pictorial essay of

18 Immersive Photo Essay Examples & Tips

By Tata Rossi 13 days ago, Professional photography

A photo essay tells a story or evokes emotion through a series of photographs. The essays allow you to be creative and fully explore an idea. Such essays exist in a variety of forms – from photos only to images with brief comments or written essays accompanied by shots. Choose a photo essay example that you can easily do based on your professional level and the equipment you use.

1. Protests

• View the “Resistance” photo essay by David Moore .

A great idea for photo essays for students is to shoot the protest to show its power. You can capture people with signs and banners to demonstrate what they are standing for. Besides, you can learn how to capture moving subjects. Use the best example of photo essay and don’t forget about angles, composition, and framing.

To create a photo essay , go up to the front and photograph the leader of the protesters walking forward. After that, go back to the end of the group to take pictures of families joining the protest. As a result, you will gain experience shooting big groups of people in motion.

2. Transformation

• View the “A Self-Portrait Every Day” photo essay by Noah Kalina .

This idea is all about capturing the way a person changes. You may take photos of a pregnant woman and then capture the same model with a child. By documenting the development of the child for several years, you can tell a great story in the form of a photo essay.

However, you can also create a photo essay about the transformation of different objects. For instance, you can create a time-lapse series to capture the history of a renovated building. While you will have to take a lot of similar photos to bring this idea to life, it will allow you to achieve an impressive result.

3. Local Event

• View the “Monday Marathon” photo essay by Quinn G. Perini .

Whether you are a resident of a large city or a small town, you can find an opportunity to visit a local event, like a marathon or a festival. This is a nice chance to follow modern photography trends and bring photo essay ideas to life.

You can capture the before-and-after stages of the event. Arrive earlier and take pictures of the preparation activities, then shoot the actual event starting with the official beginning.

Keep photographing even when the event is over and capture the cleaning up and disassembling processes.

4. Photowalk

• View the “Empty Campus” photo essay by Elise Trissel .

Explore the location where you live and find interesting objects to capture in the vicinity. Using the most interesting photo essay examples, you can decide how to make the best decisions. Don’t hurry and try to discover which angles you can use to capture the unique atmosphere of each place.

If you live in the city, you may capture architectural details, wide shots of busy streets, or just take photos of passersby and street signs. Think about the details that make every location unique. For instance, you can try capturing reflections to see how they allow you to see the city from an unusual angle. You can find reflections everywhere, so be sure to pay attention to mirrored buildings, puddles, and fountains.

5. Place Over Time

• View the “At Home in the Ozarks” photo essay by Kylee Cole .

If you want to document changes and show how the streets, buildings, and parks in your city change over time, select your favorite locations and start to visit them regularly to capture the way they look during different seasons.

• View the “Last Moments” photo essay by Ross Taylor .

You don’t necessarily have to focus on profound photo essay topics to evoke emotions. Capturing pets enjoying their worry-free and untroubled life seems like an easy but interesting activity.

Choose any animal – from a domestic bird to a dog, cat, or horse. For more emotional images, use such pet photography ideas when your pet is still a baby and recreate these shots when it is older or is in its final days.

7. Street Style

• View the Tribal Street Photography photo essay by Hans Eijkelboom .

People often express themselves with the help of clothes. The way passers-by on the streets are dressed may reflect the clothing style of a whole society. That’s why you can travel around the world and capture people’s outfits in various areas. When taking portrait photos in the streets, you can also include some of the surroundings to put them in the context.

You can ask people in the streets to pose for you or try to capture them in movement. Select a suitable location for taking photos and create a photo essay to document what kinds of people one can meet in this location. When doing urban photography , you should ask people for permission before taking photos of them. You can ask their contacts and send them your photos later.

8. Abandoned Building

• View the “Lost Collective” photo essay by Bret Pattman .

Old buildings are excellent architecture photography essay topics for students since you can capture a large number of elements. They allow you to imagine what a particular street looked like in the past. You may use a photo essay example for students as references.

Get approval before going in, but mind that such places are far from being totally safe. Bring various lenses: the macro lenses – for details and the wide-angle one – when you want to include many elements in one shot.

9. Alternative Lifestyles

• View the “Last Nomad Hippies” photo essay by Roberto Palomo .

Some people decide to lead a lifestyle that differs from the one generally accepted by society. Explore different areas and look for people with an unusual way of living. You can capture candid photos of regular people or take pictures of a person with an unusual hobby.

Take pictures of those, who reside in extraordinary conditions, representatives of various subcultures, or the LBGTQ community. These photo essay topics show other people that it is okay to go out of their comfort zone and run against the wind.

10. Social Issues

• View the “Juveniles in Prison” photo essay by Isadora Kosofsky .

The best photo essay examples for students are related to social issues, like unemployment, domestic violence, gender discrimination, and more. Address the topic carefully and look for a proper perspective.

Your shots may draw the people’s attention to a truly burning and relevant matter and have a stronger effect than any text.

11. Behind the Scenes

• View the “Follow Me” photo essay by Marius Masalar .

If you are going to visit an event, get ready to take some behind-the-scenes photos. For instance, you can document the preparations for a festival. Capture the work of the lead event planner and other professionals to tell the story of the festival from an unusual angle.

Alternatively, you can capture the events happening backstage during a drama production. Take pictures of actors and actresses when they are getting ready for the performance. Try capturing the emotions of the main lead and show how stage workers make final preparations. You can also document the work of designers and makeup professionals.

12. Landmarks

• View the “Volte-Face” photo essay by Oliver Curtis .

The pictures of landmarks are typically taken from a certain spot. One of the best photo essay ideas is to try shooting sights from various angles. You will also have an opportunity to improve your composition and your framing skills.

If you take a look at any pictorial essay example, you will see that the variety of perspectives is endless: through the streets, in the morning, afternoon, and evening, with a drone or including reflections.

    • View the “Family” photo essay by Olivia Moore .

You can capture the way family members interact with each other and demonstrate the strong connection they share. In some cases, it makes sense to focus on capturing candid photos when doing family photography .

However, you may also opt for a different approach and focus on more difficult social topics. For instance, if you want to examine the issue of immigration, you can take pictures of a family from another country. In addition, you may show how families cope with other social issues, including poverty or unequal access to healthcare.

14. A Day in the Life

• View the “A Day in the Life of Carlos Gaytan” photo essay by Sandy Noto .

One of the best photo essays concepts is related to a day in a person’s life. The main character can be any person – a relative, family member, teacher, writer, or policeman.

People are generally interested in finding out facts about the lives and daily routines of others. The life of every human is incredible, especially if you learn it in more detail. This idea is especially suitable for taking documentary photos. For instance, you can select any photo essay sample you like and then capture a portrait of a person with the tools they use for their work.

15. Education

• View the “School Day” photo essay by Nancy Borowick .

You can also take great photos in the classroom capturing the interactions of teachers and their students. Avoid distracting them, as it will be easier for you to take natural shots. Using a variety of settings, you can make your photo essay more engaging. For instance, you may visit chemistry labs, capture teachers during a break, and take photos in other locations.

• View the “Meals From the Motherland” photo essay by James Tran .

You can also focus on specific meals to create a professional photo essay about food. To make it more attention-grabbing, try using different food photography ideas .

For instance, you can take photos of popular meals, capture the meals made by a specific person, or document cooking traditions in different countries. When taking photos in a restaurant, pay attention to the surroundings as well to capture the unique atmosphere of a place.

17. Capture the Neighbors

• View the “Our Neighbors” photo essay by Jeanne Martin .

Regardless of the place where you live, you have to establish good relationships with your neighbors. People who live nearby can also be great models for professionals who specialize in portrait photography. To implement this idea, make sure to capture people at home or in front of their houses to include some of the surroundings in your photo essay.

You will discover many interesting facts about people who live nearby. Shooting a photo essay will allow you to learn them better and establish a strong connection with them. This way, you can create a sense of community and discover what holds its members together.

18. Climate Change

• View the “Effects of Climate Change” photo essay by Sanya Gupta .

It is possible to a variety of photo story ideas bring to life examining the impact of climate change. Travel to places most affected by climate change, for instance, glaciers or famous resorts.

Capture the way the continuous drought has influenced the environment, animals, and the inhabitants. As an alternative, take pictures of environmentalist protests or inexhaustible energy sources.

Photo Essay Tips for Students

Explore your topic . An in-depth exploration of the main topic of your photo essay will help you find the best ideas for conveying your message. You can also find some sources for inspiration and useful materials. This stage allows you to learn more about your subject and select the best way of organizing your photo essay.

Create a storyboard . Using a storyboard, you can better understand what shots you need to take and what order can help you to tell a story in the best way. It will also allow you to create the right mood.

Take as many pictures as you can . To create a compelling story, make sure to take a lot of photos. It will allow you to choose the best pictures for your photo essay. Besides, you will always have backup photos if some of your pictures get damaged.

Experiment with different techniques . By changing the angle and using a variety of editing techniques, you can transform the way your photos look. When taking photos, try using different angles to capture the subject in the best way. You can also try changing the distance from the model, using black-and-white film, or employing a range of developing methods.

Add text . While some photographers create photo essays without text, it can still help you bring your point across more clearly and make it easier for a viewer to understand what you imply. By providing extra information, such as some facts, you can change the perception of your image. If you don’t know how to write descriptions, you can hire a professional writer to perform this task.

Enhance your photos . To edit your pictures, make sure to use professional photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. Using the available tools, you can improve and change your photos. They allow you to fix issues with lighting, adjust WB, make colors richer, crop your pics to improve the composition, and perform other tasks. In case you need to edit your photos in a consistent style, you can use Photoshop Actions or Lightroom Presets.

In some cases, your pictures may require more advanced editing. If you see that your skills are insufficient or if you don’t have enough time, you can outsource the task of enhancing your photos to the FixThePhoto team. They will professionally enhance your pictures for a budget price. Their prices start from $1.50 per photo.

Want to Get a Professionally-Retouched Photo Essay?

The editing team at FixThePhoto specializes in delivering personalized and artistically enhanced photo essay, making sure to meet all your preferences. They can assist with different tasks, whether it's selecting the best shots or doing detailed retouching work.

Bonus Tools

To streamline your workflow and quickly edit your essay photos like a pro, make sure to apply these actions to your photos. Even if you use a photo essay example when taking pictures, you can utilize these actions to give your images a professional feel, tweak colors, edit lighting, and improve the overall look of your pics.

In this bundle, you will find actions created by experienced professionals who used recent photo enhancement trends to create convenient editing tools. Here, you will find a collection of brushes, patterns, overlays, and other effects for editing your photos in a realistic way.

• Photo essay examples
• Photo essay tips
• Bonus tools

• Video Editing Services
• Virtual Staging Services
• Outsource Photo Editing
• Retouching Tips
• Photo Editing Freebies
• Free Raw Images for Retouching
• Free Photoshop Actions
• Free Lightroom Presets
• Affiliate Program
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy

The leading authority in photography and camera gear.

Become a better photographer.

12.9 Million

Annual Readers

Newsletter Subscribers

Featured Photographers

Photography Guides & Gear Reviews

How to Create an Engaging Photo Essay (with Examples)

Photo essays tell a story in pictures. They're a great way to improve at photography and story-telling skills at once. Learn how to do create a great one.

Learn | Photography Guides | By Ana Mireles

Shotkit may earn a commission on affiliate links. Learn more.

Photography is a medium used to tell stories – sometimes they are told in one picture, sometimes you need a whole series. Those series can be photo essays.

If you’ve never done a photo essay before, or you’re simply struggling to find your next project, this article will be of help. I’ll be showing you what a photo essay is and how to go about doing one.

You’ll also find plenty of photo essay ideas and some famous photo essay examples from recent times that will serve you as inspiration.

If you’re ready to get started, let’s jump right in!

Table of Contents

What is a Photo Essay?

A photo essay is a series of images that share an overarching theme as well as a visual and technical coherence to tell a story. Some people refer to a photo essay as a photo series or a photo story – this often happens in photography competitions.

Photographic history is full of famous photo essays. Think about The Great Depression by Dorothea Lange, Like Brother Like Sister by Wolfgang Tillmans, Gandhi’s funeral by Henri Cartier Bresson, amongst others.

What are the types of photo essay?

Despite popular belief, the type of photo essay doesn’t depend on the type of photography that you do – in other words, journalism, documentary, fine art, or any other photographic genre is not a type of photo essay.

Instead, there are two main types of photo essays: narrative and thematic .

As you have probably already guessed, the thematic one presents images pulled together by a topic – for example, global warming. The images can be about animals and nature as well as natural disasters devastating cities. They can happen all over the world or in the same location, and they can be captured in different moments in time – there’s a lot of flexibility.

A narrative photo essa y, on the other hand, tells the story of a character (human or not), portraying a place or an event. For example, a narrative photo essay on coffee would document the process from the planting and harvesting – to the roasting and grinding until it reaches your morning cup.

What are some of the key elements of a photo essay?

• Tell a unique story – A unique story doesn’t mean that you have to photograph something that nobody has done before – that would be almost impossible! It means that you should consider what you’re bringing to the table on a particular topic.
• Put yourself into the work – One of the best ways to make a compelling photo essay is by adding your point of view, which can only be done with your life experiences and the way you see the world.
• Add depth to the concept – The best photo essays are the ones that go past the obvious and dig deeper in the story, going behind the scenes, or examining a day in the life of the subject matter – that’s what pulls in the spectator.
• Nail the technique – Even if the concept and the story are the most important part of a photo essay, it won’t have the same success if it’s poorly executed.
• Build a structure – A photo essay is about telling a thought-provoking story – so, think about it in a narrative way. Which images are going to introduce the topic? Which ones represent a climax? How is it going to end – how do you want the viewer to feel after seeing your photo series?
• Make strong choices – If you really want to convey an emotion and a unique point of view, you’re going to need to make some hard decisions. Which light are you using? Which lens? How many images will there be in the series? etc., and most importantly for a great photo essay is the why behind those choices.

9 Tips for Creating a Photo Essay

Credit: Laura James

1. Choose something you know

To make a good photo essay, you don’t need to travel to an exotic location or document a civil war – I mean, it’s great if you can, but you can start close to home.

Depending on the type of photography you do and the topic you’re looking for in your photographic essay, you can photograph a local event or visit an abandoned building outside your town.

It will be much easier for you to find a unique perspective and tell a better story if you’re already familiar with the subject. Also, consider that you might have to return a few times to the same location to get all the photos you need.

2. Follow your passion

Most photo essays take dedication and passion. If you choose a subject that might be easy, but you’re not really into it – the results won’t be as exciting. Taking photos will always be easier and more fun if you’re covering something you’re passionate about.

3. Take your time

A great photo essay is not done in a few hours. You need to put in the time to research it, conceptualizing it, editing, etc. That’s why I previously recommended following your passion because it takes a lot of dedication, and if you’re not passionate about it – it’s difficult to push through.

4. Write a summary or statement

Photo essays are always accompanied by some text. You can do this in the form of an introduction, write captions for each photo or write it as a conclusion. That’s up to you and how you want to present the work.

5. Learn from the masters

How Much Do You REALLY Know About Photography?! 🤔

Test your photography knowledge with this quick quiz!

See how much you really know about photography...

Your answer:

Correct answer:

SHARE YOUR RESULTS

Your Answers

Making a photographic essay takes a lot of practice and knowledge. A great way to become a better photographer and improve your storytelling skills is by studying the work of others. You can go to art shows, review books and magazines and look at the winners in photo contests – most of the time, there’s a category for photo series.

6. Get a wide variety of photos

Think about a story – a literary one. It usually tells you where the story is happening, who is the main character, and it gives you a few details to make you engage with it, right?

The same thing happens with a visual story in a photo essay – you can do some wide-angle shots to establish the scenes and some close-ups to show the details. Make a shot list to ensure you cover all the different angles.

Some of your pictures should guide the viewer in, while others are more climatic and regard the experience they are taking out of your photos.

7. Follow a consistent look

Both in style and aesthetics, all the images in your series need to be coherent. You can achieve this in different ways, from the choice of lighting, the mood, the post-processing, etc.

8. Be self-critical

Once you have all the photos, make sure you edit them with a good dose of self-criticism. Not all the pictures that you took belong in the photo essay. Choose only the best ones and make sure they tell the full story.

9. Ask for constructive feedback

Often, when we’re working on a photo essay project for a long time, everything makes perfect sense in our heads. However, someone outside the project might not be getting the idea. It’s important that you get honest and constructive criticism to improve your photography.

How to Create a Photo Essay in 5 Steps

Credit: Quang Nguyen Vinh

1. Choose your topic

This is the first step that you need to take to decide if your photo essay is going to be narrative or thematic. Then, choose what is it going to be about?

Ideally, it should be something that you’re interested in, that you have something to say about it, and it can connect with other people.

2. Research your topic

To tell a good story about something, you need to be familiar with that something. This is especially true when you want to go deeper and make a compelling photo essay. Day in the life photo essays are a popular choice, since often, these can be performed with friends and family, whom you already should know well.

3. Plan your photoshoot

Depending on what you’re photographing, this step can be very different from one project to the next. For a fine art project, you might need to find a location, props, models, a shot list, etc., while a documentary photo essay is about planning the best time to do the photos, what gear to bring with you, finding a local guide, etc.

Every photo essay will need different planning, so before taking pictures, put in the required time to get things right.

4. Experiment

It’s one thing to plan your photo shoot and having a shot list that you have to get, or else the photo essay won’t be complete. It’s another thing to miss out on some amazing photo opportunities that you couldn’t foresee.

So, be prepared but also stay open-minded and experiment with different settings, different perspectives, etc.

5. Make a final selection

Editing your work can be one of the hardest parts of doing a photo essay. Sometimes we can be overly critical, and others, we get attached to bad photos because we put a lot of effort into them or we had a great time doing them.

Try to be as objective as possible, don’t be afraid to ask for opinions and make various revisions before settling down on a final cut.

7 Photo Essay Topics, Ideas & Examples

Credit: Michelle Leman

• Architectural photo essay

Using architecture as your main subject, there are tons of photo essay ideas that you can do. For some inspiration, you can check out the work of Francisco Marin – who was trained as an architect and then turned to photography to “explore a different way to perceive things”.

You can also lookup Luisa Lambri. Amongst her series, you’ll find many photo essay examples in which architecture is the subject she uses to explore the relationship between photography and space.

• Process and transformation photo essay

This is one of the best photo essay topics for beginners because the story tells itself. Pick something that has a beginning and an end, for example, pregnancy, the metamorphosis of a butterfly, the life-cycle of a plant, etc.

Keep in mind that these topics are linear and give you an easy way into the narrative flow – however, it might be difficult to find an interesting perspective and a unique point of view.

• A day in the life of ‘X’ photo essay

There are tons of interesting photo essay ideas in this category – you can follow around a celebrity, a worker, your child, etc. You don’t even have to do it about a human subject – think about doing a photo essay about a day in the life of a racing horse, for example – find something that’s interesting for you.

