Asking the right questions

Recently, an amateur photographer — and, personally, my father — asked me to refresh his website. "I haven't published anything in years, and the way it looks doesn't help" he confessed. And since I rarely get a chance to show my parent what I do for a living, I volunteered to help him.

After a few days in Framer, I had a prototype. It was soon filled with the best photos he'd found on his hard drive. Our passion project was on track.

Stories in need of a voice

But before we hit Publish, there was one more thing to do. Each of the photo galleries had so many stories behind them — it would be a shame to leave them out. So I suggested adding short descriptions.

Now, my father's great with cameras — but not so much with words. I was happy to take that burden off his shoulders; I just had to get something to start with.

He handed me some drafts, but they were more of a collection of vague memories. There was no hook I could lead with. To find it, I had to change my approach.

The search for hidden treasures

I approached the website like a visitor would, and asked him every question that popped into my head. For example (about Sopot):

• Why did you choose Sopot?

• What do you like about its architecture?

• How did you find the tenements you wanted to photograph?

• Do you know who lives there?

• Have you ever wanted to move to Sopot yourself?

I had no idea whether the answer to any of these questions would be satisfying. But when you're looking for treasure, you have to dig a few holes in random places. And after a couple of tries, I struck gold.

All you need is a good question

Sometimes an idea doesn't appear out of thin air, but surfaces from existing information. You just have to squeeze every drop out of the source material to see it clearly. In the context of me writing a few paragraphs for my father's website, its source was the extensive questioning.

But to succeed, I had to be curious.

When you're actually interested in something, you don't ask questions for the sake of crossing them off your notes. Each answer becomes a rabbit hole that you can't help but explore. Sucked into the story of the person you're talking to, you begin to see the world through their eyes.

And that's how you find your treasures.