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The Complete IB Extended Essay Guide: Examples, Topics, and Ideas

International Baccalaureate (IB)

IB students around the globe fear writing the Extended Essay, but it doesn't have to be a source of stress! In this article, I'll get you excited about writing your Extended Essay and provide you with the resources you need to get an A on it.

If you're reading this article, I'm going to assume you're an IB student getting ready to write your Extended Essay. If you're looking at this as a potential future IB student, I recommend reading our introductory IB articles first, including our guide to what the IB program is and our full coverage of the IB curriculum .

IB Extended Essay: Why Should You Trust My Advice?

I myself am a recipient of an IB Diploma, and I happened to receive an A on my IB Extended Essay. Don't believe me? The proof is in the IBO pudding:

If you're confused by what this report means, EE is short for Extended Essay , and English A1 is the subject that my Extended Essay topic coordinated with. In layman's terms, my IB Diploma was graded in May 2010, I wrote my Extended Essay in the English A1 category, and I received an A grade on it.

What Is the Extended Essay in the IB Diploma Programme?

The IB Extended Essay, or EE , is a mini-thesis you write under the supervision of an IB advisor (an IB teacher at your school), which counts toward your IB Diploma (learn more about the major IB Diploma requirements in our guide) . I will explain exactly how the EE affects your Diploma later in this article.

For the Extended Essay, you will choose a research question as a topic, conduct the research independently, then write an essay on your findings . The essay itself is a long one—although there's a cap of 4,000 words, most successful essays get very close to this limit.

Keep in mind that the IB requires this essay to be a "formal piece of academic writing," meaning you'll have to do outside research and cite additional sources.

The IB Extended Essay must include the following:

• A title page
• Contents page
• Introduction
• Body of the essay
• References and bibliography

Additionally, your research topic must fall into one of the six approved DP categories , or IB subject groups, which are as follows:

• Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature
• Group 2: Language Acquisition
• Group 3: Individuals and Societies
• Group 4: Sciences
• Group 5: Mathematics
• Group 6: The Arts

Once you figure out your category and have identified a potential research topic, it's time to pick your advisor, who is normally an IB teacher at your school (though you can also find one online ). This person will help direct your research, and they'll conduct the reflection sessions you'll have to do as part of your Extended Essay.

As of 2018, the IB requires a "reflection process" as part of your EE supervision process. To fulfill this requirement, you have to meet at least three times with your supervisor in what the IB calls "reflection sessions." These meetings are not only mandatory but are also part of the formal assessment of the EE and your research methods.

According to the IB, the purpose of these meetings is to "provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their engagement with the research process." Basically, these meetings give your supervisor the opportunity to offer feedback, push you to think differently, and encourage you to evaluate your research process.

The final reflection session is called the viva voce, and it's a short 10- to 15-minute interview between you and your advisor. This happens at the very end of the EE process, and it's designed to help your advisor write their report, which factors into your EE grade.

Here are the topics covered in your viva voce :

• A check on plagiarism and malpractice
• Your reflection on your project's successes and difficulties
• Your reflection on what you've learned during the EE process

Your completed Extended Essay, along with your supervisor's report, will then be sent to the IB to be graded. We'll cover the assessment criteria in just a moment.

We'll help you learn how to have those "lightbulb" moments...even on test day!  

What Should You Write About in Your IB Extended Essay?

You can technically write about anything, so long as it falls within one of the approved categories listed above.

It's best to choose a topic that matches one of the IB courses , (such as Theatre, Film, Spanish, French, Math, Biology, etc.), which shouldn't be difficult because there are so many class subjects.

Here is a range of sample topics with the attached extended essay:

• Biology: The Effect of Age and Gender on the Photoreceptor Cells in the Human Retina
• Chemistry: How Does Reflux Time Affect the Yield and Purity of Ethyl Aminobenzoate (Benzocaine), and How Effective is Recrystallisation as a Purification Technique for This Compound?
• English: An Exploration of Jane Austen's Use of the Outdoors in Emma
• Geography: The Effect of Location on the Educational Attainment of Indigenous Secondary Students in Queensland, Australia
• Math: Alhazen's Billiard Problem
• Visual Arts: Can Luc Tuymans Be Classified as a Political Painter?

You can see from how varied the topics are that you have a lot of freedom when it comes to picking a topic . So how do you pick when the options are limitless?

How to Write a Stellar IB Extended Essay: 6 Essential Tips

Below are six key tips to keep in mind as you work on your Extended Essay for the IB DP. Follow these and you're sure to get an A!

#1: Write About Something You Enjoy

You can't expect to write a compelling essay if you're not a fan of the topic on which you're writing. For example, I just love British theatre and ended up writing my Extended Essay on a revolution in post-WWII British theatre. (Yes, I'm definitely a #TheatreNerd.)

I really encourage anyone who pursues an IB Diploma to take the Extended Essay seriously. I was fortunate enough to receive a full-tuition merit scholarship to USC's School of Dramatic Arts program. In my interview for the scholarship, I spoke passionately about my Extended Essay; thus, I genuinely think my Extended Essay helped me get my scholarship.

But how do you find a topic you're passionate about? Start by thinking about which classes you enjoy the most and why . Do you like math classes because you like to solve problems? Or do you enjoy English because you like to analyze literary texts?

Keep in mind that there's no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing your Extended Essay topic. You're not more likely to get high marks because you're writing about science, just like you're not doomed to failure because you've chosen to tackle the social sciences. The quality of what you produce—not the field you choose to research within—will determine your grade.

Once you've figured out your category, you should brainstorm more specific topics by putting pen to paper . What was your favorite chapter you learned in that class? Was it astrophysics or mechanics? What did you like about that specific chapter? Is there something you want to learn more about? I recommend spending a few hours on this type of brainstorming.

One last note: if you're truly stumped on what to research, pick a topic that will help you in your future major or career . That way you can use your Extended Essay as a talking point in your college essays (and it will prepare you for your studies to come too!).

#2: Select a Topic That Is Neither Too Broad nor Too Narrow

There's a fine line between broad and narrow. You need to write about something specific, but not so specific that you can't write 4,000 words on it.

You can't write about WWII because that would be a book's worth of material. You also don't want to write about what type of soup prisoners of war received behind enemy lines, because you probably won’t be able to come up with 4,000 words of material about it. However, you could possibly write about how the conditions in German POW camps—and the rations provided—were directly affected by the Nazis' successes and failures on the front, including the use of captured factories and prison labor in Eastern Europe to increase production. WWII military history might be a little overdone, but you get my point.

If you're really stuck trying to pinpoint a not-too-broad-or-too-narrow topic, I suggest trying to brainstorm a topic that uses a comparison. Once you begin looking through the list of sample essays below, you'll notice that many use comparisons to formulate their main arguments.

I also used a comparison in my EE, contrasting Harold Pinter's Party Time with John Osborne's Look Back in Anger in order to show a transition in British theatre. Topics with comparisons of two to three plays, books, and so on tend to be the sweet spot. You can analyze each item and then compare them with one another after doing some in-depth analysis of each individually. The ways these items compare and contrast will end up forming the thesis of your essay!

When choosing a comparative topic, the key is that the comparison should be significant. I compared two plays to illustrate the transition in British theatre, but you could compare the ways different regional dialects affect people's job prospects or how different temperatures may or may not affect the mating patterns of lightning bugs. The point here is that comparisons not only help you limit your topic, but they also help you build your argument.

Comparisons are not the only way to get a grade-A EE, though. If after brainstorming, you pick a non-comparison-based topic and are still unsure whether your topic is too broad or narrow, spend about 30 minutes doing some basic research and see how much material is out there.

If there are more than 1,000 books, articles, or documentaries out there on that exact topic, it may be too broad. But if there are only two books that have any connection to your topic, it may be too narrow. If you're still unsure, ask your advisor—it's what they're there for! Speaking of advisors...

Don't get stuck with a narrow topic!

#3: Choose an Advisor Who Is Familiar With Your Topic

If you're not certain of who you would like to be your advisor, create a list of your top three choices. Next, write down the pros and cons of each possibility (I know this sounds tedious, but it really helps!).

For example, Mr. Green is my favorite teacher and we get along really well, but he teaches English. For my EE, I want to conduct an experiment that compares the efficiency of American electric cars with foreign electric cars.

I had Ms. White a year ago. She teaches physics and enjoyed having me in her class. Unlike Mr. Green, Ms. White could help me design my experiment.

Based on my topic and what I need from my advisor, Ms. White would be a better fit for me than would Mr. Green (even though I like him a lot).

The moral of my story is this: do not just ask your favorite teacher to be your advisor . They might be a hindrance to you if they teach another subject. For example, I would not recommend asking your biology teacher to guide you in writing an English literature-based EE.

There can, of course, be exceptions to this rule. If you have a teacher who's passionate and knowledgeable about your topic (as my English teacher was about my theatre topic), you could ask that instructor. Consider all your options before you do this. There was no theatre teacher at my high school, so I couldn't find a theatre-specific advisor, but I chose the next best thing.

Before you approach a teacher to serve as your advisor, check with your high school to see what requirements they have for this process. Some IB high schools require your IB Extended Essay advisor to sign an Agreement Form , for instance.

Make sure that you ask your IB coordinator whether there is any required paperwork to fill out. If your school needs a specific form signed, bring it with you when you ask your teacher to be your EE advisor.

#4: Pick an Advisor Who Will Push You to Be Your Best

Some teachers might just take on students because they have to and aren't very passionate about reading drafts, only giving you minimal feedback. Choose a teacher who will take the time to read several drafts of your essay and give you extensive notes. I would not have gotten my A without being pushed to make my Extended Essay draft better.

Ask a teacher that you have experience with through class or an extracurricular activity. Do not ask a teacher that you have absolutely no connection to. If a teacher already knows you, that means they already know your strengths and weaknesses, so they know what to look for, where you need to improve, and how to encourage your best work.

Also, don't forget that your supervisor's assessment is part of your overall EE score . If you're meeting with someone who pushes you to do better—and you actually take their advice—they'll have more impressive things to say about you than a supervisor who doesn't know you well and isn't heavily involved in your research process.

Be aware that the IB only allows advisors to make suggestions and give constructive criticism. Your teacher cannot actually help you write your EE. The IB recommends that the supervisor spends approximately two to three hours in total with the candidate discussing the EE.

#5: Make Sure Your Essay Has a Clear Structure and Flow

The IB likes structure. Your EE needs a clear introduction (which should be one to two double-spaced pages), research question/focus (i.e., what you're investigating), a body, and a conclusion (about one double-spaced page). An essay with unclear organization will be graded poorly.

The body of your EE should make up the bulk of the essay. It should be about eight to 18 pages long (again, depending on your topic). Your body can be split into multiple parts. For example, if you were doing a comparison, you might have one third of your body as Novel A Analysis, another third as Novel B Analysis, and the final third as your comparison of Novels A and B.

If you're conducting an experiment or analyzing data, such as in this EE , your EE body should have a clear structure that aligns with the scientific method ; you should state the research question, discuss your method, present the data, analyze the data, explain any uncertainties, and draw a conclusion and/or evaluate the success of the experiment.

#6: Start Writing Sooner Rather Than Later!

You will not be able to crank out a 4,000-word essay in just a week and get an A on it. You'll be reading many, many articles (and, depending on your topic, possibly books and plays as well!). As such, it's imperative that you start your research as soon as possible.

Each school has a slightly different deadline for the Extended Essay. Some schools want them as soon as November of your senior year; others will take them as late as February. Your school will tell you what your deadline is. If they haven't mentioned it by February of your junior year, ask your IB coordinator about it.