• Time passing by photo essay

It can be a natural site or a landmark photo essay – whatever is close to you will work best as you’ll need to come back multiple times to capture time passing by. For example, how this place changes throughout the seasons or maybe even over the years.

A fun option if you live with family is to document a birthday party each year, seeing how the subject changes over time. This can be combined with a transformation essay or sorts, documenting the changes in interpersonal relationships over time.

• Travel photo essay

Do you want to make the jump from tourist snapshots into a travel photo essay? Research the place you’re going to be travelling to. Then, choose a topic.

If you’re having trouble with how to do this, check out any travel magazine – National Geographic, for example. They won’t do a generic article about Texas – they do an article about the beach life on the Texas Gulf Coast and another one about the diverse flavors of Texas.

The more specific you get, the deeper you can go with the story.

• Socio-political issues photo essay

This is one of the most popular photo essay examples – it falls under the category of photojournalism or documental photography. They are usually thematic, although it’s also possible to do a narrative one.

Depending on your topic of interest, you can choose topics that involve nature – for example, document the effects of global warming. Another idea is to photograph protests or make an education photo essay.

It doesn’t have to be a big global issue; you can choose something specific to your community – are there too many stray dogs? Make a photo essay about a local animal shelter. The topics are endless.

• Behind the scenes photo essay

A behind-the-scenes always make for a good photo story – people are curious to know what happens and how everything comes together before a show.

Depending on your own interests, this can be a photo essay about a fashion show, a theatre play, a concert, and so on. You’ll probably need to get some permissions, though, not only to shoot but also to showcase or publish those images.

4 Best Photo Essays in Recent times

Now that you know all the techniques about it, it might be helpful to look at some photo essay examples to see how you can put the concept into practice. Here are some famous photo essays from recent times to give you some inspiration.

Habibi by Antonio Faccilongo

This photo essay wan the World Press Photo Story of the Year in 2021. Faccilongo explores a very big conflict from a very specific and intimate point of view – how the Israeli-Palestinian war affects the families.

He chose to use a square format because it allows him to give order to things and eliminate unnecessary elements in his pictures.

With this long-term photo essay, he wanted to highlight the sense of absence and melancholy women and families feel towards their husbands away at war.

The project then became a book edited by Sarah Leen and the graphics of Ramon Pez.

Picture This: New Orleans by Mary Ellen Mark

The last assignment before her passing, Mary Ellen Mark travelled to New Orleans to register the city after a decade after Hurricane Katrina.

The images of the project “bring to life the rebirth and resilience of the people at the heart of this tale”, – says CNNMoney, commissioner of the work.

Each survivor of the hurricane has a story, and Mary Ellen Mark was there to record it. Some of them have heartbreaking stories about everything they had to leave behind.

Others have a story of hope – like Sam and Ben, two eight-year-olds born from frozen embryos kept in a hospital that lost power supply during the hurricane, yet they managed to survive.

Selfie by Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is an American photographer whose work is mainly done through self-portraits. With them, she explores the concept of identity, gender stereotypes, as well as visual and cultural codes.

One of her latest photo essays was a collaboration with W Magazine entitled Selfie. In it, the author explores the concept of planned candid photos (‘plandid’).

The work was made for Instagram, as the platform is well known for the conflict between the ‘real self’ and the one people present online. Sherman started using Facetune, Perfect365 and YouCam to alter her appearance on selfies – in Photoshop, you can modify everything, but these apps were designed specifically to “make things prettier”- she says, and that’s what she wants to explore in this photo essay.

Tokyo Compression by Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf has an interest in the broad-gauge topic Life in Cities. From there, many photo essays have been derived – amongst them – Tokyo Compression .

He was horrified by the way people in Tokyo are forced to move to the suburbs because of the high prices of the city. Therefore, they are required to make long commutes facing 1,5 hours of train to start their 8+ hour workday followed by another 1,5 hours to get back home.

To portray this way of life, he photographed the people inside the train pressed against the windows looking exhausted, angry or simply absent due to this way of life.

You can visit his website to see other photo essays that revolve around the topic of life in megacities.

Final Words

It’s not easy to make photo essays, so don’t expect to be great at it right from your first project.

Start off small by choosing a specific subject that’s interesting to you –  that will come from an honest place, and it will be a great practice for some bigger projects along the line.

Whether you like to shoot still life or you’re a travel photographer, I hope these photo essay tips and photo essay examples can help you get started and grow in your photography.

Let us know which topics you are working on right now – we’ll love to hear from you!

Check out these 8 essential tools to help you succeed as a professional photographer.

Includes limited-time discounts.

You'll Also Like These:

Ana Mireles is a Mexican researcher that specializes in photography and communications for the arts and culture sector.

Penelope G. To Ana Mireles Such a well written and helpful article for an writer who wants to inclue photo essay in her memoir. Thank you. I will get to work on this new skill. Penelope G.

Herman Krieger Photo essays in black and white

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

👋 WELCOME TO SHOTKIT!

🔥 Popular NOW:

Unlock the EXACT blueprint to capture breathtaking iPhone photos!

Student Sign In

How to Create a Photo Essay in 9 Steps (with Examples)

Photo Editing , Tutorials

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products we fully support or use ourselves.  Our full disclaimer

What is a photo essay?

• Photo essays vs photo stories
• How photo essays help you
• 9 Steps to create photo essays

How to share your photo essays

Read Time: 11 minutes

Gather up a handful of images that seem to go together, and voila! It’s a photo essay, right? Well… no. Though, this is a common misconception.

In reality, a photo essay is much more thoughtful and structured than that. When you take the time to craft one, you’re using skills from all facets of our craft – from composition to curation.

In this guide, you’ll learn what makes a photo essay an amazing project that stretches your skills. You’ll also learn exactly how to make one step by step.

• Photo essay vs photo story

A photo essay is a collection of images based around a theme, a topic, a creative approach, or an exploration of an idea. Photo essays balance visual variety with a cohesive style and concept.

What’s the difference between a photo essay and a photo story?

The terms photo essay and photo story are often used interchangeably. Even the dictionary definition of “photo essay” includes using images to convey either a theme or a story.

But in my experience, a photo essay and a photo story are two different things. As you delve into the field of visual storytelling, distinguishing between the two helps you to take a purposeful approach to what you’re making .

The differences ultimately lie in the distinctions between theme, topic and story.

Themes are big-picture concepts. Example: Wildness

Topics are more specific than themes, but still overarching. Example : Wild bears of Yellowstone National Park

Stories are specific instances or experiences that happen within, or provide an example for, a topic or theme. Example: A certain wild bear became habituated to tourists and was relocated to maintain its wildness

Unlike a theme or topic, a story has particular elements that make it a story. They include leading characters, a setting, a narrative arc, conflict, and (usually) resolution.

With that in mind, we can distingush between a photo essay and a photo story.

Themes and Topics vs Stories

A photo essay revolves around a topic, theme, idea, or concept. It visually explores a big-picture something .

This allows a good deal of artistic leeway where a photographer can express their vision, philosophies, opinions, or artistic expression as they create their images.

A photo story  is a portfolio of images that illustrate – you guessed it – a story.

Because of this, there are distinct types of images that a photo story uses that add to the understanding, insight, clarity and meaning to the story for viewers. While they can certainly be artistically crafted and visually stunning, photo stories document something happening, and rely on visual variety for capturing the full experience.

A photo essay doesn’t need to have the same level of structured variety that a photo story requires. It can have images that overlap or are similar, as they each explore various aspects of a theme.

Photo essays can be about any topic. If you live in a city, consider using your nature photography to make an essay about the wildlife that lives in your neighborhood . 

The role of text with photos

A photo story typically runs alongside text that narrates the story. We’re a visual species, and the images help us feel like we are there, experiencing what’s happening. So, the images add significant power to the text, but they’re often a partner to it.

This isn’t always the case, of course. Sometimes photo stories don’t need or use text. It’s like reading a graphic novel that doesn’t use text. Moving through the different images that build on each other ultimately unveils the narrative.

Photo essays don’t need to rely on text to illuminate the images’ theme or topic. The photographer may use captions (or even a text essay), or they may let the images speak for themselves.

Definitions are helpful guidelines (not strict rules)

Some people categorize photo essays as either narrative or thematic. That’s essentially just calling photo stories “narrative photo essays” and photo essays “thematic photo essays.”

But, a story is a defined thing, and any writer/editor will tell you themes and topics are not the same as stories. And we use the word “story” in our daily lives as it’s defined. So, it makes far more sense to name the difference between a photo essay and a photo story, and bask in the same clarity writers enjoy .

Photo stories illustrate a particular experience, event, narrative, something that happened or is happening.

Photo essays explore an idea, concept, topic, theme, creative approach, big-picture something .

Both photo essays and photo stories are immensely powerful visual tools. And yes, the differences between them can certainly be blurred, as is always the case with art.

Simply use this distinction as a general guideline, providing extra clarity around what you’re making and why you’re making it.

To dig into specific types of images used to create powerful photo stories, check out this training: 6 Must-Have Shots for a Photo Story. 

Meanwhile, let’s dig deeper into photo essays.

Photo essays are a chance to try new styles or techniques that stretch your skills and creativity. This image was part of an essay exploring simplicity and shape, and helped me learn new skills in black and white post-processing.

How photo essays improve your photography

Creating photo essays is an amazing antidote if you’ve ever felt a lack of direction or purpose in your photography. Photo essays help build your photographic skills in at least 3 important ways.

1. You become more strategic in creating a body of work

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut of photographing whatever pops up in front of you. And when you do, you end up with a collection of stand-alone shots.

These singles may work fine as a print, a quick Instagram post, or an addition to your gallery of shots on your website. But amassing a bunch of one-off shots limits your opportunities as a photographer for everything from exhibits to getting your work published.

Building photo essays pushes you to think strategically about what you photograph, why, and how. You’re working toward a particular deliverable – a cohesive visual essay – with the images you create.

This elevates your skills in crafting your photo essay, and in how you curate the rest of your work, from galleries on your website to selecting images to sell as prints .

2. You become more purposeful in your composition skills

Composition is so much more than just following the rule of thirds, golden spirals, or thinking about the angle of light in a shot.

Composition is also about thinking ahead in what you’re trying to accomplish with a photograph – from what you’re saying through it to its emotional impact on a viewer – and where it fits within a larger body of work.

Photo essays push you to think critically about each shot – from coming up with fresh compositions for familiar subjects, to devising surprising compositions to fit within a collection, to creating compositions that expand on what’s already in a photo essay.

You’re pushed beyond creating a single pleasing frame, which leads you to shoot more thoughtfully and proactively than ever.

(Here’s a podcast episode on switching from reactive shooting to proactive shooting .)

3. You develop strong editing and curation skills

Selecting which images stay, and which get left behind is one of the hardest jobs on a photographer’s to-do list. Mostly, it’s because of emotional attachment.

You might think it’s an amazing shot because you know the effort that went into capturing it. Or perhaps when you look at it, you get a twinge of the joy or exhilaration you felt the moment you captured it. There’s also the second-guessing that goes into which of two similar images is the best – which will people like more? So you’re tempted to just show both.

Ultimately, great photographers appear all the more skilled because they only show their best work. That in and of itself is a skill they’ve developed through years of ruthlessly editing their own work.

Because the most powerful photo essays only show a handful of extraordinary images, you’re bound to develop the very same critical skill (and look all the more talented because of it).

Photo essays are also a great stepping stone to creating photo stories. If you’re interested in moving beyond stand-alone shots and building stories, shooting photo essays will get your creative brain limbered up and ready for the adventure of photo stories.

A photo essay exploring the natural history of a favorite species is an exciting opportunity for an in-depth study. For me, that was a photo essay on emotive images of the American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) as it hunts in streams. 

9 Simple steps to create your photo essays

1. clarify your theme.

Choose a theme, topic, or concept you want to explore. Spend some time getting crystal clear on what you want to focus on. It helps to write out a few sentences, or even a few paragraphs noting:

• What you want the essay to be about
• What kinds of images you want to create as part of it
• How you’ll photograph the images
• The style, techniques, or gear you might use to create your images
• What “success” looks like when you’re done with your photo essay

You don’t have to stick to what you write down, of course. It can change during the image creation process. But fleshing your idea out on paper goes a long way in clarifying your photo essay theme and how you’ll go about creating it.

2. Create your images

Grab your camera and head outside!

As you’re photographing your essay, allow yourself some freedom to experiment. Try unusual compositions or techniques that are new to you.

Stretch your style a little, or “try on” the style of other photographers you admire who have photographed similar subjects.

Photo essays are wonderful opportunities to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and grow as a photographer.

Remember that a photo essay is a visually cohesive collection of images that make sense together. So, while you might stretch yourself into new terrain as you shoot, try to keep that approach, style, or strategy consistent.

Don’t be afraid to create lots of images. It’s great to have lots to choose from in the editing process, which comes up next.

3. Pull together your wide edit

Once you’ve created your images, pull together all the images that might make the cut. This could be as many as 40-60 images. Include anything you want to consider for the final essay in the wide edit.

From here, start weeding out images that:

• are weaker in composition or subject matter
• stand out like a sore thumb from the rest of the collection
• Are similar to other stronger images in the collection

It’s helpful to review the images at thumbnail size. You make more instinctive decisions and can more easily see the body of work as a whole. If an image is strong even at thumbnail size to stand out from similar frames while also partnering well with other images in the collection, that’s a good sign it’s strong enough for the essay.

4. Post-process your images for a cohesive look

Now it’s time to post-process the images. Use whatever editing software you’re comfortable with to polish your images.

Again, a photo essay has a cohesive visual look. If you use presets, filters, or other tools, use them across all the images.

5. Finalize your selection

It’s time to make the tough decisions. Select only the strongest for your photo essay from your group of images.

Each image should be strong enough to stand on its own and make sense as part of the whole group.

Many photo essays range from 8-12 images. But of course, it varies based on the essay. The number of images you have in your final photo essay is up to you.

Remember, less is more. A photo essay is most powerful when each image deserves to be included.

6. Put your images in a purposeful order

Create a visual flow with your images. Decide which image is first, and build from there. Use compositions, colors, and subject matter to decide which image goes next, then next, then next in the order.

Think of it like music: notes are arranged in a way that builds energy, or slows it down, surprise listeners with a new refrain, or drop into a familiar chorus. How the notes are ordered creates emotional arcs for listeners.

How you order your images is similar.

Think of the experience a viewer will have as they look at one image, then the next, and the next. Order your images so they create the experience you want your audience to have.

7. Get feedback

The best photographers make space for feedback, even when it’s tough to hear. Your work benefits from not just hearing feedback, but listening to it and applying what you learn from it.

Show your photo essay to people who have different sensibilities or tastes. Friends, family members, fellow photographers – anyone you trust to give you honest feedback.

Watch their reactions and hear what they say about what they’re seeing. Use their feedback to guide you in the next step.

8. Refine, revise, and finalize

Let your photo essay marinate for a little while. Take a day or two away from it. Then use your freshened eyes and the feedback you received from the previous step to refine your essay.

Swap out any selects you might want to change and reorder the images if needed.

9. Add captions

Even if you don’t plan on displaying captions with your images, captioning your images is a great practice to get into. It gives context, story, and important information to each image. And, more than likely, you will want to use these captions at some point when you share your photo essay, which we dive into later in this article.

Add captions to the image files using Lightroom, Bridge, or other software programs.

Create a document, such as a Google or Word doc, with captions for each image.

In your captions, share a bit about the story behind the image, or the creation process. Add whatever makes sense to share that provides a greater understanding of the image and its purpose.

Photo essays allow you to explore deliberate style choices, such as a focus on shapes, patterns, textures, and lines. Since each photo is part of a larger essay, it encourages you to be bold with choices you might not otherwise make. 

5 Examples of amazing nature photo essays

1. “how the water shapes us” from the nature conservancy.

This gorgeous essay, crafted with the work of multiple photographers, explores the people and places within the Mississippi River basin. Through the images, we gain a sense of how the water influences life from the headwater all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Notice how each photographer is tasked with the same theme, yet approaches it with their own distinct style and vision. It is a wonderful example of the sheer level of visual variety you can have while maintaining a consistent style or theme.

View it here

2. “A Cyclist on the English Landscape” from New York Times’ The World Through A Lens series

This photo essay is a series of self-portraits by travel photographer Roff Smith while “stuck” at home during the pandemic. As he peddled the roads making portraits, the project evolved into a “celebration of traveling at home”. It’s a great example of how visually consistent you can be inside a theme while making each image completely unique.

3. “Vermont, Dressed In Snow” from New York Times’ The World Through A Lens series

This essay by aerial photographer Caleb Kenna uses a very common photo essay theme: snow. Because all images are aerial photographs, there’s a consistency to them. Yet, the compositions are utterly unique from one another. It’s a great example of keeping viewers surprised as they move from one image to the next while still maintaining a clear focus on the theme.

4. “Starling-Studded Skies” from bioGraphic Magazine

This beautiful essay is by Kathryn Cooper, a physicist trained in bioinformatics, and a talented photographer. She used a 19th century photographic technique, chronophotography, to create images that give us a look at the art and science of starling murmurations. She states: “I’m interested in the transient moments when chaos briefly changes to order, and thousands of individual bodies appear to move as one.” This essay is a great example of deep exploration of a concept using a specific photographic technique.

View it here   (Note: must be viewed on desktop)

5. “These Scrappy Photos Capture the Action-Packed World Beneath a Bird Feeder” from Audubon Magazine

This photo essay from conservation photographer Carla Rhodes explores the wildlife that takes advantage of the bounty of food waiting under bird feeders . Using remote camera photography , Rhodes gives viewers a unique ground-level perspective and captures moments that make us feel like we’re in conversation with friends in the Hundred Acre Woods. This essay is a great example of how perspective, personality, and chance can all come into play as you explore both an idea and a technique.

25 Ideas for creative photo essays you can make

The possibilities for photo essays are truly endless – from the concepts you explore to the techniques you use and styles you apply.

Choose an idea, hone your unique perspective on it, then start applying the 9 simple steps from above. 

• The life of a plant or animal (your favorite species, a species living in your yard, etc)
• The many shapes of a single species (a tree species, a bird species, etc)
• How a place changes over time
• The various moods of a place
• A conservation issue you care about
• Math in nature
• Urban nature
• Seasonal changes
• Your yard as a space for nature
• Shifting climate and its impacts
• Human impacts on environments
• Elements: Water, wind, fire, earth
• Day in the life (of a person, a place, a stream, a tree…)
• Outdoor recreation (birding, kayaking, hiking, naturalist journaling…)
• Wildlife rehabilitation
• Lunar cycles
• Sunlight and shadows
• Your local watershed
• Coexistence

As you zero in on a photo essay theme, consider two things: what most excites you about an idea, and what about it pushes you out of your comfort zone. The heady mix of joy and challenge will ensure you stick with it. 

