[February 9, 2010] This week I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on photo essays, given by Matt Brandon (aka the digital trekker). The experience was both unique and intense. For five days I was challenged, more than at any other time in my photographic journey. My main challenges were, first, to find a story that would captivate the viewers by being interesting in itself, and then, to shoot according to the story. I believe that there are tons of great stories out there. They aren’t difficult to find, but photographing them in a way that can express the emotion of the story, the plot if you want to call it that, is what it makes the whole deal a challenge.

After our first day of the workshop, the assignment was to find a story. We were inspired by a photo essay that Matt had done called, “The Cheese Man,” plus a series of other photo essays taken from the New York Times, called, “One in 8 Million“. These stories are so awesome, I just can’t tell you how good they are. If you aspire to do a photo essay, try to watch at least a couple of these. They’re black and white shots inspired by simple stories in NY, but the end product is just great.

After the first day I was thinking, “How in the world am I going to do this? No way… “ I know I can go and shoot photos of people, and feel comfortable doing so, but add working on recording audio, plus writing a plot, plus doing the interview (not in my mother tongue), plus thinking ahead in shots, plus editing, post processing, new software, etc. WOW! I thought I would need at least a month to do a decent job on this (I still think that way), but no matter what I thought, the goal was to make a decent photo essay in 5 days.

The first night I went out to look for my story. I thought I’d find it in one of my old Iraqi friends, but it just wasn’t there. I was feeling disappointed, but then I talked to one of my colleagues in the NGO who pointed me to the story of an old Kurdish soldier who was part of the resistance against Saddam Hussein for at least 30 years. He is what we call a revolutionary Peshmerga (someone who faces death). For more on the story, just check on the photo essay here.

So, the next day I was on my way to meet this impressive man named Abdul. Here, I discovered my first challenge. I didn’t know his story. I had never seen his house before; I didn’t know what it was going to look like for the lighting, etc. I talked to Matt and I told him that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get a story there, but he encouraged me by saying, “There’s always a story, you just need to look for it.” As a part of my gear, I carried a Zoom H4 sound recorder because Matt told me to focus on an interview for a while before starting to shoot, so that’s exactly what I did.

I only had two hours, so I recorded an interview with Abdul, while at the same time trying to get the shots that I had in mind. It was more than difficult that way! I will never, ever shoot again while I record audio. It’s just too difficult. The best piece of advice that I can give you is to go and record the audio first, and include the interview, environmental sounds, etc. Try to make a story, a plot, out of all of that info. If you can edit the audio and have a final master file, it’s even better. Then, you can go back and shoot according to that file.
After doing this, you will know the subject better, having seen his environment already, and you will also have a clue as to his habits and emotions. You are better off shooting in another session. This way, you probably won’t need to shoot twice. Remember, I’m only talking about a simple photo essay. For a more detailed documentary type of approach, you’ll need a lot more time to cover and express the story.

I also have to tell you that if you have an assistant doing the interview for you, it’s much better. You can shoot some emotions, expressions, or details during the interview, but you’ll have another problem – editing the click of the camera from of your audio file. A solution for this would be a silent camera .
In the process of working with audio, we used a freeware called “Audacity.” It’s a good piece of software and doesn’t harm your wallet. For working on the slideshow we used “SoundSlides Plus,” probably the most used software among photographers doing photo essays.
Photo essays are something beautiful to work on. For me it helped to develop the storyteller within me, something that every photographer must have.
Finally, here’s a list of shots, that I learned from Matt, that I was trying to capture during my time with Abdul.

Hook Shot:
It is so visually compelling that the viewer will want to know more.
Has some connection with the story, but does not really tell the story.
Like in a book, it is the opening paragraph that will capture the reader.
This shot is optional if you have a good:

Establishing Shot:
Sets the general theme about what the essay is about.
Typically occurs at the beginning. May have more than one.

Medium Shot:
As part of an essay, it is a strong shot, moves the story along.

Wide Shot:
As part of an essay, it is a strong shot, moves the story along.

Detail Shot:
Reinforce an element in the story.
Fill in some detail of a story.
Make a detail personal, emotional, connected with the senses
Place the idea in the context.

Portrait Shot:
Put a face to the main character(s) in the story, usually one person at a time.
Tells viewer about this person.

Gesture Shot:
A medium shot with a gesture: in the hand, body language, eyes.
A moment in time that communicates the action, emotion, significant event.

Closure Shot:
Brings the essay to a conclusion.

I hope I have encouraged you to go out and make your own photo essay. This is a great tool for telling stories; especially stories of the people that we work with in the humanitarian field.