Thematic photo essay example

A photographic essay is a set or series of photographs that are intended to tell a story or evoke a series of emotions in the viewer. It allows to tell more than what is possible with a single image Essays range from purely photographic projects to photographs with captions, small texts or full text essays.

Narrative photo essays are much more specific than thematic essays, and they tend to tell a much more direct story. For instance, rather than show a number of scenes from a Great Depression Era town, the photographer might show the daily life of a person living in Dust Bowl America.

The thematic essay has several key components. First of all, it should be five paragraphs or more, depending on the depth of the theme. Next, it should have a concrete thesis statement, which, in other words, is the thematic statement that comes from the main subject. The introduction presents the reader with the subject and the thesis statement.

Thematic photo essays speak on a specific subject. For instance, there were numerous photo essays put together in the 1930s to capture the ruin of The Great Depression. Though some of these presentations followed specific people or families, they mostly told the “story” of the entire event.