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The Fundamentals of a Photo Essay

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Nicole

Nicole

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What are your thoughts on what makes a successful photo essay?

Please go into as much detail as you can/like.

Have you ever done one yourself?
Once completed, what did you do with it?

At the end of your spiel, if you can, please post one photo essay / photographer (link?) that impressed you the most.

Lets see what we can come up with. I need to do more research and will get back to this soon.

Kind regards, Nicole
 
First what comes to my mind is Susan Sontag, "On photography". And I fadely remember one essay, I forgot title, something like photographer write abut photographs of his mother. I read long time ago some excerpts from it, and I liked it, but I forgot title...

About essays... Once I went to cafe shop/book store. So, I sit, ordered vanilla creme caffe, and tooked one book, one essay about photography. Stared to read, and after few minutes I left it. You know, no pictures in book, only text... :smile:

Want to say. I am interesting in essay written by photographer whose photographs I like, or not like, but I think photographs are "important". Reading what someone think about photography and not knowing work of that person, I am not interesting of it. I mean everyone can sit and write. But, to take that writting seriously I must to know that background of writer gives her or him "right" to write about that issue, in this case about photograhy.

So, for me successful essay contains (not aimed to you directly, Nicole):

1. I must find subject and reasons for writting essay meaningful, not just another writting about nothing in fact (why you write that and what urges you to write, what are reasons so you want to share your thoughts with others)

2. Writter must be relevant, and relevancy of that writter comes, for me, from biography of writter (do you know photography enough to write about it or did photography had such impact in your life (yours photograhs or photographs of others photographers if you write about others, or photograhy in general) so you can and should write about it, and are your thoughts about photography relevant to rest of us)

3. Must be written with understandable language, but without underestimating of my inteligence as reader

Something like that would interested me as reader to read essay.

Haris
 
Thank you Suzanne, I wrote above without thinking of yours, essential, question to give opinion...
 
 
Thank you Nicole. You often start very interesting threads. I am interested to see how this develops. I normally work in series of twenty prints for college assignments. I would like to learn how better to make them tell a story.

John Powers
 
I find the best photo essays come from a photographer's deep passion and commitment to a subject. Sometime ago, I was fortunate to work with a Korean born American photographer, Yunghi Kim. She had been a staffer at the Bosotn Globe when she started working on a project about the Korean "comfort" women. These women had been taken by the Japanese army during WWII, and forced to be prostitutes for the Japanese soldiers. Yunghi worked on this on her own time, and used her own resources.

The work was eventually published in the International edition of Time magazine, and in the states by U.S.News & World Report. The only thing really lacking in the work were childhood images of her subjects. They had been so poor that they had never been photographed. Depending on the subject, some sense of history can be very effective in making a complete photo essay.

It takes time, I think it's best to shoot over several months if you can. Basically, shoot, then edit. See what's working, see what needs improving, see what you are missing. Really make sure that you are not making the same photograph over and over. Detail shots, wide shots, different angles. All of these will make an essay more compelling. Sometimes taking a recording device for interviews, so you can write either detailed captions, or essay.

It'd be nice if there were more magazines that really allowed for good photo essays to be published, and really gave good photography some room to breathe, but, alternately, these day, I suppose there's the web!

Yunghi Kim's work, including the comfort women:

http://www.yunghikim.com/main.php
 
Roland Barthes' "Camera Lucida" is a classic piece. I don't know if there's any link to it, but for a book copy, it's about 11 USD. His "Image-Music-Text" is also a good one.

In a wider perspective extending to cinema, I would name Dai Vaughan's "For Documentary" and Dziga Vertov's "Kino Eye."

And for academic essays, I would recommend the following for inspiration:

http://astro.temple.edu/~ruby/ruby/

I've never written any essay for my photographs, but I do keep rough journals to organize them.
 
I like to think of photo essays as cultural studies....they usually focus on a single particular theme, event, or outcome or relationship of themes and or events. The ones I like most are those giving insight to anothers everyday life...a window I would not normally get to look through if it were not for the insight of the photographer.
 
Like Suzanne, I think the most compelling photo essays often relate to a subject for which the photographer has considerable passion, and often represent months, or perhaps even years of reasonably-dedicated work.

That said, I also think there is a very wide range of scope befitting the category. By that, I mean a photo essay can range from a few images to dozens, and still fit within the general category. The choice depends both on the subject matter and how deeply the photographer wishes to explore it, while maintaining the interest of the "reader".

