the guardian picture essay

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The Guardian picture essay

13 august 2024.

Paris Olympics 2024: Guardian photographers at the Games – picture essay

1 august 2024.

Sea change: How the Herring Queen brought promise and joy to a small Scottish town

27 july 2024.

Eye-popping and under pressure: a unique London fashion street’s struggle

25 july 2024.

‘One goal is to destroy Ukrainian identity’: the haunting images of Russia’s prisoners of war

22 july 2024.

‘There’s something special about making a difference’: community nurses step up – a photo essay

20 july 2024.

He ‘redeems’ the trash New Yorkers throw away, finding value – and opportunity – in waste

19 july 2024.

Crochet, drama and first dates: inside a community pub – photo essay

18 july 2024.

Gun violence is traumatizing LA’s youngest residents. Can a partnership between the police and community help?

11 july 2024.

In the footsteps of tigers: the all-women patrol team protecting Sumatra’s rainforest

3 july 2024.

‘Like an island separate from England’: Black joy at Glastonbury – photo essay

2 july 2024.

The fossil finder: one man’s lifelong search for fragments of Britain’s Jurassic past – photo essay

1 july 2024.

Shangri-La, stetsons and SZA: Sunday at Glastonbury – a photo essay

Rat soup, snails and oracles: why Nigeria’s traditional midwives still have a vital role to play

30 june 2024.

Coldplay, Cyndi Lauper and the Red Arrows: Saturday at Glastonbury 2024 – a photo essay

29 june 2024.

Peace, love and K-pop: Glastonbury kicks off for 2024 – photo essay

‘It is a religion here’: India united by shared love of cricket – photo essay

28 june 2024.

Families behind the two-child limit to benefits – photo essay

27 june 2024.

A New York program is helping Black people of all ages enjoy swimming: ‘It’s very empowering’

War and set pieces: watching Euro 2024 in Ukraine – a photo essay

Levelling the playing field: the football clubs helping migrants make a new home in Spain

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Baghdad’s young people battle to build happier future – picture essay

For a generation of young Iraqis who have grown up knowing only war, life is not easy. Across Baghdad, young adults and teenagers fight to realise their ambitions but many face challenges

Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, is once again vibrant – its markets and streets colourful and busy, its coffee shops filled with crowds of young people and the lingering scent of fresh cardamom in the air.

The Station is a co-working space popular with Baghdad’s young adults.

Ghada Ahmed, 30, who runs workshops at the Station. Right: Young women working on their laptops.

Young people chat at Grinders coffee shop in central Baghdad..

It’s been 20 years since the start of the US-led invasion which toppled the then president Saddam Hussein – launched under the false premise of Iraq owning weapons of mass destruction. What followed were years of violence, including a sectarian civil war, frequent terrorist attacks by al-Qaida and, eventually, the emergence of Islamic State. About 300,000 civilians died in the conflict over the past 20 years and much of Iraq was left devastated.

Young people sit by the Tigris River.

Many street murals went up around Baghdad at the start of protests beginning in 2019.

Baghdad’s face is constantly changing: concrete blast walls coming down, new co-working spaces popping up, the banks of the Tigris River being redeveloped and a building boom under way. Young people have transformed grey walls into colourful murals, or empty buildings into restaurants and it is on this generation of people in their late teens and early 20s that so many hopes are being pinned.

Students at Baghdad University leave classes in April 2023.

In the capital, Baghdad, they are students and ballet instructors, artists and amputees who lost limbs during the heavy years of conflict, entrepreneurs and business owners. Many were born into war, and are now torn between two choices: “My generation either wants to leave Iraq and start over elsewhere, or otherwise stay here and invest, rebuild and move our country forward,” says Anwar Ahmed, a 23-year-old environmentalist. “Personally, I believe Baghdad needs me – and even when it’s not always easy, I think I need it too.”

Of course, she adds, metropolitan Baghdad with its 8 million residents does not necessarily always speak for the rest of the country – but “here’s where change starts”.

Atef al-Jaffal, 23, a young artist and graphic designer, at his exhibition in Baghdad. Jaffal grew up in Syria, but returned to his native Iraq with his family when Syria’s civil war started. At first, the return was difficult. ‘I feel more optimistic now,’ he says. The 2019 protests and the subsequent resignation of the prime minister gave him hope. ‘We planted the seeds for change,’ he says.

Over half of Iraq’s population of 42 million are under the age of 25 – according to the World Bank – one of the world’s youngest populations. Many of the young people are full of ambition and drive, but there’s hopelessness and even despair in equal measure. Iraq’s unemployment rate sits at about 14%; government corruption is rampant, violence against women – including femicides – is common, and the sectarian political system has not been overhauled since the US invasion. Countrywide demonstrations erupted in 2019 exactly for those reasons – with young people at the forefront – but a brutal government crackdown resulted in more than 500 people being killed and thousands more injured.

Anwar Ahmed, 23.

Yet Baghdad’s younger generation might be more determined than ever. “We’re the ones defining Baghdad’s – and Iraq’s – future, there’s no denying it,” Ahmed, wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt, says, sitting outside a city community centre where she has been taking percussion lessons in her free time. She does a bit of everything, she says: she is an artist, a musician, but most of all a climate activist working full-time for a local aid group that’s aiming to preserve the Tigris River, Iraq’s main water source. “Our generation is very conscious when it comes to climate change as we live in one of the world’s worst affected countries. Frequent droughts, water shortages and dust storms – that’s sadly our future,” she adds.

Ahmed’s family has always supported her ambitions, but she knows that’s not necessarily a given – especially for young women. “Many families – and to an extent society at large – hold conservative norms and this can be especially difficult for young women,” says Lizan Selam, 26, and Baghdad’s first licenced ballet instructor. Her family always had her back, but she says she faced years of social media harassment and attacks, with strangers on the internet deeming her business “dirty and forbidden”.

Today, she teaches 45 students in Baghdad, but admits that things aren’t easy. “I’m confused,” she says. “Part of me wants to stay in Baghdad and invest – another part wants to go. I don’t see myself being part of this community unless it changes, but at the same time, maybe I need to be here do to my part and help bring that change.”

Lizan Selam, 26, Iraq’s first licensed ballet teacher. Selam has her own ballet school, teaching up to 45 students.

For Mustafa Rahman, also 26, change came in an unexpected – and unwanted – way. He was barely 10 years old when he and his mother ventured outside to the local bazaar in his home town, Abu Ghraib, half an hour’s drive from the capital. A suicide bomber caused an explosion that killed scores of people, Rahman remembers. It spared his mother, but tore off his leg. Years of agony and depression followed and it wasn’t until last year when he joined a football club for amputees that he was able to start moving forward. He’s training three times a week now, hoping to eventually make it into Iraq’s national team.

Baghdad’s football team for amputees. Founded by Mohammed al-Najar, 37, the idea was born in the UK where Najar studied, joining an amputee football team in Portsmouth and later exporting the idea to Iraq.

Mustafa Abdul Rahman, 26, lost his leg in an explosion in his home town of Abu Ghraib. He now lives in Baghdad and practises football three times a week.

“There’s one thing I realised,” he said, standing on the football pitch, taking a break during a training session under a scorchingly hot sun. “The scars of war are everywhere, we can’t ignore that. But we have to live with it and make the best out of it. We have to move forward.”

• The Guardian picture essay
• Middle East and north Africa

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Paris olympics 2024: guardian photographers at the games – picture essay.

After the Covid affected Olympics in Tokyo, Paris 2024 saw the return of packed stadiums, venues and also photographer enclosures. Among the 1,578 accredited photographers were three covering the Games for the Guardian and Observer.

Tom Jenkins

A multiple exposure shot of Alice D’Amato performing on the vault during the final of the women’s gymnastics team all-around where the Italian team took silver.

