7th grade Photo Essay Project
This semester we are focusing on generating ideas and working as artists. To reinforce the
concepts that we will be learning in class and to become better observers, 7th students will
complete the following photography assignment at home. If using a disposable camera or
35mm, please use a 27-exposure roll of film. You may also use a digital camera, but a
means of printing or transferring to a disk or submitting via e-mail is required.
A photo essay is a set or series of photographs that are intended to tell a story or evoke a series of
emotions in the viewer. Photo essays range from purely photographic works to photographs with captions
or small notes to full text essays with a few or many accompanying photographs. Photo essays can be
sequential in nature, intended to be viewed in a particular order, or they may consist of non-ordered
photographs which may be viewed all at once or in an order chosen by the viewer. All photo essays are
collections of photographs, but not all collections of photographs are photo essays.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1. Decide on a theme or idea for your photo essay. Some include:
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a significant/important event
feeling or emotion
a day in the life of………
ordinary object
favorite place
a job or career exploration
2. Take numerous photographs over a longer period of time, different
times of the day, from different perspectives, many of one subject or
one event….decide what is the best way to present your story.
3. Have you photographs developed or work with them electronically.
4. Create a way for the images to be presented. Some ideas include:
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PhotoStory3 or iMovie
single photograph with original poem or essay
two page newspaper type spread with text
book or other publication
a montage or collage of single photograph images that are to be looked at both
as a whole and individually
 PowerPoint with some text and/or narration
5. Individual text should be in the form of a caption that tells the viewer
who, what and where in an interesting way.
W. Eugene Smith, Life magazine photographer and photo essayist, said, "The essay is relationships between photos.
One must develop an awareness of the relationships, instead of just taking pictures. A person can go out and take
pictures forever, and still never be able to unite, or bring together, these photos into a single theme, unless they have
thought about the entire story or essay. The photos must be related -- one photograph says something about the
subject; the next may amplify on that subject, or may add its own dimension to the subject."