The approach to creating the photo essay can also vary. One might, for example, begin documenting a subject that seems interesting, but about which the photographer is only marginally familiar. As the work progresses, a viewpoint might start to emerge, which may, in turn, require some back-tracking or re-shooting. Periodic editorial reviews of the images may also shift the viewpoint.

In contrast, the photo essay may start as being about a subject with which the photographer is intimately familiar. He or she might plan the whole sequence of images in advance, based on that thorough pre-knowledge, and then proceed to efficiently fill in the blanks in the story board. Like writing a text essay or story, outlining may help in the pre-planning, and may suggest moving parts of the story around for improved flow.

Either way, I think each image, or at least most of the images, need to be able to stand on their own, and tell a small story that is obvious and compelling. If some part of the story needs less-compelling "context" images to provide the glue for the story, the approach may need adjustment. Then, each of the selected images also needs to fit cohesively into the larger story, and be a key part of that larger tale - a part without which the larger story would suffer. In most cases, that probably requires lots of images from which to start, combined with a lot of tough editing.

Although I've done several series of images about different places I've found to be of historical or cultural interest to me, I haven't really approached the subjects with a photo essay in mind. Thus, I don't have anything finished that I'd call a photo essay. Similarly, I'd say that some "collections" of work that have a related topic, and have been published under a general theme, usually fall short of being a real "photo essay" as they lack the finely-honed viewpoint and/or the tightly edited story line.
 
It is the nature of a Photo Essay to tell a story
without need of words.
Words are unnecessary to a Photo Essay,
except to support the basis of the images:
what is necessary to the story,
which took place prior to the participation of the essayist.

A Photo Essay expresses the point of view of the photographer,
whose feelings and ideas were developed through working on the essay.

It is a coherent body of images whose content and presentation is determined by the photographer.

A Photo Essay is distinctive from a Newspaper Story,
Editorial, and Documentary.

A Newspaper Story reports events from the point of view of a neutral observer, assumes the Photographer to be disinterested, and is understood that it is partly accident and circumstantial the photographer was present.

The images gives the viewer no understanding of the Photographer.

Somewhere between a Newspaper Story and Photo Essay
lives the murky world of Reportage.

The distinguishing mark of Reportage is its lack of accountability and involvement of the Photographer, essential to the Essay.

An Editorial illustrates the pre-conceived ideas or beliefs of the Photographer, or the position of an Editor or Publisher.

In an Editorial, it is not assumed the characters are real, nor that events actually happened: the images only support the presence of an unseen but perceivable auteur.

The photographer’s experience, beliefs, and understanding of the events portrayed are extraneous to the Editorial.

A Documentary presents the story of the subject from from the viewpoint of a witness.

Unlike the News Story, the point view of the Photographer is essential.

Unlike the Photo Essay, it is assumed the Documentary Photographer did not cause nor participate the events expressed in the pictures.

Unlike the Editorial, it is assumed the photographs are factual.

The Documentary expresses the point of view of the Photographer to the extent the Photographer attests to the veracity of the image. Unlike the Photo Essay, viewers are left to draw their own conclusion of the events.

Furthermore, it is assumed Photographer places veracity ahead of personal values, without suppressing his own point of view.

Classic Documentarians include Lewis Hine and Cartier-Bresson. Contemporary Documentary Photographers include Jim Dow, Nick Nixon, and John Lueders-Booth.

Photo essayists such as Robert Capa and W. Eugene Smith established the boundaries of the genre. Photographers such as Larry Burrows, Eugene Richards, and Mary Ellen Mark projected the traditonal nature of the Photo Essay in a contemporary expression.

It is common to step back and forth across the border between Essay and Documentary: Gilles Peress and Sebastian Salgado are prime examples.

It is unusual today for a media client to commission, purchase,
or publish either Documentary or Essay; at the same time encouraging the assumption that Editorial Illustration is real, or that News Illustration is signifiicant.

An example of Photo Essay worth study is Ansel Adams’ “Manzanar”.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aamhtml/aamhome.html

After that, please look at Gene Smith’s work for Life: “ Spanish Village”, “Country Doctor”, and “Nurse Midwife”. For extra credit, look at “Albert Schweitzer”, and “Haiti”.

Finally, set aside some time and study Smith’s epic “Minimata”.