How would I describe photographing the Paris Olympics? Quite simply “c’est magnifique, c’est incroyable.” It was a wonderful Games, an intoxicating blend of incredible action taking place in the most stunning venues. I can forgive the Paris metro for its lack of escalators, which meant lugging all my gear around was a very sweaty task, because everywhere there was cat-nip for the photographer. At times it felt almost too much, you wanted to be everywhere at the same time, pushing yourself to extremes to get the pictures on offer. After the last two disappointing summer Games, this was back to the sort of Olympics the IOC wanted and needed. And how they succeeded, the organisers pulling out all the stops to make sure it was such a visual treat. At the end of it all, despite all the amazing athletes on show doing phenomenal things, the real star of the Games was the city itself.

Léon Marchand of France wins gold in the men’s swimming 400m medley final.

Belgium’s Nicky Degrendele (No 96), China’s Yuan Liying (bottom centre) and the Netherlands’ Steffie van der Peet (bottom right) crash during a women’s track cycling keirin quarter-final.

Sprinter Kimia Yousofi of Afghanistan displays a message on the back of her name badge saying “Education, Sport, Our Rights” after competing in her 100m preliminary round (above left), The Eiffel Tower is seen during a light display at the opening ceremony (above right). Robin Godel of Switzerland on Grandeur De Lully reflected in the Ménagerie Pond during the eventing cross-country at the Palace of Versailles (below).

A group of cyclists climbs to the top of Montmartre during the men’s cycling road race.

Manon Apithy-Brunet of France celebrates beating Sabine Choi of Korea before going on to win gold in the women’s individual fencing sabre (above left), Ramiro Mora Romero of the Refugee Team, who lives and trains in Britain, celebrates with the crowd after successfully completing his final lift in the clean and jerk of t... [Short citation of 8% of the original article]

Jonathan Donovan

Single parent strength – a photo essay

Vikas and kiara, carly and ezra, lana and ruben, tayyaba and waiz, jamie and xavi, demi, alex and loukas, ema and haze.

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Exploring the Picture Essay: Tips, Best Practices, and Examples

April 18, 2023

Words by Jeff Cardello

A picture essay lets you harness the power of images to tell stories, evoke emotions, and convey a sense of place, time, and perspective.

Picture essays drop viewers right into the action, letting them see things through the camera’s lens, offering insights and understanding that isn’t possible through words alone. From static pages of photos, to carousels and animated articles, photo essays come in many forms. With no-code tools like Vev , it’s now easier than ever for journalists, designers, and publishers to create immersive, visually-led digital content to make their stories stand out from the crowd. Here’s everything you need to know about crafting stunning picture essays — from techniques and best practices through to world-class examples.

What is a Picture Essay?

Picture essays, also known as photo essays, are a form of visual storytelling . They are composed of a series of photos which together form a narrative or communicate information or ideas. They can have a clear beginning, middle, and end, but aren’t necessarily bound to linear narratives. Whether used for a chronological story or capturing a moment in time, all of the photos share a common theme that connects them.

Photo essays are often accompanied by text, providing context or conveying additional details. This can range from the most basic information such as titles, dates, or locations, or a caption helping to narrate the visual story. Some picture essays may rely solely on the imagery, while others may include more text to create a scrollytelling piece of content, with text even overlaid on the photos. The key to a picture essay is that the driver and focus is the visuals.

The Origins of the Picture Essay

Photography emerged as a documentary form at the beginning of the 20th century. Many cite Lewis Hine and the work he did between 1911 and 1916 in bringing attention to the harsh realities of child labor in the United States as one of the earliest examples of the picture essay. In 1948, the photographer W. Eugene Smith published a picture essay titled “Country Doctor” following a physician in rural Colorado and showing his work with the patients as well as what he did in his downtime. This is another notable example that elevated picture-taking into a journalistic art form.

Lewis Hine’s photos captured the hardships of children in the workplace and were instrumental in changing American labor laws.

Picture essays have remained an important part of journalism, having kept pace from its black-and-white beginnings to the high-resolution full-color images of today’s digital media.

Design Techniques for the Perfect Picture Essay

Scrollytelling images.

Scrollytelling images smoothly fade from one photo to the next as someone moves through a website, often with overlaid text to help describe what is happening in the images. This a subtle, yet effective way to break up content, and makes sure that each photo captures the attention of those scrolling.

Scroll Speed

Scroll speed is an effect that controls how reactive elements are to scrolling. Varying how reactive elements are to scrolling gives them a sense of distinction, rather than having them all lumped together in one long block. For example, a lower setting like 10% will make a photo move slower than one that’s set at 90%. This technique creates a scroll animation that keeps readers engaged in the picture essay. 

Scroll Progress Bars

A website full of photos often presents a lengthy amount of content for visitors to navigate through, especially if it’s a single page. Scroll progress bars , often tucked into the top of the screen, show visitors where they’re at and urge them to keep scrolling to the end.

Image Comparison Slider

When you want to display photos that show the before and after of something, an image comparison slider makes it possible to communicate changes through a single interactive image.

Clickable Image Hotspots

Photo essays rely on images to tell much of their stories, but text also provides context and additional information, clickable hotspots, also known as labeled images , maximize screen space and give visitors control in revealing details.

Image Carousels

Image carousels let visitors click, scroll, or drag through a series of images and are generally navigated horizontally, but may take other forms.

Best Practices for Picture Essay Design

• Know the story you want to tell: Identify the main points you want to visually communicate. Photo essays can tell a linear story but also be used to convey a sense of atmosphere or feeling. 
• Use different types of shots: Photographs can become monotonous when they’re all the same. Mix up things with different angles, close-up shots, different compositions, and other variations to keep your picture essays interesting.
• Choose only the best images: Photos shouldn’t only look good, but be relevant to the story you’re telling. 
• Know your audience: Keep in mind the target demographic the photo essay is intended for and make sure the style and tone are in line with who they are. 
• Keep things moving: Utilize scroll-triggered transitions, animations, and other points of interactivity to guide visitors through and keep their attention.

10 Aspirational Picture Essay Examples

From egmont to taranaki.

From Egmont to Taranaki is a picture essay built with Vev that’s both a personal story and a history lesson. It recounts the author John Campbell’s travels through the New Zealand countryside with a terminally ill friend while also delving into the painful past of how the indigenous Maori became dispossessed of these very spaces. Much like the twists and turns of the road, this photo essay bounces back between John’s memories and the history of this land.

Along with photos showing the beautiful green landscape and delightfully greasy food that John enjoyed with his friend during their travels, there are also animated effects. Fade-ins, text scrolling over fixed images, and parallax break the content up and keep up your momentum as you move through it.

Food for Thought

From sheep grazing on the rocky hillsides of Kyrgyzstan to fishermen casting their nets into the blue waters off of Indonesia, Food for Thought depicts where food comes from across the globe. The photos are big and brilliant, capturing the people tasked with the hard work of food production, the geography, as well as the animals and crops they are responsible for.

Each section uses a fixed image parallax scrolling effect that functions as a sliding window drawing the next image into place. There’s also a great use of hot spots, represented by circular icons that visitors can click on in learning more.

With its handsome metallic luster and Art Deco geometry, Bialetti’s pots help so many start their days with an easy way to brew cups of dark and delicious coffee.

They have a long and interesting history that can be traced back to 1933 when Italian engineer Alfonso Bialetti introduced its stovetop coffee maker. Bialetti tells its story through images showing where Alfonso drew his inspiration, product photos, and advertisements over the years. Along with a comprehensive timeline of visuals, you’ll also find plenty of motion in the form of parallax scrolling, animations, and other dynamic visuals. The scroll progress bar at the top is also a nice touch, showing people where they are in this one-page design.

Witnesses to History Keepers of Memory

Witnesses to History Keepers of Memory is an interactive photo essay put together by the Montreal Holocaust Museum. Pictured are Holocaust survivors along with the items they still have that accompanied them through detainment.