Your photo essay is ready for the world! Decide how you’d like to make an impact with your work. You might use one or several of the options below.

1. Share it on your website

Create a gallery or a scrollytelling page on your website. This is a great way to drive traffic to your website where people can peruse your photo essay and the rest of the photography you have.

Putting it on your website and optimizing your images for SEO helps you build organic traffic and potentially be discovered by a broader audience, including photo editors.

2. Create a scrollytelling web page

If you enjoy the experience of immersive visual experiences, consider making one using your essay. And no, you don’t have to be a whiz at code to make it happen.

Shorthand helps you build web pages with scrollytelling techniques that make a big impression on viewers. Their free plan allows you to publish 3 essays or stories.

3. Create a Medium post

If you don’t have a website and want to keep things simple, a post on Medium is a great option.

Though it’s known for being a platform for bloggers, it’s also possible to add images to a post for a simple scroll.

And, because readers can discover and share posts, it’s a good place for your photos to get the attention of people who might not otherwise come across it.

4. Share it on Instagram

Instagram has changed a lot over the last couple of years, but it’s still a place for photographers to share their work thoughtfully.

There are at least 3 great ways to share your photo essay on the platform.

– Create a single post for each image. Add a caption. Publish one post per day until the full essay is on your feed. Share each post via Instagram Stories to bring more attention and interaction to your photo essay.

– Create a carousel post. You can add up 10 photos to a carousel post, so you may need to create two of them for your full photo essay. Or you might create a series of carousel posts using 3-4 images in each.

– Create a Reel featuring your images as a video.  The algorithm heavily favors reels, so turning your photo essay into a video experience can get it out to a larger audience.

I ran a “create a reel” challenge in my membership community. One member created a reel with her still images around a serious conservation issue. It gathered a ton of attention and landed her opportunities to share her message through YouTube and podcast interviews and publishing opportunities. Watch it here.

5. Exhibit it locally

Reach out to local galleries, cafes, pubs, or even the public library to see if they’re interested in hanging your photo essay for display. Many local businesses and organizations happily support the work of local artists.

6. Pitch your photo essay to publications

One of the best ways to reach an audience with your work is to get it published. Find publications that are a great fit for the theme and style of your photo essay, then pitch your essay for consideration. You gain a fantastic opportunity to share your work widely and can earn a paycheck at the same time.

Remember that if you want to get your photo essay published, you may want to hold back from sharing it publicly before you pitch it to publications.

PIN THIS FOR LATER

What’s your hidden storyteller personality as a nature photographer?

Take my FREE quiz to discover your storyteller super-strengths AND get a custom action plan based on your results

Jaymi Heimbuch

Next up….

Photography Glossary: 185+ Terms and Definitions You Should Know

Essential photography terms every photographer should know with our comprehensive glossary. Perfect for beginners and pros alike!

Sunset Photography: 9 Easy Tips for Better Golden Hour Photos

Landscape Photography , Tutorials

Learn how to improve your photos at sunset (and sunrise!) with this expert advice. Simple and effective techniques you can start using today.

Portrait vs. Landscape Orientation: The Biggest Differences to Know

Discover the impact of portrait & landscape orientation on your photography. Learn the key differences and how to choose the right orientation for your subject.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO READ TODAY?

POPULAR SEARCHES:  Best Cameras   |    Location Guide   |  Best Lenses   |  Wildlife  

Take The Quiz

Get super clear on exactly what to focus on right now to grow your photography skills fast..

Take the FREE Full Frame Ecosystem Assessment ™ to crack the code on your roadblocks so you can hop into the creativity express lane with personalized action steps!

Ready to level up your awesome?

Start your next learning adventure.

52 Week Creativity Kit

A year of weekly bite-sized nature photography concepts and challenges that strengthen your camera skills and provide endless inspiration.

6 Must-Have Shots for a Photo Story

New to photo stories? Start by learning how to create a powerful photo story with the 6 essential images that all photo editors want to publish.

Photo Stories for Nature

Master how to photograph impressive photo stories and effectively share them so they make an impact.

Conservation Filmmaking 101

Master how to craft powerfully moving films that create conservation impact.

Get The Most Popular Free Resources

Make leaps forward in your visual storytelling download three of our most valuable free resources for photographers..

Ready to take better photos?

Get all the good things delivered.

Photography how-to guides, expert interviews, behind-the-scenes insights & more all delivered to your inbox weekly.

Privacy Overview

Overview of web animation and graphics programs

Pictorial Writing Examples: Visual Storytelling Mastery

In the realm of storytelling, pictorial writing emerges as a captivating fusion of artistry and narrative ingenuity. This curated collection of pictorial writing examples beckons you to explore the diverse and enriching world of visual narratives.

From the echoes of historical chronicles to the reflections of contemporary issues, each example serves as a testament to the profound impact that arises from the harmonious integration of visuals and storytelling.

What is Pictorial Writing?

Pictorial writing, synonymous with visual storytelling, is an expressive narrative form reliant on a sequence of images to unfold a story, elicit emotions, and communicate information. 

Rooted in the early 20th century, luminaries like Lewis Hine pioneered this medium by documenting the stark realities of child labor, propelling pictorial writing into a potent conduit for journalistic and artistic expression.

Key Elements of Pictorial Writing

Pictorial essays, characterized by a series of images crafting a cohesive narrative or conveying specific information, seamlessly blend visuals and text. This format allows for diverse storytelling, encompassing chronological narratives and capturing singular moments united by a common thematic thread.

Crafting Compelling Pictorial Essays

 Design Techniques:

• Scrollytelling Images: Foster viewer engagement by smoothly transitioning between photos overlaid with text, offering a dynamic approach to presenting visual narratives;
• Scroll Speed and Progress Bars: Enhance user experience by varying scroll speeds and incorporating progress bars, preventing content fatigue and guiding readers seamlessly through the essay;
•  Image Comparison Slider: Showcase transformations through an interactive image comparison slider, allowing viewers to explore before-and-after visuals;
• Clickable Image Hotspots: Maximize screen space with clickable hotspots, providing additional information and enhancing the overall storytelling experience;
• Image Carousels: Facilitate interactive navigation with horizontally navigable image carousels, creating an engaging and immersive storytelling experience.

 Best Practices for Design:

• Knowing Your Story: Ensure clarity and coherence by identifying the main points you want to visually convey in your pictorial essay;
• Diverse Shot Selection: Sustain viewer interest by incorporating varied angles, close-ups, and compositions, steering clear of monotony;
• Selecting the Best Images: Prioritize relevance over aesthetics, ensuring each photo contributes meaningfully to the narrative;
• Audience Consideration:Tailor your style and tone to the target demographic, resonating effectively with the intended audience;
• Maintaining Momentum: Employ scroll-triggered transitions, animations, and interactivity to captivate viewers, ensuring sustained engagement throughout the essay.

Pictorial Writing Examples: From Egmont to Taranaki 

Immerse yourself in the compelling Vev-built pictorial essay, “From Egmont to Taranaki,” where personal narratives intertwine with historical lessons. Animated effects and scrollytelling techniques elevate the visual journey, creating a captivating exploration.

Food for Thought

Offering a global lens on food production, “Food for Thought” utilizes fixed image parallax scrolling and hotspots to provide a comprehensive view of people, landscapes, and processes. This example exemplifies the potential for depth and engagement within pictorial storytelling.

Witnesses to History Keepers of Memory

The Montreal Holocaust Museum’s interactive creation delves into the lives of Holocaust survivors, utilizing hover-triggered animations and a thoughtful narrative structure to convey a powerful message. This example demonstrates the impactful potential of visual storytelling.

Hakai Autonomous Ocean

Delve into the oceanic realm with “Hakai Autonomous Ocean,” a single-page essay showcasing scrollytelling images and image comparison sliders. Narrating the story of a malfunctioning $150,000 robot beneath the sea, this example immerses the audience in a dramatic and engaging experience.

Moma Strange Brew

Unveiling the creation of John Klines’ art installation, “Skittles,” this essay employs humor and satire to explore consumerism. The step-by-step visual journey is complemented by fade-ins and interactive elements, showcasing the potential for creativity within the pictorial writing format.

Documenting UNICEF’s humanitarian efforts through photographer Jan Grarup, this pictorial essay reveals the organization’s Denmark warehouse and its impact in various countries. The inclusion of a scroll progress bar aids navigation, providing a seamless and informative visual journey.

The Guardian

“Slippery slope? Alpine tourism in the face of climate crisis” delves into the interplay between climate change and the Alps. Image comparison sliders showcase the region in both winter and other seasons, maximizing screen space for impactful visuals and fostering a deeper understanding of global issues.

The Naija Story

Divided into sections covering politics, technology, and entertainment, “The Naija Story” effectively utilizes photo essays to highlight Nigeria’s history. Scroll-triggered animations and connecting lines simplify the narrative for an artistic yet easily comprehensible presentation, making history accessible through visual storytelling.

Ukrainian Ballerina Uprooted by War Flies High Again

A poignant piece from Reuters, this essay chronicles the journey of ballet dancer Ganna Muromtseva, seamlessly blending writing and photos. The use of fade-ins and text overlays adds a dynamic touch to the visual storytelling, providing a personal and emotional insight into the subject’s life.

Creating Stunning Pictorial Essays with Vev

 Vev stands as a creative powerhouse, offering a myriad of tools to bring pictorial essays to life. Image comparison sliders, carousels, scroll animations, and other pre-built elements empower storytellers, eliminating the need for complex coding.

Features: Image Comparison Sliders, Carousels, Scroll Animations

Vev’s user-friendly interface allows journalists, designers, and publishers to seamlessly integrate dynamic elements into their visual content. Image comparison sliders showcase transformations, carousels enable interactive navigation, and scroll animations enhance the overall storytelling experience. With Vev, the creative possibilities of visual storytelling are boundless.

Conclusion 

The art of pictorial writing serves as a beacon for storytellers navigating the complex digital landscape. The convergence of visual aesthetics and narrative impact, coupled with meticulous design techniques and best practices, unveils the true potential of this unique medium.

Whether documenting historical events, unraveling global issues, or presenting personal narratives, pictorial essays offer a distinctive and engaging avenue for storytelling. 

With the innovative capabilities of tools like Vev, storytellers can unleash their creativity, ensuring their narratives not only stand out but resonate deeply in a visually saturated digital realm.

• Pressley Robert

You may also like

Exploring the Differences: Microsites Versus Websites

Over the past few years, there has been a surge..

 10 Powerful Data Storytelling Examples

Step onto the platform of data storytelling, a captivating fusion..

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• College University and Postgraduate
• Academic Writing

How to Make a Photo Essay

Last Updated: September 27, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Heather Gallagher . Heather Gallagher is a Photojournalist & Photographer based in Austin, Texas. She runs her own photography studio named "Heather Gallagher Photography" which was voted Austin's Best Family Photographer and top 3 Birth Photographers in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Heather specializes in family Photojournalism and has over 15 years of experience documenting individuals, families, and businesses all over the world. Her clients include Delta Airlines, Oracle, Texas Monthly, and her work has been featured in The Washington Post and The Austin American Statesman. She is a member of the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers (IAPBP). There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 287,950 times.

Photo essays are an increasingly popular medium for journalists, bloggers, and advertisers alike. Whether you’re trying to show the emotional impact of a current news story or share your hobby with friends and family, images can capture your topic in a personal, emotional, and interesting way. Creating a photo essay can be as easy as choosing a topic, getting your images, and organizing the essay.

Things You Should Know

• Reflect long and hard on your topic, considering your audience, current events, and whether to go for a thematic or narrative approach.
• Create an outline, including your focus image, establishing shot, clincher, and other image details.
• When you finally take your photos, remember to take more photos than you think you need and don't be afraid to let the project change as you create it.

Finding Your Topic

• Offer a photo essay of your place of business as a training tool.
• Use a photo essay about your business as a sales or social tool by publishing it on your website or social media page.
• Create a how to photo essay to help others learn about your hobby, so they can take it up as well. [4] X Research source

• Thematic subjects are big ideas including things like local gun laws, at-risk youth, or welcoming home soldiers.
• Narrative essays can include a day in the life, how to tutorials, or progression series that show changes over time such as tracking a building project.
• If you have been given a commission or specific publication to work with, you may need to choose a topic that will fit a thematic or narrative approach as outlined by the publication. Make sure you are aware of any publication guidelines in advance.

Organizing Your Shoot

• Consider how difficult it will be to get permission to photograph your subjects. If you already have relationships established, it will be easier. If not, allow for extra time to get permission and/or waivers.
• Schools, daycares, and other places with kids typically have more regulations on who can be photographed and for what purposes. You’ll usually need to get parental approval, in addition to permission from those in charge. [7] X Research source

• Consider doing interviews with people involved prior to the shoot. Ask things like, “What’s the most interesting thing you do during this event?” or “How long have you been involved with this organization?”
• These interviews are also a great opportunity to ask for permission and get waivers.
• If you’re going to visit a job site, charitable event, or other large group activity, ask the person or persons in charge to explain what you’re doing to everyone before you arrive. [8] X Research source

Capturing Your Images

• Many new photographers stay away from high ISO shots because they allow more light through producing a “busy” image. However, these images are often easier to edit later as there’s more information to work with. [11] X Research source
• If it’s very bright in your location or you’ve set up artificial lighting, a low ISO is likely adequate, For darker areas, you’ll likely need to use a higher ISO.
• If you need one second to capture an image with a base ISO of 100, you’ll need one eighth of a second to capture with an ISO of 800. [13] X Research source

• Even snapping candid shots, which you may need to capture quickly, take a few moments to think about how objects are placed to make the most impact.
• Always think about how the main subject’s surroundings play into the overall image, and try to create different levels and points of interest.
• You can change composition as part of the editing process in some cases, so if you can’t line up the shot just right, don’t let it deter you from capturing the image you want. [14] X Research source

Organizing the Essay

• If you’re doing a day in the life photo essay about a frustrated person working in an office, an image of that person struggling to open the front door against the wind might be an apt focus shot.
• If your essay is about the process of building a home, your focus image may be something like a contractor and architect looking at blue prints with the framed up home in the background.
• If your essay is about a family reunion, the focus image may be a funny shot of the whole family making faces, pretending to be fighting, or a serious photo of the family posed together. Capture whatever seems natural for the family. [18] X Research source

• Regardless of essay type, you’ll need a focus image to grab attention.
• Use an overall shot to give context to your essay. Where is it, when is it happening, who’s involved, what’s going on, and why should someone be interested? The five “W’s” of journalism are a great way to determine what your overall shot should capture.
• Find your final image. This should be something provocative that asks your viewer to think about the topic.
• Between the focus and overall shot and ending image, include a series of images that move the viewer from the lead-in shots to its result. Use images that build in intensity or draw the viewers further into the essay.

• If the images aren’t telling the story, ask your friends to look at your other photos and ask, “I wanted this image to make this point. You got a different idea. Would any of these images make this point to you more clearly?”
• If the others like the images you’ve chosen, you may still want to ask them to look at your other photos and tell you if they think any of the images you didn’t include should be added in. They may see something you missed. [20] X Research source

• If you're commissioned to add photos to an essay, you should make sure images reflect the written word, but also add emotion and context the writing could not capture. For example, an essay on poverty may include an image of a child and parent living on the street could capture more emotional context.
• Captions should only include information the viewer could not derive from the photo itself. For instance, you can include a date, the subject’s name, or a statistic relevant to your subject in the caption.
• If you choose not to have any text or just a title and some introductory and/or closing words, make sure you convey all necessary information succinctly. [21] X Research source

Expert Q&A

• Be creative with your topics. However, something as simple as "things I like" will suffice so long as you stay creative. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Make sure you're familiar with your camera. It will make the photo composition a lot easier. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Don't get discouraged. It may take several tries to get the desired results in your photos. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://digital-photography-school.com/5-photo-essay-tips/
• ↑ Heather Gallagher. Professional Photojournalist & Photographer. Expert Interview. 8 April 2020.
• ↑ http://improvephotography.com/30816/10-ideas-creative-photo-essays/
• ↑ http://www.apogeephoto.com/how-to-create-a-photo-essay/
• ↑ https://petapixel.com/how-to-create-a-photo-essay/
• ↑ http://photo.journalism.cuny.edu/week-5/
• ↑ http://clickitupanotch.com/2010/12/creating-a-photo-essay/
• ↑ https://photographylife.com/what-is-iso-in-photography
• ↑ https://wiredimpact.com/blog/how-to-make-a-photo-essay-nonprofit/
• ↑ http://digital-photography-school.com/5-tips-for-creating-a-photo-essay-with-a-purpose/
• ↑ https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/photography/how-to-make-photo-essay-examples

About This Article

To make a photo essay, start by selecting a subject that is easy to capture and that inspires you, like a friend or a family pet. Then, decide if you want to present your photo essay as thematic, which shows specific examples of a big idea, or narrative, with a beginning, middle, and end. Next, create an outline of your essay to determine which photos you’ll need, like an establishing shot. Finally, take your photos, select which images you want to use in your essay, and organize them according to your theme before adding text to explain the essay. To learn how to capture the best images, keep scrolling! Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Aug 3, 2016

Did this article help you?

Sep 24, 2023

Christopher Ulloa Abarua

Mar 16, 2018

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

Photo Essay

We all know that photographs tell a story. These still images may be seen from various perspectives and are interpreted in different ways. Oftentimes, photographers like to give dramatic meaning to various scenarios. For instance, a blooming flower signifies a new life. Photographs always hold a deeper meaning than what they actually are.

In essay writing , photographs along with its supporting texts, play a significant role in conveying a message. Here are some examples of these kinds of photo-text combinations.

What is Photo Essay? A photo essay is a visual storytelling method that utilizes a sequence of carefully curated photographs to convey a narrative, explore a theme, or evoke specific emotions. It goes beyond individual images, aiming to tell a cohesive and impactful story through the arrangement and combination of pictures.

Photo Essay Format

A photo essay is a series of photographs that are intended to tell a story or evoke a series of emotions in the viewer. It is a powerful way to convey messages without the need for many words. Here is a format to guide you in creating an effective photo essay:

1. Choose a Compelling Topic

Select a subject that you are passionate about or that you find intriguing. Ensure the topic has a clear narrative that can be expressed visually.

2. Plan Your Shots

Outline the story you wish to tell. This could involve a beginning, middle, and end or a thematic approach. Decide on the types of shots you need (e.g., wide shots, close-ups, portraits, action shots) to best tell the story.

3. Take Your Photographs

Capture a variety of images to have a wide selection when editing your essay. Focus on images that convey emotion, tell a story, or highlight your theme.

4. Edit Your Photos

Select the strongest images that best convey your message or story. Edit for consistency in style, color, and lighting to ensure the essay flows smoothly.

5. Arrange Your Photos

Order your images in a way that makes sense narratively or thematically. Consider transitions between photos to ensure they lead the viewer naturally through the story.