Some high schools will provide you with a timeline of when you need to come up with a topic, when you need to meet with your advisor, and when certain drafts are due. Not all schools do this. Ask your IB coordinator if you are unsure whether you are on a specific timeline.

Below is my recommended EE timeline. While it's earlier than most schools, it'll save you a ton of heartache (trust me, I remember how hard this process was!):

• January/February of Junior Year: Come up with your final research topic (or at least your top three options).
• February of Junior Year: Approach a teacher about being your EE advisor. If they decline, keep asking others until you find one. See my notes above on how to pick an EE advisor.
• April/May of Junior Year: Submit an outline of your EE and a bibliography of potential research sources (I recommend at least seven to 10) to your EE advisor. Meet with your EE advisor to discuss your outline.
• Summer Between Junior and Senior Year: Complete your first full draft over the summer between your junior and senior year. I know, I know—no one wants to work during the summer, but trust me—this will save you so much stress come fall when you are busy with college applications and other internal assessments for your IB classes. You will want to have this first full draft done because you will want to complete a couple of draft cycles as you likely won't be able to get everything you want to say into 4,000 articulate words on the first attempt. Try to get this first draft into the best possible shape so you don't have to work on too many revisions during the school year on top of your homework, college applications, and extracurriculars.
• August/September of Senior Year: Turn in your first draft of your EE to your advisor and receive feedback. Work on incorporating their feedback into your essay. If they have a lot of suggestions for improvement, ask if they will read one more draft before the final draft.
• September/October of Senior Year: Submit the second draft of your EE to your advisor (if necessary) and look at their feedback. Work on creating the best possible final draft.
• November-February of Senior Year: Schedule your viva voce. Submit two copies of your final draft to your school to be sent off to the IB. You likely will not get your grade until after you graduate.

Remember that in the middle of these milestones, you'll need to schedule two other reflection sessions with your advisor . (Your teachers will actually take notes on these sessions on a form like this one , which then gets submitted to the IB.)

I recommend doing them when you get feedback on your drafts, but these meetings will ultimately be up to your supervisor. Just don't forget to do them!

The early bird DOES get the worm!

How Is the IB Extended Essay Graded?

Extended Essays are graded by examiners appointed by the IB on a scale of 0 to 34 . You'll be graded on five criteria, each with its own set of points. You can learn more about how EE scoring works by reading the IB guide to extended essays .

• Criterion A: Focus and Method (6 points maximum)
• Criterion B: Knowledge and Understanding (6 points maximum)
• Criterion C: Critical Thinking (12 points maximum)
• Criterion D: Presentation (4 points maximum)
• Criterion E: Engagement (6 points maximum)

How well you do on each of these criteria will determine the final letter grade you get for your EE. You must earn at least a D to be eligible to receive your IB Diploma.

Although each criterion has a point value, the IB explicitly states that graders are not converting point totals into grades; instead, they're using qualitative grade descriptors to determine the final grade of your Extended Essay . Grade descriptors are on pages 102-103 of this document .

Here's a rough estimate of how these different point values translate to letter grades based on previous scoring methods for the EE. This is just an estimate —you should read and understand the grade descriptors so you know exactly what the scorers are looking for.

Here is the breakdown of EE scores (from the May 2021 bulletin):

How Does the Extended Essay Grade Affect Your IB Diploma?

The Extended Essay grade is combined with your TOK (Theory of Knowledge) grade to determine how many points you get toward your IB Diploma.

To learn about Theory of Knowledge or how many points you need to receive an IB Diploma, read our complete guide to the IB program and our guide to the IB Diploma requirements .

This diagram shows how the two scores are combined to determine how many points you receive for your IB diploma (3 being the most, 0 being the least). In order to get your IB Diploma, you have to earn 24 points across both categories (the TOK and EE). The highest score anyone can earn is 45 points.

Let's say you get an A on your EE and a B on TOK. You will get 3 points toward your Diploma. As of 2014, a student who scores an E on either the extended essay or TOK essay will not be eligible to receive an IB Diploma .

Prior to the class of 2010, a Diploma candidate could receive a failing grade in either the Extended Essay or Theory of Knowledge and still be awarded a Diploma, but this is no longer true.

Figuring out how you're assessed can be a little tricky. Luckily, the IB breaks everything down here in this document . (The assessment information begins on page 219.)

40+ Sample Extended Essays for the IB Diploma Programme

In case you want a little more guidance on how to get an A on your EE, here are over 40 excellent (grade A) sample extended essays for your reading pleasure. Essays are grouped by IB subject.

• Business Management 1
• Chemistry 1
• Chemistry 2
• Chemistry 3
• Chemistry 4
• Chemistry 5
• Chemistry 6
• Chemistry 7
• Computer Science 1
• Economics 1
• Design Technology 1
• Design Technology 2
• Environmental Systems and Societies 1
• Geography 1
• Geography 2
• Geography 3
• Geography 4
• Geography 5
• Geography 6
• Literature and Performance 1
• Mathematics 1
• Mathematics 2
• Mathematics 3
• Mathematics 4
• Mathematics 5
• Philosophy 1
• Philosophy 2
• Philosophy 3
• Philosophy 4
• Philosophy 5
• Psychology 1
• Psychology 2
• Psychology 3
• Psychology 4
• Psychology 5
• Social and Cultural Anthropology 1
• Social and Cultural Anthropology 2
• Social and Cultural Anthropology 3
• Sports, Exercise and Health Science 1
• Sports, Exercise and Health Science 2
• Visual Arts 1
• Visual Arts 2
• Visual Arts 3
• Visual Arts 4
• Visual Arts 5
• World Religion 1
• World Religion 2
• World Religion 3

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Trying to figure out what extracurriculars you should do? Learn more about participating in the Science Olympiad , starting a club , doing volunteer work , and joining Student Government .

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Not sure where you want to go to college? Read our guide to finding your target school . Also, determine your target SAT score or target ACT score .

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As an SAT/ACT tutor, Dora has guided many students to test prep success. She loves watching students succeed and is committed to helping you get there. Dora received a full-tuition merit based scholarship to University of Southern California. She graduated magna cum laude and scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT. She is also passionate about acting, writing, and photography.

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‘On Photography’ by Susan Sontag |A Comprehensive Summary and Insightful Exploration

In the vibrant tapestry of human history, 1977 marked the birth of a masterpiece that forever altered our perception of photography. This was the year Susan Sontag, a luminary in the realm of critical thought, introduced us to her seminal work, “On Photography”. A collection of six essays, this book was not merely about the technicalities of photography, but rather, it delved into the philosophical underpinnings of this art form. It posed questions that continue to haunt us: What does photography truly capture? How do we discern a ‘good’ photograph? Can photography be equated with art? Sontag’s work, however, was not limited to posing these questions; it also offered profound insights into our relationship with images and how they shape our understanding of the world. Today, we invite you to embark on a journey through the pages of “On Photography”, a journey that promises to challenge your perceptions, provoke thought, and perhaps, even inspire a newfound appreciation for the art of photography.

For those of you who are pressed for time, fear not. This article offers a comprehensive summary of “On Photography”, distilling its profound insights into a succinct overview. It serves as a perfect starting point for those eager to delve into the world of Susan Sontag’s thought, but are constrained by the ticking clock.

The Genesis of a Masterpiece

Let’s take a trip back in time, to the year 1977. The world was a different place then, and amidst the hustle and bustle, a certain book was born that would forever change the way we perceive photography. This book was none other than “On Photography,” a collection of six essays penned by the brilliant Susan Sontag. Originally published in The New York Review of Books from 1973 onwards, these essays were a culmination of Sontag’s reflections on photography over several years.

Sontag, with her razor-sharp intellect and keen eye, delved into the very heart of photography, unearthing the aesthetic and moral dilemmas that lay at its core. She embarked on a journey through the annals of photographic history, taking us along for a ride through the great human, social, artistic, aesthetic, and technological adventure that photography represents. From the United States to Europe, she explored the creations of the great names that have left their mark on this medium: from Fox Talbot to Henri Cartier-Bresson , via Alfred Stieglitz , Diane Arbus, Eugène Atget , Edward Weston, and Nadar .

The Questions that Haunt Us

But what exactly does photography do? What does the photographer see on one side, and what does the viewer see on the other? According to what criteria is a “beautiful” or “good” photograph judged? Can such an activity be given the status of art? What does this image, which seems so easily substituted for reality, send back to us? These are the questions that have haunted photography for many decades, and it is thanks to Sontag’s detailed study that we find some answers.

Sontag’s approach to photographic realism, her reflections on the beauty and ugliness of subjects, contribute by their richness to further define this photographic question. And the influence of the image in our relationship with time will encourage us to take a different look at photography. Her work is a testament to the power of photography, not just as a medium for capturing reality, but also as a tool for understanding and interpreting the world around us.

The Legacy of “On Photography”

“On Photography” has had a profound influence on photographic thought. It has shaped the way we think about photography, and its impact can be felt even today. The book is a testament to Sontag’s genius and her ability to delve deep into complex issues and present them in a way that is both engaging and thought-provoking. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the philosophical underpinnings of photography and its role in shaping our perception of reality.

In the end, “On Photography” is more than just a book about photography. It is a book about us, about our relationship with images, and about how we perceive and understand the world. It is a book that challenges us to think, to question, and to see the world in a new light. And for that, it will always hold a special place in the annals of photographic literature.

Comprehensive Summary of On Photography, by Susan Sontag

• In Plato’s Cave : Picture this: you’re in a cave, and the only reality you know is the shadows dancing on the walls. This is the metaphor Sontag uses to explore the world of photography. She takes us on a philosophical journey, questioning the very nature of reality as captured through the lens. Photographs, she argues, are but mere shadows of the truth, capturing a single moment frozen in time, but devoid of the full context. It’s like looking at a snapshot of a dance, beautiful but lifeless, without the music and movement that give it meaning. Susan Sontag delves into the ethical labyrinth of photography. Can we trust the reality presented by a photograph, or is it a manipulated perception, a tool in the hands of those who wish to shape our view of the world? It’s a thought-provoking exploration that leaves us questioning the very nature of reality itself.
• America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly : Imagine a kaleidoscope, each fragment a photograph, each turn a shift in perspective. This is how Sontag presents America through the lens of photography. She explores the power of photographs to both reveal and obscure the truth, creating a multifaceted image of the country that is as complex as it is contradictory. Susan Sontag takes us on a journey through the works of various photographers, each with their unique perspective, each adding a new layer to the image of America. It’s like peeling an onion, each layer revealing a new facet of the country, each tear a testament to the power of the image.
• Melancholy Objects : Have you ever looked at an everyday object and seen something extraordinary? This is the magic of photography that Sontag explores in this chapter. She discusses how photographers, like alchemists, transform the mundane into gold, capturing the beauty in the most ordinary of objects. But there’s a melancholic undertone to this beauty. Each photograph is a frozen moment in time, a reminder of the transience of life. It’s like looking at a sunset, beautiful but tinged with sadness, a fleeting moment captured forever.
• The Heroism of Vision : Imagine a world seen through the eyes of a hero, each moment an opportunity for greatness. This is the world of the photographer as presented by Sontag. She discusses the role of the photographer as a visionary, using their unique perspective to reveal the beauty hidden in plain sight. But this vision comes with its challenges. It’s a constant struggle to capture the essence of the world, to translate the complexity of reality into a single image. Yet, it’s this very struggle that makes the journey worthwhile, that transforms the photographer into a hero.
• Photographic Evangels : Picture a world where photographs are not just images, but powerful tools for social and political commentary. This is the world Sontag explores in this chapter. She discusses how photography has become a medium for expressing dissent, for challenging the status quo, for shaping our understanding of the world. She takes us through the works of various photographers, each using their lens to shed light on the issues plaguing society. It’s like looking at the world through a magnifying glass, each photograph revealing a new problem, each problem a call to action.
• The Image-World : Imagine a world saturated with images, each one vying for your attention. This is the world Sontag presents in this chapter. She explores the omnipresence of images in our daily lives, how they shape our perceptions, influence our behavior, and define our reality. She discusses the impact of photography on our relationship with the world, how it has transformed our understanding of reality. It’s like living in a hall of mirrors, each image a reflection of the world, each reflection a distortion of reality.
• A Brief Anthology of Quotations (Homage to W.B.) : Picture a mosaic of quotations, each one a piece of the puzzle that is photography. This is what Sontag presents in this chapter. It’s a collection of thoughts, reflections, and insights on photography, each adding a new layer to the discussion. It’s like listening to a symphony, each note a quotation, each quotation a part of the larger melody. It’s a fitting conclusion to the book, a reflection on the themes and ideas discussed, a testament to the power and impact of photography.