The main gallery of photos has much in terms of interactivity with hover-triggered animations, and a previous and next button letting you flip through them. The cursor turns into an eye icon, and clicking through on any of the photos brings you to a new screen that tells the story of the person pictured.

Seeing these people today, along with these personal items is a strong reminder that this terrible period of history wasn’t that long ago, and shows the strength and resilience of those who went through it.

Hakai Autonomous Ocean

Gliders are submersible robots used by scientists to explore what’s beneath the ocean and to gather data. They’re a relatively new technology, free from propellers, which harness ocean currents to move them through the water. The Autonomous Ocean begins with video footage of the sea rushing by and text telling how one of these $150,000 robots was experiencing trouble. It’s a dramatic opening that makes you want to keep reading to find out what happened.

Built with Vev, this single-page website is full of photographs showing oceanic gliders in action and how scientists use them. Scrollytelling images provide smooth transitions fading from one photo to the next, with accompanying text moving over them. This design also features a clever image comparison slider, displaying both the internal and external features of this submersible.

Moma Strange Brew

Viewed at a distance, John Klines’ art installation entitled Skittles looks like a refrigerator of fancy juices that you might find at any upscale grocer. The labels affixed to these juices reveal that inside these bottles are ingredients like yoga mat, fake plant, and shopping bag. All that looks delicious and nutritious from afar is something far grosser, making this art piece a funny and satirical take on consumerism.

This photo essay shows the steps involved in creating this piece, moving you through each stage of how this humorous and thought-provoking art piece came to be.

Picture essays are a documentary form of visual storytelling , and non-profits use them to bring attention to the problems of the world, and what they're doing to help solve them.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, more commonly known as UNICEF, is committed to the rights and health of children. This picture essay , featuring work by photographer Jan Grarup, covers UNICEF’s Denmark warehouse, where medicines and other essential goods are stored, and the people in countries like Haiti, Lebanon, and Uganda that these items reach.

Photos show shelves full of supplies, the places they’re sent out to, and the hospitals where they’re so desperately needed. You see the hardships that people face, and how UNICEF’s work helps improve their lives. It’s a breathtaking piece of photojournalism showing why their humanitarian work is so important.

The Guardian 

Slippery slope? Alpine tourism in the face of climate crisis covers climate change and how it impacts the Alps. This photo essay not only shows scenes of winter tourism, but what the Alps are like year-round. This gives an in-depth look at the interrelationships between the people, landscape, and ecosystem and the cascade of effects that global warming causes. 

Because this photo essay focuses on two very different times of the year, you’ll find several image comparison sliders showing what the Alps look like in the winter, and what they look like after the snow melts. Image comparison sliders work perfectly comparing different times of the year, and maximizing screen space.

The Naija Story

Since Nigeria declared its independence from Britain in October of 1960, they have had both turmoil and triumphs. Naija Story communicates Nigeria’s history, bringing visitors to who they are as a country today.

This design is divided into sections covering topics like politics, technology, and entertainment. Photo essays are an effective medium for history, and Naija Story uses them to highlight the events that have shaped Nigeria in these individual sections.

Along with photos, there are scroll-triggered animations that shift the visuals and text into place, as well as lines that connect all of these events making them simple to follow. There’s so much to learn about Nigeria, and it’s all conveyed in an artistic, yet easy-to-understand way.

Ukrainian Ballerina Uprooted by War Flies High Again

Ending our exploration of picture essays is this piece from Reuters, which tells the story of ballet dancer Ganna Muromtseva who fled from war-torn Ukraine, and whose journey brought her to the Hungary State Opera where she got to be a part of their performance of Swan Lake. With a well-balanced mix of writing and photos that show her life both on the stage and off, visitors get a personal look into her life.

Along with candid photography, there’s also a nice sense of interactivity. As visitors scroll text moves over the photos, giving context. There are also fade-ins as one moves from one image to the next, which also adds dynamics to the visuals.

Create Stunning Picture Essays in Vev

If you have a story you’d like to tell through photos, Vev offers a multitude of creative possibilities to bring it to life. With image comparison sliders, carousels, scroll animations, and other pre-built elements, we make it possible to create visually captivating editorial content just as you imagined it — without needing to write a line of code. When your design is ready, publish it to any existing website through Vev or embed your Vev project into your existing CMS.

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UCL Medical School

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The Guardian picture essay 'A baptism of fire'

15 February 2021

Photojournalist Graeme Robertson has spent several days working on a photo documentary project following two UCL medical students and a consultant endocrinologist working on the Covid-19 ICU ward at the University College Hospital in London

The image above was taken by Graeme Robertson

The Guardian Picture Essay followed two 4th year UCL Medical School students, Seyi Adeleye and Theo Reback, on the wards at UCH:

• Guardian website: 'A baptism of fire'

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AI teaching assistants are no match for human beings

• Joelle Renstrom

Morehouse College recently announced plans to use AI teaching assistants (TAs) in some of its classes this fall. The new AI TAs are represented by 3D spatial avatars and rely on technology from OpenAI — the company that makes ChatGPT — for conversational interactions.

The AI TAs are supposed to help “crack the code of education,” but as any educator can tell you, the myriad functions and responsibilities of teaching can’t be “cracked” by a single code. That’s why teaching is so difficult. No matter how long an educator has been on the job, every week — if not every day —something unexpected and challenging happens that requires us to draw from our experience as teachers and humans. Approaching teaching as a code to “crack” perpetuates a problem with education: the minimizing and devaluing of both educators and students.

Using AI in the classroom isn’t new, but these TA avatars move a step beyond how colleges and universities have typically used this technology. Morehouse’s AI TAs aren’t your average chatbots — one executive involved in their development called them “ a professor’s digital mini-me .” Students can access these TA avatars in the virtual classroom space via a web browser, and the avatars can answer questions aloud, in the student’s native tongue, 24/7. Those capabilities offer some clear benefits.

However, a virtual TA can’t relate to students, especially struggling ones. It can’t make class a dynamic experience or facilitate the kind of bonding that makes classroom discussions work. Morehouse professor Muhsinah Morris, who helped roll out Morehouse’s AI TA program, says that the virtual TAs will make “education a more loving, enjoyable experience.” Such a claim is difficult to believe, especially after everything COVID taught us about the limitations of remote learning and the social and academic value of in-person education.

The National Education Association, which recently released a policy statement about the use of AI in the classroom, is skeptical, too. It calls for educators to guide practices about AI use in teaching, and it insists that “students and educators remain at the center of education” and that the use of AI  “should not impair or displace” the connection between students and teachers.

The idea of outsourcing the TA role to AI is problematic not just for students, but for TAs, too. TAs work to financially support their own graduate school educations while getting experience and training as educators. They’re usually employed to run smaller labs or discussion sections for very large lecture classes, which are often prerequisites for more advanced study. TAs often serve as the first point of contact for class-related (and sometimes unrelated) questions and challenges. They often interact with and get to know students better than the actual professor does, which is arguably the most important aspect of their role.

It’s important to note that Morehouse doesn’t currently have TAs, so these TA avatars won’t replace human workers there. However, every major research institution (and most larger schools) do use TAs for bigger lectures and required courses. Other schools — especially those that are dealing with or have recently dealt with TA strikes, including Boston University (where I teach)  — will watch the rollout of Morehouse’s AI TAs with great interest.

Professor Morris predicts that every professor will have an AI TA in a matter of years, but I hope that’s not the case — I certainly won’t. And I can’t help but wonder what comes next: Will we eventually replace all professors with AI?

Don’t get me wrong: Technology has its place. Remote and online classes should exist for people who can’t access or afford in-person instruction. And to accommodate different types of learners, education should come in lots of different shapes and sizes. But before students enroll or pay tuition, they should know whether they’ll have human or AI instructors and whether their courses will feature real-time interactions.

