{"id":124,"date":"2019-12-02T09:33:14","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T14:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/?page_id=124"},"modified":"2019-12-02T09:33:14","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T14:33:14","slug":"handout-on-the-photo-essay-introduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/handout-on-the-photo-essay-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Handout on the Photo Essay Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

RH104 Summer 2019<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prof. Byttebier<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Handout on the photo essay introduction<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The photo essay introduction<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

250-400 words<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Make it personal \u2026 or not.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Your introduction could be written in the first person, and give a personal account of the essay\u2019s mission and perspective, or could be written in a matter-of-fact way, as if informing your reader of the topic from an objective point of view.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Either way \u2026<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>the intro should not just set the stage and help your reader clearly understand what the specific topic of the essay is (the what, where, and who), but also what your \u201cangle\u201d on this topic is (the why). If you look at the London Underground example, the i<\/span>ntro makes clear that the photographer is interested in looking at the \u201cdemocratic nature\u201d of the Tube, meaning he is interested in showing the diversity of people on the metro as well as the diversity of their reactions to the camera. That\u2019s an angle. Eve<\/span>n the very brief introduction of \u201cGun Nation\u201d makes clear the photo essay wants to look at the inherent\u00a0<\/span>tension\u00a0<\/span><\/i>surrounding the gun debate: the contradictions, hypocrisies, and convictions behind it. Or, finally, the photo essay on Slime makes clear in its<\/span>\u00a0introduction it wants to explore what makes slime so satisfactory. So: slime presented in its most alluring form.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. You should feel free to\u00a0<\/span>quote or refer to sources in your intro<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(anything that is relevant to setting up your discussion), but if you do so,<\/span>\u00a0you need to hyperlink to the source (unless the interviewee was a friend). Hyperlinks are easy to insert in Spark and Google Slides.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. If you use the first person in the intro, then you may use the first person to refer to yourself in the captions of pictu<\/span>res in which you appear. (E.g.: \u201cProfessor Byttebier and myself chat for the first time since arriving in London to pass the time as we wait for our Westminster Abbey tour. Students around us are so tired they don\u2019t even notice.\u201d) However, do not use the f<\/span>irst person if you\u2019re not in the picture (\u201cI saw my friends\u2026\u201d).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. Keep to the word limit; unlike some of the examples on the\u00a0<\/span>New York Times Lens\u00a0<\/span><\/i>blog, your\u00a0<\/span>intro should<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>not run through the essay, but<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>precede<\/span><\/b>\u00a0it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

            Examples<\/span><\/b>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. From\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe London Underground\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0pictures of Bob\u00a0<\/span>Mazzer<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              *<\/span>Note that this introduction is written by a journalist reporting on\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Mazzer\u2019s<\/span><\/i>\u00a0essay rather than<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              by\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Mazz<\/span><\/i>er<\/span><\/i>\u00a0himself. Since you\u2019ll be writing your own introduction, you\u2019ll either use the first<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              person or refer directly to your topic in the third person (e.g., \u201cthis essay captures the very<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              democratic nature of the \u2026\u201d).<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              \u201cLondon is a world city that mixes people\u00a0<\/span>from all corners of the globe. Every day, around four million of the city\u2019s residents use the Tube.\u00a0<\/span>So<\/span>\u00a0it is understandable that someone would be compelled to try and capture some small fraction of the human diversity and strangeness to be found in its sub<\/span>terranean depths.\u00a0<\/span>Mazzer\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0approach, accordingly, is democratic: if an\u00a0<\/span>individual or a small group catches his eye, his camera clicks and if the subject responds to his presence by posing, then all well and good. Similarly,\u00a0<\/span>Mazzer\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0photographs capture the<\/span>\u00a0very democratic nature of the environment itself. For example, many of his pictures show the amusing serendipity of people utterly unlike one another sitting unnaturally close in a confined space. As German photographer Wolfgang\u00a0<\/span>Tillmans<\/span>\u00a0once wrote about\u00a0<\/span>the subway: \u2018men and women incredibly close to each other\u2019 yet, \u2018we\u2019ve all decided not to think of it as a sensual experience.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              Indeed,\u00a0<\/span>Mazzer\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0most engaging images go beyond the surface and capture moments that are peculiar to underground train travel.\u00a0<\/span>Owing to the (uncomfortable) proximity, many people withdraw into themselves for the duration of their journey. The train ride becomes a time of repose, a period where nothing happens and\u00a0<\/span>Mazzer\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0sharp eye catches passengers with their defenses down, read<\/span>y to reveal the vulnerabilities that make us human.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              Besides the serious,\u00a0<\/span>Mazzer\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0camera-ready aptitude also brings us moments of mirth and sociability: friends on a night out, a guitar player in a commanding position atop an escalator, a man on a ladder\u00a0<\/span>with his head effaced by the face of a clock he is fixing. A few are even nakedly opportunistic: drunks and vagabonds in various poses, two men fighting one another in their seats, the police arresting someone. But in sum,\u00a0<\/span>Mazzer\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0pictures give us a lovel<\/span>y, daily document of the ups and downs of life\u2014and all those little, introspective bits in between.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

                \n
              1. From a\u00a0<\/span>NYTImes<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Lens\u00a0<\/span><\/i>photo essay on\u00a0<\/span>Slime<\/span><\/a>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

                \u201cOne of the internet\u2019s greatest features is satisfaction on demand. Dial up a video tagged \u2018satisfying\u2019 and conjure a mesmerizing sensation from your screen. Beautiful bars of soap<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>cut into ribbons<\/span><\/a>, fresh dough<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>squeezed through a pasta maker<\/span><\/a>, icing<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>piped onto a cookie<\/span><\/a>, a spider<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>weaving its web<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2014 they scratch some kind of mental itch. The content seems to bypass the brain to access our bodies directly. And satisfaction incarnate is slime,\u00a0<\/span>that<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>substance<\/span><\/a>\u00a0suspended at the boundaries between liquid and solid, and the onscreen and the physical.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

                \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

                First popularized by Instagram us<\/span>ers in<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>Thailand and Indonesia<\/span><\/a>, slime<\/span>\u00a0content has invaded the satisfaction internet and oozed into the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>American middle school<\/span><\/a>. Slime is an\u00a0<\/span>art form, a community and an industry: sensory gratification tubbed and sold. From mundane household materials \u2014 laundry detergent, glitter, glue \u2014 springs an exotic material.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

                \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

                \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

                \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

                \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                RH104 Summer 2019\u00a0 Prof. Byttebier\u00a0 Handout on the photo essay introduction\u00a0 \u00a0 The photo essay introduction\u00a0 250-400 words\u00a0 \u00a0 Make it personal \u2026 or not.\u00a0Your introduction could be written in the first person, and give a personal account of the essay\u2019s mission and perspective, or could be written in a matter-of-fact way, as if informing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16760,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/124"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16760"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/124\/revisions\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}