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Essays About Photography: Top 5 Examples Plus Prompts

Discover the joy of photography by reading our guide on how to write essays about photography, including top essay examples and writing prompts. 

It is truly remarkable what pictures can tell you about the time they were taken and their subjects. For example, a well-taken photograph can expose the horrors of conflict in a war-torn country or the pain endured by victims of racial persecution. At the same time, it can also evoke a mother’s joy after seeing her newborn baby for the first time. Photography is crucial to preserving precious moments that deserve to be remembered.

Photography can be considered a form of art. So much intent is put into a picture’s composition, subject, angle, and lighting. There is a lot of talent, thought, and hard work that goes into photography to produce such thought-provoking images, 

If you are writing essays about photography, you can start by reading some examples. 

5 Essay Examples To Inspire You

1. why photography is a great hobby by lillie lane, 2. the importance of photography by emily holty, 3. why i love photography by bob locher.

• 4.  The Shocking History Of Death Photography by Yewande Ade
• 5. ​​Fashion photography by Sara Page

5 Helpful Prompts On Essays About Photography

1. what is your favorite thing to photograph, 2. why is photography so important, 3. should photography be considered an art form, 4. different types of photography, 5. interpretations of photographs.

“Be imaginative when writing your shots. Photography is about the impact of your chances. The odds are good that nobody will care to check over your picture When it is an item in a background. Discover how to produce a fantastic photograph, and take these skills and use them.”

Lane gives readers tips on taking better photos in this essay. These include keeping balance, choosing a subject widely, investing in certain pieces of equipment, and using the appropriate settings for taking pictures. She stresses that photos must appear as natural as possible, and following her advice may help people to get good pictures. 

“No matter where you go photography plays into your life somehow. We don’t realize how big of an impact photography truly has on us until we see the details of our life hidden in a photograph. When you flip through your photo album and start looking for those details you suddenly realize you are truly blessed. A photograph keeps a moment frozen in time so we have it forever. Something like joy becomes clearer as we look deeper into the photograph.”

Holty does an excellent job of describing what makes photography so appealing to many people. You can take a picture of anything you want if you want to remember it, and photos help us look at the intricacies and details of what we see around us every day. Photography also helps us keep memories in our heads and hearts as time passes by, and most of all, it allows us to document the greatness of our world. It is ever-present in our lives, and we will keep taking photos the more adventures we have. 

“Every day in normal circumstances people take thousands of pictures of the Grand Canyon. It takes very little thought to realize that few if any of these pictures will be in any way noteworthy above pictures already taken. But that said, they are OUR pictures, our personal affirmation of the wonderful scene stretched out below us, and that gives them a special validity for us.”

Locher reflects on the role photography played in his life and why he enjoys it so much, partly due to his spirituality. He previously worked in the photographic equipment business and rekindled his love for photography in his 60s. Photography, to him, is a way of affirming and acknowledging God’s creations around him and appreciating the natural world. He also briefly discusses the importance of equipment and post-editing; however, no photo is perfect. 

4.   The Shocking History Of Death Photography by Yewande Ade

“In fact, it was easier for the photographer if the dead person was in a sleeping position because there would be no need to put him or her in an appropriate position or prop the eyes open. The restful pose gave some families comfort because it made them believe that their loved one(s) had passed on happily and to a more peaceful realm. It gave the semblance of death as a painless act like sleep.”

An interesting phenomenon in the history of the camera is post-mortem photography, in which deceased people, usually children, were posed and made to look “alive,” to an extent, so their loved ones could remember them. This was done as a way of mourning; the subjects were made to look as if they were merely asleep to give their loved ones comfort that they had passed on peacefully and happily. Eventually, a reduction in the death rate led to the end of this practice. 

5. ​​ Fashion photography by Sara Page

“Modern fashion photography differs because photographers aim to be extraordinary with their work, they know that extra ordinary will interest the audience much more It is extremely evident that fashion photography has changed and developed throughout the years, however there is not just reason. It is clear that fashion photography has changed and developed because of advancements in technology, change in attitudes and the introduction of celebrities.”

Page’s essay focuses on the history of fashion photography and some techniques used in practice. It dated back to 1911 and astonished the public with glamorous photos of people wearing perfectly-styled outfits. As the years have gone on, photographers have taken the lighting of the photos more into account, as well as their settings. In addition, editing software such as Photoshop has allowed even better photos to be produced. Fashion photography has only become more extravagant with the current social culture. 

In your essay, write about your favorite subject when you take pictures- is it people, landscapes, objects, or something else? Explain why, give examples, and perhaps elaborate on your camera settings or the lighting you look for when taking photos.  

Photography is an important invention that has helped us immensely throughout the years- how exactly? Explain why photography rivals painting and why it is essential. Then, write about its importance to you, the entire world, and humanity. 

Some say photography pales compared to the intricacies of music, painting, sculpture, and even cinema and should not be considered a form of art. For an interesting argumentative essay, determine whether photography is genuine art or not and defend your position. Explore both sides of the topic and give a strong rebuttal against the opposing viewpoint. 

From street photography to food photography to portraiture, many different types of photography are classified according to the subject being captured. Write about at least three types of photography that interest you and what they entail. You may also discuss some similarities between them if any. Check out our list of the top CreativeLive photography courses .

Like other works of art, a photograph can be interpreted differently. Choose a photo you find exciting and describe how you feel about it. What is being portrayed? What emotions are being evoked? What did the photographer want to show here? Reflect on your chosen work and perhaps connect it with your personal life. 

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Essay on Photography

Students are often asked to write an essay on Photography in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Photography

What is photography.

Photography is the art of capturing pictures using a camera. A camera is like a box that keeps a moment from running away. When you take a photo, you save a memory that you can see later.

Types of Photography

There are many kinds of photography. Some people take photos of nature, like mountains and rivers. Others click pictures of cities or people. Some even capture stars at night. Each type tells a different story.

The Importance of Photography

Photos are important because they help us remember past times. They show us how things were and how they have changed. Photos can make us feel happy or sad by reminding us of different moments.

Learning Photography

Anyone can learn photography. You start by learning how to use a camera. Then you practice taking photos. Over time, you get better at making your pictures look nice. It’s fun to learn and can become a hobby or a job.

250 Words Essay on Photography

Photography is the art of capturing light with a camera to create a picture. This can be done using a digital camera or even a phone today. In the past, people used film cameras that had to be developed in a dark room.

The Magic of Cameras

A camera is a tool that takes in light through a lens and saves the image. In old cameras, light hit a film to create a photo. Now, digital cameras use electronic sensors to record the image. The sensors work like our eyes, catching light and colors.

There are many kinds of photography. Some people take pictures of nature, like forests and animals. Others like to take photos of cities and buildings. There are also photographers who take pictures of people and capture their emotions and moments.

To be good at photography, you need to learn how to use a camera well. You also need to understand light and how it affects your photos. Practice is important. The more you take pictures, the better you get at it.

Sharing Photos

After taking pictures, people often share them with others. They might put them on the internet, in a photo album, or hang them on a wall. Sharing photos lets others see the world through your eyes.

500 Words Essay on Photography

Photography is the art of capturing light with a camera to create an image. This can be done using a digital camera that stores pictures electronically or an old-fashioned film camera that records them on film. When you take a photo, you freeze a moment in time, which you can look back on later.

The History of Photography

The story of photography began hundreds of years ago with simple cameras called pinhole cameras. Over time, inventors created better cameras and ways to make pictures clearer and more colorful. In the past, taking a photo was not easy; it took a long time for the picture to be ready. But now, thanks to modern technology, we can take pictures instantly with digital cameras and even our phones.

There are many kinds of photography. Some people take pictures of nature, like mountains, flowers, or animals. This is called nature photography. Others enjoy taking pictures of buildings or cities, known as architectural photography. Then there are photographers who like to take pictures of people. This can be portraits of one person or family photos with lots of people. Another exciting type is sports photography, where photographers capture fast-moving action at sports events.

How Photography Works

A camera works a bit like our eyes. When we look at something, light enters our eyes and helps us see. Similarly, when you take a picture, light comes into the camera through a hole called the lens. Inside the camera, the light hits a part that is sensitive to light, either film or a digital sensor, and creates an image.

Photography is important for many reasons. It helps us remember special moments like birthdays or holidays. It also lets us see places we’ve never been to and learn about different people and animals. Newspapers and websites use photos to show us what is happening in the world. Photography can even be a way for people to express their feelings and tell stories without using words.

Anyone can learn to take good photos. It’s not just about having an expensive camera. It’s about looking carefully at what you want to photograph and thinking about where to place things in the picture. It’s also about practicing a lot. The more photos you take, the better you get at it. There are also many books and videos that can teach you how to be a better photographer.

The Fun of Photography

Photography can be a lot of fun. It lets you be creative and can even turn into a hobby or a job. You can take pictures of your friends, pets, or trips you go on. With photography, you can explore new places and meet new people. The best part is, you can start at any age and keep learning and enjoying it your whole life.

In conclusion, photography is a powerful form of art that lets us capture memories, explore the world, and share stories. It’s a skill that anyone can learn and enjoy. Whether you’re taking a picture of a beautiful sunset or snapping a photo of your best friend laughing, photography helps us save those special moments forever.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Happy studying!

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EE on Photo

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By moninja April 27, 2013 in Extended Essay

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First of all: Define which subject you want to write your EE in - as far as I know, photography is not a subject on its own. Avoid choosing a subject you don't do, as that would usually result in poorer results and a lot of unrewarded work.

After you have chosen a subject, decide on the topic, which could very well be related to photography. However, it must be relevant and acceptable within the subject you have chosen (don't write about photography techniques in general if you have chosen to write your essay in English A, for instance). Speak with your supervisor, he or she should be able to help you. Then, do a lot of research, conduct an experiment if necessary. Form a preliminary research question - and no, we cannot and will not give you a research question . IBO (and the rules of this forum, for that matter) clearly states that you have to do your own work - that includes forming your own RQ.

After you have done a satisfactory amount of research, formed a RQ and done your experiment, you can start to write your EE. Change your RQ on the go to fit your essay and make sure you have approximately 4000 words at the end.

Tip: Read the pinned topics in this sub-forum and the EE guide itself. They are really helpful, and should give you a lot of help.

Masoomali fatehkia

You should check whether photography can fit into any one of the official IB subjects.

I don't think if you can do an EE on a subject that is not one of the official IB subjects.

MainRostand

From friends of mine that have taken the IB before me, I think that photography is included in Visual Arts. At least, they have used it for their projects and exposition. But I can't be sure, I dont take that course.

If it has something to do with visual arts, you might want to center in some type of photography, or a particular theme or photographer and their intention.

From friends of mine that have taken the IB before me, I think that photography is included in Visual Arts. At least, they have used it for their projects and exposition. But I can't be sure, I dont take that course. If it has something to do with visual arts, you might want to center in some type of photography, or a particular theme or photographer and their intention.