These all present Photo Essay on a grand stage.

Working with untold others, I work on a mundane level, making pictures of “People Doing the Things People Do”, personal essays that might show someone in the future how we lived.



© 2006 donald f. cardwell

.
 
Dave Wooten said:
I like to think of photo essays as cultural studies....they usually focus on a single particular theme, event, or outcome or relationship of themes and or events. The ones I like most are those giving insight to anothers everyday life...a window I would not normally get to look through if it were not for the insight of the photographer.
Click to expand...


Dave's comment is exactly right from my perspective. Lili Almog's soon to be published _A Perfect Intimacy_ just draws me in every time I look at those pictures.

www.lilialmog.com
 
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More on Smith....

The video "W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult" has extensive quotes from people who interacted with Smith while he was making his photoessays - including the Nurse Midwife herself, Maude Callen - as well as quotes from his letters about the difficulties of making photo essays.

Suzanne Revy:
>It takes time,

This is a recurring theme in the video above, and an irritant between Smith and his editors. He always wanted more time. For "A Country Doctor", the locals in Kremmling, Colorado joked that Smith followed Dr. Ceriani "everywhere except to bed". Smith is quoted as saying "I made very few pictures at first". He stayed six weeks with Maude Callen.
All the time Life was asking "What are you doing? Where are the pictures?"....

And he actually quit from Life after the Albert Schweitzer essay, because they cut some of the pictures....

Ah, I see someone has anticipated me: I also recommend Sean O'Boyles ruins series:

www.oboylephoto.com/ruins
 
jnanian said:
thanks df -
you put things into perspective~

-john
Click to expand...

As suzanne and bill note, it takes time.

A series of photo essays on particular aspects of life in, say, franche compte would demand a native of the area, an empathetic outsider... and a great deal of focussed activity, like cycling, eating, dancing.... one would have to suffer a great deal for this work but the long-term importance to humanity would justify it !

:D
 
I think Ralph put it into perfect context what a photo essay is.

With regards to some of the other comments, while all make good points, I think it is simplistic to say that an essay must be documentary in context; I personally find the "Country Doctor" and works by Sebastian Salgado to be boring, just as an example. There are a variety of interests, and the concept/definition of a photo essay, and what is contained in them, is based more upon an individual's interests. For example, my favorite essay is Jack Dykinga's book "Desert: The Mojave and Death Valley" - Jack shows a love and regards for the desert, and his actions over the years have shown a desire to preserve it for future generations.

In other words, look at the Photo Essay through your own eyes, and your own interests.
 
There are a variety of interests, and the concept/definition of a photo essay, and what is contained in them, is based more upon an individual's interests. ROTEAGUE

Maybe, maybe not. While there is no meaning-in-law for 'Photo Essay", there is a meaning-in-practise. To a working photojournalist, or editor, of 'a certain age', there is a definite meaning.

Just as there is a different expectation for a Portrait than a 'picture of a person's face' there are traditional and accepted criteria for a 'Photo Essay' that differ from a 'picture story', or 'what I like'.

Certainly one may write an essay about about any subject one chooses.

The criteria of analysis and interpretation which distinguish an Essay from a Story are inherent, too, in a "Photo Essay". Landscape is a viable subject of essay, but whether a given work is succesful in the form depends on how the photographer handles it.

.
 
df cardwell said:
The criteria of analysis and interpretation which distinguish an Essay from a Story are inherent, too, in a "Photo Essay". Landscape is a viable subject of essay, but whether a given work is succesful in the form depends on how the photographer handles it.

.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, one example is Jack Dykinga's book "The Secret Forest", which convinced the Mexican government to set aside the Sierra Alamos as both a National Park and a United Nations Biosphere Preserve.
 
I actually prefer essays to single images. Unfortunately the web and most other presentation forums aren't very essay-friendly.

Recent:

(yes, shot on film)

People may like this flickr group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/thephotoessay/

Or an old one:


I think that the identity of the viewer is often more specifically chosen when working with an essay. In this rather loose set linked above, I knew that the audience for the pictures was a deliberately-narrow one: people associated with the corporate communications of our company. So I could treat individuals in the photos as "recognizable entities" — "celebrities" if you will — though I know that for the average outside viewer they may be scratching their heads as to why I would bother with pics of such-and-such eating dinner or riding on the Yamanote line.
 
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