Photo Essay

[angel nympho]

I need some help thinking of good topics for my photography assignment. I'm required to do a photo essay on a subject and include close up shots and overall shots. Any ideas?

[kimpossible]

For those of us with no artistic sense, how does one put together a photographic essay? I imagine it's themed set of photo?

[hormiga]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 03:20 AM
I need some help thinking of good topics for my photography assignment. I'm required to do a photo essay on a subject and include close up shots and overall shots. Any ideas?
Start with something that you have knowledge of, and ask yourself if the story can be told with pictures. The library is full of Photo essay books, you can start there too. Feel free to ask this former freelance newspaper photographer.

[Fireblade]

My ex did a photo essay about her family background. Pretty interesting, because she won an award for it and it got displayed in a museum in New York for a while. She took it back for personal reasons. If that's not too keen on ya, just look around in your life and see what you really really know about, and then see how you can do it in a visual manner.

[angel nympho]

Well... like if you've ever seen photos from the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Like, somebody last time did a photo essay on the school's parking lot. It was about construction and stability and familiarity. Somebody else did a photo essay on "The Life of the Party" and took overall pictures of parties, then close-ups on sound equiptment, etc. It has to be something you can look at from far away and get one sense of it that way, and then close ups of something and get a completely different sense of the subject. It doesn't have to tell a NARRATIVE story.

The teacher's example was taking a photo essay of this one shoe repair shop in his neighborhood. It's one of the last of it's kind... one of the last to use those big, HUGE, old fashioned machines, hammers and nails, etc... Take an overall picture of the area. Take a close up of a machine. Take a portrait of the old man who works there, with wisdom in his eyes and gray in his face. That kinda stuff. A subject you can really delve into, that may not seem 100% interesting or artistic, but BECOMES something, well, really beautiful.

[angel nympho]

I thought maybe of doing one on Balboa Island. Show the way people live around there.. maybe get some portraits of the old retired couples who spend their days on the beach, some of the boats in the harbor, some of the restaurants and "culture"..... but I'm not quite 100% interested in that.

[angel nympho]

Here's my list so far:

-Weekend fun (movie theaters, watching tv with a loved one on the couch, sleeping in, driving around with your friends, etc)
-Gestures of Kindness (a smile, somebody waving, walking your dog, opening a door for somebody, holding hands, hugging, somebody playing with a child, etc)
-Childhood/Inner child (blowing bubbles, grown people in a toy store, having a stuffed animal in your car, etc)
-Tattoo shop (photo essay on the tattoo shop I go to. picture of the tattoo artist, all the pictures on the walls, the gloves the tattoo guy wears, the dirty little bathroom, the interesting characters coming in and out, the machines, the paints, etc)

Please, please please pelase please add to my list??? I have to start shooting very SOON!

[Hanuman]

A kitchen from a chefs eyes - get the prep work, communicating with the waiters/waitress, preparing the meals (if he's flashy, that's pretty cool), shaking hands with customers, the cleaning. Maybe like a family owned resturant.

Sending a kid off to school in the morning. Waking him up, dressing the kid, preparing lunch, driving him to the school, last pic could be him walking up the step with a lunchbox in hand *tears*

Shopping at the mall. Searching for parking, trying out clothes, handing over the credit card, walking around with tons of bags.

Smiles - just walk around and take lots of people smiling, at the park, at an arcade, at diner, at a bar, etc.

Off the top of my head, I'm not much of the creative type, but I figured I'd throw out some ideas. I love the inner child idea and the gestures of kindness ideas. Good luck.

[Green_Circle]

This may be corny but how about an essay on photos of old style architecture from the three 'towns': Koreatown, Japantown and Chinatown. Compare the differences and similarities of the 'oriental' stlyle.
Then show the various photos and see if people can guess from which 'town' the picture was taken. :nerd:

[kimpossible]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 13 2002, 11:26 PM
-Tattoo shop (photo essay on the tattoo shop I go to. picture of the tattoo artist, all the pictures on the walls, the gloves the tattoo guy wears, the dirty little bathroom, the interesting characters coming in and out, the machines, the paints, etc)


Ah! I love this idea!

