Defining a True Photographic Essay -- Photography Photograph Essays

The True Photographic EssayWe live in a world bombarded by photographs. Whether it is advertisements, news, art, fashion, or propaganda, photographs are widely considered the more or less powerful form of representation. However, not all collections of photographs buttocks be effrontery the title of a real photographic essay. Even ocular palaver theorisers stipulate various requisites for this name. So thenwhat is a true photographic essay?To rightfully earn this title, the photos need to be accompanied by a school text. But not just any text. Photo theorist W.J.T. Mitchell agrees with writer James Agee that co-equality is a central formal requirement for the photographic essay (290). The first requirement for the true photo-essay is that there needs to be a balance between the text and the visual in power, reference, and layout design. In terms of power, neither the text nor the visual can dominate the other. For exercising, an in effect(p) photographic essay woul d not be a combination of photos taken by Dorothea Lange with a text written by a lower-ranking high school student. Dorothea Langes professionalism, developed through a turn of technical education, hands-on experience, and multifaceted influences, drastically exceeds the writings of a newfangled student, whose only technical education has been a Keyboarding class, whose hands-on experiences have been the position teachers book reports, and whose multifaceted influences have been the pressures of his adolescent cohorts. Although this example is a rather extreme case, it is used to explain that if either the text or the visual overpowers the other, the imbalance denies it the title of a true photographic essay. Moreover, the same is true when speaking of reference. In several b... ...hat the text can do that the visual could never do, and vice versa, but their collaboration bring question and interpretation, creating a dialogue in the viewers mind. in that location is pow er in the union of the text and the visual. Nonetheless, we live in a high-speed, technological age where time equals money, and taking the time to read is expensive. So we must adapt. For photo-essays to be effective in the contemporary world, the text and the visual have to balance power, reference, and design. They have to be able to stand independently, and at the end collaborate in perfect synergy to create the true photographic essay.Works CitedBlakesley, David, Collin Brooke. Visual Rhetoric. Enculturation 32 (2001) 2-4.Mitchell, W.J. Thomas. photo Theory Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation. Chicago The University of Chicago Press, 1994.