THE PHOTO ESSAY

Towards the start of photography we were taught different ways in which we can present our work, from having a series to big large prints and books, etc. One technique we looked at was the photo essay. A photo essay is a set or series of photographs that show emotional stages almost like a story.

My class was told to go off and create a photo essay to present. I first did what was the most conventional idea, which the whole class did, which was trying to tell a story through the camera that was almost a movie but in photographs, having different people, in different setting showing different expressions and actions. After doing this I felt that it had no emotion and wasn’t really telling a story. I decided to rethink and I changed my idea. I decided to make a short action into an emotional story. I asked my friend to slowly get her banana and peal it normally and eat it. I took images at different angles and edited my images in black and white to make it seem more dramatic with the strong contrast making the shadows look bolder.

We then had to present them in the same way as photo essays were first produced, which were in newspapers, in parts of books. This was the only way people could show off their photos they had taken as there was no internet or social media platforms. I chose to present them as if they were in a newspaper by having text around the images and having some small and some larger ones. I wasn’t keen on the way I stuck images and bits of texts onto cartridge paper as it didn’t look so professional. I redid the shoot using the same concept as the banana shoot but changed to a lollipop. when it then came to presenting my new shoot I decided to edit it on the computer instead of sticking it down as it looked cleaner and more professional. I also chose to print it on newspaper to give a real rustic feel to my essay.