If that is the case, then the subject choice isn't that much of a discussion.

However, my main points are still standing - we cannot give the original poster an RQ, nor will we. I suggest you read the visual arts subject guide, the EE guide (especially the one dealing with visual arts) and the pinned threads in this sub-forum. They should help you form a RQ and get going with your research.

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How to Create an Engaging Photo Essay (with Examples)

Photo essays tell a story in pictures. They're a great way to improve at photography and story-telling skills at once. Learn how to do create a great one.

Learn | Photography Guides | By Ana Mireles

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Photography is a medium used to tell stories – sometimes they are told in one picture, sometimes you need a whole series. Those series can be photo essays.

If you’ve never done a photo essay before, or you’re simply struggling to find your next project, this article will be of help. I’ll be showing you what a photo essay is and how to go about doing one.

You’ll also find plenty of photo essay ideas and some famous photo essay examples from recent times that will serve you as inspiration.

If you’re ready to get started, let’s jump right in!

Table of Contents

What is a Photo Essay?

A photo essay is a series of images that share an overarching theme as well as a visual and technical coherence to tell a story. Some people refer to a photo essay as a photo series or a photo story – this often happens in photography competitions.

Photographic history is full of famous photo essays. Think about The Great Depression by Dorothea Lange, Like Brother Like Sister by Wolfgang Tillmans, Gandhi’s funeral by Henri Cartier Bresson, amongst others.

What are the types of photo essay?

Despite popular belief, the type of photo essay doesn’t depend on the type of photography that you do – in other words, journalism, documentary, fine art, or any other photographic genre is not a type of photo essay.

Instead, there are two main types of photo essays: narrative and thematic .

As you have probably already guessed, the thematic one presents images pulled together by a topic – for example, global warming. The images can be about animals and nature as well as natural disasters devastating cities. They can happen all over the world or in the same location, and they can be captured in different moments in time – there’s a lot of flexibility.

A narrative photo essa y, on the other hand, tells the story of a character (human or not), portraying a place or an event. For example, a narrative photo essay on coffee would document the process from the planting and harvesting – to the roasting and grinding until it reaches your morning cup.

What are some of the key elements of a photo essay?

• Tell a unique story – A unique story doesn’t mean that you have to photograph something that nobody has done before – that would be almost impossible! It means that you should consider what you’re bringing to the table on a particular topic.
• Put yourself into the work – One of the best ways to make a compelling photo essay is by adding your point of view, which can only be done with your life experiences and the way you see the world.
• Add depth to the concept – The best photo essays are the ones that go past the obvious and dig deeper in the story, going behind the scenes, or examining a day in the life of the subject matter – that’s what pulls in the spectator.
• Nail the technique – Even if the concept and the story are the most important part of a photo essay, it won’t have the same success if it’s poorly executed.
• Build a structure – A photo essay is about telling a thought-provoking story – so, think about it in a narrative way. Which images are going to introduce the topic? Which ones represent a climax? How is it going to end – how do you want the viewer to feel after seeing your photo series?
• Make strong choices – If you really want to convey an emotion and a unique point of view, you’re going to need to make some hard decisions. Which light are you using? Which lens? How many images will there be in the series? etc., and most importantly for a great photo essay is the why behind those choices.

9 Tips for Creating a Photo Essay

Credit: Laura James

1. Choose something you know

To make a good photo essay, you don’t need to travel to an exotic location or document a civil war – I mean, it’s great if you can, but you can start close to home.

Depending on the type of photography you do and the topic you’re looking for in your photographic essay, you can photograph a local event or visit an abandoned building outside your town.

It will be much easier for you to find a unique perspective and tell a better story if you’re already familiar with the subject. Also, consider that you might have to return a few times to the same location to get all the photos you need.

2. Follow your passion

Most photo essays take dedication and passion. If you choose a subject that might be easy, but you’re not really into it – the results won’t be as exciting. Taking photos will always be easier and more fun if you’re covering something you’re passionate about.

3. Take your time

A great photo essay is not done in a few hours. You need to put in the time to research it, conceptualizing it, editing, etc. That’s why I previously recommended following your passion because it takes a lot of dedication, and if you’re not passionate about it – it’s difficult to push through.

4. Write a summary or statement

Photo essays are always accompanied by some text. You can do this in the form of an introduction, write captions for each photo or write it as a conclusion. That’s up to you and how you want to present the work.

5. Learn from the masters

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Making a photographic essay takes a lot of practice and knowledge. A great way to become a better photographer and improve your storytelling skills is by studying the work of others. You can go to art shows, review books and magazines and look at the winners in photo contests – most of the time, there’s a category for photo series.

6. Get a wide variety of photos

Think about a story – a literary one. It usually tells you where the story is happening, who is the main character, and it gives you a few details to make you engage with it, right?

The same thing happens with a visual story in a photo essay – you can do some wide-angle shots to establish the scenes and some close-ups to show the details. Make a shot list to ensure you cover all the different angles.

Some of your pictures should guide the viewer in, while others are more climatic and regard the experience they are taking out of your photos.

7. Follow a consistent look

Both in style and aesthetics, all the images in your series need to be coherent. You can achieve this in different ways, from the choice of lighting, the mood, the post-processing, etc.

8. Be self-critical

Once you have all the photos, make sure you edit them with a good dose of self-criticism. Not all the pictures that you took belong in the photo essay. Choose only the best ones and make sure they tell the full story.

9. Ask for constructive feedback

Often, when we’re working on a photo essay project for a long time, everything makes perfect sense in our heads. However, someone outside the project might not be getting the idea. It’s important that you get honest and constructive criticism to improve your photography.

How to Create a Photo Essay in 5 Steps

Credit: Quang Nguyen Vinh

1. Choose your topic

This is the first step that you need to take to decide if your photo essay is going to be narrative or thematic. Then, choose what is it going to be about?

Ideally, it should be something that you’re interested in, that you have something to say about it, and it can connect with other people.

2. Research your topic

To tell a good story about something, you need to be familiar with that something. This is especially true when you want to go deeper and make a compelling photo essay. Day in the life photo essays are a popular choice, since often, these can be performed with friends and family, whom you already should know well.

3. Plan your photoshoot

Depending on what you’re photographing, this step can be very different from one project to the next. For a fine art project, you might need to find a location, props, models, a shot list, etc., while a documentary photo essay is about planning the best time to do the photos, what gear to bring with you, finding a local guide, etc.

Every photo essay will need different planning, so before taking pictures, put in the required time to get things right.

4. Experiment

It’s one thing to plan your photo shoot and having a shot list that you have to get, or else the photo essay won’t be complete. It’s another thing to miss out on some amazing photo opportunities that you couldn’t foresee.

So, be prepared but also stay open-minded and experiment with different settings, different perspectives, etc.

5. Make a final selection

Editing your work can be one of the hardest parts of doing a photo essay. Sometimes we can be overly critical, and others, we get attached to bad photos because we put a lot of effort into them or we had a great time doing them.

Try to be as objective as possible, don’t be afraid to ask for opinions and make various revisions before settling down on a final cut.

7 Photo Essay Topics, Ideas & Examples

Credit: Michelle Leman

• Architectural photo essay

Using architecture as your main subject, there are tons of photo essay ideas that you can do. For some inspiration, you can check out the work of Francisco Marin – who was trained as an architect and then turned to photography to “explore a different way to perceive things”.

You can also lookup Luisa Lambri. Amongst her series, you’ll find many photo essay examples in which architecture is the subject she uses to explore the relationship between photography and space.

• Process and transformation photo essay

This is one of the best photo essay topics for beginners because the story tells itself. Pick something that has a beginning and an end, for example, pregnancy, the metamorphosis of a butterfly, the life-cycle of a plant, etc.

Keep in mind that these topics are linear and give you an easy way into the narrative flow – however, it might be difficult to find an interesting perspective and a unique point of view.

• A day in the life of ‘X’ photo essay

There are tons of interesting photo essay ideas in this category – you can follow around a celebrity, a worker, your child, etc. You don’t even have to do it about a human subject – think about doing a photo essay about a day in the life of a racing horse, for example – find something that’s interesting for you.

• Time passing by photo essay

It can be a natural site or a landmark photo essay – whatever is close to you will work best as you’ll need to come back multiple times to capture time passing by. For example, how this place changes throughout the seasons or maybe even over the years.

A fun option if you live with family is to document a birthday party each year, seeing how the subject changes over time. This can be combined with a transformation essay or sorts, documenting the changes in interpersonal relationships over time.

• Travel photo essay

Do you want to make the jump from tourist snapshots into a travel photo essay? Research the place you’re going to be travelling to. Then, choose a topic.

If you’re having trouble with how to do this, check out any travel magazine – National Geographic, for example. They won’t do a generic article about Texas – they do an article about the beach life on the Texas Gulf Coast and another one about the diverse flavors of Texas.

The more specific you get, the deeper you can go with the story.

• Socio-political issues photo essay

This is one of the most popular photo essay examples – it falls under the category of photojournalism or documental photography. They are usually thematic, although it’s also possible to do a narrative one.

Depending on your topic of interest, you can choose topics that involve nature – for example, document the effects of global warming. Another idea is to photograph protests or make an education photo essay.

It doesn’t have to be a big global issue; you can choose something specific to your community – are there too many stray dogs? Make a photo essay about a local animal shelter. The topics are endless.

• Behind the scenes photo essay

A behind-the-scenes always make for a good photo story – people are curious to know what happens and how everything comes together before a show.

Depending on your own interests, this can be a photo essay about a fashion show, a theatre play, a concert, and so on. You’ll probably need to get some permissions, though, not only to shoot but also to showcase or publish those images.

4 Best Photo Essays in Recent times

Now that you know all the techniques about it, it might be helpful to look at some photo essay examples to see how you can put the concept into practice. Here are some famous photo essays from recent times to give you some inspiration.

Habibi by Antonio Faccilongo

This photo essay wan the World Press Photo Story of the Year in 2021. Faccilongo explores a very big conflict from a very specific and intimate point of view – how the Israeli-Palestinian war affects the families.

He chose to use a square format because it allows him to give order to things and eliminate unnecessary elements in his pictures.

With this long-term photo essay, he wanted to highlight the sense of absence and melancholy women and families feel towards their husbands away at war.

The project then became a book edited by Sarah Leen and the graphics of Ramon Pez.

Picture This: New Orleans by Mary Ellen Mark

The last assignment before her passing, Mary Ellen Mark travelled to New Orleans to register the city after a decade after Hurricane Katrina.

The images of the project “bring to life the rebirth and resilience of the people at the heart of this tale”, – says CNNMoney, commissioner of the work.

Each survivor of the hurricane has a story, and Mary Ellen Mark was there to record it. Some of them have heartbreaking stories about everything they had to leave behind.

Others have a story of hope – like Sam and Ben, two eight-year-olds born from frozen embryos kept in a hospital that lost power supply during the hurricane, yet they managed to survive.

Selfie by Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is an American photographer whose work is mainly done through self-portraits. With them, she explores the concept of identity, gender stereotypes, as well as visual and cultural codes.

One of her latest photo essays was a collaboration with W Magazine entitled Selfie. In it, the author explores the concept of planned candid photos (‘plandid’).

The work was made for Instagram, as the platform is well known for the conflict between the ‘real self’ and the one people present online. Sherman started using Facetune, Perfect365 and YouCam to alter her appearance on selfies – in Photoshop, you can modify everything, but these apps were designed specifically to “make things prettier”- she says, and that’s what she wants to explore in this photo essay.

Tokyo Compression by Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf has an interest in the broad-gauge topic Life in Cities. From there, many photo essays have been derived – amongst them – Tokyo Compression .