6. Include Captions or Text (Optional)

Write captions to provide context, add depth, or explain the significance of each photo. Keep text concise and impactful, letting the images remain the focus.

7. Present Your Photo Essay

Choose a platform for presentation, whether online, in a gallery, or as a printed booklet. Consider the layout and design, ensuring that it complements and enhances the visual narrative.

8. Conclude with Impact

End with a strong image or a conclusion that encapsulates the essence of your essay. Leave the viewer with something to ponder , reflecting on the message or emotions you aimed to convey.

Best Photo Essay Example?

One notable example of a powerful photo essay is “The Photographic Essay: Paul Fusco’s ‘RFK Funeral Train'” by Paul Fusco. This photo essay captures the emotional journey of the train carrying the body of Robert F. Kennedy from New York to Washington, D.C., after his assassination in 1968. Fusco’s images beautifully and poignantly document the mourning and respect shown by people along the train route. The series is a moving portrayal of grief, unity, and the impact of a historical moment on the lives of ordinary individuals. The photographs are both artistically compelling and deeply human, making it a notable example of the potential for photo essays to convey complex emotions and historical narratives.

Photo Essay Examples and Ideas to Edit & Download

• A Day in the Life Photo Essay
• Behind the scenes Photo Essay
• Event Photo Essay
• Photo Essay on Meal
• Photo Essay on Photo walking
• Photo Essay on Protest
• Photo Essay on Abandoned building
• Education photo essay
• Photo Essay on Events
• Follow the change Photo Essay
• Photo Essay on Personal experiences

Photo Essay Examples & Templates

1. narrative photo essay format example.

nytimes.com

2. Student Photo Essay Example

3. Great Depression Essay Example

thshistory.files.wordpress.com

4. Example of Photo Essay

weresearchit.co.uk

5. Photo Essay Examples About Nature

cge-media-library.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com

6. Travel Photo Example

theguardian.com

7. Free Photo Essay Example

vasantvalley.org

Most Interesting Photo Essays of 2019

Now that you are educated with the fundamentals of photo essays, why not lay eyes on some great photo essays for inspiration. To give you a glimpse of a few epitomes, we collected the best and fascinating photo essays for you. The handpicked samples are as follows:

8. Toys and Us

journals.openedition.org

This photo essay presents its subject which is the latest genre of photography, toy photography. In this type of picture taking, the photographer aims to give life on the toys and treat them as his/her model. This photography follows the idea of a toy researcher, Katrina Heljakka, who states that also adults and not only children are interested in reimagining and preserving the characters of their toys with the means of roleplay and creating a story about these toys. This photo essay is based on the self-reflection of the author on a friend’s toys in their home environment.

9. The Faces of Nature Example

godandnature.asa3.org

This photo essay and collection caters the creativity of the author’s mind in seeing the world. In her composition, she justified that there are millions of faces that are naturally made that some of us have not noticed. She also presented tons of photos showing different natural objects that form patterns of faces. Though it was not mentioned in the essay itself, the author has unconsciously showcased the psychological phenomenon, pareidolia. This is the tendency to translate an obscure stimulus that let the observer see faces in inanimate objects or abstract patterns, or even hearing concealed messages in music.

10. The Country Doctor Example

us1.campaign-archive.com

This photo essay depicts the medical hardships in a small rural town in Colorado called Kremling. For 23 days, Smith shadowed Dr. Ernest Ceriani, witnessing the dramatic life of the small town and capturing the woeful crisis of the region. The picture in this photographic essay was photographed by Smith himself for Life magazine in 1948 but remained as fascinating as it was posted weeks ago.

11. New York City Coffeehouses

lens.blogs.nytimes.com

Café Latte, cappuccino, espresso, or flat white—of course, you know these if you have visited a coffee shop at least once. However, the photographer of this photo essay took it to a whole new level of experience. Within two to three days of visiting various coffee places, Mr. Gavrysh stayed most of his day observing at the finest details such as the source of the coffee, the procedure of delivering them, and the process of roasting and grounding them. He also watched how did the baristas perfect the drinks and the reaction of the customers as they received their ordered coffee with delights in their faces. Gavrysh did not mean to compose a coffeehouse guide, but to make a composition that describes modern, local places where coffee is sipped and treated with respect.

12. Hungry Planet: What The World Eats

13. Photo Essay Example

cah.utexas.edu

14. Photo Essay in PDF

condor.depaul.edu

15. Sample Photo Essay Example

colorado.edu

16. Basic Photo Essay Example

adaptation-undp.org

17. Printable Photo Essay Example

One of the basic necessity of a person to live according to his/her will is food. In this photo essay, you will see how these necessities vary in several ways. In 2005, a pair of Peter Menzel and Faith D’ Aluisio released a book that showcased the meals of an average family in 24 countries. Ecuador, south-central Mali, China, Mexico, Kuwait, Norway, and Greenland are among the nations they visited.  This photo essay is written to raise awareness about the influence of environment and culture to the cost and calories of the foods laid on the various dining tables across the globe.

Photo essays are not just about photographic aesthetics but also the stories that authors built behind those pictures. In this collection of captivating photo essays, reflect on how to write your own. If you are allured and still can’t get enough, there’s no need for you to be frantic about. Besides, there are thousands of samples and templates on our website to browse. Visit us to check them all out.

What are good topics for a photo essay?

• Urban Exploration: Document the unique architecture, street life, and cultural diversity of urban environments.
• Environmental Conservation: Capture the beauty of natural landscapes or document environmental issues, showcasing the impact of climate change or conservation efforts.
• Everyday Life in Your Community: Showcase the daily lives, traditions, and activities of people in your local community.
• Family Traditions: Document the customs, rituals, and special moments within your own family or another family.
• Youth Culture: Explore the lifestyle, challenges, and aspirations of young people in your community or around the world.
• Behind-the-Scenes at an Event: Provide a backstage look at the preparation and execution of an event, such as a concert, festival, or sports competition.
• A Day in the Life of a Profession: Follow a professional in their daily activities, offering insights into their work, challenges, and routines.
• Social Issues: Address important social issues like homelessness, poverty, immigration, or healthcare, raising awareness through visual storytelling.
• Cultural Celebrations: Document cultural festivals, ceremonies, or celebrations that showcase the diversity of traditions in your region or beyond.
• Education Around the World: Explore the various facets of education globally, from classrooms to the challenges students face in different cultures.
• Workplace Dynamics: Capture the atmosphere, interactions, and diversity within different workplaces or industries.
• Street Art and Graffiti: Document the vibrant and dynamic world of street art, capturing the expressions of local artists.
• Animal Rescues or Shelters: Focus on the efforts of organizations or individuals dedicated to rescuing and caring for animals.
• Migration Stories: Explore the experiences and challenges of individuals or communities affected by migration.
• Global Food Culture: Document the diversity of food cultures, from local markets to family meals, showcasing the role of food in different societies.

How to Write a Photo Essay

First of all, you would need to find a topic that you are interested in. With this, you can conduct thorough research on the topic that goes beyond what is common. This would mean that it would be necessary to look for facts that not a lot of people know about. Not only will this make your essay interesting, but this may also help you capture the necessary elements for your images.

Remember, the ability to manipulate the emotions of your audience will allow you to build a strong connection with them. Knowing this, you need to plan out your shots. With the different emotions and concepts in mind, your images should tell a story along with the essay outline .

1. Choose Your Topic

• Select a compelling subject that interests you and can be explored visually.
• Consider the story or message you want to convey. It should be something that can be expressed through images.

2. Plan Your Essay

• Outline your narrative. Decide if your photo essay will tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, or if it will explore a theme or concept.
• Research your subject if necessary, especially if you’re covering a complex or unfamiliar topic.

3. Capture Your Images

• Take a variety of photos. Include wide shots to establish the setting, close-ups to show details, and medium shots to focus on subjects.
• Consider different angles and perspectives to add depth and interest to your essay.
• Shoot more than you need. Having a large selection of images to choose from will make the editing process easier.

4. Select Your Images

• Choose photos that best tell your story or convey your theme.
• Look for images that evoke emotion or provoke thought.
• Ensure there’s a mix of compositions to keep the viewer engaged.
• Sequence your images in a way that makes narrative or thematic sense.
• Consider the flow and how each image transitions to the next.
• Use juxtaposition to highlight contrasts or similarities.

6. Add Captions or Text (Optional)

• Write captions to provide context or additional information about each photo. Keep them brief and impactful.
• Consider including an introduction or conclusion to frame your essay. This can be helpful in setting the stage or offering a final reflection.

7. Edit and Refine

• Review the sequence of your photos. Make sure they flow smoothly and clearly convey your intended story or theme.
• Adjust the layout as needed, ensuring that the visual arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and supports the narrative.

8. Share Your Essay

• Choose the right platform for your photo essay, whether it’s a blog, online publication, exhibition, or print.
• Consider your audience and tailor the presentation of your essay to suit their preferences and expectations.

Types of Photo Essay

Photo essays are a compelling medium to tell a story, convey emotions, or present a perspective through a series of photographs. Understanding the different types of photo essays can help photographers and storytellers choose the best approach for their project. Here are the main types of photo essays:

1. Narrative Photo Essays

• Purpose: To tell a story or narrate an event in a chronological sequence.
• Characteristics: Follows a clear storyline with a beginning, middle, and end. It often includes characters, a setting, and a plot.
• Examples: A day in the life of a firefighter, the process of crafting traditional pottery.

2. Thematic Photo Essays

• Purpose: To explore a specific theme, concept, or issue without being bound to a chronological sequence.
• Characteristics: Centers around a unified theme, with each photo contributing to the overall concept.
• Examples: The impact of urbanization on the environment, the beauty of natural landscapes.

3. Conceptual Photo Essays

• Purpose: To convey an idea or evoke a series of emotions through abstract or metaphorical images.
• Characteristics: Focuses on delivering a conceptual message or emotional response, often using symbolism.
• Examples: Loneliness in the digital age, the concept of freedom.

4. Expository or Informative Photo Essays

• Purpose: To inform or educate the viewer about a subject with a neutral viewpoint.
• Characteristics: Presents factual information on a topic, often accompanied by captions or brief texts to provide context.
• Examples: The process of coffee production, a day at an animal rescue center.

5. Persuasive Photo Essays

• Purpose: To convince the viewer of a particular viewpoint or to highlight social issues.
• Characteristics: Designed to persuade or elicit action, these essays may focus on social, environmental, or political issues.
• Examples: The effects of plastic pollution, the importance of historical preservation.

6. Personal Photo Essays

• Purpose: To express the photographer’s personal experiences, emotions, or journeys.
• Characteristics: Highly subjective and personal, often reflecting the photographer’s intimate feelings or experiences.
• Examples: A personal journey through grief, documenting one’s own home during quarantine.

7. Environmental Photo Essays

• Purpose: To showcase landscapes, wildlife, and environmental issues.
• Characteristics: Focuses on the natural world or environmental challenges, aiming to raise awareness or appreciation.
• Examples: The melting ice caps, wildlife in urban settings.

8. Travel Photo Essays

• Purpose: To explore and present the culture, landscapes, people, and experiences of different places.
• Characteristics: Captures the essence of a location, showcasing its uniqueness and the experiences of traveling.
• Examples: A road trip across the American Southwest, the vibrant streets of a bustling city.

How do you start a picture essay?

1. choose a compelling theme or topic:.

Select a theme or topic that resonates with you and has visual storytelling potential. It could be a personal project, an exploration of a social issue, or a visual journey through a specific place or event.

2. Research and Conceptualize:

Conduct research on your chosen theme to understand its nuances, context, and potential visual elements. Develop a conceptual framework for your photo essay, outlining the key aspects you want to capture.

3. Define Your Storytelling Approach:

Determine how you want to convey your narrative. Consider whether your photo essay will follow a chronological sequence, a thematic structure, or a more abstract and conceptual approach.

4. Create a Shot List:

Develop a list of specific shots you want to include in your essay. This can help guide your photography and ensure you capture a diverse range of images that contribute to your overall narrative.

5. Plan the Introduction:

Think about how you want to introduce your photo essay. The first image or series of images should grab the viewer’s attention and set the tone for the narrative.

6. Consider the Flow:

Plan the flow of your photo essay, ensuring a logical progression of images that tells a cohesive and engaging story. Consider the emotional impact and visual variety as you sequence your photographs.

7. Shoot with Purpose:

Start capturing images with your conceptual framework in mind. Focus on images that align with your theme and contribute to the overall narrative. Look for moments that convey emotion, tell a story, or reveal aspects of your chosen subject.

8. Experiment with Perspectives and Techniques:

Explore different perspectives, compositions, and photographic techniques to add visual interest and depth to your essay. Consider using a variety of shots, including wide-angle, close-ups, and detail shots.

9. Write Descriptive Captions:

As you capture images, think about the accompanying captions. Captions should provide context, additional information, or insights that enhance the viewer’s understanding of each photograph.

What are the key elements of a photo essay?

1. Theme or Topic:

Clearly defined subject matter or theme that unifies the photographs and tells a cohesive story.

2. Narrative Structure:

An intentional narrative structure that guides the viewer through the photo essay, whether chronological, thematic, or conceptual.

3. Introduction:

A strong introduction that captures the viewer’s attention and sets the tone for the photo essay.

4. Captivating Images:

A series of high-quality and visually compelling images that effectively convey the chosen theme or story.

5. Variety of Shots:

A variety of shots, including wide-angle, close-ups, detail shots, and different perspectives, to add visual interest and depth.

6. Sequencing:

Careful sequencing of images to create a logical flow and emotional impact, guiding the viewer through the narrative.

7. Captions and Text:

Thoughtful captions or accompanying text that provide context, additional information, or insights, enhancing the viewer’s understanding.

8. Conclusion:

A concluding section that brings the photo essay to a satisfying close, leaving a lasting impression on the viewer.

Purpose of a Photo Essay

With good writing skills , a person is able to tell a story through words. However, adding images for your essay will give it the dramatic effect it needs. The photographs and the text work hand in hand to create something compelling enough to attract an audience.

This connection goes beyond something visual, as photo essays are also able to connect with an audience emotionally. This is to create an essay that is effective enough to relay a given message.

5 Tips for Creating a Photo Essay

• Don’t be afraid to experiment. Find the right angle and be dramatic with your description, just be creative.
• Pay attention to detail. Chances are, your audience will notice every single detail of your photograph.
• Shoot everything. Behind a single beautiful photo is a hundred more shots.
• Don’t think twice about editing. Editing is where the magic happens. It has the ability to add more drama to your images.
• Have fun. Don’t stress yourself out too much but instead, grow from your experience.

What is a photo essay for school?

A school photo essay is a visual storytelling project for educational purposes, typically assigned to students. It involves creating a narrative using a series of carefully curated photographs on a chosen theme.

How many pictures should be in a photo essay?

The number of pictures in a photo essay varies based on the chosen theme and narrative structure. It can range from a few impactful images to a more extensive series, typically around 10-20 photographs.

Is a photo essay a story?

Yes, a photo essay is a visual storytelling form. It uses a series of carefully curated photographs to convey a narrative, evoke emotions, or communicate a specific message or theme.

What makes a photo essay unforgettable?

An unforgettable photo essay is characterized by a powerful theme, emotionally resonant images, a well-crafted narrative structure, attention to detail, and a connection that leaves a lasting impact on viewers.

Photo Essay Generator

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

Create a Photo Essay on the theme of urban exploration.

Discuss the story of a local community event through a Photo Essay.

• Share your Views
• Submit a Contest
• Recommend Contest
• Terms of Service
• Testimonials

Photo Contests – Photography competitions

• Filter Photo Contests
• All Photo Contests
• Get FREE Contests Updates
• Photo Contest Tips
• Photography Deals

What is a Photo Essay? 9 Photo Essay Examples You Can Recreate

A photo essay is a series of photographs that tell a story. Unlike a written essay, a photo essay focuses on visuals instead of words. With a photo essay, you can stretch your creative limits and explore new ways to connect with your audience. Whatever your photography skill level, you can recreate your own fun and creative photo essay.

9 Photo Essay Examples You Can Recreate

• Photowalk Photo Essay
• Transformation Photo Essay
• Day in the Life Photo Essay
• Event Photo Essay
• Building Photo Essay
• Historic Site or Landmark Photo Essay
• Behind the Scenes Photo Essay
• Family Photo Essay
• Education Photo Essay

Stories are important to all of us. While some people gravitate to written stories, others are much more attuned to visual imagery. With a photo essay, you can tell a story without writing a word. Your use of composition, contrast, color, and perspective in photography will convey ideas and evoke emotions.

To explore narrative photography, you can use basic photographic equipment. You can buy a camera or even use your smartphone to get started. While lighting, lenses, and post-processing software can enhance your photos, they aren’t necessary to achieve good results.

Whether you need to complete a photo essay assignment or want to pursue one for fun or professional purposes, you can use these photo essay ideas for your photography inspiration . Once you know the answer to “what is a photo essay?” and find out how fun it is to create one, you’ll likely be motivated to continue your forays into photographic storytelling.

1 . Photowalk Photo Essay

One popular photo essay example is a photowalk. Simply put, a photowalk is time you set aside to walk around a city, town, or a natural site and take photos. Some cities even have photowalk tours led by professional photographers. On these tours, you can learn the basics about how to operate your camera, practice photography composition techniques, and understand how to look for unique shots that help tell your story.

Set aside at least two to three hours for your photowalk. Even if you’re photographing a familiar place—like your own home town—try to look at it through new eyes. Imagine yourself as a first-time visitor or pretend you’re trying to educate a tourist about the area.

Walk around slowly and look for different ways to capture the mood and energy of your location. If you’re in a city, capture wide shots of streets, close-ups of interesting features on buildings, street signs, and candid shots of people. Look for small details that give the city character and life. And try some new concepts—like reflection picture ideas—by looking for opportunities to photographs reflections in mirrored buildings, puddles, fountains, or bodies of water.

2 . Transformation Photo Essay

With a transformation photography essay, you can tell the story about change over time. One of the most popular photostory examples, a transformation essay can document a mom-to-be’s pregnancy or a child’s growth from infancy into the toddler years. But people don’t need to be the focus of a transformation essay. You can take photos of a house that is being built or an urban area undergoing revitalization.

You can also create a photo narrative to document a short-term change. Maybe you want to capture images of your growing garden or your move from one home to another. These examples of photo essays are powerful ways of telling the story of life’s changes—both large and small.

3 . Day in the Life Photo Essay

Want a unique way to tell a person’s story? Or, perhaps you want to introduce people to a career or activity. You may want to consider a day in the life essay.

With this photostory example, your narrative focuses on a specific subject for an entire day. For example, if you are photographing a farmer, you’ll want to arrive early in the morning and shadow the farmer as he or she performs daily tasks. Capture a mix of candid shots of the farmer at work and add landscapes and still life of equipment for added context. And if you are at a farm, don’t forget to get a few shots of the animals for added character, charm, or even a dose of humor. These types of photography essay examples are great practice if you are considering pursuing photojournalism. They also help you learn and improve your candid portrait skills.