[SunWuKong]

homeless people

[hormiga]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 07:26 AM
Here's my list so far:

-Weekend fun (movie theaters, watching tv with a loved one on the couch, sleeping in, driving around with your friends, etc)
-Gestures of Kindness (a smile, somebody waving, walking your dog, opening a door for somebody, holding hands, hugging, somebody playing with a child, etc)
-Childhood/Inner child (blowing bubbles, grown people in a toy store, having a stuffed animal in your car, etc)
-Tattoo shop (photo essay on the tattoo shop I go to. picture of the tattoo artist, all the pictures on the walls, the gloves the tattoo guy wears, the dirty little bathroom, the interesting characters coming in and out, the machines, the paints, etc)

Please, please please pelase please add to my list??? I have to start shooting very SOON!
Call up the L.A. Times and ask to go on an assignment with one of their photographers and do an essay on him or her, or do an essay on the Photo staff at the Times.

One more thing: Pay attention to the lighting

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 05:33 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 07:26 AM
Here's my list so far:

-Weekend fun (movie theaters, watching tv with a loved one on the couch, sleeping in, driving around with your friends, etc)
-Gestures of Kindness (a smile, somebody waving, walking your dog, opening a door for somebody, holding hands, hugging, somebody playing with a child, etc)
-Childhood/Inner child (blowing bubbles, grown people in a toy store, having a stuffed animal in your car, etc)
-Tattoo shop (photo essay on the tattoo shop I go to. picture of the tattoo artist, all the pictures on the walls, the gloves the tattoo guy wears, the dirty little bathroom, the interesting characters coming in and out, the machines, the paints, etc)

Please, please please pelase please add to my list??? I have to start shooting very SOON!
Call up the L.A. Times and ask to go on an assignment with one of their photographers and do an essay on him or her, or do an essay on the Photo staff at the Times.

One more thing: Pay attention to the lighting
No time for that. I only have 4 days. I like the ideas you guys have given me about PLACES to go, 'cuz those I can all do in the same place over the course of a day. I want this done quick and painlessly. I forgot to turn in my last assignment, so this one has to be KILLER.

[hormiga]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 05:50 PM
Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 05:33 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 07:26 AM
Here's my list so far:

-Weekend fun (movie theaters, watching tv with a loved one on the couch, sleeping in, driving around with your friends, etc)
-Gestures of Kindness (a smile, somebody waving, walking your dog, opening a door for somebody, holding hands, hugging, somebody playing with a child, etc)
-Childhood/Inner child (blowing bubbles, grown people in a toy store, having a stuffed animal in your car, etc)
-Tattoo shop (photo essay on the tattoo shop I go to. picture of the tattoo artist, all the pictures on the walls, the gloves the tattoo guy wears, the dirty little bathroom, the interesting characters coming in and out, the machines, the paints, etc)

Please, please please pelase please add to my list??? I have to start shooting very SOON!
Call up the L.A. Times and ask to go on an assignment with one of their photographers and do an essay on him or her, or do an essay on the Photo staff at the Times.

One more thing: Pay attention to the lighting
No time for that. I only have 4 days. I like the ideas you guys have given me about PLACES to go, 'cuz those I can all do in the same place over the course of a day. I want this done quick and painlessly. I forgot to turn in my last assignment, so this one has to be KILLER.
Four days? Well, why didn't you say so :lol: Get down to the local animal shelter and shoot like crazy, and again be careful of low lighting (exposure problems). Do you have to develop and print your work?

[wylin]

goto a car show and do an essay on the life and times of 1 racer.

[Fireblade]

Import Cars and the people who aren't really that "Fast and Furious" :lol:

Tattoos sound pretty damn cool though. You can show the procedures and everything. Just be sure to bring some kind of lighting source, since most tattoo parlors I know use flourescent lighting.

Beach?? I dunno, I'd have a field day with that since I live close to the beach.

Erm, anyway just choose one topic and start shooting away.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 08:14 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 05:50 PM
Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 05:33 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 07:26 AM
Here's my list so far:

-Weekend fun (movie theaters, watching tv with a loved one on the couch, sleeping in, driving around with your friends, etc)
-Gestures of Kindness (a smile, somebody waving, walking your dog, opening a door for somebody, holding hands, hugging, somebody playing with a child, etc)
-Childhood/Inner child (blowing bubbles, grown people in a toy store, having a stuffed animal in your car, etc)
-Tattoo shop (photo essay on the tattoo shop I go to. picture of the tattoo artist, all the pictures on the walls, the gloves the tattoo guy wears, the dirty little bathroom, the interesting characters coming in and out, the machines, the paints, etc)

Please, please please pelase please add to my list??? I have to start shooting very SOON!
Call up the L.A. Times and ask to go on an assignment with one of their photographers and do an essay on him or her, or do an essay on the Photo staff at the Times.

