Photo Essay Assignment In the last fifty years, video and film have become the p

Photo Essay Assignment
In the last fifty years, video and film have become the predominant forms of modern storytelling. But before video, there was photography. And for the last one hundred years, photography and storytelling went hand in hand. Now more than ever, the power of storytelling is harnessed and presented in multiple ways, so how to do it effectively is important. Think about what kinds of stories you’re telling on Instagram or the collection you keep on your phone or computer. Any group of images tells a story and presents an argument, even if we aren’t aware of it.
What is a photo essay? A photo essay is very simply a collection of images that are placed in a specific order to tell the progression of events, emotions, and concepts and illustrate an argument. Used by world class photojournalists such as Lauren Greenfield and James Nachtwey, and Joachim Ladefoged to name a few, the photo essay takes the same story telling techniques as an essay, translated into visual images.
How to Do the Photo Essay Assignment
Requirements:
– minimum 15-25 images presented on PowerPoint or some other slide-sharing software along with commentary. (approximately 20-30 slides)
-a brief 1 page Writer’s Reflection (see below for details)
-upload it on Titanium. You may submit it as a pdf if you like
Steps in Creating Your Photo Essay (Read this carefully):
1. Select a topic for your photo essay and submit it to me for approval via email (this is to prevent any anxiety or freak-outs about whether the topic will work). Your topic must cover some aspect of your topic from the Lit Review or your major, which is broad. (Examples of interesting topics from the past: What’s Wrong with CSUF, Free Time in the 21st Century, Quarantine, Growing Up With Alcoholics, Strange Habits of Soccer Moms, Homelessness in Hawthorne, Views from the Emergency Room, Why We Need a New American Revolution, How Cheese Saves the World, etc.).
2. Think about what you want to argue and what story you will tell about it. Come up with a thesis statement (what the images as a group argues) and a title.
3. Find or take photos that tell the story. You must have a minimum of 15 photos. (You must use photos, not clipart or cartoon images, unless you are making an argument about cartoons.)
4. Look at examples of professional photo essays online.
5. Write brief text to help convey your story. A brief description of what it is, or a quote that further illuminates. Since photos will compose the heart of your essay, you should use no more than 1 sentence of text per photo. Remember: the photos should be central, not the text. You can insert text under each photo, or you can have a slide before each one with text.
6. Use PowerPoint or similar software to display your photo essay. Important: Include a title slide that includes the title (obviously), your name, the class name, and the date. You may also have another slide that presents or argument or makes a general assertion about the upcoming images, but that’s optional. Your thesis should be implied.
7. The size of the text on slides can be smaller than on usual PowerPoints because a photo essay is meant to be viewed by one person with a computer, not an entire group viewing a PowerPoint in an auditorium.
8. The final slide in the presentation should be blank or should say “the end” or “finis.”
9. This assignment should be more fun than writing an essay. Please don’t pick an overwhelming topic that stresses you out.
Writer’s Reflection Directions
This reflections should include:
-your process in choosing a topic, argument, images, and audience
-an explanation of your argument
-how this incorporates themes in the humanities and to what extent
-what you learned about yourself, technology, and the topic itself from doing the photoessay
-how successful you were in the final product and a predicted grade
-A Reference page correctly formatted
Some Photo Essay Tips
1. APATHY SUCKS. It sucks the life out of your photo essay. Photo essays are most dynamic when you as the artist/journalist care about the subject. Whether you choose to document the first month of a newborn in the family to make an argument about the beginning of life, or how Proms mostly end in tragedy or embarrassment, or how many homeless people there are in Anaheim, make your topic something you are passionate about and interesting to your audience.
2. LOGOS. Every dynamic story is built on a set of core values and a logical sequence (logos). Make sure the images flow in some kind of order that makes sense. For example, if you are mixing your own personally shot photos with photos of celebrities, make sure to organize so that your audience doesn’t get confused or is led to believe that you hang out with Lady Gaga.
3. PATHOS. As well as Logic, emotions touch the heart of its audience. Anger. Joy. Fear. Hurt. Excitement. CONFLICT! The best way you can connect your photo essay with its audience is to draw out the emotions within the story and utilize them in your shots. This does not mean that you manipulate your audience’s emotions. You merely use emotion as a connecting point to make other people care.
3. RESEARCH. Find the “real story”: After your research, you can determine the angle you want to take, what you’re arguing, and what kinds of photos will and won’t work. You may collecting images and find something more important to focus on. There’s nothing wrong with that. But keep it in mind, and don’t wait for the last minute to start. One semester, a student wanted to document the birth and home life of her sister’s baby, and halfway through, decided instead to document what a terrible relationship the sister and her husband had. Her images were shockingly real and made a significant statement about the complexity of relationships, even during a time of joy.