Hi,

during the discussion about portfolios it seems clear to me that 2
things are very important, namely variety and cohesion. I've mentioned
before that I think planning and building a portfolio is similar in
many ways to planning and building a photo essay, so I thought it
might be worthwhile to pass on what 'Life' magazine used to expect of
its photographers when they were shooting an essay. This information
is from Ken Kobre's book "Photojournalism: the Professionals'
Approach".

To try and ensure that the photographers returned with sufficient
variety for the editors and layout people to be able to design an
essay with pace, rhythm and variety, 'Life' recommended that the
photographers try to get photos under 8 different categories, and this
is what I believe is meany by variety. The categories are:

1. Introductory/overall - to establish the scene
2. Medium - focusing on one activity or group
3. Close-up - zoom in on one element, eg hands or detail of a building
4. Portrait - headshot or person in setting
5. Interaction - people conversing or in action
6. Signature - summarise with key elements in one photo ('decisive
moment')
7. Sequence - how-to, before & after, or series: gives a sense of
action
8. Clincher - to close the story

David Hurn, in 'On being a photographer', recommends a similar
approach, although his list is shorter (but included in the 'Life'
list). He recommends that as you shoot the essay (and as you edit a
portfolio) you classify your photos under these headings. When you have
shot everything you had originally planned (ie all the subjects that are
important to the essay), and you have a choice of pictures under most of
the categories above, then you know you have sufficient material to build
a coherent, balanced, rhythmic and varied set of photos, whether it's an
exhibition, essay or portfolio.

It's a useful exercise to analyse published photo essays and see how
they fit into this general scheme. It could be the classics by WES, or
current work in National Geographic, or web-sites such as www.reportage.org.

This kind of analysis will probably improve the way you approach a subject
and how you go about shooting it, and it should also help to edit work
that's already finished.

---
Cheers,
 Bob

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