One more thing: Pay attention to the lighting
No time for that. I only have 4 days. I like the ideas you guys have given me about PLACES to go, 'cuz those I can all do in the same place over the course of a day. I want this done quick and painlessly. I forgot to turn in my last assignment, so this one has to be KILLER.
Four days? Well, why didn't you say so :lol: Get down to the local animal shelter and shoot like crazy, and again be careful of low lighting (exposure problems). Do you have to develop and print your work?
I shoot color transparancy film. So my metering and composition has to be right on it. I don't have to worry about processing. I get it done and mounted for me.

[wylin]

Originally posted by Fireblade@Nov 14 2002, 01:50 PM
Import Cars and the people who aren't really that "Fast and Furious" :lol:

Tattoos sound pretty damn cool though. You can show the procedures and everything. Just be sure to bring some kind of lighting source, since most tattoo parlors I know use flourescent lighting.

Beach?? I dunno, I'd have a field day with that since I live close to the beach.

Erm, anyway just choose one topic and start shooting away.
um that stuffs existed here since early 80's especially where i live smack dab in the middle of LA.

[hormiga]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 10:25 PM
Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 08:14 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 05:50 PM
Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 05:33 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 07:26 AM
Here's my list so far:

-Weekend fun (movie theaters, watching tv with a loved one on the couch, sleeping in, driving around with your friends, etc)
-Gestures of Kindness (a smile, somebody waving, walking your dog, opening a door for somebody, holding hands, hugging, somebody playing with a child, etc)
-Childhood/Inner child (blowing bubbles, grown people in a toy store, having a stuffed animal in your car, etc)
-Tattoo shop (photo essay on the tattoo shop I go to. picture of the tattoo artist, all the pictures on the walls, the gloves the tattoo guy wears, the dirty little bathroom, the interesting characters coming in and out, the machines, the paints, etc)

Please, please please pelase please add to my list??? I have to start shooting very SOON!
Call up the L.A. Times and ask to go on an assignment with one of their photographers and do an essay on him or her, or do an essay on the Photo staff at the Times.

One more thing: Pay attention to the lighting
No time for that. I only have 4 days. I like the ideas you guys have given me about PLACES to go, 'cuz those I can all do in the same place over the course of a day. I want this done quick and painlessly. I forgot to turn in my last assignment, so this one has to be KILLER.
Four days? Well, why didn't you say so :lol: Get down to the local animal shelter and shoot like crazy, and again be careful of low lighting (exposure problems). Do you have to develop and print your work?
I shoot color transparancy film. So my metering and composition has to be right on it. I don't have to worry about processing. I get it done and mounted for me.
And how are you to turn in your assignment, in a slide carousel or in a sleeve?

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 11:58 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 10:25 PM
Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 08:14 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 05:50 PM
Originally posted by hormiga@Nov 14 2002, 05:33 PM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 14 2002, 07:26 AM
Here's my list so far:

-Weekend fun (movie theaters, watching tv with a loved one on the couch, sleeping in, driving around with your friends, etc)
-Gestures of Kindness (a smile, somebody waving, walking your dog, opening a door for somebody, holding hands, hugging, somebody playing with a child, etc)
-Childhood/Inner child (blowing bubbles, grown people in a toy store, having a stuffed animal in your car, etc)
-Tattoo shop (photo essay on the tattoo shop I go to. picture of the tattoo artist, all the pictures on the walls, the gloves the tattoo guy wears, the dirty little bathroom, the interesting characters coming in and out, the machines, the paints, etc)

Please, please please pelase please add to my list??? I have to start shooting very SOON!
Call up the L.A. Times and ask to go on an assignment with one of their photographers and do an essay on him or her, or do an essay on the Photo staff at the Times.

One more thing: Pay attention to the lighting
No time for that. I only have 4 days. I like the ideas you guys have given me about PLACES to go, 'cuz those I can all do in the same place over the course of a day. I want this done quick and painlessly. I forgot to turn in my last assignment, so this one has to be KILLER.
Four days? Well, why didn't you say so :lol: Get down to the local animal shelter and shoot like crazy, and again be careful of low lighting (exposure problems). Do you have to develop and print your work?
I shoot color transparancy film. So my metering and composition has to be right on it. I don't have to worry about processing. I get it done and mounted for me.
And how are you to turn in your assignment, in a slide carousel or in a sleeve?
Both. First in a carousel, then after it's been shown, I get the carousel back and have to take them out and stick them in a sleeve.

[hormiga]

Well, good luck A.N.