Morehouse’s tuition for 2024-2025 is just under $29,000. With housing, books, and other fees, the projected cost for one year of school is over $52,000. That’s a lot of money to spend on instruction supported by non-humans. Increasingly, many schools cost considerably more than Morehouse: Harvard, Boston University, Brown, Dartmouth, USC and others charge more than $90,000 per year. At that price, a top-notch, real-time education from human instructors, not avatars that parrot ChatGPT, should be a given.

In its announcement, Morehouse cites the teaching shortage in the U.S., which continues to worsen . This crisis can’t be ignored. And neither can the ballooning cost of a college education. But outsourcing teaching to AI isn’t the answer to either problem.

Replacing human TAs with an AI that uses the same technology many schools and teachers prohibit seems hypocritical at best and irresponsible at worst.

Reporters at the Chronicle of Higher Education test-drove Morehouse’s TA avatars . One tester commented on how slowly the TAs loaded, which could drive students looking for a quick answer to Google or another search engine. Another tester noticed that the AI often forgot what it had previously said, requiring the user to summarize the earlier conversation before asking additional questions. And if a student asks an AI TA about something that isn’t in the information upload the professor provides, the TA will turn to a large language model from OpenAI to answer the question.

Like many professors, I don’t allow students to use Open AI’s ChatGPT in my writing and research classes for many reasons, including that the information it provides is often wrong , doesn’t cite references and is sometimes a fabrication or “hallucination ”. Replacing human TAs with an AI that uses the same technology many schools and teachers prohibit seems hypocritical at best and irresponsible at worst.

Depending on the subject, it may make sense for busy educators to use AI to perform tasks such as scheduling, polling and multiple-choice grading so they can devote more time to planning, student interactions and teaching itself. And it absolutely makes sense to teach students AI literacy and how to use specific AI programs as research or coding tools. But any use of AI by either teachers or students should be in the service of teaching critical thinking, which is the primary purpose of college.

OpenAI trains language and data models on internet content, including Reddit and its labyrinth of sub-reddits , many of which contain more (often bot-generated) fiction and opinion than fact. If algorithms such as the ones used by OpenAI are, as mathematician and statistician Cathy O’Neil puts it, “ opinions embedded in code ,” then using AI TAs perpetuates the same information, misinformation and biases that already dominate online content and discourse. That’s the antithesis of critical thinking.

Outsourcing to AI the teaching of skills it both lacks and undermines doesn’t benefit students or teachers. If we want students to think critically about how, when, where and why to use AI, among other things, then humans need to do the teaching. As neat as it is, a virtual “mini-me” ultimately devalues educators and students by suggesting that animated characters relying on flawed databases could or should be a substitute for people who have experience and expertise as teachers and humans.

Follow Cognoscenti on Facebook and Instagram .

• Boston University graduate students go on strike, citing lack of progress in negotiations
• Ethan Marcotte: Why the Hollywood strike matters to all of us
• Also by Joelle Renstrom: You think AI could write 'Shake It Off?' As if

Joelle Renstrom Cognoscenti contributor Joelle Renstrom is a science writer whose work has appeared in Slate, The Guardian, Aeon, Undark and other publications. She also wrote the essay collection "Closing the Book: Travels in Life, Loss, and Literature." She teaches at Boston University.

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Who Are the Far-Right Groups Behind the U.K. Riots?

After a deadly stabbing at a children’s event in northwestern England, an array of online influencers, anti-Muslim extremists and fascist groups have stoked unrest, experts say.

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By Esther Bintliff and Eve Sampson

Esther Bintliff reported from London, and Eve Sampson from New York.

Violent unrest has erupted in several towns and cities in Britain in recent days, and further disorder broke out on Saturday as far-right agitators gathered in demonstrations around the country.

The violence has been driven by online disinformation and extremist right-wing groups intent on creating disorder after a deadly knife attack on a children’s event in northwestern England, experts said.

A range of far-right factions and individuals, including neo-Nazis, violent soccer fans and anti-Muslim campaigners, have promoted and taken part in the unrest, which has also been stoked by online influencers .

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to deploy additional police officers to crack down on the disorder. “This is not a protest that has got out of hand,” he said on Thursday. “It is a group of individuals who are absolutely bent on violence.”

Here is what we know about the unrest and some of those involved.

Where have riots taken place?

The first riot took place on Tuesday evening in Southport, a town in northwestern England, after a deadly stabbing attack the previous day at a children’s dance and yoga class. Three girls died of their injuries, and eight other children and two adults were wounded.

The suspect, Axel Rudakubana , was born in Britain, but in the hours after the attack, disinformation about his identity — including the false claim that he was an undocumented migrant — spread rapidly online . Far-right activists used messaging apps including Telegram and X to urge people to take to the streets.

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How to Create a Photo Essay in 9 Steps (with Examples)

Photo Editing & Creativity , Tutorials

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products we fully support or use ourselves.  Our full disclaimer

What is a photo essay?

• Photo essays vs photo stories
• How photo essays help you
• 9 Steps to create photo essays

How to share your photo essays

Read Time: 11 minutes

Gather up a handful of images that seem to go together, and voila! It’s a photo essay, right? Well… no. Though, this is a common misconception.

In reality, a photo essay is much more thoughtful and structured than that. When you take the time to craft one, you’re using skills from all facets of our craft – from composition to curation.

In this guide, you’ll learn what makes a photo essay an amazing project that stretches your skills. You’ll also learn exactly how to make one step by step.

• Photo essay vs photo story

A photo essay is a collection of images based around a theme, a topic, a creative approach, or an exploration of an idea. Photo essays balance visual variety with a cohesive style and concept.

What’s the difference between a photo essay and a photo story?

The terms photo essay and photo story are often used interchangeably. Even the dictionary definition of “photo essay” includes using images to convey either a theme or a story.

But in my experience, a photo essay and a photo story are two different things. As you delve into the field of visual storytelling, distinguishing between the two helps you to take a purposeful approach to what you’re making .

The differences ultimately lie in the distinctions between theme, topic and story.

Themes are big-picture concepts. Example: Wildness

Topics are more specific than themes, but still overarching. Example : Wild bears of Yellowstone National Park

Stories are specific instances or experiences that happen within, or provide an example for, a topic or theme. Example: A certain wild bear became habituated to tourists and was relocated to maintain its wildness

Unlike a theme or topic, a story has particular elements that make it a story. They include leading characters, a setting, a narrative arc, conflict, and (usually) resolution.

With that in mind, we can distingush between a photo essay and a photo story.

Themes and Topics vs Stories

A photo essay revolves around a topic, theme, idea, or concept. It visually explores a big-picture something .

This allows a good deal of artistic leeway where a photographer can express their vision, philosophies, opinions, or artistic expression as they create their images.

A photo story  is a portfolio of images that illustrate – you guessed it – a story.

Because of this, there are distinct types of images that a photo story uses that add to the understanding, insight, clarity and meaning to the story for viewers. While they can certainly be artistically crafted and visually stunning, photo stories document something happening, and rely on visual variety for capturing the full experience.

A photo essay doesn’t need to have the same level of structured variety that a photo story requires. It can have images that overlap or are similar, as they each explore various aspects of a theme.

Photo essays can be about any topic. If you live in a city, consider using your nature photography to make an essay about the wildlife that lives in your neighborhood . 

The role of text with photos

A photo story typically runs alongside text that narrates the story. We’re a visual species, and the images help us feel like we are there, experiencing what’s happening. So, the images add significant power to the text, but they’re often a partner to it.

This isn’t always the case, of course. Sometimes photo stories don’t need or use text. It’s like reading a graphic novel that doesn’t use text. Moving through the different images that build on each other ultimately unveils the narrative.

Photo essays don’t need to rely on text to illuminate the images’ theme or topic. The photographer may use captions (or even a text essay), or they may let the images speak for themselves.

