Loredana P. Kint

Something that is rising along with the boom in Instagram poetry is the use of photos and photo poetry prompts. I really enjoy participating in some of these, and I’ve certainly got the poets’ habit of taking a photo to use as inspiration at a later date. Today, I will be discussing the various ways in which poets, including myself, are using photos for poetic inspiration.

Why write poems about photos?

Why consider writing about a photo? Poets draw their inspiration from a myriad of sources. Some write purely about experiences, others incorporate elements of fantasy and pure fiction. 

I enjoy experimenting with both my sources of inspiration and the ways I convey the finished product (poem). Most of my poems aim to capture a specific “snapshot.” This is usually a feeling, experience, or something I’ve seen. Hence, I like to say that my poetry is a “snapshot of the soul.” However, I’ve also written poems in the forms of letters (e.g. “Letter To An Asteroid” published in How I Survived 2020), poems about pieces of music, and various ekphrastic poems (poems inspired by pieces of artwork). 

The good thing about writing about a photo is that photos can be found pretty much anywhere on the internet, and can be of anything at all. If you don’t feel like life is throwing anything particularly poetic at you, photos provide a glimpse into an event or item that is outside of the current time or space. This enables your poetry to branch out into topics you might otherwise have never thought to cover.

You can also share the photo alongside your finished poem. For example, many Instagram poets overlay their poems on a photo, or show you the photo first and get followers to swipe to read the accompanying poem. You can do similar things if you are sharing your poem on a blog or website. Some poetry journals or competitions may give you the option to provide an image with your submission (but you should always check the rules on this — read my advice about obeying poetry competition rules here). 

Put simply, using photos adds diversity and possibility to your writing!

Whose photos should you use for your poetry?

This depends on what sort of photos you like to write about, and how good a photographer you are yourself! Evidently, if you would like to use photos of beaches for a tropically-themed poem, but you live in a landlocked country or up on a mountain, it’s more practical for you to look at someone else’s pictures than book a trip across the world. That being said, don’t underestimate the power of your mobile phone camera for taking photos of things you find inspiring right around you.

If you are looking online for photos, there are countless talented photographers with public accounts on Instagram and Facebook. There are also free stock photo websites such as Unsplash, or, you could have a browse on Pinterest. At the end of the day, no one’s stopping you from using Google Images, either.

Just remember, if you are planning to share the photo itself along with the poem, you must check the copyright and sharing permissions. If in doubt, reach out to the photographer!

Photo poetry prompts

There are several Instagram poetry accounts dedicated to sharing poetry prompts, often based on or giving the option of using photographs. To get started, try searching hashtags such as #poetryprompt, #photopoetryprompts, or following a poetry community such as @poets_by_nature or @poetry_earthlings. 

Some of these accounts share all submissions inspired by their prompts, whereas others run them like small competitions. Both approaches can be a lot of fun, and it’s often very stimulating to read what others have written about the same images!

And now for a personal ramble on… why you shouldn’t photograph a sunset

I’m very guilty of this one. My camera roll has hundreds of photos of sunsets, clouds, interesting tree branches… and I never do anything with them. Half are blurry because I’m a) a terrible photographer or b) taking the photo out of the window of a moving car. 

So why do I keep taking them? Call it the urge to say I captured something so magnificent on the screen in the palm of my hand. Call it me convincing myself I’ll use this as a poetry prompt someday. Call it wanting to share this beauty with those who don’t get to see what I see. Call it the millennial urge to pull my phone out of my pocket for whatever reason. 

The sunset that changed it all

Last night, I saw a sunset beyond my wildest dreams. I glanced out of my window and there it was. Before I knew it, my phone was in my hand, and I was moving around trying to avoid the reflection in my window and feeling frustrated that the colours didn’t show up accurately on my screen. 

I paused and asked, do I need to take this photo? Am I truly enjoying this sunset? What happens if I put my phone back in my pocket and just… watch?

I paused and asked, do I need to take this photo? Am I truly enjoying this sunset? What happens if I put my phone back in my pocket and just… watch?

So I did. I watched the sunset flare, evolve, and eventually fade to extinction. It left no evidence of its brief existence, at least, not on my camera roll. 

And you know what? I really enjoyed that sunset. 

I always loved the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and the Prince is reputedly “very fond of sunsets.” If I could watch 44* sunsets in a day, I would too. And now, I wouldn’t photograph a single one. 

And now for the poem

After this rather mind-boggling tangent into the morals of photographing a sunset, I wrote a poem, which has also be shared on my Instagram:

Why you shouldn't photograph a sunset

Because — beauty is too ephemeral
For us to blink, let alone squint at pixels,
Ever discontent with the blurred preservations,
Like dusty crusts from an old carnation,
Albums scroll with failed copies of splendour,
Petals among them, but no name of the sender,
Because — true beauty cannot be captured,
Nor can life — now is the time to be enraptured.

- Loredana P. Kint, February 2022

Conclusion

I hope you found this an interesting discussion on using photos for poetic inspiration. As you can see, there are so many different ways to use photographs in your writing. I hope this blog post has provided you with a new perspective and source of inspiration for your poetry!

What are your thoughts on sunset or nature photography? 

Have you ever used a photo to inspire a poem? Was it yours, or someone else’s?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 

* Off-topic Note: While looking up the specific section of The Little Prince for this post, I came across this fascinating little piece on Language Of Flowers which explains why it was exactly 43 (or 44) sunsets that the Prince chose to watch. Have a read! https://flowersoflanguage.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/why-43-sunsets-in-the-little-prince-le-petit-prince/