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This photo story captures a sequence of significant moments, allowing viewers to experience a captivating narrative through a series of captivating images that explore emotions, relationships, and personal growth.
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Narrative a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious. www.dictionary.com
A Narrative describes events (real or fictitious) which happen over some period of time (it has a temporal quality). Narrative means pretty much the same as the word ‘story’. Example: Once upon a time there was a group of Vis Com students … they all worked very hard … they all achieved grade ‘D’ and lived happily ever after! This literary narrative describes a simple sequence of events.
In the 1890s Jacob Riis was one of the first photographers to document the story of the New York poor. The narrative was one of squalor and deprivation, reproduced in his photo essayHow the other half lives. Note that these images could be presented in various orders – they need not follow a specific sequential order to convey the story.
Picture magazines become popular during the 20th century Stories (narratives) were told using series of images rather than text as the primary conveyor of meaning.
In the 1930s America was in an economic ‘depression’. Dorothea Lange and several other photographers produced photo essays, each consisting of several photographs to publicise the lives of the many poor farm workers.
Today’s photo magazines such as Hellotell stories about celebrities and their exciting lives (yawn).
Narratives which use images to tell the story are not a new idea. Bayeux Tapestry Commemorating the Battle of Hastings,1066
Cartoons often use text to help the narrative along. Cartoons are an example of linear narrative – the story must be ‘read’ in a specific order.
A single image conveys information and meaning, but any narrative will usually be relatively short. Tony Ray Jones
Artist Barbara Kruger uses text to direct the meaning of her images, often in a counter-intuitive or subversive* way. What is the meaning of this image? *Subversive: Something that aims to undermine or counter prevailing opinion or thought in some way.
When photographs are taken at short intervals and then displayed quickly one after another, they can create the illusion of movement. This effect is used to create moving narratives, what we now call cinematic films or video. Edweard Muybridge
Cinema - Capturing a story Many movie films start with a wide or high viewpoint opening shot to set the scene. The camera then moves steadily closer to isolate a single street, building, and then finally a single person. This helps give the viewer a sense of the place or location which the character inhabits. Example: The beginning of the film Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis (Director), 1994 www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7voy1vit6Y
Stories created from still images often use the same technique. Many photo stories include the following four different types of image: 1. Establish the scene shot(s) 2. Action Image(s) – what is happening 3. Portrait(s) – the people involved in the story 4. Detail Image(s) To achieve all 4 types the photographer must move around, in and out of the action or events taking place. Note: not all photo essays/stories include all 4 types, but many magazine picture editors may expect to see them.
Four images from a short photo story entitled The Journey Which of the four categories do each belong to ?
Set the Scene Detail The people involved Action Four images from a short photo story entitled The Journey
This is a very famous artwork consisting of 9 photographic images describing what is apparently a simple narrative. Keith Arnett, Self Burial, 1969
Duane Michaels, Cavafy cheats playing strip poker, 2004
Duane Michaels, Paradise Regained, 1968 Context: Paradise Lost is an epic poem by English poet John Milton, originally published in 1667. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan (the snake) , Eve’s tasting of the forbidden fruit and their resultant expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
This is an advert. What is the story here
This is an advert. What is the story here?
Editing a photo story • Editing images to make a photo story is often quite difficult. • Display the images as thumbnails or contact sheets. • Mark, note or rank those images which are visually the most interesting or informative. • Hide the other images from view • Now try placing the selected images in different sequences in a variety of ways to explore possible narratives. • Once a rough sequence is decided upon you may need to add other ‘linking images’ from your first rejects, or remove any image which contradicts the narrative which you have decided to communicate. • Crop any images if required and produce the final edit.