Definitions are helpful guidelines (not strict rules)

Some people categorize photo essays as either narrative or thematic. That’s essentially just calling photo stories “narrative photo essays” and photo essays “thematic photo essays.”

But, a story is a defined thing, and any writer/editor will tell you themes and topics are not the same as stories. And we use the word “story” in our daily lives as it’s defined. So, it makes far more sense to name the difference between a photo essay and a photo story, and bask in the same clarity writers enjoy .

Photo stories illustrate a particular experience, event, narrative, something that happened or is happening.

Photo essays explore an idea, concept, topic, theme, creative approach, big-picture something .

Both photo essays and photo stories are immensely powerful visual tools. And yes, the differences between them can certainly be blurred, as is always the case with art.

Simply use this distinction as a general guideline, providing extra clarity around what you’re making and why you’re making it.

To dig into specific types of images used to create powerful photo stories, check out this training: 6 Must-Have Shots for a Photo Story. 

Meanwhile, let’s dig deeper into photo essays.

Photo essays are a chance to try new styles or techniques that stretch your skills and creativity. This image was part of an essay exploring simplicity and shape, and helped me learn new skills in black and white post-processing.

How photo essays improve your photography

Creating photo essays is an amazing antidote if you’ve ever felt a lack of direction or purpose in your photography. Photo essays help build your photographic skills in at least 3 important ways.

1. You become more strategic in creating a body of work

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut of photographing whatever pops up in front of you. And when you do, you end up with a collection of stand-alone shots.

These singles may work fine as a print, a quick Instagram post, or an addition to your gallery of shots on your website. But amassing a bunch of one-off shots limits your opportunities as a photographer for everything from exhibits to getting your work published.

Building photo essays pushes you to think strategically about what you photograph, why, and how. You’re working toward a particular deliverable – a cohesive visual essay – with the images you create.

This elevates your skills in crafting your photo essay, and in how you curate the rest of your work, from galleries on your website to selecting images to sell as prints .

2. You become more purposeful in your composition skills

Composition is so much more than just following the rule of thirds, golden spirals, or thinking about the angle of light in a shot.

Composition is also about thinking ahead in what you’re trying to accomplish with a photograph – from what you’re saying through it to its emotional impact on a viewer – and where it fits within a larger body of work.

Photo essays push you to think critically about each shot – from coming up with fresh compositions for familiar subjects, to devising surprising compositions to fit within a collection, to creating compositions that expand on what’s already in a photo essay.

You’re pushed beyond creating a single pleasing frame, which leads you to shoot more thoughtfully and proactively than ever.

(Here’s a podcast episode on switching from reactive shooting to proactive shooting .)

3. You develop strong editing and curation skills

Selecting which images stay, and which get left behind is one of the hardest jobs on a photographer’s to-do list. Mostly, it’s because of emotional attachment.

You might think it’s an amazing shot because you know the effort that went into capturing it. Or perhaps when you look at it, you get a twinge of the joy or exhilaration you felt the moment you captured it. There’s also the second-guessing that goes into which of two similar images is the best – which will people like more? So you’re tempted to just show both.

Ultimately, great photographers appear all the more skilled because they only show their best work. That in and of itself is a skill they’ve developed through years of ruthlessly editing their own work.

Because the most powerful photo essays only show a handful of extraordinary images, you’re bound to develop the very same critical skill (and look all the more talented because of it).

Photo essays are also a great stepping stone to creating photo stories. If you’re interested in moving beyond stand-alone shots and building stories, shooting photo essays will get your creative brain limbered up and ready for the adventure of photo stories.

A photo essay exploring the natural history of a favorite species is an exciting opportunity for an in-depth study. For me, that was a photo essay on emotive images of the American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) as it hunts in streams. 

9 Simple steps to create your photo essays

1. clarify your theme.

Choose a theme, topic, or concept you want to explore. Spend some time getting crystal clear on what you want to focus on. It helps to write out a few sentences, or even a few paragraphs noting:

• What you want the essay to be about
• What kinds of images you want to create as part of it
• How you’ll photograph the images
• The style, techniques, or gear you might use to create your images
• What “success” looks like when you’re done with your photo essay

You don’t have to stick to what you write down, of course. It can change during the image creation process. But fleshing your idea out on paper goes a long way in clarifying your photo essay theme and how you’ll go about creating it.

2. Create your images

Grab your camera and head outside!

As you’re photographing your essay, allow yourself some freedom to experiment. Try unusual compositions or techniques that are new to you.

Stretch your style a little, or “try on” the style of other photographers you admire who have photographed similar subjects.

Photo essays are wonderful opportunities to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and grow as a photographer .

Remember that a photo essay is a visually cohesive collection of images that make sense together. So, while you might stretch yourself into new terrain as you shoot, try to keep that approach, style, or strategy consistent.

Don’t be afraid to create lots of images. It’s great to have lots to choose from in the editing process, which comes up next.

3. Pull together your wide edit

Once you’ve created your images, pull together all the images that might make the cut. This could be as many as 40-60 images. Include anything you want to consider for the final essay in the wide edit.

From here, start weeding out images that:

• are weaker in composition or subject matter
• stand out like a sore thumb from the rest of the collection
• Are similar to other stronger images in the collection

It’s helpful to review the images at thumbnail size. You make more instinctive decisions and can more easily see the body of work as a whole. If an image is strong even at thumbnail size to stand out from similar frames while also partnering well with other images in the collection, that’s a good sign it’s strong enough for the essay.

4. Post-process your images for a cohesive look

Now it’s time to post-process the images. Use whatever editing software you’re comfortable with to polish your images.

Again, a photo essay has a cohesive visual look. If you use presets, filters, or other tools, use them across all the images.

5. Finalize your selection

It’s time to make the tough decisions. Select only the strongest for your photo essay from your group of images.

Each image should be strong enough to stand on its own and make sense as part of the whole group.

Many photo essays range from 8-12 images. But of course, it varies based on the essay. The number of images you have in your final photo essay is up to you.

Remember, less is more. A photo essay is most powerful when each image deserves to be included.

6. Put your images in a purposeful order

Create a visual flow with your images. Decide which image is first, and build from there. Use compositions, colors, and subject matter to decide which image goes next, then next, then next in the order.

Think of it like music: notes are arranged in a way that builds energy, or slows it down, surprise listeners with a new refrain, or drop into a familiar chorus. How the notes are ordered creates emotional arcs for listeners.

How you order your images is similar.

Think of the experience a viewer will have as they look at one image, then the next, and the next. Order your images so they create the experience you want your audience to have.

7. Get feedback

The best photographers make space for feedback, even when it’s tough to hear. Your work benefits from not just hearing feedback, but listening to it and applying what you learn from it.

Show your photo essay to people who have different sensibilities or tastes. Friends, family members, fellow photographers – anyone you trust to give you honest feedback.

Watch their reactions and hear what they say about what they’re seeing. Use their feedback to guide you in the next step.

8. Refine, revise, and finalize

Let your photo essay marinate for a little while. Take a day or two away from it. Then use your freshened eyes and the feedback you received from the previous step to refine your essay.

Swap out any selects you might want to change and reorder the images if needed.

9. Add captions

Even if you don’t plan on displaying captions with your images, captioning your images is a great practice to get into. It gives context, story, and important information to each image. And, more than likely, you will want to use these captions at some point when you share your photo essay, which we dive into later in this article.

Add captions to the image files using Lightroom, Bridge, or other software programs.

Create a document, such as a Google or Word doc, with captions for each image.

In your captions, share a bit about the story behind the image, or the creation process. Add whatever makes sense to share that provides a greater understanding of the image and its purpose.

Photo essays allow you to explore deliberate style choices, such as a focus on shapes, patterns, textures, and lines. Since each photo is part of a larger essay, it encourages you to be bold with choices you might not otherwise make. 

5 Examples of amazing nature photo essays

1. “how the water shapes us” from the nature conservancy.