4 . Event Photo Essay

Events are happening in your local area all the time, and they can make great photo essays. With a little research, you can quickly find many events that you could photograph. There may be bake sales, fundraisers, concerts, art shows, farm markets, block parties, and other non profit event ideas . You could also focus on a personal event, such as a birthday or graduation.

At most events, your primary emphasis will be on capturing candid photos of people in action. You can also capture backgrounds or objects to set the scene. For example, at a birthday party, you’ll want to take photos of the cake and presents.

For a local or community event, you can share your photos with the event organizer. Or, you may be able to post them on social media and tag the event sponsor. This is a great way to gain recognition and build your reputation as a talented photographer.

5. Building Photo Essay

Many buildings can be a compelling subject for a photographic essay. Always make sure that you have permission to enter and photograph the building. Once you do, look for interesting shots and angles that convey the personality, purpose, and history of the building. You may also be able to photograph the comings and goings of people that visit or work in the building during the day.

Some photographers love to explore and photograph abandoned buildings. With these types of photos, you can provide a window into the past. Definitely make sure you gain permission before entering an abandoned building and take caution since some can have unsafe elements and structures.

6. Historic Site or Landmark Photo Essay

Taking a series of photos of a historic site or landmark can be a great experience. You can learn to capture the same site from different angles to help portray its character and tell its story. And you can also photograph how people visit and engage with the site or landmark. Take photos at different times of day and in varied lighting to capture all its nuances and moods.

You can also use your photographic essay to help your audience understand the history of your chosen location. For example, if you want to provide perspective on the Civil War, a visit to a battleground can be meaningful. You can also visit a site when reenactors are present to share insight on how life used to be in days gone by.

7 . Behind the Scenes Photo Essay

Another fun essay idea is taking photos “behind the scenes” at an event. Maybe you can chronicle all the work that goes into a holiday festival from the early morning set-up to the late-night teardown. Think of the lead event planner as the main character of your story and build the story about him or her.

Or, you can go backstage at a drama production. Capture photos of actors and actresses as they transform their looks with costuming and makeup. Show the lead nervously pacing in the wings before taking center stage. Focus the work of stagehands, lighting designers, and makeup artists who never see the spotlight but bring a vital role in bringing the play to life.

8. Family Photo Essay

If you enjoy photographing people, why not explore photo story ideas about families and relationships? You can focus on interactions between two family members—such as a father and a daughter—or convey a message about a family as a whole.

Sometimes these type of photo essays can be all about the fun and joy of living in a close-knit family. But sometimes they can be powerful portraits of challenging social topics. Images of a family from another country can be a meaningful photo essay on immigration. You could also create a photo essay on depression by capturing families who are coping with one member’s illness.

For these projects on difficult topics, you may want to compose a photo essay with captions. These captions can feature quotes from family members or document your own observations. Although approaching hard topics isn’t easy, these types of photos can have lasting impact and value.

9. Education Photo Essay

Opportunities for education photo essays are everywhere—from small preschools to community colleges and universities. You can seek permission to take photos at public or private schools or even focus on alternative educational paths, like homeschooling.

Your education photo essay can take many forms. For example, you can design a photo essay of an experienced teacher at a high school. Take photos of him or her in action in the classroom, show quiet moments grading papers, and capture a shared laugh between colleagues in the teacher’s lounge.

Alternatively, you can focus on a specific subject—such as science and technology. Or aim to portray a specific grade level, document activities club or sport, or portray the social environment. A photo essay on food choices in the cafeteria can be thought-provoking or even funny. There are many potential directions to pursue and many great essay examples.

While education is an excellent topic for a photo essay for students, education can be a great source of inspiration for any photographer.

Why Should You Create a Photo Essay?

Ultimately, photographers are storytellers. Think of what a photographer does during a typical photo shoot. He or she will take a series of photos that helps convey the essence of the subject—whether that is a person, location, or inanimate object. For example, a family portrait session tells the story of a family—who they are, their personalities, and the closeness of their relationship.

Learning how to make a photo essay can help you become a better storyteller—and a better photographer. You’ll cultivate key photography skills that you can carry with you no matter where your photography journey leads.

If you simply want to document life’s moments on social media, you may find that a single picture doesn’t always tell the full story. Reviewing photo essay examples and experimenting with your own essay ideas can help you choose meaningful collections of photos to share with friends and family online.

Learning how to create photo essays can also help you work towards professional photography ambitions. You’ll often find that bloggers tell photographic stories. For example, think of cooking blogs that show you each step in making a recipe. Photo essays are also a mainstay of journalism. You’ll often find photo essays examples in many media outlets—everywhere from national magazines to local community newspapers. And the best travel photographers on Instagram tell great stories with their photos, too.

With a photo essay, you can explore many moods and emotions. Some of the best photo essays tell serious stories, but some are humorous, and others aim to evoke action.

You can raise awareness with a photo essay on racism or a photo essay on poverty. A photo essay on bullying can help change the social climate for students at a school. Or, you can document a fun day at the beach or an amusement park. You have control of the themes, photographic elements, and the story you want to tell.

5 Steps to Create a Photo Essay

Every photo essay will be different, but you can use a standard process. Following these five steps will guide you through every phase of your photo essay project—from brainstorming creative essay topics to creating a photo essay to share with others.

Step 1: Choose Your Photo Essay Topics

Just about any topic you can imagine can form the foundation for a photo essay. You may choose to focus on a specific event, such as a wedding, performance, or festival. Or you may want to cover a topic over a set span of time, such as documenting a child’s first year. You could also focus on a city or natural area across the seasons to tell a story of changing activities or landscapes.

Since the best photo essays convey meaning and emotion, choose a topic of interest. Your passion for the subject matter will shine through each photograph and touch your viewer’s hearts and minds.

Step 2: Conduct Upfront Research

Much of the work in a good-quality photo essay begins before you take your first photo. It’s always a good idea to do some research on your planned topic.

Imagine you’re going to take photos of a downtown area throughout the year. You should spend some time learning the history of the area. Talk with local residents and business owners and find out about planned events. With these insights, you’ll be able to plan ahead and be prepared to take photos that reflect the area’s unique personality and lifestyles.

For any topic you choose, gather information first. This may involve internet searches, library research, interviews, or spending time observing your subject.

Step 3: Storyboard Your Ideas

After you have done some research and have a good sense of the story you want to tell, you can create a storyboard. With a storyboard, you can write or sketch out the ideal pictures you want to capture to convey your message.

You can turn your storyboard into a “shot list” that you can bring with you on site. A shot list can be especially helpful when you are at a one-time event and want to capture specific shots for your photo essay. If you’ve never created a photo essay before, start with ten shot ideas. Think of each shot as a sentence in your story. And aim to make each shot evoke specific ideas or emotions.

Step 4: Capture Images

Your storyboard and shot list will be important guides to help you make the most of each shoot. Be sure to set aside enough time to capture all the shots you need—especially if you are photographing a one-time event. And allow yourself to explore your ideas using different photography composition, perspective, and color contrast techniques.

You may need to take a hundred images or more to get ten perfect ones for your photographic essay. Or, you may find that you want to add more photos to your story and expand your picture essay concept.

Also, remember to look for special unplanned, moments that help tell your story. Sometimes, spontaneous photos that aren’t on your shot list can be full of meaning. A mix of planning and flexibility almost always yields the best results.

Step 5: Edit and Organize Photos to Tell Your Story

After capturing your images, you can work on compiling your photo story. To create your photo essay, you will need to make decisions about which images portray your themes and messages. At times, this can mean setting aside beautiful images that aren’t a perfect fit. You can use your shot list and storyboard as a guide but be open to including photos that weren’t in your original plans.

You may want to use photo editing software—such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop— to enhance and change photographs. With these tools, you can adjust lighting and white balance, perform color corrections, crop, or perform other edits. If you have a signature photo editing style, you may want to use Photoshop Actions or Lightroom Presets to give all your photos a consistent look and feel.

You order a photo book from one of the best photo printing websites to publish your photo story. You can add them to an album on a photo sharing site, such as Flickr or Google Photos. Also, you could focus on building a website dedicated to documenting your concepts through visual photo essays. If so, you may want to use SEO for photographers to improve your website’s ranking in search engine results. You could even publish your photo essay on social media. Another thing to consider is whether you want to include text captures or simply tell your story through photographs.

Choose the medium that feels like the best space to share your photo essay ideas and vision with your audiences. You should think of your photo essay as your own personal form of art and expression when deciding where and how to publish it.

Photo Essays Can Help You Become a Better Photographer

Whatever your photography ambitions may be, learning to take a photo essay can help you grow. Even simple essay topics can help you gain skills and stretch your photographic limits. With a photo essay, you start to think about how a series of photographs work together to tell a complete story. You’ll consider how different shots work together, explore options for perspective and composition, and change the way you look at the world.

Before you start taking photos, you should review photo essay examples. You can find interesting pictures to analyze and photo story examples online, in books, or in classic publications, like Life Magazine . Don’t forget to look at news websites for photojournalism examples to broaden your perspective. This review process will help you in brainstorming simple essay topics for your first photo story and give you ideas for the future as well.

Ideas and inspiration for photo essay topics are everywhere. You can visit a park or go out into your own backyard to pursue a photo essay on nature. Or, you can focus on the day in the life of someone you admire with a photo essay of a teacher, fireman, or community leader. Buildings, events, families, and landmarks are all great subjects for concept essay topics. If you are feeling stuck coming up with ideas for essays, just set aside a few hours to walk around your city or town and take photos. This type of photowalk can be a great source of material.

You’ll soon find that advanced planning is critical to your success. Brainstorming topics, conducting research, creating a storyboard, and outlining a shot list can help ensure you capture the photos you need to tell your story. After you’ve finished shooting, you’ll need to decide where to house your photo essay. You may need to come up with photo album title ideas, write captions, and choose the best medium and layout.

Without question, creating a photo essay can be a valuable experience for any photographer. That’s true whether you’re an amateur completing a high school assignment or a pro looking to hone new skills. You can start small with an essay on a subject you know well and then move into conquering difficult ideas. Maybe you’ll want to create a photo essay on mental illness or a photo essay on climate change. Or maybe there’s another cause that is close to your heart.

Whatever your passion, you can bring it to life with a photo essay.

JOIN OVER 81,825 and receive weekly updates!

Comments are closed.

Photo Contest Insider

The world’s largest collection of photo contests.

Photo contests are manually reviewed by our team to ensure only the very best make it on to our website. It’s our policy to only list photo contests that are fair.

Subscription

Register now to get updates on promotions and offers

DISCLAIMER:

• Photo Contest Filter
• Get FREE Contest Updates

Photo Contest Insider © 2009 - 2024

Advertise Submit Badges Help Terms Privacy Unsubscribe Do Not Sell My Information

• Archive from 2022 July
• Archive 1960 to 2022 June
• Accepted Articles
• Published Ahead-of-Print
• For Authors

Writing a pictorial essay

Share this Article

Peh WCG, Ng KH Correspondence: Prof Wilfred CG Peh, [email protected]

ABSTRACT A pictorial essay is a type of educational article that aims to provide both textual and visual portrayals of a topical issue. It usually consists of a short unstructured abstract, brief introduction, subheadings to organise the material and a summary. The number of references is limited to a few key articles, typically, eight to 15, or fewer. The text is usually short, often approximately 1,000 to 2,000 words in length, with much of the message contained in the figure legends. This type of article allows for a large number of figures, typically up to 20 figures or 30 figure parts. The main criteria for publication are currency, educational value and high quality of illustrations.

• Student Successes
• My Learning

17 Awesome Photo Essay Examples You Should Try Yourself

You can also select your interests for free access to our premium training:

If you’re looking for a photo essay example (or 17!), you’ve come to the right place. But what is the purpose of a photo essay? A photo essay is intended to tell a story or evoke emotion from the viewers through a series of photographs. They allow you to be creative and fully explore an idea. But how do you make one yourself? Here’s a list of photo essay examples. Choose one that you can easily do based on your photographic level and equipment.

Top 17 Photo Essay Examples

Here are some fantastic ideas to get you inspired to create your own photo essays!

17. Photograph a Protest

16. Transformation Photo Essays

15. Photograph the Same Place

14. Create a Photowalk

13. Follow the Change

12. Photograph a Local Event

11. Photograph an Abandoned Building

10. Behind the Scenes of a Photo Shoot

9. Capture Street Fashion

8. Landmark Photo Essay

7. Fathers & Children

6. A Day In the Life

5. Education Photo Essay

4. Fictitious Meals

3. Photograph Coffee Shops Using Cafenol

2. Photograph the Photographers

1. Capture the Neighbors

Photo essays tell stories. And there are plenty of amazingly interesting stories to tell! Photographing photo essays is a great way to practice your photography skills while having fun. You might even learn something! These photo essay examples are here to provide you with the inspiration to go out and tell your own stories through photos!

Popular Content

23 Photo Essay Ideas and Examples (to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing!)

A Post By: Kevin Landwer-Johan

Looking for inspiration? Our 23 photo essay ideas will take your photography skills to new heights!

A single, strong photograph can convey a lot of information about its subject – but sometimes we have topics that require more than one image to do the job. That’s when it’s time to make a photo essay: a collection of pictures that together tell the bigger story around a chosen theme.

In the following sections, we’ll explore various photo essay ideas and examples that cover a wide range of subjects and purposes. From capturing the growth of your children to documenting local festivals, each idea offers an exciting opportunity to tell a story through your lens, whether you’re a hobbyist or a veteran professional.

So grab your camera, unleash your creativity, and let’s delve into the wonderful world of photo essay examples!

What is a photo essay?

Simply put, a photo essay is a series of carefully selected images woven together to tell a story or convey a message. Think of it as a visual narrative that designed to capture attention and spark emotions.

Now, these images can revolve around a broad theme or focus on a specific storyline. For instance, you might create a photo essay celebrating the joy of companionship by capturing 10 heartwarming pictures of people sharing genuine laughter. On the other hand, you could have a photo essay delving into the everyday lives of fishermen in Wales by following a single fisherman’s journey for a day or even a week.

It’s important to note that photo essays don’t necessarily have to stick to absolute truth. While some documentary photographers prefer to keep it authentic, others may employ techniques like manipulation or staging to create a more artistic impact. So there is room for creativity and interpretation.

Why you should create a photo essay

Photo essays have a way of expressing ideas and stories that words sometimes struggle to capture. They offer a visual narrative that can be incredibly powerful and impactful.

Firstly, photo essays are perfect when you have an idea or a point you want to convey, but you find yourself at a loss for words. Sometimes, emotions and concepts are better conveyed through images rather than paragraphs. So if you’re struggling to articulate a message, you can let your photos do the talking for you.

Second, if you’re interested in subjects that are highly visual, like the mesmerizing forms of architecture within a single city, photo essays are the way to go. Trying to describe the intricate details of a building or the play of light and shadows with words alone can be challenging. But through a series of captivating images, you can immerse your audience in the architecture.

And finally, if you’re aiming to evoke emotions or make a powerful statement, photo essays are outstanding. Images have an incredible ability to shock, inspire, and move people in ways that words often struggle to achieve. So if you want to raise awareness about an environmental issue or ignite a sense of empathy, a compelling series of photographs can have a profound impact.

Photo essay examples and ideas

Looking to create a photo essay but don’t know where to start? Here are some handy essay ideas and examples for inspiration!

1. A day in the life

Your first photo essay idea is simple: Track a life over the course of one day. You might make an essay about someone else’s life. Or the life of a location, such as the sidewalk outside your house. 

The subject matter you choose is up to you. But start in the morning and create a series of images showing your subject over the course of a typical day.

(Alternatively, you can document your subject on a special day, like a birthday, a wedding, or some other celebration.)

2. Capture hands

Portraits focus on a subject’s face – but why not mix it up and make a photo essay that focuses on your subject’s hands?

(You can also focus on a collection of different people’s hands.)

Hands can tell you a lot about a person. And showing them in context is a great way to narrate a story.

3. Follow a sports team for a full season

Sports are all about emotions – both from the passionate players and the dedicated fans. While capturing the intensity of a single game can be exhilarating, imagine the power of telling the complete story of a team throughout an entire season.

For the best results, you’ll need to invest substantial time in sports photography. Choose a team that resonates with you and ensure their games are within a drivable distance. By photographing their highs and lows, celebrations and challenges, you’ll create a compelling photo essay that traces their journey from the first game to the last.

4. A child and their parent

Photographs that catch the interaction between parents and children are special. A parent-child connection is strong and unique, so making powerful images isn’t challenging. You just need to be ready to capture the special moments as they happen. 

You might concentrate on a parent teaching their child. Or the pair playing sports. Or working on a special project.

Use your imagination, and you’ll have a great time with this theme.

5. Tell a local artist’s story 

I’ve always enjoyed photographing artists as they work; studios have a creative vibe, so the energy is already there. Bring your camera into this environment and try to tell the artist’s story!

An artist’s studio offers plenty of opportunities for wonderful photo essays. Think about the most fascinating aspects of the artist’s process. What do they do that makes their art special? Aim to show this in your photos.

Many people appreciate fine art, but they’re often not aware of what happens behind the scenes. So documenting an artist can produce fascinating visual stories.

6. Show a tradesperson’s process

Do you have a plumber coming over to fix your kitchen sink? Is a builder making you a new deck?

Take photos while they work! Tell them what you want to do before you start, and don’t forget to share your photos with them.

They’ll probably appreciate seeing what they do from another perspective. They may even want to use your photos on their company website.

7. Photograph your kids as they grow

There’s something incredibly special about documenting the growth of our little ones. Kids grow up so quickly – before you know it, they’re moving out. Why not capture the beautiful moments along the way by creating a heartwarming photo essay that showcases their growth?

There are various approaches you can take, but one idea is to capture regular photos of your kids standing in front of a distinct point of reference, such as the refrigerator. Over a year or several years, you can gather these images and place them side by side to witness your childrens’ incredible transformations.

8. Cover a local community event

A school fundraiser, a tree-planting day at a park, or a parade; these are are all community events that make for good photo essay ideas.

Think like a photojournalist . What type of images would your editor want? Make sure to capture some wide-angle compositions , some medium shots, and some close-ups.

(Getting in close to show the details can often tell as much of a story as the wider pictures.)

9. Show fresh market life

Markets are great for photography because there’s always plenty of activity and lots of characters. Think of how you can best illustrate the flow of life at the market. What are the vendors doing that’s most interesting? What are the habits of the shoppers?

Look to capture the essence of the place. Try to portray the people who work and shop there.

10. Shoot the same location over time

What location do you visit regularly? Is there a way you can make an interesting photo essay about it?

Consider what you find most attractive and ugly about the place. Look for aspects that change over time. 

Any outdoor location will look different throughout the day. Also think about the changes that occur from season to season. Create an essay that tells the story of the place.

