Week 13: Response & Reflection

The article I chose for this week is Stories Through Sequence by Xanthe Berkeley Of Shutter Sisters. I chose this article because it focuses on photographs to tell a story. The author talks about how one photograph can tell a story, but decided that he wanted to explore the stories that can be told boy photographs taken (and shared) in sequence or in a a series.

sequence – a group of images taken in succession
series – a collection with similar composition or related content

Using multiple photos can convey ideas of movement or change. For instance, if you are watching your child swing and you snap a photograph, the photograph can hint at movement. But if you do a burst shoot (rapid succession of shots), then you can choose a few of the photos to actually convey the idea of your child swinging instead of just hinting at it. The same thing with change. If you take a photo of your child, that photo only shows how that child looks at that point in time. But if you take photos over the years and then share them in a series, you can show how your child has changed.

I have a friend who does first and last day photos of her daughter by the same tree. She has done this every year since her daughter started school. When she posts them together, it is amazing to see the changes that have occurred. Not only in her height and features, but also in her tastes and hairstyle choices.

Subject is another element that can be the focal point in a sequence or series of shots. In the example I provided, my friend’s daughter, as well as the background/setting, is the subject of her photos. By using the same spot and the same person, she was able to focus on a specific subject.

The final element he examines through the concept of sequence and series is finite time. You can use a selected period of time to create, what the author calls, “time capsules. You select a specific length of time, and then use your photographs to tell that story. Examples of this might include your first year of college (I have a photo album specifically devoted to my first year), or a vacation (I also have an album that I created to showcase a three week cross-country journey my best friend and I took after college), or anything else of this nature.