This gorgeous essay, crafted with the work of multiple photographers, explores the people and places within the Mississippi River basin. Through the images, we gain a sense of how the water influences life from the headwater all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Notice how each photographer is tasked with the same theme, yet approaches it with their own distinct style and vision. It is a wonderful example of the sheer level of visual variety you can have while maintaining a consistent style or theme.

View it here

2. “A Cyclist on the English Landscape” from New York Times’ The World Through A Lens series

This photo essay is a series of self-portraits by travel photographer Roff Smith while “stuck” at home during the pandemic. As he peddled the roads making portraits, the project evolved into a “celebration of traveling at home”. It’s a great example of how visually consistent you can be inside a theme while making each image completely unique.

3. “Vermont, Dressed In Snow” from New York Times’ The World Through A Lens series

This essay by aerial photographer Caleb Kenna uses a very common photo essay theme: snow. Because all images are aerial photographs, there’s a consistency to them. Yet, the compositions are utterly unique from one another. It’s a great example of keeping viewers surprised as they move from one image to the next while still maintaining a clear focus on the theme.

4. “Starling-Studded Skies” from bioGraphic Magazine

This beautiful essay is by Kathryn Cooper, a physicist trained in bioinformatics, and a talented photographer. She used a 19th century photographic technique, chronophotography, to create images that give us a look at the art and science of starling murmurations. She states: “I’m interested in the transient moments when chaos briefly changes to order, and thousands of individual bodies appear to move as one.” This essay is a great example of deep exploration of a concept using a specific photographic technique.

View it here   (Note: must be viewed on desktop)

5. “These Scrappy Photos Capture the Action-Packed World Beneath a Bird Feeder” from Audubon Magazine

This photo essay from conservation photographer Carla Rhodes explores the wildlife that takes advantage of the bounty of food waiting under bird feeders . Using remote camera photography , Rhodes gives viewers a unique ground-level perspective and captures moments that make us feel like we’re in conversation with friends in the Hundred Acre Woods. This essay is a great example of how perspective, personality, and chance can all come into play as you explore both an idea and a technique.

25 Ideas for creative photo essays you can make

The possibilities for photo essays are truly endless – from the concepts you explore to the techniques you use and styles you apply.

Choose an idea, hone your unique perspective on it, then start applying the 9 simple steps from above. 

• The life of a plant or animal (your favorite species, a species living in your yard, etc)
• The many shapes of a single species (a tree species, a bird species, etc)
• How a place changes over time
• The various moods of a place
• A conservation issue you care about
• Math in nature
• Urban nature
• Seasonal changes
• Your yard as a space for nature
• Shifting climate and its impacts
• Human impacts on environments
• Elements: Water, wind, fire, earth
• Day in the life (of a person, a place, a stream, a tree…)
• Outdoor recreation (birding, kayaking, hiking, naturalist journaling…)
• Wildlife rehabilitation
• Lunar cycles
• Sunlight and shadows
• Your local watershed
• Coexistence

As you zero in on a photo essay theme, consider two things: what most excites you about an idea, and what about it pushes you out of your comfort zone. The heady mix of joy and challenge will ensure you stick with it. 

Your photo essay is ready for the world! Decide how you’d like to make an impact with your work. You might use one or several of the options below.

1. Share it on your website

Create a gallery or a scrollytelling page on your website. This is a great way to drive traffic to your website where people can peruse your photo essay and the rest of the photography you have.

Putting it on your website and optimizing your images for SEO helps you build organic traffic and potentially be discovered by a broader audience, including photo editors.

2. Create a scrollytelling web page

If you enjoy the experience of immersive visual experiences, consider making one using your essay. And no, you don’t have to be a whiz at code to make it happen.

Shorthand helps you build web pages with scrollytelling techniques that make a big impression on viewers. Their free plan allows you to publish 3 essays or stories.

3. Create a Medium post

If you don’t have a website and want to keep things simple, a post on Medium is a great option.

Though it’s known for being a platform for bloggers, it’s also possible to add images to a post for a simple scroll.

And, because readers can discover and share posts, it’s a good place for your photos to get the attention of people who might not otherwise come across it.

4. Share it on Instagram

Instagram has changed a lot over the last couple of years, but it’s still a place for photographers to share their work thoughtfully.

There are at least 3 great ways to share your photo essay on the platform.

– Create a single post for each image. Add a caption. Publish one post per day until the full essay is on your feed. Share each post via Instagram Stories to bring more attention and interaction to your photo essay.

– Create a carousel post. You can add up 10 photos to a carousel post, so you may need to create two of them for your full photo essay. Or you might create a series of carousel posts using 3-4 images in each.

– Create a Reel featuring your images as a video.  The algorithm heavily favors reels, so turning your photo essay into a video experience can get it out to a larger audience.

I ran a “create a reel” challenge in my membership community. One member created a reel with her still images around a serious conservation issue. It gathered a ton of attention and landed her opportunities to share her message through YouTube and podcast interviews and publishing opportunities. Watch it here.

5. Exhibit it locally

Reach out to local galleries, cafes, pubs, or even the public library to see if they’re interested in hanging your photo essay for display. Many local businesses and organizations happily support the work of local artists.

6. Pitch your photo essay to publications

One of the best ways to reach an audience with your work is to get it published. Find publications that are a great fit for the theme and style of your photo essay, then pitch your essay for consideration. You gain a fantastic opportunity to share your work widely and can earn a paycheck at the same time.

Remember that if you want to get your photo essay published, you may want to hold back from sharing it publicly before you pitch it to publications.

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Photo Essay: Ode to Quarantine

Mariyah Shad Jun 16, 2021

I’ll be honest, I’m starting to think the prettiest views are from my apartment. Vaccinations may be increasing and the world may slowly be opening up again, but I still feel tentative to get back out there in the world. At the same time, I feel trapped when I’m inside all the time. But then I notice the way the light shines into my windows and I open all the blinds and I feel so much lighter. I’ll look out into the courtyard and tend to my plants and feel grateful for this little sun-lit and green corner of the universe despite the hardships of the past year. I’m grateful for the reminder to always look for the small, beautiful things in the views that I see everyday. 

So I suppose I’ll end this by challenging you to look around. What do you see?  

The crisscrossing of at least three separate palm trees. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, I only noticed it because I stepped out onto the balcony to shake loose sand from my shoes. But the different shades of green plus the different shapes of the leaves caught my eye and made me stop for a second.  

The view outside the living room. Although outside the window might just be more apartment buildings, from this particular perspective, all I really see is even more palm trees and the interesting natural lighting that shines in at different times of the day. 

My plant collection, aka a work-in-progress balcony garden. Most of the times, these plants are the only thing that get me outside to breathe fresh air and crouching down to water them gives a different vantage point of my space. 

And finally, my personal favorite because this is the exact view I see from my bed. We’ve finally been opening up the blinds to allow more natural light in. In the background, there’s a beautiful pink-flowered tree. I’ll look out the window in between studying and find the whole picture to be quite relaxing. 

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Andi Duferense • Jul 10, 2021 at 3:38 am

And finally, my personal favorite because this is the exact view I see from my bed. We’ve finally been opening up the blinds to allow more natural light in. In the background, there’s a beautiful pink-flowered tree. https://www.google.com/ I’ll look out the window in between studying and find the whole picture to be quite relaxing.

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What is a Photo Essay? 9 Photo Essay Examples You Can Recreate

A photo essay is a series of photographs that tell a story. Unlike a written essay, a photo essay focuses on visuals instead of words. With a photo essay, you can stretch your creative limits and explore new ways to connect with your audience. Whatever your photography skill level, you can recreate your own fun and creative photo essay.

