection…no matter the product. I’m also going to start using mood boards to plan out each of my collections. So, thanks for this! Money well spent.” – Marly Surena-Llorens
“I joined the course to get more clarity and learn the structure of how to build visual compositions. After the course, taking photos has became more natural for me, because I found out what is the message I want to spread. The process I learnt saves time and energy and helps me focus on pure creating. Also, the course materials helped me to see other people’s work in a different way – I notice more details in all the visuals I see. This is big source of inspiration for me.” – Tetiana Lobanovska
“Thank you so much I have really enjoyed the ecourse and gained a lot of very valuable insights. It’s going to take time and practise for it all to sink in but already I have a lot more clarity about myself, my story and ways to put it across. I think the course was very well put together and each day I have learned and gained something new. I particularly like the different ways to give a feel of myself in the story without actually putting full pictures of me in the frame and I also liked the analysis exercise, identifying stories I like which have taken me back to wanting to show my ceramics (something I had almost given up on) and ways to weave them into my story. Thank you again. I would be interested in doing future courses you have to offer.” – Suzy Gyde
See student features & interviews on my blog: Beverly Cazzell, Dana Frigerio, Sarah Corder, Bex Partridge.
Return to the home page
Back to top
All images on this site are © Cristina Colli unless stated otherwise. Please read my Policy Page before borrowing anything from this site. Thank you Privacy & Cookie policy