He was horrified by the way people in Tokyo are forced to move to the suburbs because of the high prices of the city. Therefore, they are required to make long commutes facing 1,5 hours of train to start their 8+ hour workday followed by another 1,5 hours to get back home.

To portray this way of life, he photographed the people inside the train pressed against the windows looking exhausted, angry or simply absent due to this way of life.

You can visit his website to see other photo essays that revolve around the topic of life in megacities.

Final Words

It’s not easy to make photo essays, so don’t expect to be great at it right from your first project.

Start off small by choosing a specific subject that’s interesting to you –  that will come from an honest place, and it will be a great practice for some bigger projects along the line.

Whether you like to shoot still life or you’re a travel photographer, I hope these photo essay tips and photo essay examples can help you get started and grow in your photography.

Let us know which topics you are working on right now – we’ll love to hear from you!

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Ana Mireles is a Mexican researcher that specializes in photography and communications for the arts and culture sector.

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How to Make a Photo Essay: 5 Tips for Impactful Results

A Post By: Christina N Dickson

Want to tell meaningful stories with your photos? That’s what a photo essay is all about: conveying concepts and narratives through a series of carefully chosen images.

While telling a story with photos can be a daunting task, there are several easy tips and techniques you can use in your photo essays to create striking, stunning, eye-opening results.

And that’s what I’m going to share in this article: five photo essay tips that you can immediately apply to your photography. You’ll leave as a better photo essayist than when you arrived!

Let’s get started.

What is a photo essay?

A photo essay is a collection of images placed in a specific order to convey certain emotions , specific concepts, or a progression of events.

In other words:

The photo essay tells stories just like a normal piece of writing , except with images instead of words. (Here, I’m using the term “story” loosely; as mentioned above, photo essays can encapsulate emotions or concepts in addition to traditional, time-based narratives.)

Plenty of world-class photojournalists use photo essays, including Lauren Greenfield, James Nachtwey, and Joachim Ladefoged. But the photo essay format isn’t exclusive to professionals, and photo essays don’t need to cover dramatic events such as wars, natural disasters, and social issues. Whether you are a complete beginner, a hobbyist, or a professional, the photo essay is a great way to bring your images to life, tell relevant stories about your own surroundings, and touch your family, friends, and coworkers.

So without further ado, let’s look at five easy tips to take your photo essays to the next level, starting with:

1. Find a topic you care about

Every good photo essay should start with an idea .

Otherwise, you’ll be shooting without a purpose – and while such an approach may eventually lead to an interesting series of photos, it’s far, far easier to begin with a topic and only then take out your camera.

As I emphasized above, a photo essay can be about anything. You don’t need to fixate on “classic” photo essay themes, such as war and poverty. Instead, you might focus on local issues that matter to you (think of problems plaguing your community). You can also think about interesting stories worth telling, even if they don’t have an activism angle.

For instance, is there an area undergoing major development? Try documenting the work from start to finish. Is there a particular park or nature area you love? Create a series of images that communicate its beauty.

One key item to remember:

Photo essays are most powerful when you, as the photographer, care about the subject. Whether you choose to document something major and public, like an environmental crisis, or whether you choose to document something small and intimate, like the first month of a newborn in the family, make sure you focus on a topic that matters to you .

Otherwise, you’ll struggle to finish the essay – and even if you do successfully complete it, viewers will likely notice your lack of passion.

2. Do your research

The best photo essays involve some real work. Don’t just walk around and shoot with abandon; instead, try to understand your subject.

That way, you can capture a more authentic series of photos.

For instance, if you document a newborn’s first month , spend time with the family. Discover who the parents are, what culture they are from, and their parenting philosophy.

If you cover the process of a school’s drama production, talk with the teachers, actors, and stagehands; investigate the general interest of the student body; find out how the school is financing the production and keeping costs down.

If you photograph a birthday party, check out the theme, the decorations they plan on using, what the birthday kid hopes to get for their gifts.

If you’re passionate about your topic, the research should come easy. You should enjoy learning the backstory.

And then, when it comes time to actually shoot, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of the topic. You’ll know the key players in the story, the key ideas, and the key locations. You’ll be able to hone in on what matters and block out the flashy distractions.

Make sense?

3. Find the right angle

Once you’ve done your research, you’ll know your topic inside and out.

At which point you’ll need to ask yourself:

What is the real, authentic story I want to tell?

Every story has a hundred different angles and perspectives. And trying to share the story from every perspective is a recipe for failure.

Instead, pick a single angle and focus on it. If you’re documenting a local issue, do you want to focus on how it affects children? The physical area? The economy? If you’re documenting a newborn’s first month, do you want to focus on the interaction between the newborn and the parents? The growth of the newborn? The newborn’s emotions?

As you’ll find out during your research, even stories that seem to be completely one-sided have plenty of hidden perspectives to draw on.

So think about your story carefully. In general, I recommend you approach it from the angle you’re most passionate about (consider the previous tip!), but you’re always free to explore different perspectives.

4. Convey emotion

Not all photo essays must convey emotion. But the most powerful ones do.

After all, think of the stories that you know and love. Your favorite books, movies, and TV shows. Do they touch you on an emotional level?

Don’t get me wrong: Every photo essay shouldn’t cover a sappy, heartstring-tugging tale. You can always focus on conveying other emotions: anger, joy, fear, hurt, excitement.

(Of course, if your story is sappy and heartstring-tugging, that’s fine, too – just don’t force it!)

How do you convey emotions, though? There’s no one set way, but you can include photos of meaningful scenes – human interactions generally work well here! – or you can simply show emotion on the faces of your photographic subjects . Really, the best way to communicate emotions through your photos is to feel the emotions yourself; they’ll bleed over into your work for a unique result.

5. Plan your shots

Once you’ve done the research and determined the angle and emotions you’d like to convey, I recommend you sit down, take out a pen and paper, and plan your photo essay .

Should you extensively visualize each photo? Should you walk through the venue, imagining possible compositions ?

Honestly, that’s up to you, and it’ll depend on how you like to work. I do recommend that beginners start out by creating a “shot list” for the essay. Here, you should describe the main subject, the narrative purpose of the image, plus any lighting or composition notes. Once you become more experienced, you can be looser in your planning, though I still recommend you at least think about the different shots you want to capture.

You can start by planning 10 shots. Each one should emphasize a different concept or emotion, but make sure to keep a consistent thread running through every composition; after all, the end goal is to create a powerful series of images that tell a story.

One final tip:

While you should stick to your plan pretty closely, at least at first, don’t ignore the potential for spontaneity. If you see a possible shot, take it! You can later evaluate whether it’s a worthwhile addition to your essay.

Photo essay tips: final words

Now that you’ve finished this article, you know all about what photo essays are, and – hopefully! – how to create a beautiful essay of your own.

Just remember: storytelling takes practice, but you don’t have to be an incredible writer to pull off a powerful photo essay. All you need is a bit of photographic technique, some creativity, and a lot of heart.

Once you start to tell stories with your photos, your portfolio will never be the same!

Now over to you:

Do you have any tips for doing photo essays? Do you have any essays you’re proud of? Share them in the comments below!

Read more from our Tips & Tutorials category

is a visionary artist and philanthropist in Portland Oregon. Her work includes wedding photography www.BrideInspired.com and leadership with www.RevMediaBlog.com .

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Advice for an Unforgettable Photo Essay

Six steps for turning your images into a memorable photo essay, from curating your best work to crafting a title.

A man sits alone on a chair on the side of the road. We see him from above, surrounded by grey cobblestones neatly placed, a broken plastic chair, and some pylons scattered along the curb. A street cat wanders out of the frame and away from the man. He appears lonely, the only person inhabiting the place in which he seems so comfortably seated. As the eye wanders throughout the frame, however, the viewer discovers more: a vast city cast beyond the street and behind the man’s chair. This image closes Sarah Pannell’s photo essay Sehir , a quiet study of urban life.

Possibilities, discovery, and stories: these are some of the most effective elements of a photo essay. Collections of images can help produce a narrative, evoke emotion, and guide the viewer through one or more perspectives. A well-executed photo essay doesn’t rely on a title or any prior knowledge of its creator; it narrates on its own, moving viewers through sensations, lessons, and reactions.

Famous photo essays like Country Doctor by W. Eugene Smith or Gordon Parks’ The Harlem Family are acclaimed for showing a glimpse into the lives of the sick and impoverished. Other well-made photo essays offer a new way to look at the everyday, such as Peter Funch’s much-reposted photo series 42nd and Vanderbilt , for which Funch photographed the same street corner for nine years. As shown by these photographers’ experiences with the medium, a collection of photos can enliven spaces and attitudes. Strong photo essays can give voice to marginalized individuals and shine a spotlight on previously overlooked experiences.

You don’t necessarily need to be a documentary photographer to create a powerful photo essay. Photo essays can showcase any topic, from nature photography to portraiture to wedding shots. We spoke to a few photographers to get their perspectives on what makes a good photo essay, and their tips for how any photographer can get started in this medium. Here are six steps to follow to create a photo essay that tells a memorable story.

Choose a specific topic or theme for your photo essay.

There are two types of photo essays: the narrative and the thematic. Narrative photo essays focus on a story you’re telling the viewer, while thematic photo essays speak to a specific subject.

The most natural method for choosing a topic or theme for your photo essay is to go with what you know. Photograph what you experience. Whether that includes people, objects, or the things you think about throughout the day, accessibility is key here. Common topics or concepts to start with are emotions (depicting sadness or happiness) or experiences (everyday life, city living).

For photographer Sharon Pannen , planning a photo essay is as simple as “picking out a subject you find interesting or you want to make a statement about.”

From Paper & Stories , a photo series by Sharon Pannen for Schön! Magazine.

Consider your photo subjects.

The subjects of your photographs, whether human or not, will fill the space of your photos and influence the mood or idea you’re trying to depict. The subject can determine whether or not your photos are considered interesting. “I always try to find someone that catches my eye. I especially like to see how the light falls on their face and how a certain aesthetic might add to their persona,” says photographer Victoria Wojtan .

While subjects and their interest factor are, well, subjective, when considering your subjects, you should ask yourself about your audience. Do other people want to see this? Is my subject representative of the larger idea my photo essay is trying to convey? Your projects can involve people you know or people you’ve only just met.

“Most projects I work on involve shooting portraits of strangers, so there’s always a tension in approaching someone for a portrait,” says photographer Taylor Dorrell . For Wojtan, that tension can help build trust with a subject and actually leads to more natural images “If there’s tension it’s usually because the person’s new to being photographed by someone for something that’s outside of a candid moment or selfie, and they need guidance for posing. This gives me the opportunity to make them feel more comfortable and let them be themselves. I tend to have a certain idea in mind, but try to allow for organic moments to happen.”

Aim for a variety of images.

Depending on your theme, there are a few types of photos you’ll want to use to anchor your essay. One or two lead photos should slowly introduce the viewer to your topic. These initial photos will function in a similar way to the introductory paragraph in a written essay or news article.

From there, you should consider further developing your narrative by introducing elements like portraiture, close ups, detail shots, and a carefully selected final photo to leave the viewer with the feeling you set out to produce in your photos. Consider your opening and closing images to be the most important elements of your photo essay, and choose them accordingly. You want your first images to hook the viewer, and you also want your final images to leave a lasting impression and perhaps offer a conclusion to the narrative you’ve developed.

Including different types of photos, shot at different ranges, angles, and perspectives, can help engage your viewer and add more texture to your series.

Says photographer Taylor Dorrell: “After I have a group of images, I tend to think about color, composition, the order the images were taken, the subject material, and relevance to the concept.”

