All images in this post used with permission from Shane Rich Photography 

In my senior year of college I learned the power of story.

Picture it. Dr. Della Pollock's Oral History class. First day of class we're fidgety, avoiding eye contact with each other. On the hour, Dr. Pollock bursts into the room - she's petite, peppered black hair cropped to her head, wearing all black. And the ferocity! She speaks with her hands. Her eyes widen and squint. This is what we'll be studying this semester. A tumultuous time in American History. The desegregation of schools in the American South. We'll be telling stories - with words, and with our bodies. 

Flashback to high school. I may have been a ROTC girl, but was never big with the drama kids. Mysteriously, last year of high school I was chosen to play Shelby (from Steel Magnolias). Opening night went fairly disastrously. I remembered about 80% of my lines. Enough to get by, but not enough to really own the role. It was enough to scare me off a one-way ticket to LA to become an actress.

So on the first day, Oral History class, and Dr. Pollock with her flying hands, intimidated me. I worried about stepping into the role of performer once a week. But something powerful happened. It wasn't about performance at all. It was about sharing stories. I learned to see the difference.

We began by reading the history and listening to the stories of students, teachers and commentators during the time of desegregation. We listened to tapes in the library. We interviewed our grandparents. Then we transcribed what we heard.

Once we were finished transcribing a piece, we shared it with our classmates (and eventually the community). We shared our stories with our limbs - clapping and crossing our arms. Shaking our heads and crying. We shared the terror and rage and sadness and sweetness of that time. A time none of us knew from direct experience.

Through storytelling, that period of history came alive for us. 

Photo used with permission from Shane Rich Photography

That class tore me in two. It allowed me to tell my own story - the story of my childhood, watching my mom die and subsequent months and years of custody battles and growing up too fast. It taught me that I don't have to be somewhere to hear the story directly. It taught me to listen between words. Why did he stop right then? Press rewind, listen again. What did she say during that aside? Listen until you hear it - capture what she said in that aside.

I'm telling you this story now because I told Shane Rich about it this afternoon. We had a photo shoot and talked storytelling. The power of telling a story through, in his case, images. In my case, words. We talked about the hours involved in imagining the shoot, then conducting the shoot. Then editing the photos and blogging about the whole thing. It's a laborious process, storytelling. A labor of love. 

Storytelling. It's what stops me one breath short of labeling myself a marketer. Marketers are paid (or, in the little leagues, given objects for free) to craft a story around a company's brand. The exceptional ones do it well, just as the best photographers can capture you in that moment where you're completely at ease - self-consciousness drops away and you're effortlessly yourself. Shane excels at capturing his subjects in that state. You know, the one shot where the man looks down at his watch for an instant and looks up to remember there's a photographer in the room.

In that one unguarded instant before recognition, there's the shot.

The same is true for storytellers. We tell the best stories when we're most ourselves, most at ease. One gesture - a wrist flicked, a breath sucked in through teeth. The body shifts backwards, a hip juts. That's the story being told. 

No logo can tell that story. No tag line. No slogan on a t-shirt.

No viral marketing campaign, no blog post.

Only the body can tell a story like that. 

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Shane Rich is a Boulder-based photographer. He's a storyteller, as I hope is evidenced by the photos I chose. The other reason I chose these photos is they highlight the people and businesses involved in the ZineTour. Top photo: my friend and gorgeous salsa sister Cali. Next: James Lee of the Bitter Bar. We'll be tweeting it up there May 3 from 8-10. Chris, Kit and Brandon at Atlas Purveyors. We'll be there talking tech and tea Friday, April 30 from 6-8. This Saturday we're at the Boulder Bookstore - Shane will be there - and so will cupcakes provided by the two in this shot, Kim and Brian.

I hope to see your body at one of these upcoming events.

Shane and I did our photo shoot on Pearl St, downtown Boulder, as part of the Gwen Bell + Experience Life Zine Tour. To view his full portfolio and hire him, visit his site.