What I Look For In A Photo Project - And One Big Mistake To Avoid

The first step in my personal approach to creating photo essays is defining the ‘what’ of the project.

Each project starts with finding something to tell a story about.

For me that story needs to intrigue me, needs to be able to capture and hold my interest; it needs to be a story that I think is worth telling or one I think needs to be told.

It also needs to be a story which, for me, is practically feasible to be told: I need to be able to make time for it and I need to have access to the right people and/or situations to create the images I pre-visualized.

Ideally, and while integrity and safety should never be compromised, creating the images also will have me push some of my boundaries. From a personal and from a photographic, technical perspective.

This, however, could lead to an important mistake when creating social documentary photography. Although I like to create documentaries that provide a technical challenge, that improve my photography, and my editing and sequencing skills, the story should never be about ‘me’.

With this I mean that the project needs to be story-driven, and not be author-driven; the essay should never be about showcasing my photography or writing skills.

And that brings us back to the ‘why’ of my social documentary projects, as I shared a couple of articles ago.