Photo Essay

Each subject, large or small, private or public, has the potential to be a photo essay

Photo essay in fact rely on a simple truth. Telling a story through pictures / photographs to inspire and move rather than just using words. An essay photograph often makes emotion instantly-because an essay photograph done by the photographers personally so that made ​​possible the involvement of emotional personal.


Historical photographs and photo essays are almost as old as the practice of photography itself. Photographers will be aware that a photograph can create an emotional response. Many photographers use this power to create a photo essay of social and political, often centered on injustice or suffering. Public response to the social a photo essay on the picture often lead to positive social change.
Many makers are very active photo essay telling something to change public opinion. Lewis Hine for example, the photo essay describing the treatment of child labor in early 20th-century America. Several years later, Walker Evans took a photo essay from Alabama who preach about the great depression.


Sometimes the photographer to take risks to create a photo essay. For example, Lewis Hine who volunteered as a building inspector to gain access to child labor in factories.



In 1960, W. Eugene Smith created a photo essay about the deformities caused by pollution in the village of Minamata Japan. Pollution from a local chemical plant is a matter of local fish poisoning. Smith, like many photojournalists, risking his life to take his photo essay. In fact, Smith was beaten by workers at a chemical plant, causing injuries that led to death in the end.


However, not every photo essay should tell a story that is driven by social consciousness. Photo essay can handle almost any subject or event, no matter how big the dramatic possibilities of his events. A good photo essay that can stand the test of time, because they document the human condition. A wedding photo essay (or less positive events such as war) stand the test of time for future viewers to see how the photo essay remains relevant in their own time.

Photo essay just need to be honest when talking about factual events

Yet a series of images that make up a photo essay can be taken within one day, but sometimes a photographer can spend more time with his subjects. When talking about a particular environment, for example, photographers can get back into the environment for months or even years. Photographers have a special understanding of their photo essay on the subject because they are the subject for so long. Or the subject has been seen for a long time, then the consequences photographer will know where and when most likely to capture the best images as a photo essay.


Photographic essay can tell stories in different ways using different techniques. Sometimes a caption describing the image in a photo essay or a long article accompanying the picture. There are no words needed for a photo essay. Several photo essays follow a chronological order, showing the progress of a person or event through time. Photographic essay that others do not have a command set and, conversely, is a compilation of various images tell a story. A photo essay may appear in a news magazine, will be published as a book, will be exhibited in an art gallery or a part of the family album.



A photo essay could be about marriage, possibly including photos from the planning stage until the big day. Another photo essay that traces the lives of pets may be from birth to death, or a series of black and white photographs (portraits) taken from the same person. Each subject, large or small, private or public, has the potential to be a photo essay.


Accuracy is critical when using a photo essay in a newspaper page or to highlight social issues. In such cases, the photographer's reputation depends on the integrity and the truth is a photo essay. Personal photo essay need not be so completely to life. Another aspect to remember is that the photo essay that does not have to tell a true story. For example, glamor photography can make a photo essay fiction, highlighting the rise and fall of an imaginary star. Photo essay just need to be honest when talking about factual events.




[ @thomazfoto ]