Faces and Places: a narrative-driven formula for visual ...



The “5-paragraph” photo essay

According to Keith Jenkins, Supervising Senior Producer for Multimedia at NPR, “W. Eugene Smith was the king of the cumulative effect of the photo essay – a variety of image types that add up to a greater whole. Today's attempts too often rely on unconnected ‘moments’ shot over and over again. Photo essays are a great way of marrying photos with narrative.”

For this assignment, you will compose and capture five photographs that will, according to Jenkins, create a stunning visual narrative. The five photographs should come together to tell a story, like the example below. You will also include yearbook-style captions (unlike in the example). The captions are 3 sentences: First sentence is present tense and describes what is exactly happening in the photo; second sentence is past tense and is more broad information about what is pictured rather than what is exactly pictured; third sentence is a relevant quote from an Elco community member.

|Shot one: The scene setter |[pic] |

|Where is your story taking place, and what |This image sets the scene for a story about a health clinic in a rural town. John Poole/NPR |

|does it look like? Is it a building, a town, | |

|an old southwestern graveyard? Place your | |

|audience in the action by taking a photo that | |

|shows it all. | |

|Shot two: The medium shot |[pic] |

|Let's start to hone in on the spot of your |This photo shows us where the story's source is. John Poole/NPR |

|action; the area of the building or town or | |

|graveyard where your subjects are. This shot | |

|narrows your story's field of view and should | |

|bring you closer in. | |

|Shot three: The portrait |[pic]From this portrait, we can see what the source -- & his furry companion -- look like. |

|If things go south and you can only come back with one |John Poole/NPR |

|photo, this should be it. Who is your main subject and what | |

|does he or she look like? This can be a traditional head and| |

|shoulders shot or a wider shot that shows the person's | |

|surroundings. | |

|It's always best to take a variety of portrait shots, as | |

|photos of your subject will probably be used more than once | |

|in a good audio/visual presentation. Also, if your subject | |

|is a thing and not a person, capture it. A great series of | |

|electron microscope portraits might be just what you need. | |

|Shot four: Capturing detail |[pic]The detail in this photo helps illustrate the topic of the story. John Poole/NPR |

|This is the shot that is often forgotten. Detail shots work | |

|especially well for transitions, but can have great | |

|storytelling potential all their own. What are the pictures | |

|on someone's desk? What books are they reading? What's that | |

|post card they have tacked to the wall? All of these things | |

|tell us a little bit about our subject and are great | |

|elements to have in a photo essay or multimedia | |

|presentation. | |

|Shot five: Capturing action |[pic]Action shots add movement to your story. John Poole/NPR |

|Action shots show your subject doing something -- ideally | |

|the thing you are reporting on. This is the shot some | |

|photographers spend an entire shoot trying to perfect, often| |

|amounting to the same shot being taken 30 times. Photos of | |

|your subject in action are essential in audio/visual pieces,| |

|but they are not the only pictures you need. If you get the | |

|other four shots and not this one, you'll still have a solid| |

|photo essay. Capture the others first and then work on this | |

|shot. That way, you have a strong foundation to support your| |

|story, and your action shots will be the icing on the cake. | |

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