How to write a photo essay
Essays play a major role in any industry in today’s modern world. They happen to be bold, arranged yet creative way of expressing one’s thoughts, ideas or even experimented facts. Consequently, essays have been divided into different categories for one’s ease to study and learn writing the art of each one of them.
Among the various kinds of essays, photo essays happen to be one of the most recently developed forms of essays. Mainly, photo essays are an essential structure in the curriculum of journalists, bloggers and other humanities-related Assignments. These essays also juggle around scientific as well as commercial fields such as to observe experiments or state economic facts in a highly presentable way.
Weaving out an appreciable photo essay challenges one’s imagination, creativity and ability to multitask because it includes dancing around not only words but also pictures. On the other hand, it could be a tough job to craft out a perfect photo essay which delivers your aim distinctly since pictures can be interpreted or should I say, misinterpreted in different ways.
To help you with this new aspect of comparatively creative and out of the box essays, I will be describing all of it in detail in this article.
- Read Newspapers, blogs and magazines
The news articles and blog posts are indeed the most popular form of photo essays you read in your daily life. Look at any article or news report in the newspaper and you will find at least one photo along with it. Generally, it is done to attract the reader’s attention. Also, note that this fact makes photo essays one of the most read essays of all times. Because come on, millions read newspapers every day.
- Variety of topics
Photo essays have a wide range of versatility. From journalists to scientists, all follow the concept of photo essays. Also, you can write about any topic you feel is suitable. For example, you can describe your trip to Shimla in the essay and include pictures from the trip. In this way, Narrative Essays can be converted into a photo essay making them more attractive for the readers. In short, photo essays can be written on any random topic.
- Alignment of theme and pictures.
While writing a photo essay, it is quite important for you to decide a certain appropriate theme. This is because there might something your words cannot convey but the pictures are more easily comprehensible to the audience. This is another reason why bloggers tend to incline towards photo essays which validate the theme. Basically, your theme should be in accordance with the pictures in your essay even if the words are overlooked by the reader while skimming.
- Select pictures carefully
This could be a little tricky because you might find uncountable photos or images under a certain theme or topic. Most writers prefer clicking their own photos while they are still doing the act about which they want to write an essay. For example, a scientist would click the pictures of each of his apparatus. Also, he might click pictures after he performs each step of the experiment so as to record his observations. However, he may not include all the pictures in the essay and use only those photos which are significant enough for the report. The same procedure is followed by news reporters, bloggers and even a story writer.
- Pictures and words should say the same story
A photo essay is supposed to be a perfect combination of words and pictures. You have selected the pictures and written the essay. But there has to a certain level of synergy between the two. In other words, your photos should not contradict your written material in any way and should be able to convey the original aim of the essay. For instance, if you are writing about your trip to Shimla, then you have to include a photo of the particular place which is being described in your essay.
- Describe the pictures
Make sure to write about all the details showcased in the picture. Mention details such as the name of the place, what it is usually famous for and what you did there. Also, write about its significance and how it adds value to your essay. You can even play mysterious by not adding all the details in your essay directly and by just including some clues which may hint towards your actual thought. However, you cannot do so while writing factual or experimental data in your photo essay.
- The balance between words and pictures
You are supposed to follow a certain word limit while writing an essay so that the reader does not get bored due to the length of your essay. Moreover, in a photo essay, you should especially take care of the number of pictures as well as words. Your essay should not be flooded with pictures. Remember that it is not a collage. Also, photos should be in enough quantity for your essay to be called a photo essay. Even though that is possible with just one picture as in the case of new articles, I suggest you add at least one photo per significant incident about which you have written in your essay. Hence, focus on achieving the perfect balance between the two aspects.
- Introduction
The introduction of a photo essay is pretty much similar to any other essay except you are also supposed to instruct the reader to have a look at the photos. There is a quite a high possibility that the reader has already gone through the pictures and decided to read your essay because of the photos in the first place.
- The body of the essay
This forms the essence of your photo essay. In the body, you have to delve into the deeper meaning of each picture by describing details and connecting your thoughts with them. However, ensure that you do not end up brawling on unnecessary details which may make your essay exceptionally long and boring for the reader. In case of an experimental or narrative photo essay, it is best to keep the tone of a story which unfolds in a certain sequence giving away a little in every sentence and tons of it every picture. Do not go on describing facts which are obvious from the photos unless you are writing an experimental photo essay.
- Conclusion
Your conclusion should validate how the photos go hand in hand with your words. It is extremely important for the reader to understand your final objective which should unfurl along with every picture. You can even collectively target a set of pictures and explain how the group forms the foundation for your thinking. This part of your essay does not describe the photos. It rather draws conclusions from the descriptions which you have already made in the body of the essay.
Photo essays are not very essay to write because it takes a great deal of practice to not make the essay boring and still keeps it in its actual frame. Usually, writers lose the track while paving their way through a photo essay. But remember that creativity is the ultimate key when penning down a photo essay. The more creatively you blend the words at the frames of the photos, the more attractive your essay churns out to be.