From Taylor Dorrell’s photo essay White Fences : “White Fences is an ongoing photo series that explores the theme of suburban youth in the United States, specifically in the midwest suburb New Albany, Ohio.”

Put your emotions aside.

Self-doubt can easily come into play when working with your own photography. The adage that we are our own worst critics is often true. It can be difficult to objectively select your strongest images when creating a photo essay. This is why putting together photo essays is such a useful practice for developing your curatorial skills.

“The most important part for me is getting outside opinions. I don’t do that enough, and have a bias in selecting images that might not be the most powerful images or the most effective sequence of images,” says Dorrell. Your own perception of a photograph can cloud your ability to judge whether or not it adds to your photo essay. This is especially true when your essay deals with personal subjects. For example, a photo essay about your family may be hard to evaluate, as your own feelings about family members will impact how you take and view the photos. This is where getting feedback from peers can be invaluable to producing a strong series.

Collecting feedback while putting your photo essay together can help you determine the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps within the collection of photos you’ve produced. Ask your friends to tell you their favorites, why they like them, and what they think you’re going for in the work you’ve created. Their opinions can be your guide, not just your own emotions.

Edit your photo selection.

Beyond post-production, the series of photos you select as your essay will determine whether you’ve executed your theme or narrative effectively. Can the photos stand alone, without written words, and tell the story you set out to? Do they make sense together, in a logical sequence? The perfect photo essay will give your audience a full picture of the narrative, theme, or essence you’re looking to capture.

A good method to use to cull your images down is to remove as many as half of your images straight away to see if your narrative is still as strong with fewer photos. Or, perhaps, deciding on a small number you’d like to aim for (maybe just five to ten images) and using this as a method to narrow down to the images that tell your story best.

From Taylor Dorrell’s photo essay Over the Rhine , featured in Vice.

Give your photo essay a title, and add a concise written statement.

Finally, you’ll want to create a title and written statement for your photo essay. This will help position your work and can enable the viewer to fully understand your intention, or at least guide their perspective.

A solid written statement and title will be relevant to your topic, detail your primary objective, and introduce your point of view. It’s an opportunity to clarify your intentions to the viewer and ensure they walk away with a clear interpretation of your work. Depending on your photo essay, you may want to include several paragraphs of text, but even just one or two sentences of background can be enough to expand the viewer’s understanding of your work.

Consider if you’d like to add the written statement at the beginning of your essay to introduce it, or at the end as a conclusion. Either one can be impactful, and it depends how you’d like people to experience your work.

For his photo essay White Fences, excerpted above, Taylor Dorrell wrote only one sentence of introduction. But for his series Over the Rhine, Dorell included a longer written statement to accompany the work, which is “an ongoing photo series that seeks to explore the Cincinnati neighborhood of the same name and its surroundings. The series was started in response to the shooting of Samuel DuBose, an unarmed black man, by officer Ray Tensing of the University of Cincinnati Police, which happened July 19th, 2015.” Dorell’s text goes on to offer more background on the project, setting up the viewer with all the information they need to understand the context of the photo essay.

Depending on the motivations behind your photo essay and what sort of subject it depicts, a longer text may be necessary—or just a few words might be enough.

Looking for a place to share your photo essays with the world? Take a look at our guide to creating a photography website for tips on showcasing your photos online.

Cover image by Taylor Dorrell, from his photo essay Hurricane Over Sugar .

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‘photography, encore’, time present: photography from the deutsche bank collection, 2014.

Photography, Encore.

An essay written for the book Time Present: Photography from the Deutsche Bank Collection , 2014

For the better part of a century now, it has been customary to begin an essay about contemporary photography with reference either to the difficulty of defining it as a medium, or to the rapidly changing attitudes towards it. A commentator is on solid if predictable ground with an opening line such as: “In this time of great transition for photography,” or “Now more than ever, the very idea of photography is in question,” or “Photography is the most mercurial and enigmatic of mediums,” or “Photography’s applications and possibilities now seem limitless.” Even the less wide-eyed assessments have a long history: “Photography’s artistic potential is compromised by the document character of the medium,” or “It seems photography’s days are numbered.” One can find expressions like these in writings as far back as the 1910s.

What might this tell us? That photography has never been easy to define; that popular and artistic attitudes towards it are never stable for long; that its technological base changes continuously—it always seems to be coming to an end or a new beginning; and that it has always been practiced with a breadth that defies categorization. What really changes is the detail.

Even a cursory glance across the field of contemporary photography in art reveals a broad range of forms and practices: the framed singular tableau photograph, staged or unstaged, large or small; the suite or series of photographs exploring a particular pictorial approach or subject; the extended typology or grid; the reworking or re- presentation of photographic material from archives (domestic, state, commercial); classical documentary projects; experimental documentary projects; images derived from surveillance or other automated camera systems; still lifes (naturalistic or constructivist); allegories and parodies of applied photography (advertising, fashion, media propaganda, industrial photography, portraiture); performance documentation; photographs torn out of, or reprinted from publications past and present; hybrids of photography and sculptural form; slide-shows (digital or analogue); image-text practices; image-sound practices; explorations of the uncertain border between the still and moving image; elemental explorations of the photographic apparatus (light, lenses, shutter, photosensitive surfaces); photorealist computer-generated imagery; paintings and drawings derived from photographs. Then there is the equally wide range of practices that are not so easily exhibited but make irrefutable claims to artistic significance: photobooks, websites, site-specific interventions. And that’s just at a glance.

When this incommensurable variety troubles a commentator’s idea of “the photograph” or even the less specific notion of “photography,” there is the fallback descriptive term “photographic.” This substitution of noun with adjective—or the adjectival noun “the photographic”—dodges the difficult questions that really need answering but it does at least appear to signal their range. Indeed the rise of the term “the photographic” corresponds with the widespread assumption that photography is now distributed, if not dissolved, across an “expanded field” of artistic production. This particular assumption has been repeated so often of late that it has lost all meaning, if indeed it ever had any: immediately upon its invention in the 1830s photography expanded, or rather exploded into every domain of cultural and scientific life without a second thought. Even within art there were no boundaries to be respected. Anything could be explored and it was. The breadth of what has been possible and what has been achieved with photography is well nigh impossible to comprehend. For this reason defining the art history of photography has always been a matter of highly contested “gate-keeping” which, for lack of consensus—and flying in the face of plurality—dictates which practices are significant. This is why photography now seems so fascinated with its own past. It constantly underestimates how rich it was (is). So let us beware of the art historians’ loose talk of “recent expansion.” It is mere solipsism. They once had a narrower view but something has prompted that view to expand. Let’s accept the field was always more expansive than we can ever know. We are dealing with photography, the most dispersed and flexible of image forms.

Art and non-art

Art is always in some kind of relation with non-art. It does not, indeed it cannot, take place in a bubble cut off from the rest of culture. For photography this relation is often quite emphatic because photography does not belong exclusively to art and has significant currency outside of art (the same might be said of film and video but much less so of painting, for example, although no medium is entirely monopolized by art). At times it seems as if whatever it was that made the space of art distinct, special, or valuable is dissolving. Especially when the art market and the consensual categories of the populist mass media conspire to dictate the making, selection and reception of art. Perhaps the best we might hope for, if we want art to be distinct, is that it has a creativity, or criticality that sets it apart. In 1973, Victor Burgin suggested:

“ A job the artist does which no-one else does is to dismantle existing communication codes and to recombine some of their elements into structures which can be used to generate new pictures of the world.”[i]

In this assessment an artist is not simply someone who works within the institutions of art; it is someone who works in relation to, and at odds with the structures of culture at large. An artist may well exhibit in galleries but may also be a writer, architect, filmmaker, designer, musician, philosopher, scientist or speaker. Art is a matter of pursuing “new pictures of the world,” and this pursuit can take place anywhere. In this sense art is not an institution or even a discourse, but a disposition characterized by the desire for things to be other than, or better than they are. Art can be found anywhere and the medium of photography aids and structures the expression of that desire.

More specifically, photography in the contemporary gallery space appears to function as an operating table or a stage set, to which the different potentials and non-art practices of the medium are brought and re-pictured. These metaphors, of the operating table and stage set, map very well onto what seem to be two key impulses of the medium: the forensic interest in detail, and the theatrical interest in mise-en-scène, performativity and time. Photography in art is somehow obliged or compelled to enter a dialogue either with the notion of visual evidence, or with the culture of the moving image in which the still image finds itself, or both.

  One medium or several?

Little of what I have suggested so far addresses the question of how it is that photography has eluded stable definition. My hunch, and it is only a hunch, is that photography is not one medium but three or perhaps four, working together.

Looking back at the many discussions of photography and its apparatus, I have noticed that the character and direction of the thinking tends to change depending upon which part of the apparatus is being thought about. The camera, which is just one part of the photographic apparatus, is itself made up of what we might think of as three distinct parts. I mentioned them earlier in passing: the lens (or aperture), the shutter, and the light-sensitive surface.

When the lens is the center of attention it is usually in relation to the depiction of space and the conventions of realism determined by theories of perspective and the laws of optics. Here we are in the realm of resemblance and iconicity. The lens might not be “photography” but it might be “photographic.” When the shutter is invoked, it is in relation to time and duration (instants, long exposures, multiple exposures and so forth). When the light sensitive surface is invoked, it is usually in regard to questions of indexicality, contiguity and touch (the existential connection between light bouncing off a subject and its contact with a chemically or electronically sensitized plate). An artist might use a lens or aperture only, for example, to turn a gallery into a camera obscura that projects inside and upside-down the world outside. This too might be thought of as photographic without being “photography.” An artist might use a shutter only, for example, as a performance closing and opening the shutters over a gallery’s windows, making the space alternately light and dark. An artist might use a light sensitive surface only, for example, by exposing photographic paper directly. Photographic but not photography.

Cover, Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1952. Cover design by Henri Martisse.

At different historical points and in different contexts we can see that the emphasis on each component part of the photographic apparatus has varied. For instance think of how, between the mid-1920s and the mid-1970s, the shutter seemed to play the central part in popular and more serious thinking about what photography is. Henri Cartier-Bresson’s celebrated “Decisive Moment,” in which the lens cuts out a bit of space and the shutter cuts out a bit of time, was understood to be as close to the essence of the medium as you could get. The hunter-photographer moves through the unpredictable world and shoots reactively, making order out of its apparent chaos, or vice-versa. This idea loomed very large in accounts of what photography was or could be. Looking back, we can see that that era—a long one at half a century—was in part prompted as much by other media as by photography’s autonomous search for its own essence. Cinema, a fully mass medium by the 1920s, invented the moving image but it also invented a new relation to still images. Photography began to pursue this stillness as “arrestedness.” With an active shutter it mastered and monopolized arrestedness until video intruded as a mass form to become widespread by the 1970s, with its portability, dispersal, and capacity to be readily fragmented. At that point the decisive moment began to slip from the understanding of the medium’s artistic potential. Indeed, I am struck by how little “shutter” photography there is in contemporary art, which seems to favour slowness of various kinds. These days few art people speak of the moment, decisive or otherwise, as being unique to photography or definitive of its artistic potential. Even so, the instantaneous now haunts photography, which is partly why so much staged photography in art since the mid-1970s has renounced the decisive moment to better explore what such a moment was or is. The early work of Cindy Sherman and much of the work of Jeff Wall comes to mind in this regard. Both of them began in earnest in the late 1970s. Today contemporary photographic artists seem to prefer the stoicism of the lens to the ecstasy or trauma of the shutter. That seems to be what this now relatively slow medium is for them.

