A photograph can show you what caught my eye. Writing lets me share what the scene brought up in me. That’s how photography and writing work together in my art: one lets me show you the moment, and the other gives me room to stay with it and say more.
I’ve been obsessed with photography since I was very young. I started taking pictures with my mom’s flip phone, then with mine. I kept doing it, and the rest is history.
Writing was part of my imagination, too. When I thought about my “dream job” as a child, I pictured myself outside, writing. It’s funny to admit that I had that image in my mind so early. I even wrote poems when I was a teenager.
I don’t regret not starting earlier. I wasn’t there yet. Wanting to write and feeling ready to make something from your thoughts aren’t always the same thing. Writing became part of my creative work when it felt right for me.
How Photography and Writing Complement Each Other
I am not a writer, but I love to write
I don’t want you to read this and think I’m saying I’m a writer. I’m not. I like to write whatever is on my mind. I like creating, finding words for what I see, and making it feel a little more beautiful, just as I do with photography.
I’m a fine art and street photographer in Los Angeles.
Photography has always been a way for me to notice a scene and make something from it. Writing lets me spend more time with what I noticed. When I bring the two together, I can show you the image and share the thoughts that came with it.
For me, the two practices don’t need to compete or be treated as separate creative paths. I can make a photograph, then write about what the moment stirred up in me. That combination has become a natural way for me to tell a story.
What Writing Adds to a Photograph
Imagine an old man sitting outside, selling his things. I notice him, find an angle, and take a photograph. The photograph can show you what I saw: the man, the things he was selling, the scene in front of me.
But is the photograph enough to express everything that went through my mind when I saw him? Probably not.
I don’t know his whole life or his story. I can’t tell you what he was thinking or what brought him there.
What I can write about is what the scene brings up in me. In my imagination, he becomes the main character in a moment that feels like it could belong in a book or a movie. I can share the feelings and thoughts that grew from seeing him.
That’s one reason I combine photography and writing. The photograph holds the scene I noticed. The writing gives me a way to share my own response to it. I’m not asking the words to explain everything in the image. I’m letting them add another part of the experience.
I love going deep into subjects and situations. There’s often more to say than fits into a few minutes of conversation. A photograph may catch someone’s eye, but when I add words, I can keep talking about the moment: what made me stop, what I felt, and what I kept thinking about afterward.
How a Photograph Can Inspire a Written Story
When I see a scene, I usually know right away what I want to write about. I take the photograph, but the words don’t always come at the same time. I need to slow down and be alone with my ideas.
That time matters to me. I need space to think about what I saw and what the scene brought up in me.
The topic may already be there, but I still need to find the words that feel right. I don’t want to rush past the thoughts just to fill the space beside a photograph.
The image and the writing come together at different moments in my process. I see something, take the picture, and know what has caught my attention. Then I spend time with my ideas. The words come later.
For me, that’s one way photography and writing can tell a story together: the photograph gives me a place to begin, and writing lets me go deeper into the subject or situation.
Each one gives me a way to express something the other may not hold on its own.
A Coffee Table Book as a Visual Conversation
I think about the combination as a conversation with a friend. You show your friend what caught your eye, and then you tell them what you’ve been thinking about. You don’t have to turn every thought into a formal explanation. You can simply share what’s on your mind and let the conversation continue.
That’s the feeling behind my first book, “I Found My Ikigai, It’s Photography. What’s Yours?”.
It brings my photography and my words together in a way that feels like me. It isn’t literature. It’s a coffee table book – a visual conversation.
Artists need stories to feed their creativity and go beyond their imagination.
For me, a scene can be the beginning of that story. The photograph shows what caught my attention, and the writing lets me explore what happened inside me when I saw it.
Sometimes I look at a scene and think, I wish I had the words for this. I wish I could describe what I see. Photography and writing give me two ways to stay with that feeling. I can show you the image, and I can share what it brought up in me.
When you see the photograph and read the words together, it becomes more than a quick look at a scene. You get to spend time with both: what I saw and what I thought.
For me, that combination creates a kind of nirvana. That feeling is why I bring photography and writing together. Together, they turn a moment I noticed into a visual conversation I can share.
Mariam Megrdichian
📍 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
📷 Photographer & Author