Long story short, a photographic narrative is a sentence made of images.
Much like a collection of words that makes a book, a narrative series tells a story through a group of photographs. Mind you, it is not a random group of loose images. There are 5 elements that are necessary to build a narrative, which we are going to briefly review here (followed by why I decided to write about it).
*The topic
*The sequence
*The emotions
*The Style
*The context
The topic:
A series needs a defined subject. The latter can be as trivial as the life of a muffin baker or witness the devastating aftermath of hurricane Katrina. It doesn’t matter, as long as the content is coherent and clear. The place, time are equally fundamental ingredients.
For instance, ‘New York, 2024’ is not the same subject as ‘New York, 2001’. ‘New York, 2024’ is not the same subject as ‘Boston, 2024’ (obviously… Go Rangers!). ‘New York in 2024, a study of the garment district’ is not the same as ‘New York 2024, the life of a hot dog stand man’. You see where I’m going with this.
The sequence:
The sequence of the images being displayed, much like the sequence of words or chapters of a book, the order of the images contributes to the story being told. For the story of our hot dog stand man, imagine a series opening with pre-dawn empty and dirty street with an open metal garage door with a lone cart. Second image, a stack of hot dogs in the back of a car. So on and so forth.
The emotions conveyed:
Our hot dog stand man can be portrayed a hundred different ways. As specific as he may sound, there are countless approaches to his story, your perception of it, and what you want to show others. Grit, optimism, sadness, the lifetime struggle, the connection to others, the past left behind, etc.
The photographic/visual style:
The style is tightly connected to the emotions conveyed and is a very personal aspect. The style is each photographer’s secret sauce, from the choice of equipment, to the capturing angle or editing process.
The context and caption:
This is where the words tie back into the narrative and a part on which I’d like to expand (as a writer, I must). Words are not mandatory. Allow me to elaborate. For the purpose of an imaging narrative, they should be seen as an additional layer to your purpose. Maybe you need them, maybe you don’t.
However, should you decide to submit your photographs to a competition or a gallery, you will always be asked for some form of description of the body of work. The exercise is harder than it looks. It requires intent. This is the time when you explain the how and the why of your approach. More often than not, I go out for street photo, and I’m not sure what I’m trying to accomplish other than be out there and observe. But in order to build a series, you have to know. You need a goal and you need time.
The reason I chose to write about the concept of narrative is not an innocent one. I needed to think about the meaning of it.
Recently, I had the opportunity to work with the Irish Travellers thanks to my colleague, JP Bévillard (https://www.instagram.com/jpbevillard_colour/) who has made a lifetime career out of the subject. It was quite an enriching experience on several levels. I discovered more of his work and process. I was welcomed into the itinerant community culture, and I was challenged in an utterly different way to work. I went there with a specific image design goal (involving lots of horses), and came back with an utterly different collection (involving a lot more people than I expected).
I have been processing my images for a few weeks. But most importantly I have been searching for a way to tie them together and share them with others. There is a narrative there, multiple narratives even. Images that I believe deserve to be thoughtfully curated and accompanied by relevant words.
So, I decided to start with this article. Identify the narrative.
Which story am I going to tell?
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