"Photo Essay," Multi-Week Photography Assignment for July 2011 - 7 August 2011

[keithsnell]

NOTE:  I've extended this assignment until Sunday, 7 August 2011.

First, I have to thank Marilyn for helping me think of another good assignment topic. I've wondered in the past how we might do an assignment that required multiple images to "tell a story." Marilyn's request for advice on how to produce a photo essay was a good catalyst to get me thinking about how we might try something like that for our assignments.  

This is a bit of an experiment, but I'd like to try an assignment that entails using a series of images to "tell a story."  Let's call it a "photo essay."    I think the easiest way to do this is to embed your images into a forum post "reply" to this topic.  To embed your images, simply upload your images into the "Photo Essay" album in the gallery, copy the link at the bottom of the "file information" displayed under your image (the one that says "Copy & Paste link to display in forum) and then "paste" this link into your forum post.  This will embed the image at the appropriate point in your text when you post the forum reply.  Just let me know if you run into problems and I will try to help you through the process.  You can use as much (or as little) text as you need to in order to tell the story.  Please try to keep your images to a reasonable number. (Somewhere between 5 and 10?)

Another option would be to post a link to a "photo essay" or slideshow/presentation that you have posted on another website.  

So what is the usefulness of doing an assignment like this?  Because it puts you in a different frame of mind, and prompts you to think about those "supporting" images that you will need to effectively tell your story.  I often find that when I try to put together a "photo story" after a trip, I invariably think "darn, I should have taken an image of (fill in the blank) in order to show (fill in the blank).  If you aren't thinking "story" throughout your outing, then you will surely miss those simple images that you need to "fill in the blanks."  (For example, maybe one of your supporting images is the boring picture of the sign at the entrance to the place your story is about.)  It's nice to be able to create images that stand on their own, but the reality is that most images are part of a larger story, which can often be told more effectively with the inclusion of other supporting images.  (Hmmm, wedding photography is a bit like that isn't it, since you are in effect telling the story of the couple's special day.)

Since this entails a bit more work than our normal weekly assignments, I've made this a multi-week assignment.  Please submit your photo essay (as reply to this post) no-later-than midnight Mountain time (GMT -07:00) on Sunday, 31 July 7 August 2011.  I'm definitely looking forward to seeing your stories.

Keith

[Michele]

This sounds very interesting.  I have to think about this a little longer.  I think this is a cool idea.

[sue.pepin]

Evan was bragging about eating ants.  Keith called his bluff and he ate the first ant himself.  We prepared the Ant-n-M and gave it to Evan.  We thought he was going to back out but he showed his true courage and ate the live ant.  Unfortuantely, I wans't fast enough to capture his picture while eating it.  Evan was quite proud of himself and actually, we were pretty proud of him too!

After the ants were eaten, Keith said he felt his ant crawling around in his stomach ( ).  We asked Evan if he felt the same thing and after a pained look on Evan's face, he laughed and said no.

[burzilai]

OMG evan you are a brave guy, I couldn't even go ear ants,, how was the taste?

[marilyn]

How funny!  I am not at all surprised that Evan took up the challenge!  He is one spunky kid!!

[RebeccaSnell]

Sue, awesome shot of the ant on the m&m!  I'll have to show Evan when he wakes in the morning.  I'm going to have to watch him and his Dad on these 'challenges!'.  Sure had a fun weekend with all of you!

Rebecca

[prairiedust]

Here's a work-in-progress:
http://www.prairiepathways.com/galleries/travois.html
I want to keep it pretty simple. Shown are some tools made from natural objects, gourds, bones and antlers, and steps in the construction of a travois.
There is a full-screen icon at the bottom right of the slideshow window if you mouse-over the image.

[keithsnell]

Wonderful set of images that do a great job telling the story.  I love the light on the first image.

[Chris]

Nice Dave. Love Dr. Thierer. Did she do a performance while she was making that?

[prairiedust]

Thanks!  This was done especially for photography.  Much of it was done with rulers in the photos for documentary purposes, but others were done for my own use. I had a 'mishap' early in the shoot which put my favorite lens and flash out of commission. I had to finish it out switching between a 50mm and ultrawide, and  no fill-flash. We started early in the morning but the light quickly became very contrasty.  A reflector panel was used once in awhile, but that wasn't practical when things started moving. Anyway, I hope the sequence makes sense.  I tried to keep the content a little mysterious, with following frames giving context to earlier ones. At the end are some studies of primitive tools made from natural objects. They don't really fit in the story-flow, but they're interesting so I put'em in anyway.

[keithsnell]

NOTE:   I've extended this assignment until Sunday, 7 August 2011.  This assignment will also take the place of our weekly assignment for the week of 1 - 7 August 2011.  We'll resume with the weekly assignments on the 8th of August.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Keith

[marilyn]

Yea!! I have way too many ideas that are all more complicated than the assignment really calls for...but we'll see where I end up going. The extra time will be helpful.  Thanks!

[keithsnell]

Yea!! I have way too many ideas that are all more complicated than the assignment really calls for...but we'll see where I end up going. The extra time will be helpful.  Thanks!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[burzilai]

thanks for the extension, I need it  . BTW, what kind of movie files can be uploaded here as attachments? or how do I upload a movie file or....will it be better to give outside link? Also how about .pps or .pdf file? just knowing what  other options do we have.
Thanks.

[keithsnell]

thanks for the extension, I need it  . BTW, what kind of movie files can be uploaded here as attachments? or how do I upload a movie file or....will it be better to give outside link? Also how about .pps or .pdf file? just knowing what  other options do we have.
Thanks.

Hi Shee,

Thank you for asking.  Currently these types (and sizes) of files are allowed to be uploaded in the Forum and Gallery respectively:

Forum:  doc,gif,jpg,mpg,pdf,png,txt,zip     Size:   up to 7 meg

Gallery:  doc/txt/rtf/pdf/xls/pps/ppt/zip/gz/mdb/nef     Size:  up to 6 meg

Displaying a movie file (or flash based video) is best done by linking to the youtube or vimeo page where the video has been uploaded. 

Unfortunately allowing site visitors to embed video or flash in the forums (instead of just linking to it) presents a pretty big security risk since it requires that I allow visitors to embed code and links.  There are lots of nasties (mostly automated bots) out there that would take advantage of that to embed malicious code.  It's always a struggle to keep the site safe, so I'm hesitant to open up any known security risks.  That said, if you (or anyone else) wants to embed a video link in a forum post, just let me know and I can embed the appropriate code as admin.  But again, the easiest way is to upload the video to Youtube or Vimeo or some other video hosting site and then just provide a link.

Hopefully this helps?  If there are any other types of documents that you think I should be allowing, just let me know and I'll check into the possibility of doing that.

Keith