For my third experiment, I will be working in the photo essay genre. In keeping with the conventions of the photo essay genre, I plan to choose a series of photographs and examine each through text in order to construct a historical overview of the concerning national debt crisis.

 

I have never created a photo essay before, and haven’t even had much experience in the past with viewing photo essays. As a result, I spent some time preparing myself for this undertaking. My research on the photo essay has given me a lot of guidance that will prove invaluable as I build each piece of Experiment #3.

 

To begin, I researched the general conventions of the photo essay genre. According to MasterClass, a photo essay is a type of visual storytelling that communicates ideas through photographs. This is different from past forms of writing I am familiar with, which strictly communicate ideas through words. One of the reasons photo essays are so valuable is because, as the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Especially for the mundane subject matter of the national debt, the photos I choose can really describe the crisis in ways that would be nearly impossible with words. Further, while there are only so many ways words can be arranged on a page, the opportunities for selecting photographs are limitless.

 

A great deal of time and effort should be spent on choosing the correct types of photographs. While there are a wide range of photos to choose from, the best ones, especially for a historical photo essay like my third experiment, take advantage of light, depth, angle, and color. 

 

When setting out to create a photo essay, the two most important tasks are researching and finding the proper photographs. MasterClass advises that one of the best strategies is to examine previous photo essays that have already been published.

 

Another critical consideration when creating a photo essay is the number of photographs to include, as well as how much text should accompany each image. According to MasterClass, those skilled in the genre of photo essays recommend prioritizing quality over quantity: choosing a small set of photos and putting significant thought into each, as opposed to compiling tens or even hundreds of images.

 

Beyond selecting the photographs, a task in and of itself that will take some time, building a photo essay also requires considerations about captions. Captions with text are not always necessary in photo essays, particularly when the images are so powerful that text will serve to distract from the images rather than enhance them. However, given the nature of my subject matter, this is not the case for the photo essay I will be experimenting with. The national debt is a complex topic, and I believe words are necessary in order to give all of my photographs meaning.