The Fundamentals of a Photo Essay

[df cardwell]

How about APUGer Dr Mark, you can find ongoing info on his photo essay House Calls at www.cbc.ca/toronto/features/kda/

wonderful work ... don't know if it fits the "essay" form,
but they are great pictures

thanks bob

 

[removed account4]

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 !

very true.

and it would take a lot to time for an american to learn to relax, slow down, and enjoy life, see life, and eat the foodstuffs, cheese and wine in such a beautiful region of france.

might be a good thing for me to start doing every trip i make to visit my inlaws. thanks for the suggestion!

- john

 

[rbarker]

. . . While there is no meaning-in-law for 'Photo Essay", . . .
.

Meanie-in-law - that sounds like my ex-mother-in-law.

(please pardon the injection of humor into an otherwise serious thread)

 

[Nicole]

I'd really like to resurrect this thread to see if we can get further input as to what you think makes a great photo essay. Feel free to add links to examples.

 

[David H. Bebbington]

I'd really like to resurrect this thread to see if we can get further input as to what you think makes a great photo essay. Feel free to add links to examples.

Basic criteria for an essay (words or pictures), as found in "Creative Writing 101":
It needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end (in other words, a narrative flow).
Write about [photograph] what you know.
Use the simplest possible words [images] which are adequate for your subject.
Write [make images] using your own voice.

With particular reference to photos, a further factor is that you must unhesitatingly discard an individual image, no matter how brilliant you think it is, if it does not contribute to the essay as a whole. Conversely, you must be ready to re-shoot again and again if necessary to fill in holes in the narrative.

As others have remarked, current forms of image presentation are not very essay-friendly. If I try to think of examples, the name W. Eugene Smith comes to mind, with his "Life" essays, for example "A Spanish Village", and his book-length essay "Minamata".

Regards,

David