11. Document a local festival

Festivals infuse cities and towns with vibrant energy and unique cultural experiences. Even if your own town doesn’t have notable festivals, chances are a neighboring town does. Explore the magic of these celebrations by documenting a local festival through your lens.

Immerse yourself in the festivities, arriving early and staying late. Capture the colorful displays and the people who make the festival come alive. If the festival spans multiple days, consider focusing on different areas each time you visit to create a diverse and comprehensive photo essay that truly reflects the essence of the event.

12. Photograph a garden through the seasons

It might be your own garden . It could be the neighbor’s. It could even be the garden at your local park.

Think about how the plants change during the course of a year. Capture photos of the most significant visual differences, then present them as a photo essay.

13. Show your local town or city

After spending several years in a particular area, you likely possess an intimate knowledge of your local town or city. Why not utilize that familiarity to create a captivating photo essay that showcases the essence of your community?

Delve into what makes your town special, whether it’s the charming streets, unique landmarks, or the people who shape its character. Dedicate time to capturing the diverse aspects that define your locale. If you’re up for a more extensive project, consider photographing the town over the course of an entire year, capturing the changing seasons and the dynamic spirit of your community.

14. Pick a local cause to highlight

Photo essays can go beyond passive documentation; they can become a part of your activism, too!

So find a cause that matters to you. Tell the story of some aspect of community life that needs improvement. Is there an ongoing issue with litter in your area? How about traffic; is there a problematic intersection?

Document these issues, then make sure to show the photos to people responsible for taking action.

15. Making a meal

Photo essay ideas can be about simple, everyday things – like making a meal or a coffee.

How can you creatively illustrate something that seems so mundane? My guess is that, when you put your mind to it, you can come up with many unique perspectives, all of which will make great stories.

16. Capture the life of a flower

In our fast-paced lives, it’s easy to overlook the beauty that surrounds us. Flowers, with their mesmerizing colors and rapid life cycles, offer a captivating subject for a photo essay. Try to slow down and appreciate the intricate details of a flower’s existence.

With a macro lens in hand, document a single flower or a patch of flowers from their initial shoots to their inevitable wilting and decomposition. Experiment with different angles and perspectives to bring viewers into the enchanting world of the flower. By freezing these fleeting moments, you’ll create a visual narrative that celebrates the cycle of life and the exquisite beauty found in nature’s delicate creations.

17. Religious traditions

Religion is often rich with visual expression in one form or another. So capture it!

Of course, you may need to narrow down your ideas and choose a specific aspect of worship to photograph. Aim to show what people do when they visit a holy place, or how they pray on their own. Illustrate what makes their faith real and what’s special about it.

18. Historic sites

Historic sites are often iconic, and plenty of photographers take a snapshot or two.

But with a photo essay, you can illustrate the site’s history in greater depth.

Look for details of the location that many visitors miss. And use these to build an interesting story.

19. Show the construction of a building

Ever been away from a familiar place for a while only to return and find that things have changed? It happens all the time, especially in areas undergoing constant development. So why not grab your camera and document this transformation?

Here’s the idea: Find a building that’s currently under construction in your area. It could be a towering skyscraper, a modern office complex, or even a small-scale residential project. Whatever catches your eye! Then let the magic of photography unfold.

Make it a habit to take a photo every day or two. Watch as the building gradually takes shape and evolves. Capture the construction workers in action, the cranes reaching for the sky, and the scaffolding supporting the structure.

Once the building is complete, you’ll have a treasure trove of images that chronicle its construction from start to finish!

20. Document the changing skyline of the city

This photo essay example is like the previous one, except it works on a much larger scale. Instead of photographing a single building as it’s built, find a nice vantage point outside your nearest city, then photograph the changing skyline.

To create a remarkable photo essay showcasing the changing skyline, you’ll need to scout out the perfect vantage point. Seek high ground that offers a commanding view of the city, allowing you to frame the skyline against the horizon. Look for spots that give you an unobstructed perspective, whether a rooftop terrace, a hillside park, or even a nearby bridge.

As you set out on your photography expedition, be patient and observant. Cities don’t transform overnight; they change gradually over time. Embrace the passage of days, weeks, and months as you witness the slow evolution unfold.

Pro tip: To capture the essence of this transformation, experiment with various photographic techniques. Play with different angles, framing, and compositions to convey the grandeur and dynamism of the changing skyline. Plus, try shooting during the golden hours of sunrise and sunset , when the soft light bathes the city in a warm glow and accentuates the architectural details.

21. Photograph your pet

If you’re a pet owner, you already have the perfect subject for a photo essay!

All pets , with the possible exception of pet rocks, will provide you with a collection of interesting moments to photograph.

So collect these moments with your camera – then display them as a photo essay showing the nature and character of your pet.

22. Tell the story of a local nature preserve

Ah, the wonders of a local nature preserve! While it may not boast the grandeur of Yosemite National Park, these hidden gems hold their own beauty, just waiting to be discovered and captured through the lens of your camera.

To embark on this type of photo essay adventure, start by exploring all the nooks and crannies of your chosen nature preserve. Wander along its winding trails, keeping an eye out for unique and captivating subjects that convey the essence of the preserve.

As you go along, try to photograph the intricate details of delicate wildflowers, the interplay of light filtering through a dense forest canopy, and the lively activities of birds and other wildlife.

23. Show the same subject from multiple perspectives

It’s possible to create an entire photo essay in a single afternoon – or even in a handful of minutes. If you don’t love the idea of dedicating yourself to days of photographing for a single essay, this is a great option.

Simply find a subject you like, then endeavor to capture 10 unique images that include it. I’d recommend photographing from different angles: up above, down low, from the right and left. You can also try getting experimental with creative techniques, such as intentional camera movement and freelensing. If all goes well, you’ll have a very cool set of images featuring one of your favorite subjects!

By showcasing the same subject from multiple perspectives, you invite viewers on a visual journey. They get to see different facets, textures, and details that they might have overlooked in a single photograph. It adds depth and richness to your photo essay, making it both immersive and dynamic.

Photo essay ideas: final words

Remember: Photo essays are all about communicating a concept or a story through images rather than words. So embrace the process and use images to express yourself!

Whether you choose to follow a sports team through a thrilling season, document the growth of your little ones, or explore the hidden treasures of your local town, each photo essay has its own magic waiting to be unlocked. It’s a chance to explore your creativity and create images in your own style.

So look at the world around you. Grab your gear and venture out into the wild. Embrace the beauty of nature, the energy of a bustling city, or the quiet moments that make life special. Consider what you see every day. What aspects interest you the most? Photograph those things.

You’re bound to end up with some amazing photo essays!

Now over to you:

Do you have any photo essay examples you’re proud of? Do you have any more photo essay ideas? Share your thoughts and images in the comments below!

Read more from our Tips & Tutorials category

Kevin Landwer-Johan is a photographer, photography teacher, and author with over 30 years of experience that he loves to share with others.

Check out his website and his Buy Me a Coffee page .

• Guaranteed for 2 full months
• Pay by PayPal or Credit Card
• Instant Digital Download

• All our best articles for the week
• Fun photographic challenges
• Special offers and discounts

CSC 1040 - Pictorial Essay Guidelines

The pictorial essay is a semester-long project in which you assemble images to present a topic of your choice. Instead of using words, you will be using images to relate your subject. With these images you will weave support for your ideas about the subject. Some of the guidelines for written essays apply here too:

• Clear topic: Choose a topic that matters to you and that you know well. Your essay topic need not to be grandiose, many fine-grain subjects make fine essay topics.
• Stay focused while presenting many facets: Your in depth understanding, appreciation and keen observation on the subject are the important ingredients to a successful essay.
• Build support for your ideas, flesh them out: Try to convey your enthusiasm and interest in the subject. Aim to convince, bring the viewer to your way of thinking
• Originality: An image is considered original if it is either a photograph that you have taken or created yourself by using Photoshop or some other digital image manipulation software. You can use someone else's image(s) as a starting point, for example, by combining them or manipulating a particular image so as to create something new. What counts is not how much you have modified an image, but that the overall sense or message conveyed by the resulting image must be original to you.
• Create a logical structure: In terms of organization (logical structure) divide it into approximately 6 "chapters" around which you work your ideas. Each chapter should contain several original images that you have collected.
• Presentation matters (even more than in the written essay!)

Grading of pictorial essay

• Quality of composition and images
• PowerPoint slides
• Oral presentation
• Animation or Movie (made with Alice, Movie Maker, JES, etc.)

Last Class Meeting of the Semester presentations will consist of each group...

• Presenting their PowerPoint slides to the class
• Walking us through their website, including showing us content such as movies or animations
• Presenting their poster
• Handling Q&A about their design process and what they did

What is a Pictorial Essay? How to Write It Effectively?

Place an order now.

Free Revisions And Money Back Guarantee

Penned down by an experienced essay writer in our team, this article defines a pictorial essay and gives a complete guide to writing a pictorial essay:

What is a Pictorial Essay?

A pictorial essay is a creative and unique way to convey your message. It is unique in the sense that pictures are incorporated into the content to disseminate the message. You may have heard the phrase that a picture is worth thousands of words. It is a befitting depiction in the case of the pictorial essay. Traditionally, you write to convey your sentiments, events, ideas, and thoughts to others by choosing the best possible words. However, you can also use pictures in your traditional essays, but it will not be a pictorial essay. It will be a kind of illustration to support your writing.

In contrast, the pictorial essay is a set of organized images to make your point across. Furthermore, here the role of writing is reversed, and it is used to support and describe pictures. The most intriguing moment of the pictorial essay is that it offers the visualization that a written text can never provide. In the meanwhile, images remain the fundamental tool for writers. Now. It’s time to look at the nitty-gritty of the pictorial essay.

Some Tips To Write A Perfect Pictorial Essay:

The best achievers in your team have shared a few simple tips that you must at least review to write an essay of pictorial type that can amaze your audience.

Understand Your Topic:

Firstly, you have to get a firm grip on your topic of discussion. To write an excellent pictorial or traditional essay, it is crucial to know the nitty-gritty of the subject. Yes, writing down the words to express your thoughts is the last step in writing; however, knowing your purpose for writing and brainstorming ideas to get started are some of the preliminary steps. Though sometimes you cannot understand some concepts in the way they are, getting assistance from experts immediately is the most effective solution to this problem as well. Shortly, only after understanding the topic, the best pictures portraying the exact situation can be selected.

Target Your Audience:

The identification of the audience has been a vital part of the pictorial essay. It would be better if you knew the audience of your topic. For instance, if the audience of your pictorial essay is children, then it won’t be good to talk about common societal problems. A case in point is to portray a political issue would be futile for the children. They will immediately lose interest. Therefore, you need to make your presentation more colourful and joyful by incorporating the relevant elements into your essay. It would be best if you chose the difficulty level according to the targeted audience of your pictorial essay as well .

Define The Purpose Of Your Pictorial Essay:

It would be best if you define the purpose of your essay. You have to decide whether your essay will be persuasive, descriptive, narrative, or expository. For example, if you are persuading the audience to take specific courses of action, you have to select the pictures accordingly. You have to interlink elements to fulfil your unitary message. It also indicated that your essay must be comprised of unity. Similarly, your pictures must reflect your outlined purpose. The relevant images can only deliver your intended message. Therefore it also makes it a little bit more difficult than traditional essays. You cannot use long sentences to further explain your point of view though it can be reflected through images.

Take Some Extra Photos:

It is always a good idea to take some extra photos for your pictorial paper. It will allow you to have a broader range of options to add photos to your paper. A quarter of your photos are better than none at all. Even though some images may seem helpful while you’re preparing and collecting material, they may not be your best bet once you’ve completed the bulk of your essay. Therefore, having more photos will help you replace the bad ones with better ones. To avoid this, don’t be afraid to take a lot of photos before. If you have a hundred images, take your time and select a few dozen of them. Having as many images as possible increases the likelihood that your essay will be interesting and diverse to be appreciated by your audience.

Organize Your Photos To Structure The Paper:

The structure of any paper has paramount importance in increasing its readability. You need to arrange your photos in an organized way to make a storyline for your pictorial essay. You can use tools like word processing to prepare a presentation of your essay. It will be succinct and engaging for the audience.

Add Your Photos With Required Description:

Initiate the process by adding pictures to your site, and then immediately add descriptions and necessary ones to explain it. Keep in mind that the text should only be used to help the reader understand your view. Text description will basically come in handy if you see that some images are unlikely to reveal your background story.

Relate Your Pictures With The Topic:

One of the common mistakes is that people start writing the text part first. It leads to divergences and transgression of the topic. Therefore, you need to focus more on images than the written text. You have to identify the most relevant pictures to your topic to describe your general ideas. Furthermore, each photo must depict the concise and relevant point of your primary topic. Here, relevancy is the profound factor in the process of writing a pictorial essay. The factors like coherence and relevance also need to be taken into account at this stage.

Write Text To Support And Explain Images:

You need to ensure that the written text is supporting and explains images. So you have to write descriptions according to each picture of your pictorial essay. For instance, if some image is hilarious, you have to highlight what is hilarious about it by writing a text. Furthermore, you have to ensure a consistent tone and tenor throughout your essay, just like traditional essays. It is essential to make your essay coherent and focused on the topic.

How Long Is A Pictorial Essay?

The main formula for drafting a pictorial essay is to use images rather than words. However, both images and text (though brief) are important to be added in such essays. But it often does not exceed more than 1000 to 2000 words; rather, some of the messages are confined to the figure legends. In contrast to traditional essay writing tasks, where you have to write even 20,000 words with no more than 10 to 20 pictures, pictorial essays contain at least 20-30 pictures along with only 1000 words. Taking into account this requirement, it would not be wrong to say that pictorial essays require writers to pay more attention to graphics than words.

What Are The Types Of Pictorial Essays?

Adding pictures to explain your point of view is worth doing to help the audience easily digest even the most difficult or complex idea, but the same task can be completed in two different ways. Yes, pictorial essays are usually classified into two types, namely, thematic or narrative. Thematic essays help to design or collect photos that speak about a common point in one way or another. However, the narrative essay arranges photos that tell the story on its own.

What Is The Pictorial Format?

If you only have to add pictures to your essay, then it is quite obvious that the quality of your essay will be marked by the quality of all photos. Remember, only the best-quality pictures can evoke emotions and allow viewers to delve into the process. Usually, photos in any format can be added in pictorial essays, but JPG or JPEG means Joint Photographic Experts Group is the most recommended format.

What Is The Shortest Way To Pictorial Writing?

The very basic trick to deal with such tasks is to let your photos speak. However, detailed preparation is required to speak only by pictures. First, review the photo and know what it is trying to portray. Second, try to fix your ideas within the frame of the picture. Third, write short sentences or picture legends to clear the viewers’ doubts, if any. Keep following the same trick to end up with an exciting story.

The Bottom Line:

In short, you can convey a message creatively and effectively with the help of a pictorial essay. It also helps in removing the tedious factors by incorporating strong images or pictures into the essay. Furthermore, it is extremely important even for the layperson to understand your scholarly view due to the presence of graphics into it or a pictorial view. Likely, it can lead to more organic traffic to your essays as compared to traditional ones. You can deliver a more extensive and profound message in style. Therefore, you can also use the steps mentioned above to deliver your message effectively by appealing to the audience via pictures.

Recent Posts

A Step-by-Step Tutorial to Write PhD Personal Statement

PhD Thesis Structure Explained - A Step-by-Step Breakdown

Top 8 Tips for Selecting the Best Management Assignment Help Service

50 Engaging College Essay Topics for 2024-25 to Impress Your Tutor

How to Start a College Essay - Complete Guide by UK Academic Essayist

APA Assignment Format - A Comprehensive Guide (Examples Included)

Payment & security.

The Academic Papers UK guarantees the privacy of all customers and never shares their personal information with third parties at any cost. For more details read our Privacy Policy.

Picturing the Personal Essay: A Visual Guide

A design professor from Denmark once drew for me a picture of the creative process, which had been the subject of his doctoral dissertation. “Here,” he said. “This is what it looks like”:

Nothing is wasted though, said the design professor, because every bend in the process is helping you to arrive at your necessary structure. By trying a different angle or creating a composite of past approaches, you get closer and closer to what you intend. You begin to delineate the organic form that will match your content.

The remarkable thing about personal essays, which openly mimic this exploratory process, is that they can be so quirky in their “shape.” No diagram matches the exact form that evolves, and that is because the best essayists resist predictable approaches. They refuse to limit themselves to generic forms, which, like mannequins, can be tricked out in personal clothing. Nevertheless, recognizing a few basic underlying structures may help an essay writer invent a more personal, more unique form. Here, then, are several main options.

Narrative with a lift

Take, for example, Jo Ann Beard’s essay “The Fourth State of Matter.” The narrator, abandoned by her husband, is caring for a dying dog and going to work at a university office to which an angry graduate student has brought a gun. The sequence of scenes matches roughly the unfolding of real events, but there is suspense to pull us along, represented by questions we want answered. In fact, within Beard’s narrative, two sets of questions, correlating to parallel subplots, create a kind of double tension. When the setting is Beard’s house, we wonder, “Will she find a way to let go of the dying dog, not to mention her failing marriage?” And when she’s at work, we find ourselves asking, “What about the guy with the gun? How will he impact her one ‘safe place’?”

One interesting side note: trauma, which is a common source for personal essays, can easily cause an author to get stuck on the sort of plateau Kittredge described. Jo Ann Beard, while clearly wrestling with the immobilizing impact of her own trauma, found a way to keep the reader moving both forward and upward, until the rising tension reached its inevitable climax: the graduate student firing his gun. I have seen less-experienced writers who, by contrast, seem almost to jog in place emotionally, clutching at a kind of post-traumatic scar tissue.

The whorl of reflection

Let’s set aside narrative, though, since it is not the only mode for a personal essay. In fact, most essays are more topical or reflective, which means they don’t move through time in a linear fashion as short stories do.

One of the benefits of such a circling approach is that it seems more organic, just like the mind’s creative process. It also allows for a wider variety of perspectives—illuminating the subject from multiple angles. A classic example would be “Under the Influence,” Scott Russell Sanders’s essay about his alcoholic father. Instead of luring us up the chronological slope of plot, Sanders spirals around his father’s drinking, leading us to a wide range of realizations about alcoholism: how it gets portrayed in films, how it compares to demon-possession in the Bible, how it results in violence in other families, how it raises the author’s need for control, and even how it influences the next generation through his workaholic over-compensation. We don’t read an essay like this out of plot-driven suspense so much as for the pleasure of being surprised, again and again, by new perspective and new insight.

The formal limits of focus

My own theory is that most personal essayists, because of a natural ability to extrapolate, do not struggle to find subjects to write about. Writer’s block is not their problem since their minds overflow with remembered experiences and related ideas. While a fiction writer may need to invent from scratch, adding and adding, the essayist usually needs to do the opposite, deleting and deleting. As a result, nonfiction creativity is best demonstrated by what has been left out. The essay is a figure locked in a too-large-lump of personal experience, and the good essayist chisels away all unnecessary material.

