Vacation Photos: The Revel is in the details.

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Great movies almost always have great B-roll. The moments that set the scene or hint at an unspoken desire without benefit of dialogue or actors. A cityscape, beach, cafe, or local details that set the location apart and give background to the story.

The first 3 minutes of The Electric Horseman show the whole arc of a rodeo star’s rise and fall in visuals of collected trophies, newspaper clippings, promotional stills and posters as his name moves from the star billing at the top of the page to the bottom in type so small that it’s barely visible. We know Sonny Steele’s (Robert Redford) whole story before we hear the first word of dialogue.

The stories we tell with our photos can be just as powerful when we think to include the visual cues and details that give context to the group shots, activities, and inevitable selfies. So when you get away for your next vacation or weekend trip, pay attention to the moments and places that catch your eye. That may be great B-roll.

Really? I hear you say. I’m not making a movie. I’m taking vacation photos. And, anyway, I can Google a picture of the Grand Canyon. I don’t need my own.

Here’s the thing.

If you are visiting a place and you are just getting pictures of your group smiling at the camera, you are missing out on the best part of the trip and, guaranteed, it will get fuzzy over time. Maybe not today. maybe not tomorrow, but soon. For the rest of your life. (With apologies to Humphrey Bogart).

Sure, it’s fun to share your vacation in the moment with friends and family, but the real payback comes many years from now when kids are bigger and all the travel blends together. The images fill in the details for you, but may create a whole story for them. One that they were too young to recall.

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For me, I want to see the sun rising from the Atlantic in Barbuda. How clear the water was in Puget Sound that summer. Or the ice rainbow in Norway. It’s those personal moments that lift my soul.

Getting some of that important B-roll on your vacations will turn your photo books and slideshows into a rich narrative that you and your family will enjoy forever.

What a trip.

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