Driving along the forgotten backroads of the cotton belt, I became convinced that I was trapped by an ancient curse, with no way out.

That same curse greeted farmers and field workers in the early 1900s, as boll weevils crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico to Texas, and destroyed every farm in their path.

On a relentless 5,000-mile pursuit of the cotton bug, I discovered that the boll weevil had caused the Great Migration, the birth of the Blues and the endangered bald eagle, to name a few.

I pulled over and began to unload a case of camera gear, when my phone rang. “I’m sorry,” said a colleague of mine. “For what?” I said. “Oh sh*t!” he replied. “You haven’t heard?” And like that, I found out I was getting laid off from an incredible newspaper photojournalism job of nearly two decades.

A love affair with photojournalism led me on a remarkable journey from the burning ghats of Varanasi, India, to a smuggler’s tunnel in Nogales, Mexico.  I rode an elephant in pursuit of wild tigers and shattered speed limits in a presidential motorcade. My pictures helped provide homes for the homeless, food for the malnourished and care for the dying.

And now the collapse of the newspaper industry torpedoed my family like a dagger to the heart.  A week later, I drove to the unemployment office only to find out that the money was not enough to feed my newborn son, let alone pay our mortgage.

Then I received the call that would change my life: “This is the editor of Pumper Magazine, will you take the cover photograph for our May issue?”  I practically screamed, “YES!” without missing a beat and hung up the phone to look up Pumper Magazine.  It was a trade magazine, “dedicated to the liquid waste industry.”

So I got my freelance feet wet photographing septic disposal trucks.  However I was soon taking assignments for the New York Times, Washington Post, TIME and many other media outlets.

I built my business from the ashes of a photojournalism career and discovered that the currency of journalism – honest stories full of universal human truths – was my greatest asset.  Working with the best journalists in the business had taught me to find stories, to paint them with prose, and to harness the poetry and power of the photograph.

Drawn to the world of filmmaking, I made a full-length documentary about a homeless man running from his demons and finding grace in unlikely places. The film Nobody was shown in the country’s most prestigious film festivals and featured on the Dr. Phil Show.  Since then, I have produced many shorter films and documentaries, which have earned three Emmys, a national Addy and been honored by TED as one of 20 Ads Worth Spreading in the World.

The Story Speaks was born out of a lifelong passion for honest and thoughtful storytelling that moves the heart and fosters positive change. Powerful stories are the backbone of every commission we take.

Lance Murphey, founder The Story Speaks