Tip: Describe Your Photo Project in One Sentence

Monday 29 August 2022, 20:02 by Elvira Smit | 4,150 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

How often do you write something down about the project you are working on? You may think that is nonsense: after all, you are a photographer, not a writer. But I still believe you should be able to summarise what your project is about. Preferably in one sentence.

To start with: when I first received this advice, I thought it was silly. But in the end, it helped me a lot. Below, you can read why.

The sentence

Recently, a photography coach asked me about the sentence behind my photo series. I started talking about the why, the purpose and the necessity, as I saw it. But that was not what she meant. She meant the sentence itself.

In other words: which sentence sums up my photographic work? That sentence is a statement, a position. I have an opinion, and as a photographer I want to share it with the viewer. It is a sentence I could write on a protest sign.

Why do you need that text with your image?

When I coach photographers myself, I regularly notice resistance when I start talking about text. “I’m a photographer, not a writer,” I hear them say.

You do not have to be a writer, but you do need to be able to explain to others what you do. It helps to think about that carefully, write it down and practise it.

If you are not clear about what you want to say with your images, it is also difficult to decide which images should be included in the series. Or what title the series should have. You have no reference point for all the choices you have to make.

Without a reference point, all your choices come down to whether an image is ‘beautiful’. That is not wrong, but sometimes it can be a shame because you miss a deeper layer in your work, which may have been there.

How do you come up with such a sentence?

Coming up with your project sentence is typically something to do on a Friday evening on a terrace or in your garden, with a good glass of wine. Get out your project photos and free-associate.

Write down everything that comes to mind. Look at it again a few days later, talk about it with others and keep refining it until you have only one sentence left. That can sometimes take a few weeks.

My provisional sentence

I have been thinking about my sentence since my photography coach gave me the advice. For me, it is the overarching message that applies to all my recent projects:

‘No matter how hard we try, our surroundings have a limited shelf life’
Just bear in mind: this is my sentence for now. But who knows, after a new bottle of wine everything may be different again .

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