Cover, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills , Rizzoli, New York, 1990

So photography has always had a shutter in one form or another, but its significance has experienced a rise and fall. Likewise we could think of the various points at which the light sensitive surface—the component that makes photography, at least in part, a trace of the world as light—has peaked within the understanding of the medium. These would include the crises of historical memory felt in the wake of various wars. Think also, in a different way, about how the becoming electronic of the apparatus (digital cameras) focuses discussion on the light-sensitive surface. Debates about the digital have made a fetish of their difference from, rather than their continuity with, older equipment. Digital cameras still have lenses, but little is said of them. We might also think of the indexical turn in art’s conception of photography in the 1970s that was so well described by the critic Rosalind Krauss. Advanced art of that time stressed the photograph’s status as physical record, either by making use of it in practices such as performance art and Land Art documentation, or by digging up the foundations of its status as neutral evidence. Conceptual Art liked to parody the photo as “dumb document.”

Ideas about the role played by the lens have also risen and fallen, but with fewer extremes. Think of the preoccupation with the “faults” of the lens and the artistic aversion to clear detail typical of Pictorialist photography (shallow focus, vignetting, imperfect glass), or the strong presence in art since the 1920s of the “straight photograph” (frontal, rectilinear, uninflected), which clearly marks a certain kind of ascendance of the perfectible lens and its descriptive capacity. Since the beginnings of photography lenses have basically stayed the same, inching steadily towards a kind of perfection. About shutters—control of duration and exposure—we can say much the same. That’s the front of the camera (I am simplifying, obviously). At the back, the light sensitive surface has changed a great deal, especially in the move from paper, metal, and celluloid coated with chemicals to the electronic plate. It will no doubt continue to change. Putting all these things together, which cameras do, we can say that photography stays the same and changes too.

Is that all there is to the apparatus and to photographic change? Yes and no. We should also add the question of subject matter — because although ordinarily it may not count as being part of the apparatus it is indispensable to photography. Subject matter, without which photography would not quite be photography, has changed the most. There have been about one hundred and eighty years of global change under modernity since its invention. I’ll return to this.

We tend to think of photography telling us something about subject matter, or at least about what subject matter can look like when photographed. But it also works the other way around. It is barely possible to understand photography outside of how and what it depicts. Subject matter affects what we think photography “is.” For example industrial subject matter (say, a steel and glass building) makes photography seem industrial. Nature (a forest, or a cloud) can make it seem natural. The fleeting (a man jumping over a puddle) makes it a medium of the shutter. The immobile (say, a water tower) makes it a medium of the lens. And the desirable, or the past (in the end they are much the same thing), make it an existential medium of connection and contact. The actual technical procedure of the photo might be exactly the same in each case (lens, shutter, sensitized surface and so on), but the subject matter seems to dictate how the photography is “felt.” This is photography’s “affect.” Imagine a bizarre scenario: First, a formal photograph of a building. There is nobody in front of the building. Photography would seem here to be emphasizing its lens to us, with its powers of optical description of the thing and space before the camera. Imagine the next image on the roll, or the next digital capture is shot just the same, but it happens to “freeze” a figure now running past. Suddenly the shutter seems to be more active. Imagine the building has since been destroyed, or that the running figure is your since deceased lover, in the flush of youth. Suddenly the physical contact of light, the indexicality of the optically produced image, the trace, becomes more central. Perhaps it even becomes overwhelming, as it did for Roland Barthes in his book Camera Lucida. The sense of a person or building “having been there” overcame him, and flooded his conception of photography. Our grasp of lens, shutter, and light sensitive surface are never really this separate but abstracting the idea may allow us to see how subject matter conceptualizes photography for us in different ways.

Cover, Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography , Hill and Wang, New York, 1980

Cover, John Szarkowski, The Photographer’s Eye , Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966

It can sometimes seem as if photography awaits definition from the world. Let’s recall John Szarkowski’s first major attempt to define the medium when he was made Head of Photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. In his book The Photographer’s Eye (1966), he came up with a set of categories. If a photo—any photo—“excelled” in one or more of these categories it would be worthy of serious attention (his and presumably ours). They were: The Frame, The Detail, Time, Vantage Point, and The Thing Itself. It is a flawed if fascinating attempt, as many critics soon pointed out. Nevertheless his inclusion of “The Thing Itself” is instructive. The other four categories seem to pertain directly to the procedures of the camera. The Thing Itself, i.e. subject matter, is resolutely not “of” the apparatus, yet it is necessary for the making of a photograph (granted, photographic works can be made with light alone, which may suggest light is really the ultimate subject matter of photography, but we mustn’t ignore the power of photography’s realistic illusions). Could we go all the way, and say that subject matter is part of the photographic apparatus? It is a drastic redefinition, but in granting a place to all the elements that that are necessary for photography, it might get us closer to grasping the problem.

“The magic of photography,” suggested the philosopher and photographer Jean Baudrillard, “is that it is the object which does all the work.”[ii]

Cover, Jean Baudrillard, Photographies 1985-1998, Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 1999

  Might this suggest that beyond the art and craft of the image-maker it is the thing in the picture that is the real source of photographic meaning? Or is this itself an effect of photographic “magic”? In appearing to merely present us with the world as a sign of itself (as what Barthes called a “message without a code”), photography hides its own powers to radically transform subject matter into image. Its transparency is more than it seems. It allows the photographer to camouflage the preparations that make the image of the subject what it is. The photographer need not even be aware of the process, and it leads Baudrillard to conclude that: “the joy of photography is an objective delight.” It brings to mind the photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch’s famous essay “Joy Before the Object” (1928): “There must be an increase in the joy one takes in an object” he declared, “and the photographer should become fully conscious of the splendid fidelity of reproduction made possible by his technique.”[iii] Renger-Patzsch argued for the photography of servitude, homage, and worship of the world as potential subject matter. More than that, taking pleasure in photography for its own sake risked competition with the subject matter. For him the task of the photographer was to imagine and then master an art of selflessness. The joy taken in photography would then be inseparable from joy taken in the world. The more selfless the photography, the more delight would appear to stem from the object/subject, and the more enjoyable the making of the image. In this regard it is interesting that Renger-Patzsch didn’t like the title of his best known book Die Welt ist Schön ( The World is Beautiful, 1928), which his publisher insisted upon. He preferred the more disarming Die Dinge : Things.

Cover, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Die Welt ist Schön (Munich, 1928).

This transference of pleasure is always present in photography, but it can best be understood if we think of perhaps the most selfless and authorless uses of the medium: the copying of paintings for reproduction. The photographer Edwin Smith described it thus: “Making an accurate color transparency of a painting is perhaps one of the least creative of a photographer’s tasks. If he is sensitive to the painting, there will be, if the work is admired, the consolation of having it to himself and of paying it the ritual homage of his own craft; though this pleasure may turn to torture when the work is despised—a condition not infrequent enough to be ignored!”[iv] When we look at a photograph of a painting we know we are not seeing the painting but we can’t quite relate to it as photograph either. No other medium has this strange mixture of camouflage and cannibalism.

I think there is much to be gained from the idea that photography and its subject matter define each other in both directions and that our conceptions of photography emerge from the exchange. It allows for both a technical and a cultural reading of the medium, i.e. as something that “is what it is” and something that “is what we do with it.” It also tells us something about why discussions that only admit to one direction—photography telling us about the world, or the world telling us about photography—tend to go around in circles producing fixed and frustrating accounts.

Even so, accepting this two-way co-definition does not solve things once and for all. If we wish to discover why photography remains so elusive the answers are to be found less within the medium per se, regardless of the technical changes, than in its status as recorder. Photography is inherently of the world. It cannot help but document things however abstract, theatrical, artificial, or contentious that documentation may be. So the meaning of photography is intimately bound up with the meaning of the world that it records as light. Moreover, photography is a product of modernity. Modernity has meant change, in photography, and in the social world. So the identity of photography as recorder is condemned to remain restless, mobile, volatile even.

Does photography “point” at what is photographed? If it does, the direction of the pointing is opposite to the direction of the light. The camera is pointed at the object while light comes from the object to the camera. We can certainly take photographs to help us point things out to people who are not there to see them for themselves. Indeed it would be difficult to imagine the history of photography without this capacity, however unreliable it is.

Cover, Dieter Graf, Point it : Traveller’s language kit ., Graf Editions, 1992

The best selling photographic book of the last thirty years is not an art book. It is called Point it , and it is subtitled Traveller’s Language Kit . You can buy it in many countries. It comprises simple photos of 1,200 objects. Everything is there – from Apple, Bicycle, and Caravan to X-ray, Yacht, and Zebra. The principle is simple. Photographs are taken of various objects. The resulting images are assembled in the book. When words fail the tourist abroad they can point at the right object in the photo. The book thus overcomes language barriers, providing of course we wish to communicate only with nouns. Photography’s “ostension,” its capacity to point, works best when it points at discrete and familiar things such as named objects (apple, bicycle, caravan). This is why Conceptual Art, in its disarming exploration of the camera as simple recording device tended to point the camera at banal objects: Edward Ruscha’s photo-books such as Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations (1963), Joseph Kosuth’s “proto-investigations” such as One and Three Chairs (1965), and Victor Burgin’s Photopath (1967–69). Point it makes no attempt to represent adjectives, prepositions, verbs, and so on, although this might be possible within limits. We could imagine a page of seascapes from “calm” to “stormy,” faces from “sad” to “happy,” or little tableaux enacting scenarios such as “missed flight” or “lost luggage.” Nevertheless, the further photography moves from known objects, the less reliable its description of the world. If, as we are often told, the photograph is a universal form of communication, it is only at the level of the obvious and the already understood. It is clichés and only clichés that bind us in this increasingly fragmentary world, argued Gilles Deleuze. Indeed, what there is of a “global language of photography” is made up of images of commodities, celebrities, sunsets, and other clichés of locality. “Viewzak.”

  Realism and desire

Reality, argued Freud, is essentially that which “gets in the way,” that which comes and disrupts or derails our fantasies. In this sense the photographic real is never just a matter of formal technique or “objective style.” In photography it is often the ugly that seems more real than the beautiful; the flawed seems more real than the perfect (that’s why “cleaning up” an image with Photoshop makes it look less real); plain buildings seem more real than named architecture; cheap commodities seem more real that luxury goods; work seems more real than leisure; TV dinners more real than expensive food; the passport photo more real than the glamour portrait. As a result the photographic real is always marked at a social and political level. This may account, at least in part, for why it is that documentary photography—which has invoked realism more than any other kind of photography—has generally taken as its subject matter the various obstacles to fantasy, and the various states of unfreedom that exist in the world. In recent decades documentary photography has looked to consumption and commodities as subject matter, but the aim has still been to show them as obstacles: false, distracting things that in the end come between us and our happiness.

No doubt this is in part a consequence of the “reality effect” of photography, derived from its blind inability to distinguish between what might be desirable in the picture and what might not. As the photographer Lee Friedlander put it:

“I only wanted Uncle Vern standing by his new car (a Hudson) on a clear day. I got him and the car. I also got a bit of Aunt Mary’s laundry, and Beau Jack, the dog, peeing on a fence, and a row of potted tuberous begonias on the porch and 78 trees and a million pebbles in the driveway and more. It’s a generous medium, photography.”

The point here is that the photographic reality of Uncle Vern and the Hudson are guaranteed, so to speak, by their co-existence with the undesired stuff. Interestingly Roland Barthes illustrates the same point with a startlingly similar example to Friedlander’s in his Camera Lucida (1980). Talking of André Kertész’s image The Violinist’s Tune (1921) he asks: “How could Kertész have separated the dirt road from violinist walking on it?” Of course if we are not interested in the violinist, or Uncle Vern, everything in the picture flattens into a banal equivalence with everything else. Photographic boredom is a phenomenon—seen as both attractive and dangerous—that runs through many of the different conceptions and definitions of photography. It is there in accounts of the medium in the 1840s, and in different guises in Benjamin, Bazin, Barthes, Baudrillard, Batchen, and Burgin. And of course there is some artistic potential in this ambiguity.