9 Photo Essay Examples You Can Recreate

• Photowalk Photo Essay
• Transformation Photo Essay
• Day in the Life Photo Essay
• Event Photo Essay
• Building Photo Essay
• Historic Site or Landmark Photo Essay
• Behind the Scenes Photo Essay
• Family Photo Essay
• Education Photo Essay

Stories are important to all of us. While some people gravitate to written stories, others are much more attuned to visual imagery. With a photo essay, you can tell a story without writing a word. Your use of composition, contrast, color, and perspective in photography will convey ideas and evoke emotions.

To explore narrative photography, you can use basic photographic equipment. You can buy a camera or even use your smartphone to get started. While lighting, lenses, and post-processing software can enhance your photos, they aren’t necessary to achieve good results.

Whether you need to complete a photo essay assignment or want to pursue one for fun or professional purposes, you can use these photo essay ideas for your photography inspiration . Once you know the answer to “what is a photo essay?” and find out how fun it is to create one, you’ll likely be motivated to continue your forays into photographic storytelling.

1 . Photowalk Photo Essay

One popular photo essay example is a photowalk. Simply put, a photowalk is time you set aside to walk around a city, town, or a natural site and take photos. Some cities even have photowalk tours led by professional photographers. On these tours, you can learn the basics about how to operate your camera, practice photography composition techniques, and understand how to look for unique shots that help tell your story.

Set aside at least two to three hours for your photowalk. Even if you’re photographing a familiar place—like your own home town—try to look at it through new eyes. Imagine yourself as a first-time visitor or pretend you’re trying to educate a tourist about the area.

Walk around slowly and look for different ways to capture the mood and energy of your location. If you’re in a city, capture wide shots of streets, close-ups of interesting features on buildings, street signs, and candid shots of people. Look for small details that give the city character and life. And try some new concepts—like reflection picture ideas—by looking for opportunities to photographs reflections in mirrored buildings, puddles, fountains, or bodies of water.

2 . Transformation Photo Essay

With a transformation photography essay, you can tell the story about change over time. One of the most popular photostory examples, a transformation essay can document a mom-to-be’s pregnancy or a child’s growth from infancy into the toddler years. But people don’t need to be the focus of a transformation essay. You can take photos of a house that is being built or an urban area undergoing revitalization.

You can also create a photo narrative to document a short-term change. Maybe you want to capture images of your growing garden or your move from one home to another. These examples of photo essays are powerful ways of telling the story of life’s changes—both large and small.

3 . Day in the Life Photo Essay

Want a unique way to tell a person’s story? Or, perhaps you want to introduce people to a career or activity. You may want to consider a day in the life essay.

With this photostory example, your narrative focuses on a specific subject for an entire day. For example, if you are photographing a farmer, you’ll want to arrive early in the morning and shadow the farmer as he or she performs daily tasks. Capture a mix of candid shots of the farmer at work and add landscapes and still life of equipment for added context. And if you are at a farm, don’t forget to get a few shots of the animals for added character, charm, or even a dose of humor. These types of photography essay examples are great practice if you are considering pursuing photojournalism. They also help you learn and improve your candid portrait skills.

4 . Event Photo Essay

Events are happening in your local area all the time, and they can make great photo essays. With a little research, you can quickly find many events that you could photograph. There may be bake sales, fundraisers, concerts, art shows, farm markets, block parties, and other non profit event ideas . You could also focus on a personal event, such as a birthday or graduation.

At most events, your primary emphasis will be on capturing candid photos of people in action. You can also capture backgrounds or objects to set the scene. For example, at a birthday party, you’ll want to take photos of the cake and presents.

For a local or community event, you can share your photos with the event organizer. Or, you may be able to post them on social media and tag the event sponsor. This is a great way to gain recognition and build your reputation as a talented photographer.

5. Building Photo Essay

Many buildings can be a compelling subject for a photographic essay. Always make sure that you have permission to enter and photograph the building. Once you do, look for interesting shots and angles that convey the personality, purpose, and history of the building. You may also be able to photograph the comings and goings of people that visit or work in the building during the day.

Some photographers love to explore and photograph abandoned buildings. With these types of photos, you can provide a window into the past. Definitely make sure you gain permission before entering an abandoned building and take caution since some can have unsafe elements and structures.

6. Historic Site or Landmark Photo Essay

Taking a series of photos of a historic site or landmark can be a great experience. You can learn to capture the same site from different angles to help portray its character and tell its story. And you can also photograph how people visit and engage with the site or landmark. Take photos at different times of day and in varied lighting to capture all its nuances and moods.

You can also use your photographic essay to help your audience understand the history of your chosen location. For example, if you want to provide perspective on the Civil War, a visit to a battleground can be meaningful. You can also visit a site when reenactors are present to share insight on how life used to be in days gone by.

7 . Behind the Scenes Photo Essay

Another fun essay idea is taking photos “behind the scenes” at an event. Maybe you can chronicle all the work that goes into a holiday festival from the early morning set-up to the late-night teardown. Think of the lead event planner as the main character of your story and build the story about him or her.

Or, you can go backstage at a drama production. Capture photos of actors and actresses as they transform their looks with costuming and makeup. Show the lead nervously pacing in the wings before taking center stage. Focus the work of stagehands, lighting designers, and makeup artists who never see the spotlight but bring a vital role in bringing the play to life.

8. Family Photo Essay

If you enjoy photographing people, why not explore photo story ideas about families and relationships? You can focus on interactions between two family members—such as a father and a daughter—or convey a message about a family as a whole.

Sometimes these type of photo essays can be all about the fun and joy of living in a close-knit family. But sometimes they can be powerful portraits of challenging social topics. Images of a family from another country can be a meaningful photo essay on immigration. You could also create a photo essay on depression by capturing families who are coping with one member’s illness.

For these projects on difficult topics, you may want to compose a photo essay with captions. These captions can feature quotes from family members or document your own observations. Although approaching hard topics isn’t easy, these types of photos can have lasting impact and value.

9. Education Photo Essay

Opportunities for education photo essays are everywhere—from small preschools to community colleges and universities. You can seek permission to take photos at public or private schools or even focus on alternative educational paths, like homeschooling.

Your education photo essay can take many forms. For example, you can design a photo essay of an experienced teacher at a high school. Take photos of him or her in action in the classroom, show quiet moments grading papers, and capture a shared laugh between colleagues in the teacher’s lounge.

Alternatively, you can focus on a specific subject—such as science and technology. Or aim to portray a specific grade level, document activities club or sport, or portray the social environment. A photo essay on food choices in the cafeteria can be thought-provoking or even funny. There are many potential directions to pursue and many great essay examples.

While education is an excellent topic for a photo essay for students, education can be a great source of inspiration for any photographer.

Why Should You Create a Photo Essay?

Ultimately, photographers are storytellers. Think of what a photographer does during a typical photo shoot. He or she will take a series of photos that helps convey the essence of the subject—whether that is a person, location, or inanimate object. For example, a family portrait session tells the story of a family—who they are, their personalities, and the closeness of their relationship.

Learning how to make a photo essay can help you become a better storyteller—and a better photographer. You’ll cultivate key photography skills that you can carry with you no matter where your photography journey leads.

If you simply want to document life’s moments on social media, you may find that a single picture doesn’t always tell the full story. Reviewing photo essay examples and experimenting with your own essay ideas can help you choose meaningful collections of photos to share with friends and family online.

Learning how to create photo essays can also help you work towards professional photography ambitions. You’ll often find that bloggers tell photographic stories. For example, think of cooking blogs that show you each step in making a recipe. Photo essays are also a mainstay of journalism. You’ll often find photo essays examples in many media outlets—everywhere from national magazines to local community newspapers. And the best travel photographers on Instagram tell great stories with their photos, too.

With a photo essay, you can explore many moods and emotions. Some of the best photo essays tell serious stories, but some are humorous, and others aim to evoke action.

You can raise awareness with a photo essay on racism or a photo essay on poverty. A photo essay on bullying can help change the social climate for students at a school. Or, you can document a fun day at the beach or an amusement park. You have control of the themes, photographic elements, and the story you want to tell.