Virginia Woolf’s “Street Haunting” is an odd but useful model. She limits that essay to a single evening walk in London, ostensibly taken to buy a pencil. I suspect Woolf gave herself permission to combine incidents from several walks in London, but no matter. The essay feels “brought together” by the imposed limits of time and place.

As it happens, “Street Haunting” is also an interesting prototype for a kind of essay quite popular today: the segmented essay. Although the work is unified by the frame of a single evening stroll, it can also be seen as a combination of many individual framed moments. If we remove the purpose of the journey—to find a pencil—the essay falls neatly into a set of discrete scenes with related reveries: a daydreaming lady witnessed through a window, a dwarfish woman trying on shoes, an imagined gathering of royalty on the other side of a palace wall, and eventually the arguing of a married couple in the shop where Woolf finally gets her pencil.

Dipping into the well

Our attention to thematic unity brings up one more important dynamic in most personal essays. Not only do we have a horizontal movement through time, but there is also a vertical descent into meaning. As a result, essayists will often pause the forward motion to dip into a thematic well.

In fact, Berry uses several of these loops of reflective commentary, and though they seem to be digressions, temporarily pulling the reader away from the forward flow of the plot, they develop an essential second layer to the essay.

Braided and layered structures

Want an example? Look at Judith Kitchen’s three-page essay “Culloden,” which manages to leap back and forth quite rapidly, from a rain-pelted moor in 18th-century Scotland to 19th-century farms in America to the blasted ruins of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the author’s birthday. The sentences themselves suggest the impressionistic effect that Kitchen is after, being compressed to fragments, rid of the excess verbiage we expect in formal discourse: “Late afternoon. The sky hunkers down, presses, like a lover, against the land. Small sounds. A far sheep, faint barking. . . .” And as the images accumulate, layer upon layer, we begin to feel the author’s fundamental mood, a painful awareness of her own inescapable mortality. We begin to encounter the piece on a visceral level that is more intuitive than rational. Like a poem, in prose.

Coming Full Circle

First of all, endings are related to beginnings. That’s why many essays seem to circle back to where they began. Annie Dillard, in her widely anthologized piece “Living Like Weasels,” opens with a dried-out weasel skull that is attached, like a pendant, to the throat of a living eagle—macabre proof that the weasel was carried aloft to die and be torn apart. Then, at the end of the essay, Dillard alludes to the skull again, stating, “I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you.”

See how deftly Dillard accomplishes this effect simply by positing one last imagined or theoretical possibility—a way of life she hopes to master, that we ourselves might master: “Seize it and let it seize you up aloft even, till your eyes burn out and drop; let your musky flesh fall off in shreds, and let your very bones unhinge and scatter, loosened over fields, over fields and woods, lightly, thoughtless, from any height at all, from as high as eagles.” Yes, the essay has come full circle, echoing the opening image of the weasel’s skull, but it also points away, beyond itself, to something yet to be realized. The ending both closes and opens at the same time.

All diagrams rendered by Claire Bascom. An earlier version of this essay appeared in Volume I, issue 1 of The Essay Review .

This essay is fabulously This essay is fabulously useful! I’ll be showing it to my creative writing students semester after semester, I’m sure. I appreciate the piece’s clarity and use of perfect examples.

I love the succinct diagrams and cited writing examples. Very instructive and useful as A.P. comments above. I also loved that I had read the Woolf journey to buy a pencil–one of my favorite essays because it is such a familiar experience–that of observing people.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

More results...

Browse Articles

Diagnostic Radiology, Pictorial Essay

Intraperitoneal anatomy with the aid of pathologic fluid and gas: An imaging pictorial review

Matthew Montanarella, Kimberly Boldig, Mayur Virarkar, Sindhu Kumar, Sherif Elsherif, Chandana Lall, Dheeraj Reddy Gopireddy

J Clin Imaging Sci 13 (13) (19th May, 2023)

Dual-energy computed tomography of the abdomen: A reliable trouble-shooter

Viswanath Anand Chidambaram, Mindy Chu Ming Choong, Chaitra Dhiraj Goud

J Clin Imaging Sci 13 (12) (21st April, 2023)

Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Pictorial Essay

Imaging of penetrating vascular trauma of the body and extremities secondary to ballistic and stab wounds

Dheeraj Reddy Gopireddy, Joanna W. Kee-Sampson, Sai Swarupa Reddy Vulasala, Rachel Stein, Sindhu Kumar, Mayur Virarkar

J Clin Imaging Sci 13 (1) (3rd January, 2023)

Neuroradiology Head and Neck Imaging, Pictorial Essay

Role of imaging in penetrating vascular injuries of the craniocervical region

Joanna W. Kee-Sampson, Dheeraj Reddy Gopireddy, Sai Swarupa Reddy Vulasala, Rachel Stein, Sindhu Kumar, Mayur Virarkar

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (63) (3rd December, 2022)

Catheter-directed computed tomography angiography: A pictorial essay

Abheek Ghosh, Ellen Moxley, Suneet Waghmarae, James Stoner, Sheena Anand, Nabeel M. Akhter

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (49) (18th August, 2022)

Musculoskeletal Imaging, Pictorial Essay

Chordoma at the skull base, spine, and sacrum: A pictorial essay

Sin Hang Lee, Kai Yan Kwok, Sin Man Wong, Chik Xing Jason Chan, Yu Ting Wong, Man Lung Tsang

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (44) (5th August, 2022)

The many faces of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP)

Christopher Kloth, Wolfgang Maximilian Thaiss, Meinrad Beer, Hans Bösmüller, Karolin Baumgartner, Jan Fritz, Marius Horger

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (29) (3rd June, 2022)

Plain X-ray findings of post sleeve gastrectomy gastric leak

Sultan R Alharbi

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (28) (12th May, 2022)

Imaging findings and interventional management of deep venous thrombosis

Hussam Hindi, Gauthier Dongmo, Alyssa Goodwin, Sean Jones, Kristian Loveridge

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (26) (12th May, 2022)

Cardiopulmonary Imaging, Pictorial Essay

Pictorial review of computed tomography features of diffuse cystic lung disease

Yi Lam Priscilla Chan, Chun Hung Kevin Yu, Wing Ho Chong, Kai Yan Kwok, Allen Li

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (11) (17th March, 2022)

Different facets of intracranial central nervous system lymphoma and its imaging mimics

Hoi Ming Kwok, Kwok Yan Li, Rois L. S. Chan, Chi Hin Chan, Stephen Ka Hon Wong, Chiu Man Lee, Lik Fai Cheng, Johnny Ka Fai Ma

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (4) (4th February, 2022)

Neuroradiology, Pictorial Essay

A myriad spectrum of seizures on magnetic resonance imaging – A pictorial essay

Rahul Karthik Lingutla, Ajit Mahale, Akshatha R. Bhat, Sonali Ullal

J Clin Imaging Sci 12 (3) (21st January, 2022)

Gastrointestinal Imaging, Pictorial Essay

Added value of iodine-specific imaging and virtual non-contrast imaging for gastrointestinal assessment using dual-energy computed tomography

Madison R. Kocher, Mark D. Kovacs, William Stewart, Brian P. Flemming, Shaun Hinen, Andrew D. Hardie

J Clin Imaging Sci 11 (68) (23rd December, 2021)

Pediatric Imaging, Pictorial Essay

Application of 7 tesla magnetic resonance imaging for pediatric neurological disorders: Early clinical experience

Kenichi Yamada, Junichi Yoshimura, Masaki Watanabe, Kiyotaka Suzuki

J Clin Imaging Sci 11 (65) (2nd December, 2021)

Breast Imaging, Pictorial Essay

Enhancement patterns in contrast mammography – A pictorial essay

Gesine Peters, Anne Margaret Lynch, Johannes Peters

J Clin Imaging Sci 11 (63) (26th November, 2021)

Computed Tomography for Calcaneal Fractures: Adding Value to the Radiology Report

Hoi Ming Kwok, Nin Yuan Pan, Fung Him Ng

J Clin Imaging Sci 11 (59) (9th November, 2021)

Pregnancy Associated Breast Cancer

Frances Perez, Ashley Bragg, Gary Whitman

J Clin Imaging Sci 11 (49) (21st September, 2021)

Imaging of Noncalcified Ductal Carcinoma

Ashley Bragg, Rosalind Candelaria, Beatriz Adrada, Monica Huang, Gaiane Rauch, Lumarie Santiago, Marion Scoggins, Gary Whitman

J Clin Imaging Sci 11 (34) (16th June, 2021)

Hybrid Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Computed Tomography Bone Scan for Diagnosis Of Avascular Necrosis of Femoral Head

Fung Him Ng, Terence Kin Bong Lai, Sun Yu Lam, Nin Yuan Pan, Wing Hang Luk

J Clin Imaging Sci 11 (2) (12th January, 2021)

Imaging in Pulsatile Tinnitus: Case Based Review

Girish Bathla, Amogh Hegde, Prashant Nagpal, Amit Agarwal

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (84) (20th December, 2020)

Abdominal Radiology, Pictorial Essay

Spectrum of CT Findings Related to Bowel Adhesions Without Bowel Obstruction: A Comprehensive Imaging Review

Dheeraj Reddy Gopireddy, Erik Soule, Hina Arif-Tiwari, Smita Sharma, Devaraju Kanmaniraja, Kapila Jain, Haley Letter, Chandana Lall

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (80) (10th December, 2020)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Anal Region: Clinical Applications

Giuseppe Cicero, Giorgio Ascenti, Alfredo Blandino, Socrate Pallio, Claudia Abate, Tommaso D’Angelo, Silvio Mazziotti

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (76) (21st November, 2020)

Nuclear Medicine, Pictorial Essay

Combined Intravenous Urogram and 68Ga-PSMA PET/ CT for Improved Staging and Restaging of Prostate Cancer

Rhiannon McBean, Anisa Kumari, Louise McEwan, James Walters, David Wong

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (67) (24th October, 2020)

Malpositioned Lines and Tubes on Chest Radiograph – A Concise Pictorial Review

Muthu Kumar Sakthivel, Thangavijayan Bosemani, Leon Bacchus, Ertan Pamuklar

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (66) (22nd October, 2020)

Lipemia Retinalis in a Patient with Familial Hypertriglyceridemia

Patrick Wang, Eric K. Chin, David R. P. Almeida

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (64) (17th October, 2020)

Vascular Trauma in the Head and Neck and Endovascular Neurointerventional Management

Jeet Patel, Thien J. Huynh, Dinesh Rao, Grzegorz Brzezicki

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (44) (30th July, 2020)

PICTORIAL ESSAY

Adverse Events in Coronavirus Disease Patients Management: A Pictorial Essay

Salvatore Alessio Angileri, Mario Petrillo, Letizia Di Meglio, Antonio Arrichiello, Giovanni Maria Rodà, Anna Maria Ierardi, Raman Uberoi, Gianpaolo Carrafiello

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (42) (21st July, 2020)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Diaphragm: From Normal to Pathologic Findings

Giuseppe Cicero, Silvio Mazziotti, Alfredo Blandino, Francesca Granata, Michele Gaeta

J Clin Imaging Sci 10 (1) (13th January, 2020)

Nonconventional Options for Tumor Localization in Breast and Axillary Lymph Nodes: A Pictorial How-To

Naziya Samreen, Christine U Lee, Asha A Bhatt

J Clin Imaging Sci 8 (54) (12th December, 2018)

Tomosynthesis-Guided Core Biopsy of the Breast: Why and How to Use it

Kyungmin Shin, Davis Teichgraeber, Sarah Martaindale, Gary J Whitman

J Clin Imaging Sci 8 (28) (31st July, 2018)

Incremental Value of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Further Characterizing Hypodense Mediastinal and Paracardiac Lesions Identified on Computed Tomography

Abhishek Chaturvedi, Chris Gange, Hakan Sahin, Apeksha Chaturvedi

J Clin Imaging Sci 8 (10) (12th March, 2018)

Computed Tomography-guided Pulmonary Nodule Microcoil Localization Technique, Misplacement Errors, and Complications: A Pictorial Essay

J Clin Imaging Sci 8 (8) (9th March, 2018)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Appearance of Schwannomas from Head to Toe: A Pictorial Review

Jamie Crist, Jacob R Hodge, Matthew Frick, Fiona P Leung, Eugene Hsu, Ming Tye Gi, Sudhakar K Venkatesh

J Clin Imaging Sci 7 (38) (3rd October, 2017)

Anatomic Variations of the Right Portal Vein: Prevalence, Imaging Features, and Implications for Successful Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt Creation

Senthil S Gunasekaran, Ron C Gaba

J Clin Imaging Sci 7 (14) (28th March, 2017)

Different Sonographic Faces of Ectopic Pregnancy

Charu Chanana, Nishant Gupta, Itisha Bansal, Kusum Hooda, Pranav Sharma, Mohit Gupta, Darshan Gandhi, Yogesh Kumar

J Clin Imaging Sci 7 (6) (20th February, 2017)

Unexpected Angiography Findings and Effects on Management

Matthew Neill, Hearns W Charles, Jonathan S Gross, Sean Farquharson, Amy R Deipolyi

J Clin Imaging Sci 6 (33) (1st September, 2016)

Thoracic Presentations of Small Round Blue Cell Tumors

Annalice Chang, Kyle Pfeifer, Peter Chen, Vivek Kalra, Myung Soo Shin

J Clin Imaging Sci 6 (25) (23rd June, 2016)

Sinonasal Fungal Infections and Complications: A Pictorial Review

Jose Gavito-Higuera, Carola Birgit Mullins, Luis Ramos-Duran, Hugo Sandoval, Nassim Akle, Ramon Figueroa

J Clin Imaging Sci 6 (23) (14th June, 2016)

Sonographic Appearance of the Median Nerve Following Revision Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Shane A Shapiro, Ashkan Alkhamisi, George G A Pujalte

J Clin Imaging Sci 6 (11) (30th March, 2016)

3D-Printing in Congenital Cardiology: From Flatland to Spaceland

Sébastien Deferm, Bart Meyns, Dirk Vlasselaers, Werner Budts

J Clin Imaging Sci 6 (8) (30th March, 2016)

Uncommon Causes of Acute Abdominal Pain – A Pictorial Essay

Mahesh Hariharan, Rajan Balasubramaniam, Sharath Kumar Shetty, Shanthala Yadavalli, Mohammed Ahetasham, Sravya Devarapalli

J Clin Imaging Sci 6 (4) (26th February, 2016)

Gastroesophageal Variceal Filling and Drainage Pathways: An Angiographic Description of Afferent and Efferent Venous Anatomic Patterns

Ron C Gaba, Patrick M Couture, Janesh Lakhoo

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (61) (30th November, 2015)

Rare Malignant Tumors of the Breast

Trevor Miller, Constance Albarracin, Selin Carkaci, Gary J Whitman, Beatriz E Adrada

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (58) (30th October, 2015)

Back to Basics – ‘Must Know’ Classical Signs in Thoracic Radiology

Athiyappan Kumaresh, Mitesh Kumar, Bhawna Dev, Rajani Gorantla, PM Venkata Sai, Vijayalakshmi Thanasekaraan

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (43) (31st July, 2015)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Non-ischemic Cardiomyopathies: A Pictorial Essay

Cristina I Olivas-Chacon, Carola Mullins, Kevan Stewart, Nassim Akle, Jesus E Calleros, Luis R Ramos-Duran

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (37) (30th June, 2015)

Assessment of Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Using Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Pictorial Review

Cristina Ivette Olivas-Chacon, Carola Mullins, Agnieszka Solberg, Nassim Akle, Jesus E Calleros, Luis R Ramos-Duran

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (28) (22nd May, 2015)

Unusual Benign Tumors of the Breast

Beatriz E Adrada, Savitri Krishnamurthy, Selin Carkaci, Flavia E Posleman-Monetto, Adesuwa Ewere, Gary J Whitman

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (27) (22nd May, 2015)

Cross-sectional Imaging Features of Primary Retroperitoneal Tumors and Their Subsequent Treatment

Turker Acar, Mustafa Harman, Serkan Guneyli, Kazim Gemici, Duran Efe, Ibrahim Guler, Melda Yildiz

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (24) (30th April, 2015)

Incidentally Detected Mediastinal Vascular Anatomical Variants on PET-CT: A Pictorial Essay

Kathyayini Gopalkrishna Murthy Paidipati, Raghava Kashyap, Hima Tadimeti, Mahidhar Peyyeti

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (19) (31st March, 2015)

Congenital Absence of the Right Pericardium: Embryology and Imaging

Chi Wan Koo, Adrienne Newburg

J Clin Imaging Sci 5 (12) (27th February, 2015)

Radiography of Cardiac Conduction Devices: A Pictorial Review of Pacemakers and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators

Stephanie C Torres-Ayala, Guido Santacana-Laffitte, José Maldonado

J Clin Imaging Sci 4 (74) (31st December, 2014)

MRI of Uncommon Lesions of the Large Bowel: A Pictorial Essay

Christine U Lee, James F Glockner

J Clin Imaging Sci 4 (71) (31st December, 2014)

Blood Pool Contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Angiography with Correlation to Digital Subtraction Angiography: A Pictorial Review

Martha-Grace Knuttinen, Jillian Karow, Winnie Mar, Margaret Golden, Karen L Xie

J Clin Imaging Sci 4 (63) (29th November, 2014)

Revisiting Ectopic Pregnancy: A Pictorial Essay

Artemis Petrides, Cheryl Dinglas, Martin Chavez, Sharon Taylor, Sabrina Mahboob

J Clin Imaging Sci 4 (37) (31st July, 2014)

Imaging Features of AlloDerm Used in Postmastectomy Breast Reconstructions

Christine U. Lee, Allison J. Clapp, Steven R. Jacobson

J Clin Imaging Sci 4 (19) (29th April, 2014)

Adrenal Lesions: Spectrum of Imaging Findings with Emphasis on Multi-Detector Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Antonino Guerrisi, Daniele Marin, Mahbubeh Baski, Pietro Guerrisi, Federica Capozza, Carlo Catalano

J Clin Imaging Sci 3 (61) (31st December, 2013)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Benign Cardiac Masses: A Pictorial Essay

Thomas J. Ward, Michael A. Kadoch, Adam H. Jacobi, Pablo P. Lopez, Javier Sanz Salvo, Matthew D. Cham

J Clin Imaging Sci 3 (34) (31st August, 2013)

Angiographic Patterns of Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt Dysfunction and Interventional Approaches to Shunt Revision

Ahmad Parvinian, Benedictta O. Omene, James T. Bui, Martha Grace Knuttinen, Jeet Minocha, Ron C. Gaba

J Clin Imaging Sci 3 (19) (30th April, 2013)

Radiological Features of Metastatic Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

Sujata Patnaik, Yarlagadda Jyotsnarani, Susarla Rammurti

J Clin Imaging Sci 2 (43) (28th July, 2012)

Shoulder Ultrasonography: Performance and Common Findings

Diana Gaitini

J Clin Imaging Sci 2 (38) (28th July, 2012)

Prenatal and Postnatal Schizencephaly Findings by 2D and 3D Ultrasound: Pictorial Essay

Lívia Teresa Moreira Rios, Edward Araujo, Luciano Marcondes Machado Nardozza, Ana Carolina Rabachini Caetano, Antonio Fernandes Moron, Marília da Glória Martins

J Clin Imaging Sci 2 (30) (23rd May, 2012)

Radiological Imaging Features of Infection – A Pictorial Review

Abdurrahim Dusak, Mehmet R. Onur, Mutalip Cicek, Ugur Firat, Tianbo Ren, Vikram S. Dogra

J Clin Imaging Sci 2 (2) (27th January, 2012)

Non-Coronary Cardiac Findings and Pitfalls in Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography

Noriko Oyama-Manabe, Teppei Sugaya, Takayoshi Yamaguchi, Satoshi Terae

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (51) (25th October, 2011)

Multimodality Imaging of Normal Hepatic Transplant Vasculature and Graft Vascular Complications

Jeffrey H Roberts, Fernanda S Mazzariol, Susan J Frank, Sarah K Oh, Mordecai Koenigsberg, Marjorie W Stein

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (50) (25th October, 2011)

Magnetic Resonance Enterography Findings in Crohn′s disease in the Pediatric Population and Correlation with Fluoroscopic and Multidetector Computed Tomographic Techniques

Parul Patel, Margaret Ormanoski, Kim M. Hoadley

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (41) (30th July, 2011)

Angiogenesis Imaging in Neoplasia

David J. Bowden, Tristan Barrett

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (38) (27th July, 2011)

Crohn’s disease: Multimodality Imaging of Surgical Indications, Operative Procedures, and Complications

B Kolar, J Speranza, S Bhatt, V Dogra

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (37) (14th July, 2011)

Imaging Features of the Pleuropulmonary Manifestations of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Pearls and Pitfalls

Harbir S Sidhu, Gauraang Bhatnagar, Pervinder Bhogal, Richard Riordan

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (32) (21st June, 2011)

Image-guided Percutaneous Drainage in the Pediatric Population: A Primer for Radiologists

Keerthi Arani, Kiran Nandalur, Christina M Tucker, David A Bloom

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (31) (21st June, 2011)

The Fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Experience in a Large Community Medical Center

Peter M Ghobrial, Rebecca A Levy, Stephen C O’Connor

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (29) (31st May, 2011)

Diffusion-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging: What Makes Water Run Fast or Slow?

