Guidelines and Mechanics
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| From Erin Barrett's Photography Portfolio |
A. An Introduction to Photo Essay
This particular section is adapted from 5 Photo Essay Tips by Cristina N. Dickson retrieved from http://www.digital-photography-school.com/5-photo-essay-tips.
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. 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 a normal essay, translated into visual images.
5 Photo Essay Tips
A photo essay isn’t simply for photojournalists however. Every human being is drawn to stories. Whether you are an amateur or a professional, the photo essay is a brilliant way to bring your images to life and touch your family, friends, and coworkers.
1. Find a topic: Photo essays are most dynamic when you as the photographer care about the subject. Whether you choose to document the first month of a newborn in the family, the process of a school drama production, or even a birthday party, make your topic something in which you find interest.
2. Do your research: If you document a newborn’s first month, spend time with the family. Discover who the parents are, what culture they are from, whether they are upper or lower class. If you cover the process of a school’s drama production, talk with the teachers, actors and stage hands; investigate the general interest of the student body; find out how they are financing the production and keeping costs down. If you photograph a birthday party, check out the theme, the decorations they plan on using, what the birthday kid hopes to get for his or her gifts. All of these factors will help you in planning out the type of shots you set up for your story.
3. Find the “real story”: After your research, you can determine the angle you want to take your story. Is the newborn the first son of a wealthy family on whom the family legacy will continue? Or does the baby have a rare heart condition? Is the drama production an effort to bring the student body together? Or is it featuring a child star? Is the birthday party for an adolescent turning 13, or the last birthday of a dying cancer patient? Though each story idea is the same, the main factors of each story create an incredibly unique story.
4. Every dynamic story is built on a set of core values and emotions that touch the heart of its audience. Anger. Joy. Fear. Hurt. Excitement. 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.
5. Plan your shots: Whether you decide to sit down and extensively visualize each shot of the story, or simply walk through the venue in your mind, you will want to think about the type of shots that will work best to tell your story. I recommend beginners first start out by creating a “shot list” for the story. Each shot will work like a sentence in a one-paragraph story. Typically, you can start with 10 shots. Each shot must emphasize a different concept or emotion that can be woven together with the other images for the final draft of the story.
Remember that story telling takes practice. You don’t have to be an incredible writer to pull off a powerful photo essay. All you need is a bit of photographic technique, some creativity, and a lot of heart. And once you begin taking pictures in stories, your images will never be the same.
In part II of this series on Photo Essays, I will give a practical example of how I apply these techniques in a photo essay of my own.
B. Topic and Shot List
The subject of our Photo Essay Contest is RE Outreach 2011.
The Shot List must include one photo-entry for each of the following categories:
1. The Family (parents and children)
2. The House They Called Home
3. The Arrival
4. The Baptized
5. The Mass
6. The Christening
7. The Post-Baptismal Picture (the family with the sponsors in the Church)
8. The Reception
9. The Gift
10. Home Sweet Home (Send-off)
Each photo must include a specific title and caption.
C. Criteria for the Photo Essay
Content (30 pts.): highly creative, non-typical, unique, appropriate to assigned topic, conveys strong, message, engages audience immediately.
Quality of Photographs (30 pts.): photos clear and free of unwanted elements, camera distances appropriate in all photos, demonstrate a variety of techniques, visual impact
Captions (25 pts.): original idea which focuses on the photo, feeling or experience, precise, original fresh words, complements photo, concise
Poetry (15 pts): original idea on the focuses on topic, creates vivid images, and includes features beyond the assigned requirements which strengthen the photo essay.
D. Deadline of Submission, Online Voting and Judging
Deadline: December 12, 2011
Online Voting: December 15 – 30, 2011
Judging: 70% actual judges’ score, 30% online votes
Announcement of Winners: January 2012
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