Growing up / growing old

Layered on all this continuity and change we have the vexing question of “mature work” in photography. The matter hardly ever seems to arise. (True, it hardly arises at all in a culture of contemporary art marked by adolescence and amnesia, but least of all with this medium). It is almost as if it would be inappropriate. We might be tempted to think that photography has built-in limitations that preclude development beyond certain points. From its very beginnings there have been critics who have argued as much. But it may have to do with an absence of limitation combined with its very accessibility. A lot of people have done a lot of things with it, with relative ease. It is certainly possible to make photographic work of extraordinary intelligence, craft, and creativity at a young age. Indeed photography in art has often been a story of remarkably youthful achievements. Often these have been followed by artistic plateaux, consolidation, or a moving on to other things (film, painting, sculpture, literature). Beyond the self-portrait, what photograph made by a seventy year-old could not be made by a twenty-five, or thirty year-old? To risk a comparison with pop music, it has sometimes seemed as if great artistic heights are attainable early on. Lifelong careers may sustain that richness but those early flourishes may never be surpassed. We might think of the boyhood family albums of Jacques-Henri Lartigue in the 1910s and 20s; the very early formation of Cartier-Bresson’s style in the 1930s; the city books of William Klein from the 1950s; the 1960s photo-conceptualism of Dan Graham, Mel Bochner, and Joseph Kosuth; the Untitled Film Stills of a twenty-something Cindy Sherman in the 1970s; or Wolfgang Tillmans’ early re-enchantment of the everyday. Youth and inexperience are little obstacle to achievement in photography. They may well be an advantage.

There seems to be little doubt photography has been eclipsed. It no longer symbolizes the visual zeitgeist. Nobody would say the 2010s is “the decade of photography.” It no longer epitomizes the general field of representations in which we live. But eclipse does not mean obsolescence. Far from it. Photography is still with us. Moreover, this vestigial state, this existence in the shadows of other media is the source of photography’s increasing visibility in contemporary art. Might it be that photography became fully available to art once it had become at least partially dislodged from the centre of culture, and partially dispensable to it? Might we see this eclipse (which began in the 1960s but is now very clear) as the necessary precondition for photography’s fullest artistic exploration? This is a line of argument familiar from accounts of the artistic fate of painting—that once usurped, it was somehow free to explore “itself.” However, the idea of “photography itself,” independent of everything, is unfeasible from the outset (when photography is only photography, it isn’t even photography). Thus photography finds itself eclipsed but also rooted in the world at the same time. And it is this challenging combination that we see at the heart of photographic work today.

[i]Victor Burgin, ‘Commentary Part I’, Work and Commentary , Latimer New Dimensions, 1973. n.p.

[ii]Jean Baudrillard ‘For illusion is not the opposite of reality…’ Jean Baudrillard, Photographies 1985-1998, Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 1999.

[iii]Albert Renger-Patzsch ‘Joy Before the Object’ / ‘Die Freude am Gegenstand’ (1928). The year before he had also spoken of magic : “We still don’t sufficiently appreciate the opportunity to capture the magic of material things” (‘Aims’/ ‘Ziele’ 1927. Both statements appear in English in Christopher Phillips, ed., Photography in the Modern Era . European Documents and Critical Writings, 1913-1940 Aperture / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989.

[iv]Edwin Smith, ‘The Photography of Paintings, Drawings and Print’ in John Lewis and Edwin Smith The Graphic Reproduction and Photography of Works of Art , Cowell and Faber, 1969.

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In the Soviet School of Photography

2018, Modernism/modernity

Prishvin was an avid photographer in the tumultuous years of 1925–1936, just as photography was providing new ways of documenting and mapping the rapidly changing political and social reality of the nascent Soviet state. A few years before Prishvin received his first Leica camera, Anatolii Lunacharskii, the Commissar of Enlightenment during the most open period of Soviet artistic expression, linked a vision of the new nation with photographic literacy, stating in 1926: “Just as every forward-looking comrade must have a watch, so must he be able to handle a camera. This will surely happen with time. Just as the USSR achieved universal literacy in general, so too will it have photographic literacy in particular.”[4] Soviet citizens en masse would now have access to portable means of organizing both time (the watch) and space (the camera). This democratically empowering call would also inspire the worker photography movement, a burgeoning number of author-photographers, and well-known avant-garde artists to employ the camera in their own framings of a volatile Soviet experience.[5] However, wielding a camera is but one part of photographic literacy. The photographic avant-garde, largely through the pages of the periodical press, would also teach a viewing public how to read their new world, defamiliarizing everyday objects with extreme close-ups and the cutting and reassembling of photographs into new collaged and montaged worlds. In so doing, modernist photographers, like Rodchenko and other members of the October (Oktiabr’) group, became easy targets in the heated discourses over shifting attitudes towards photographic and textual representation in the 1930s. With the rise of Socialist Realism, the strategies employed in creating and reading photographs were necessarily reformulated, reflecting the central tensions surrounding the visualization of everyday objects, people, and production within the Soviet Union. How can a photograph alone capture the whole of Soviet space—industry, production, peoples? How can a single snapshot capture progress over time, from the ages of backwardness before the revolution to the success of the Five-Year Plans? Just at its moment of greatest saturation in print media, the camera’s limited scope potentially threatened the photographic experiments of both experimental modernists like Rodchenko and the out-of-time and out-of-place Prishvin. While the work of Margarita Tupitsyn and Erika Wolf has confirmed the extended life of the photographic avant-garde well into the late 1930s, from Rodchenko’s photo-stills to El Lissitzky’s photomontages in USSR in Construction, this article will diversify the representative works and photographers in this Soviet canon to include Mikhail Prishvin. Prishvin, an author writing both for children (young subjects under development) and for adults (subjects undergoing a new transformation), provides an unexpected and heretofore missing primer for understanding the defining trajectory of photographic literacy and the forces shaping visual and textual production in the early Soviet period. In two unconventional lessons, moving from the children’s book to elite journals, we will slow down our perceiving eyes and camera lenses in order to read with expert speed a rapidly changing Soviet present. By learning to read photographically, we gain a new lens through which to view the complex trajectory of Socialist Realist imaging, just as Socialist Realism would become the lens through which authors, artists, and readers would experience the shape of their own worlds. ....

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Climate Photo Essay Contest - GDC 2024

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ABOUT THE CONTEST

GDN's annual Photo Essay Contest invites you to share your unique perspective on one of our most pressing global issues: climate change. After the success of our 2023 contest on biodiversity, we're back with a new theme, challenging photographers to capture the resilience, innovation, and impact of climate change on communities. This contest harnesses the power of photography to inspire and inform, spotlighting the realities of climate change and sparking conversations that can drive positive change.

Whether you're a seasoned photographer or an enthusiastic amateur, we invite you to use your lens to tell a story and contribute to a global dialogue on building a more sustainable future through our 2024 theme - Impact, Challenges and Solutions in My Community.

HOW TO SUBMIT?

Read the guidelines and submit your entry. The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2024, by 23:59 CET.

WHY SUBMIT?

Top 3 Finalists: Recognition and the 1st-place winner will attend the Global Development Conference 2024 in Suva, Fiji.

Exhibition: Selected photographs will be exhibited at GDC 2024 and on official communication channels.

Awards Ceremony: To be held during GDC 2024 in Suva, Fiji.

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• Editor's Pick

In Photos: Dean Khurana’s 10-Year Tenure

In the email announcing his departure in June 2025 after more than a decade Harvard’s top administration, Rakesh Khurana wrote that serving as dean of the College “has been one of the greatest honors and joys of my life.”

While Khurana’s tenure was marked by backlash surrounding his efforts to combat final clubs and discipline pro-Palestine student protesters, the dean is also known by undergraduates for his frequent presence in dining halls and Harvard Yard, where he often stops students to take a selfie for his widely popular Instagram page.

Khurana, who is the longest-serving dean of Harvard College in more than a century, wrote in his email that what he will miss most “are the daily interactions I have been so privileged to have with our wonderful undergraduates.” In this photo essay, The Crimson looks back on some of the highlights of Khurana’s tenure.

Newly appointed College Dean Rakesh Khurana sits down at lunchtime to chat with freshmen in Annenberg Hall in October 2014. In a Crimson interview that year, Khurana said he spent three-fourths of his time talking to students.

Khurana speaks on behalf of protesters holding a silent demonstration during the Dec. 2014 Primal Scream , a biannual naked run around Harvard Yard. The protesters were attempting to hold a four-and-a-half minute period of silence before the run for Michael Brown of Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Garner of New York, two unarmed Black men who were killed by white police officers earlier that year. Khurana and other administrators were present, and Khurana attempted to quiet the students with a megaphone — at one point on the shoulders of a half-naked man.

Khurana joins students throwing paint powder as part of a 2015 Holi celebration. Holi is an Indian celebration of spring where participants douse each other with vibrant colors. Dharma, Harvard’s Hindu Student Association, hosts an annual Holi celebration.

As part of the 2015 Arts First festival in May, faculty members joined members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals in a parody performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.” Above, Khurana, playing the Prince, prepares to kill the Sorcerer, played by professor Steven A. Pinker.

Anthony J. W. Kenny '20 and Sebastian A. Schwartz '20 carry Khurana on their shoulders through the stands of the Yale Bowl during the 2017 playing of The Game .

Khurana shares a laugh with President Joe Biden during Biden's speech at the 2017 Class Day Exercises.

“Me and the Dean in one place—it’s time to break the internet,” Biden cracked, alluding to his and Khurana’s online fame before pausing to snap a selfie with the dean.

Khurana is held up by two Cabot House students during early-morning Housing Day festivities in March 2018. Khurana and his wife Stephanie R. Khurana served as Cabot House faculty deans from 2010 to 2020.

Khurana wears a mask during a January 2022 interview with The Crimson. Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra praised Khurana for his leadership throughout the Covid-19 pandemic following his announcement that he was stepping down .

During the 2022 Commencement Exercises, Khurana holds up a photo he took of students to ask permission to post it on his Instagram page. Khurana is known by undergraduates for frequently posting selfies with students on Instagram, which is known among the student body as the “Khuranagram.”

In November 2023, students from Harvard Hillel and Harvard Chabad assembled a roughly 200-foot Shabbat table running the length of Tercentenary Theatre as a tribute to the civilians, soldiers, and foreigners held captive by Hamas. Khurana joined gatherings at the table in the morning and afternoon, conversing with visitors and supporters, and helping students disassemble the table at sundown.

Throughout the 20-day pro-Palestine encampment in Harvard Yard during the spring semester, Khurana was a frequent visitor, leaving his office in University Hall to observe students at a distance. Above, Khurana watches protesters on the third day of the encampment as they chanted “Dean Khurana you can’t hide, you are funding genocide.”

Khurana listens to speakers at the 2024 Class Day in May. Several student speakers made references to the 13 seniors barred from graduating due to their participation in the pro-Palestine encampment. Khurana was deemed responsible by some students and faculty members for the decision, which was reversed in July when the College’s Administrative Board downgraded the suspensions and probation charges of several students, paving the way for them to be granted degrees by the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body

In his own Class Day speech, Khurana largely avoided referencing the sanctions, but described the present as “a pivotal moment in history” of determining “whether an institution devoted to the pursuit of truth, veritas, can remain free from internal or external coercion.”

“We have to find common ground, and we have to remain open to changing our minds,” he said.

Correction: August 30, 2024

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Harvard Corporation reversed the decision to prevent 13 seniors from graduating as part of the Class of 2024 in May. In fact, the decision was reversed when the Harvard College Administrative Board downgraded the disciplinary charges against students.