The Photo Essay: My Personal Approach
In previous blog posts, I explained ‘what’ documentary photography is, and the reasons I want to create this type of imagery; my ‘why’.
Every photographer who works in this genre of photography probably has their own approach, guiding principles and workflow for creating their stories. In this article, I will share my personal approach to creating a photo essay: the ‘how’.
Each project starts with finding something to tell a story about
This can be a subject or involve an approach that will help me to push my boundaries. Or it can be about someone or something I am quite comfortable with. I don’t think a good photo documentary is depending on how ‘big’ the topic is, or how challenging it is to create the images. And I am certainly not going to put myself into a position that my own or other people’s safety or integrity will be compromised.
It is important for me, however, to work on a story that will hold my interest. I am not a photojournalist, and since I know that my attention span generally is quite short (and that is not only applicable to photography) to successfully create a photo documentary I need to find a topic that intrigues me sufficiently to keep working on it for a prolonged time. That entices me to continue exploring, continue asking questions.
Next up is research
After having defined my topic I need to get background information: about the topic in general, where I best can get subjects for my images that support the story, what type of shots will tell this particular story best, what camera to use and, if applicable, what film to use.
While a lot of research for a photo documentary can be done online, I prefer to also get information offline. If possible, I want to go to the area where I will create my images without a camera first. Just to observe: the environment, the people, situations, light, angles of view.
Sometimes I use a program called Milanote for storyboarding on my computer: this helps me to visualize how I want to execute the project.
Whatever the outcome of the research and my subsequent planning for execution, however, I am also open to the unexpected. When starting the actual shooting I might stumble on something, someone, or a situation I did not consider to be part of the documentary which however will make a great addition. Or diversion.
Creating the images
Whether working digital or with film, for my documentary and candid photography I usually only use two focal lengths for my lenses: 35mm and 50mm (full-frame equivalents for digital). I do this to achieve consistency in my images. When I need to create different viewpoints, I do so by changing perspective and distance: zooming with my feet. Furthermore, being very accustomed to the angles of view of these focal lengths helps me with my composition.
When working on a documentary project I want to really take my time and not rush it. I want to get to thoroughly know the subject of the project and, if possible, the people that will be in the images: developing trust, report, and collaboration. Even when it involves a project where each image is a once-off; as I am planning for my Southern Convenience documentary: an essay focusing on the small, often family-owned, convenience shops that service large parts of the backcountry here in the South.
Projects take a long time to create: I prefer quality over speed. That is why I also like to create candids.
Culling and sequencing
A lot, probably most of the work gets done after the actual shooting: culling and sequencing of the images.
When working on a project I take hundreds of images. These, of course, don’t make it all into the final essay. I usually start with a first culling session on-screen: I place all project images in a special album in ON1 (my image management and editing software) and by quickly going through them I am usually able to delete quite a few from the get-go.
For the next stage, I make a contact print from ON1 of all remaining images. These are then reviewed in a process that usually takes a couple of days. Reviewing, letting them rest for some time, reviewing again. And so on. It actually works quite well for me to strike images that don’t make it through with a pencil.
This usually boils the stack down to about 30 to 40 images. These I print as individual 4x6 images on my regular printer, or I have them quickly printed at a drugstore.
Those final images usually end up on the dining table for final culling and sequencing.
Finishing the project
After having selected and sequenced the images for the project, I ensure that only the final selected images stay in the project album in ON1. After making possibly needed final adjustments (since this is a documentary project, I do not crop and only make some minor exposure adjustments and/or convert to black-and-white) these images are ready to be placed in the Essays section of this website.
Although the visual story is the most important part of each essay and it is said that “an image explains more than a thousand words” I always add some text. Sometimes this is only a project introduction, sometimes this is a more elaborate narrative to explain the background of each image or to make the viewer aware of the not-so-obvious in the images.
Since I am a strong believer in printing my images, I also print out all images at 8x10 format. These images are archived with a printout of the essay as published on the website.
Depending on the size of the project or if combining some projects makes sense, I also will create a photo book or a zine.