Photo Essay Assignment
Images, drawings and photos have always been used to tell stories and convey information.
More recently, video and film have become the predominant forms of modern storytelling and
documentaries. Now more than ever, the power of storytelling can be harnessed. However,
telling a story with photos takes more than just a skillful photographer. An impacting photo story
can be developed by skillful photographers who understand the emotions and concepts behind
ever-great story or concept.
The form of such a story is called the photo essay.
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. The photo essay takes the same techniques as
a normal essay, translated into visual images. Sometimes text is added to explain the photo or
emphasize certain points. In this case you will be adding a brief paragraph after each image. 5-7
lines.
5 Photo Essay Tips
A photo essay isn’t simply for photojournalists however. Every human being is drawn to
information and 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. In this case your broad topic is justice. Your title should reflect your narrowed topic.
2. Do your research: If you document an event or topic spend time researching the topic so you
can narrow it down to some key images that reflect what you feel about the topic. All of these
factors will help you in planning out the type of shots you set up for your essay.
3. Find the “real story”: After your research, you can determine the angle you want to take
your story. Though essay ideas may be similar, the main factors of each essay create an
incredibly unique piece of work.
4. Every dynamic essay 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 essay 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 photo choices: You will want to think about the type of shots that will work best for
your essay. Each photo or image must emphasize a different concept or emotion that can be
woven together with the other images for the final draft of the essay.
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Students will also be able to discuss the following:
 What is the theme or purpose of the photos?
 How they were limited by working with photos that already
exist?
 What photos had they wished were available?
 Was their presentation successful?
 Did it catch attention? Why or why not?
 Which photos are dominant in the presentation? Why?
Formatting:
Page 1: You will need a title page with the title of your essay, your name, and ELA 8 on it. (Remember
your title is representative of what you have chosen as a narrowed topic)
Pages 2- 11: Please include at least 10 additional photos, each with a brief explanation of the photo, or
what you wish the viewer to take away from the photo. Use your creativity in presenting the photos.
Page 12: Bibliography (see below on how to cite an image)
Page 13: Reflection of the assignment, discussing the following:
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What is the theme or purpose of the photos?
How were you limited by working with photos that already exist?
What photos had you wished were available?
In your opinion, is your presentation successful in presenting
what you wished to present? Does it catch the viewer’s
attention? Why or why not?
Which photos are dominant in your presentation? Why?
What is the value of this kind of format for presenting
information or telling a story?
Total Minimum Pages: 12 (or 13 if you choose to do bibliographic information on a separate page)
Due Date: Jan. 12, 2014 – we will be working on this project in class when we return from Christmas
break.
**** Presentations will be on Mon Jan 12.
Citing an Online Image (from
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/)
Very important! If you are citing an image found in Google Images or any other
image retrieval service, be certain to cite the image in its original context. Do not
provide the URL of the enlarged image - you must use the URL of the page where
the image was originally shown.
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Image creator's last name, first name, if available, or page author's name if available,
followed by a period and a space
Title of photo followed by a period, in quotation marks. If no title, describe briefly
within quotation marks.
Descriptive word (photo, map, cartoon, drawing, etc,) followed by a period and a
space
Website title in italics, followed by a space
Website publication date in DD Mo. YYYY format followed by a period and a space
Date image was viewed in DD Mo. YYYY format followed by a space
Web address in angle brackets, followed by a period
example:
Suzuki, Lea. "Mick Jaggar." Photo. SFGate.com 14 Nov. 2005. 14 Nov. 2005
<http://www.sfgate.com>.