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 most powerful form of representation. However, not all collections of photographs can be given the title of a true photographic essay. change surface visual rhetoric theorists stipulate various requisites for this name. So thenwhat is a true photographic essay?To rightfully earn this title, the photos need to be go with by a 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 example, an effective photographic essay would not be a combination of photos taken by Dorothea Lange with a text written by a junior high school student. Dorothea Langes professionalism, developed through a process of technical education, hands-on experience, and multifarious influences, drastically exceeds the writings of a young student, whose only technical education has been a Keyboarding class, whose hands-on experiences scram been the English teachers book reports, and whose assorted 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 stimulate question and interpretation, creating a dialogue in the viewers mind. There is power 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. workings CitedBlakesley, David, Collin Brooke. Visual Rhetoric. Enculturation 32 (2001) 2-4.Mitchell, W.J. Thomas. Picture Theory Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation. Chicago The University of Chicago Press, 1994.