5 Steps to Create a Photo Essay

Every photo essay will be different, but you can use a standard process. Following these five steps will guide you through every phase of your photo essay project—from brainstorming creative essay topics to creating a photo essay to share with others.

Step 1: Choose Your Photo Essay Topics

Just about any topic you can imagine can form the foundation for a photo essay. You may choose to focus on a specific event, such as a wedding, performance, or festival. Or you may want to cover a topic over a set span of time, such as documenting a child’s first year. You could also focus on a city or natural area across the seasons to tell a story of changing activities or landscapes.

Since the best photo essays convey meaning and emotion, choose a topic of interest. Your passion for the subject matter will shine through each photograph and touch your viewer’s hearts and minds.

Step 2: Conduct Upfront Research

Much of the work in a good-quality photo essay begins before you take your first photo. It’s always a good idea to do some research on your planned topic.

Imagine you’re going to take photos of a downtown area throughout the year. You should spend some time learning the history of the area. Talk with local residents and business owners and find out about planned events. With these insights, you’ll be able to plan ahead and be prepared to take photos that reflect the area’s unique personality and lifestyles.

For any topic you choose, gather information first. This may involve internet searches, library research, interviews, or spending time observing your subject.

Step 3: Storyboard Your Ideas

After you have done some research and have a good sense of the story you want to tell, you can create a storyboard. With a storyboard, you can write or sketch out the ideal pictures you want to capture to convey your message.

You can turn your storyboard into a “shot list” that you can bring with you on site. A shot list can be especially helpful when you are at a one-time event and want to capture specific shots for your photo essay. If you’ve never created a photo essay before, start with ten shot ideas. Think of each shot as a sentence in your story. And aim to make each shot evoke specific ideas or emotions.

Step 4: Capture Images

Your storyboard and shot list will be important guides to help you make the most of each shoot. Be sure to set aside enough time to capture all the shots you need—especially if you are photographing a one-time event. And allow yourself to explore your ideas using different photography composition, perspective, and color contrast techniques.

You may need to take a hundred images or more to get ten perfect ones for your photographic essay. Or, you may find that you want to add more photos to your story and expand your picture essay concept.

Also, remember to look for special unplanned, moments that help tell your story. Sometimes, spontaneous photos that aren’t on your shot list can be full of meaning. A mix of planning and flexibility almost always yields the best results.

Step 5: Edit and Organize Photos to Tell Your Story

After capturing your images, you can work on compiling your photo story. To create your photo essay, you will need to make decisions about which images portray your themes and messages. At times, this can mean setting aside beautiful images that aren’t a perfect fit. You can use your shot list and storyboard as a guide but be open to including photos that weren’t in your original plans.

You may want to use photo editing software—such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop— to enhance and change photographs. With these tools, you can adjust lighting and white balance, perform color corrections, crop, or perform other edits. If you have a signature photo editing style, you may want to use Photoshop Actions or Lightroom Presets to give all your photos a consistent look and feel.

You order a photo book from one of the best photo printing websites to publish your photo story. You can add them to an album on a photo sharing site, such as Flickr or Google Photos. Also, you could focus on building a website dedicated to documenting your concepts through visual photo essays. If so, you may want to use SEO for photographers to improve your website’s ranking in search engine results. You could even publish your photo essay on social media. Another thing to consider is whether you want to include text captures or simply tell your story through photographs.

Choose the medium that feels like the best space to share your photo essay ideas and vision with your audiences. You should think of your photo essay as your own personal form of art and expression when deciding where and how to publish it.

Photo Essays Can Help You Become a Better Photographer

Whatever your photography ambitions may be, learning to take a photo essay can help you grow. Even simple essay topics can help you gain skills and stretch your photographic limits. With a photo essay, you start to think about how a series of photographs work together to tell a complete story. You’ll consider how different shots work together, explore options for perspective and composition, and change the way you look at the world.

Before you start taking photos, you should review photo essay examples. You can find interesting pictures to analyze and photo story examples online, in books, or in classic publications, like Life Magazine . Don’t forget to look at news websites for photojournalism examples to broaden your perspective. This review process will help you in brainstorming simple essay topics for your first photo story and give you ideas for the future as well.

Ideas and inspiration for photo essay topics are everywhere. You can visit a park or go out into your own backyard to pursue a photo essay on nature. Or, you can focus on the day in the life of someone you admire with a photo essay of a teacher, fireman, or community leader. Buildings, events, families, and landmarks are all great subjects for concept essay topics. If you are feeling stuck coming up with ideas for essays, just set aside a few hours to walk around your city or town and take photos. This type of photowalk can be a great source of material.

You’ll soon find that advanced planning is critical to your success. Brainstorming topics, conducting research, creating a storyboard, and outlining a shot list can help ensure you capture the photos you need to tell your story. After you’ve finished shooting, you’ll need to decide where to house your photo essay. You may need to come up with photo album title ideas, write captions, and choose the best medium and layout.

Without question, creating a photo essay can be a valuable experience for any photographer. That’s true whether you’re an amateur completing a high school assignment or a pro looking to hone new skills. You can start small with an essay on a subject you know well and then move into conquering difficult ideas. Maybe you’ll want to create a photo essay on mental illness or a photo essay on climate change. Or maybe there’s another cause that is close to your heart.

Whatever your passion, you can bring it to life with a photo essay.

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Paris olympics 2024: guardian photographers at the games – picture essay.

A fter the Covid affected Olympics in Tokyo, Paris 2024 saw the return of packed stadiums, venues and also photographer enclosures. Among the 1,578 accredited photographers were three covering the Games for the Guardian and Observer.

Tom Jenkins

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How would I describe photographing the Paris Olympics? Quite simply “c’est magnifique, c’est incroyable.” It was a wonderful Games, an intoxicating blend of incredible action taking place in the most stunning venues. I can forgive the Paris metro for its lack of escalators, which meant lugging all my gear around was a very sweaty task, because everywhere there was cat-nip for the photographer. At times it felt almost too much, you wanted to be everywhere at the same time, pushing yourself to extremes to get the pictures on offer. After the last two disappointing summer Games, this was back to the sort of Olympics the IOC wanted and needed. And how they succeeded, the organisers pulling out all the stops to make sure it was such a visual treat. At the end of it all, despite all the amazing athletes on show doing phenomenal things, the real star of the Games was the city itself.

David Levene

I hardly ever shoot sport but having covered the London Olympics in 2012 I knew roughly what was in store for me in Paris for the next two and a half weeks – a brutal schedule photographing unfamiliar athletes engaging in sports I know little or nothing about, inside strange, complex venues strewn around a city baking in summer heat. Early starts, late finishes, no days off, endless editing, daily double backups, complex logistics and travel planning. Not to mention the constant battles to get my work published in competition with literally the world’s greatest sports photographers … And yet, in the face of all these struggles and challenges (and as I knew it would be), photographing the 2024 Paris Olympic Games was an utterly exhilarating, emotional and life-affirming experience.

David Bowie once said that, as a creator, “when you can’t feel your feet touching the bottom, then you’re about to do something exciting.” That was how it felt when the Guardian asked if I could cover my first Olympic competition. I’m a portraits and features photographer, so this, for me, was definitely the deep end. I could have panicked, but was reassured by the team, and went on to photograph Team GB’s gold-performance at Versailles, Andy Murray’s swansong at Roland Garros, a first-ever gold medal for Ireland in the gymnastics, plus gravity-defying climbers, divers and breakdancers. I think my most cherished moment was the men’s 10,000m at the Stade de France, hearing the roar from the crowd as they turned into their final lap, and deep down, my own teenage memories of running down that finishing straight. Covering the Olympics was a marathon, and I’m proud to have run alongside so many other talented photographers.

Source: theguardian.com

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