Francesca Fornasa

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (27) (19th May, 2011)

Imaging of the Bursae

Zameer Hirji, Jaspal S Hunjun, Hema N Choudur

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (22) (2nd May, 2011)

Imaging of Mechanical Cardiac Assist Devices

Daniel Ginat, Howard Todd Massey, Shweta Bhatt, Vikram S Dogra

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (21) (2nd May, 2011)

Sonographic Upper Gastrointestinal Series in the Vomiting Infant: How We Do It

Thaddeus W Herliczek, Deepak Raghavan, Kathleen McCarten, Michael Wallach

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (19) (31st March, 2011)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Neurosarcoidosis

Daniel T Ginat, Gurpreet Dhillon, Jeevak Almast

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (15) (11th February, 2011)

X-ray Digital Linear Tomosynthesis Imaging for Artificial Pulmonary Nodule Detection

Tsutomu Gomi

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (16) (10th February, 2011)

Sonographic Spectrum of Tunica Albuginea Cyst

Daniel M. Alvarez, Shweta Bhatt, Vikram S. Dogra

J Clin Imaging Sci 1 (5) (1st January, 2011)

ISSN (Print): 2156-7514 ISSN (Online): 2156-5597

Privacy Overview

Pictorial essay of radiological features of benign intrathoracic masses

Affiliations.

• 1 Consultant Radiologist, Radiology Department, North Manchester General Hospital, Acute Pennine NHS Trust, Crumpsal, Manchester M8 6RB, United Kingdom.
• 2 Specialist Registrar in Radiology, North Manchester General Hospital, Delaunays Road M8 5RB, Manchester, United Kingdom.
• 3 Clinical Director, Acute Pennine NHS Trust, Crumpsal, Manchester M8 6RB, United Kingdom.
• 4 Assistant Professor, Cardiothoracic Imaging, Radiology Department, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
• 5 Director, Multan Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy, Nishtar Hospital, Multan 60000, Pakistan.
• 6 Assistant Professor, Pulmonary Division, King Saud University for Health Sciences, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• PMID: 26664560
• PMCID: PMC4652288
• DOI: 10.4103/1817-1737.160365

With increased exposure of patients to routine imaging, incidental benign intrathoracic masses are frequently recognized. Most have classical imaging features, which are pathognomonic for their benignity. The aim of this pictorial review is to educate the reader of radiological features of several types of intrathoracic masses. The masses are categorized based on their location/origin and are grouped into parenchymal, pleural, mediastinal, or bronchial. Thoracic wall masses that invade the thorax such as neurofibromas and lipomas are included as they may mimic intrathoracic masses. All examples are illustrated and include pulmonary hamartoma, pleural fibroma, sarcoidosis, bronchial carcinoid, and bronchoceles together with a variety of mediastinal cysts on plain radiographs, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Sometimes a multimodality approach would be needed to confirm the diagnosis in atypical cases. The study would include the incorporation of radionuclide studies and relevant discussion in a multidisciplinary setting.

Keywords: Intrathoracic masses; pulmonary mass; radiology.

Publication types

The Historical and Cultural Significance of the N-word in American Society

This essay about the historical and cultural significance of the N-word in American society examines its origins, transformation, and dual role as both a racial slur and a reclaimed term within the African American community. It explores the term’s impact on societal attitudes toward race and identity, highlighting its use in historical oppression and modern contexts, including legal and social debates about freedom of speech and artistic expression. The essay illustrates how the N-word remains a powerful symbol of America’s racial history and ongoing discourse on equality and discrimination.

How it works

The term “N-word” serves as a proxy for one of the most contentious racial slurs in the American lexicon. Its historical roots and cultural significance paint a complex picture of racial dynamics, societal shifts, and ongoing struggles for equality in American society. This essay explores the historical background of the N-word, its evolution in societal contexts, and its dual-edged impact on culture and society.

Historically, the N-word derives from the Spanish and Portuguese word ‘negro’, meaning black, which was used to describe Sub-Saharan African individuals.

During the transatlantic slave trade, the term morphed into a derogatory slur in American English, heavily laden with a connotation of racial inferiority and dehumanization. Its usage was embedded in the lexicon of white Americans during a period when slavery was legally and culturally sanctioned. The word was a tool of psychological oppression, aimed at reinforcing the subjugation of African slaves by invalidating their humanity and justifying their maltreatment.

Following the abolition of slavery in 1865, the N-word persisted in the vernacular as a reflection of the entrenched racial hierarchies. During the Jim Crow era, it continued to serve as a verbal reminder of the perceived subordinate status of African Americans. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s marked a pivotal shift, as African Americans and their allies began actively challenging racial discrimination and segregation. The N-word became a focal point in discussions about racism, symbolizing the enduring legacy of racial prejudice and inequality.

In contemporary society, the N-word embodies a paradox. On one hand, it remains a potent symbol of racism, used by some to express and perpetuate racial hatred. Its use by non-black individuals can evoke deep-seated historical traumas and is generally considered unacceptable in public discourse. This understanding underscores the power dynamics still prevalent in its usage, where context and speaker significantly dictate its impact and acceptability.

On the other hand, there has been a reclamation of the term within some parts of the African American community. Reappropriated as “nigga”, this version of the N-word has been used among some black people as a term of camaraderie or endearment, stripping it of its original derogatory meaning and transforming it into a symbol of in-group solidarity. This linguistic shift is controversial and is not universally accepted within the community, reflecting differing views on the possibility of redefining a word so deeply rooted in oppression.

The cultural significance of the N-word is also evident in its pervasive presence in American media and entertainment, particularly in hip-hop and rap music. These genres, born from the socio-economic and racial struggles of urban African American communities, often utilize the reappropriated term as a mechanism of cultural expression and resistance. However, its use in music and other forms of entertainment has sparked debates about the boundaries of artistic freedom, cultural expression, and the perpetuation of racial stereotypes.

Legally and socially, the N-word is at the center of debates about freedom of speech and the limits of offensive language. Incidents involving the word often lead to public and legal disputes, reflecting broader societal conflicts about race, history, and the power of language to harm or heal.

In conclusion, the historical and cultural significance of the N-word in American society is deeply intertwined with the country’s troubled history of race relations. Its transformation from a marker of enslavement to a complex symbol of both oppression and reclamation reflects broader changes in societal attitudes towards race and identity. Understanding its significance requires a nuanced appreciation of the word’s historical burden, its evolving meanings, and its power to both divide and unite. As America continues to grapple with issues of race and discrimination, the N-word remains a potent reminder of the past and a contentious part of modern discourse.

Cite this page

The Historical and Cultural Significance of the N-word in American Society. (2024, May 12). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-historical-and-cultural-significance-of-the-n-word-in-american-society/

"The Historical and Cultural Significance of the N-word in American Society." PapersOwl.com , 12 May 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/the-historical-and-cultural-significance-of-the-n-word-in-american-society/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Historical and Cultural Significance of the N-word in American Society . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-historical-and-cultural-significance-of-the-n-word-in-american-society/ [Accessed: 15 May. 2024]

"The Historical and Cultural Significance of the N-word in American Society." PapersOwl.com, May 12, 2024. Accessed May 15, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/the-historical-and-cultural-significance-of-the-n-word-in-american-society/

"The Historical and Cultural Significance of the N-word in American Society," PapersOwl.com , 12-May-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-historical-and-cultural-significance-of-the-n-word-in-american-society/. [Accessed: 15-May-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Historical and Cultural Significance of the N-word in American Society . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-historical-and-cultural-significance-of-the-n-word-in-american-society/ [Accessed: 15-May-2024]

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Hire a writer to get a unique paper crafted to your needs.

Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+!

Please check your inbox.

You can order an original essay written according to your instructions.

Trusted by over 1 million students worldwide

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

DJ Akademiks Sued for Rape and Defamation

• By Jon Blistein

Jon Blistein

DJ Akademiks is facing a new lawsuit accusing him of rape, sexual assault , and defamation. 

The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey and obtained by Rolling Stone , was filed by Fauziya “Ziya” Abashe, who dated the internet personality (real name Livingston Allen) after meeting him online in 2021. Abashe alleges that on July 16, 2022, Allen contacted her and invited her to his house in New Jersey, not suspecting any “ill intentions” even though they allegedly hadn’t seen each other for almost a year.

When Abashe arrived, however, she was met by two men (identified as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2), whom she did not expect to be there. Abashe claims the two men drugged her drink and plied her with alcohol before assaulting and raping her on Allen’s pool deck. 

The following day, according to the lawsuit, Abashe asked Allen for details about what happened the previous night. He allegedly showed her a trash can that contained two condom wrappers, which suggested to Abashe that, after the alleged pool-deck attack, the two John Does had “taken her into another room in the house and continued to rape her brutally.” Abashe also claimed that Allen showed her surveillance footage of the alleged pool-deck attack. 

“According to Ms. Abashe, as she watched the video, she looked like she was just lying there lifeless, which did not sit right with her,” the suit reads. 

Editor’s picks

Every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history.

After contacting her lawyer for advice, Abashe went to the police. The authorities first told her to visit a hospital for a rape kit, which she did; the kit purportedly led to the discovery of traces of Allen’s sperm, she claims. Abashe then spoke with the authorities in person and photographs were taken of bruises on Abashe’s arm, back, buttocks, and legs.

Abashe also sat for a “recorded wire call” with Allen, during which, she claimed, Allen “graphically recount[ed] and admit[ed] to having sexual intercourse” with her, “even going so far as to describe her vagina.”

This led the cops to obtain a warrant for the surveillance footage and other evidence. Abashe later claimed that Allen “disposed of several items (bed sheets, etc.) at the dumpster near his office. Presumably, Mr. Allen was attempting to destroy the evidence of Ms. Abashe’s rape.”

Roman Polanski Cleared of Defamation in Case Tied to Charlotte Lewis Rape Allegation

Kelly clarkson wins key rulings ahead of new trial with ex-husband, 50 cent sues daphne joy over 'defamatory' rape claim.

“I’m not even hiding and ducking from a situation, or ducking from the narrative that happened,” he said. “I pretty much told everything. And also I told the truth. The police came, they looked, we gave them everything. Pretty much everything is documented, caught on videotape. They got to see it with their own two eyes. Not only did they say, ‘Ak, you good’ — and this is not just word of mouth. This is, ‘You’re officially clear. We could not bring any criminal Charges. You are not criminally liable.’ But also, anybody else in the situation, was also clear.” 

He added: “The things that fall in my favor happen to be: The truth, video footage, text messages, everything that the prosecutor who could’ve potentially looked into this, all reviewed and said, ‘We don’t have enough to even go forward.’ That’s just facts.”

In a Dec. 30, 2023 video , Allen claimed he was asleep at home while the two John Does allegedly assaulted her on the pool deck. Acknowledging the surveillance footage of the alleged attack, Allen said, “She was getting trained by my two mens on my pool deck.” The suit alleges Allen “defamed” Abashe by “accusing her of voluntarily having an orgy with his friends at his home while maintaining that he never participated at all.” 

The suit goes on to allege that Allen knew his statements in the video were “misleading and false, as he was in possession of text messages from Ms. Abashe, where she stated that she did not know what happened to her on July 16, 2022, and that it was Mr. Allen who informed her of the night’s events.” 

J.K. Rowling Used to Want to Debate Gender. Now She Just Insults Trans People

Detroit newspaper mourns 'tortured existence' of eminem's slim shady in obituary, the number one song in the country is a diss track. is that a good thing.

This story was updated 5/14/24 @ 5:12 p.m. ET with Allen’s quotes about the lawsuit from his Rumble livestream.

Meme Stocks Are Going ‘To the Moon’ Again. How Long Can the Party Last?

• Trading Places
• By Miles Klee

Former Miss USA, Miss Teen USA Were 'Abused, Bullied, and Cornered,' Mothers Say

• Pageant Problems

Dice Rolls, Flow Charts, and an Undead Cowboy: Inside Off-Broadway's Fun New Take on 'D&D'

• By Christopher Cruz
• Touch Grass

Meet the Man Behind Gen-Z’s Version of 'MTV Cribs'

• By CT Jones

Most Popular

'mad max' director says 'there's no excuse' for tom hardy and charlize theron's 'fury road' set feud: tom 'had to be coaxed out of his trailer', peter jackson working on new 'lord of the rings' films for warner bros., targeting 2026 debut, george & amal clooney’s latest parenting decision shows hollywood won’t be in their future, insiders claim, near the giza pyramids, archaeologists identify a newly discovered ancient egyptian structure, you might also like, japanese and korean hit-makers morii akira and jq lee join forces for superhero series, cannes film festival opens with dior, louis vuitton, and saint laurent, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, ‘the strangers: chapter 1’ looked for maximum terror in a 10th of a second, disney upfront features a kelce hire, nfl chatter and a knicks nix.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

MORE SECTIONS

• Dear Deidre

MORE FROM THE SUN

• Newsletters

Rory McIlroy’s split from wife Erica ‘came out of the blue & no one saw it coming’ as papers say marriage was ‘broken’

• Michael Hamilton
• Jane Matthews
• Published : 19:27, 14 May 2024
• Updated : 5:23, 15 May 2024
• Published : Invalid Date,

GOLFER Rory McIlroy's shock divorce from his American wife came "out of the blue" and "no one saw it coming", an insider says.

The 35-year-old - said to be worth £200 million - has filed for divorce from Erica Stoll after submitting documents in Florida on Monday.

The Northern Irish star did not cite a reason for the divorce – with the shock break-up coming after the couple tied the knot at a star-studded wedding in 2017.

But the three-page divorce petition - lodged with Palm Beach County Court – said the marriage was “irretrievably broken”.

McIlroy's team tonight released a statement that said: "Rory McIlroy’s communications team confirmed today that a divorce has been filed.

"They stressed Rory's desire to ensure this difficult time is as respectful and amicable as possible.

"He will not be making any further comment."

A golf source added: “Their split comes right out of the blue and no one saw it coming.

“The timing is very odd with Rory about to take part in a tournament but perhaps he wanted to get things tied up before it started.

“Ironically, Rory is in some of the best form of his life so whatever has been going on behind the scenes has not affected him at all.

Most read in Golf

Rory McIlroy files for divorce from wife Erica after seven years of marriage

Man, 60, SNATCHES baby from grandma in Brit holiday hotspot Lanzarote

Arthur Gourounlian spends last day in sun with Blake making 'beautiful' memories

Robbie Keane has only himself to blame for not being in mix for Ireland job

“He is on a hot streak so everything in the garden appeared to be rosy. But he will now be the focus of a lot of attention.

“Let’s just hope it doesn’t affect his form in Kentucky and his game in general.

“But hopefully, with the news out there Rory will be able to focus on the tournament.”

McIlroy was today spotted out on the Valhalla driving range in Kentucky.

Documents filed in the US showed that four-time major champion McIlroy and Erica signed a pre-nuptial agreement in March 2017 before they wed in April that year.

They also revealed the couple had agreed to “shared parental responsibility” for their daughter Poppy, three.

Golf world No 2 McIlroy and Erica first met in September 2012 at the Ryder Cup where she helped him get to the course after he overslept.

At the time, McIlroy was dating Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki – with the pair getting engaged - before splitting in 2014. His romance with Erica, 36, blossomed the next year.

Erica – who worked for the US PGA when they met – and McIlroy then wed at a lavish ceremony in County Mayo, Ireland in front of guests including Ed Sheeran, One Direction’s Niall Horan and Coldplay singer Chris Martin.

And Erica – and daughter Poppy - have often been by his side as McIlroy starred at tournaments in recent years. Erica cheered him on at the Ryder Cup in Italy last year and also caddied for him at the Masters Par 3 contest in 2023.

Erica was seen at The Players in March when the PGA Tour shared a heartwarming clip of she and Poppy greeting McIlroy on the 18th green.

The golfer was seen scooping his daughter into his arms for a hug with Erica telling him they had been watching his birdie-birdie finish. Their split comes on the eve of the US PGA Championships in Valhalla, Kentucky, which starts tomorrow with McIlroy one of the favourites.

This afternoon, a rep for the golfing ace confirmed the split to The Sun.

They said: “A divorce has been filed.”

The representative said the couple wanted to remain “respectful and amicable” and to “surround their daughter with love”.

McIlroy has won his last two golf starts – at the Wells Fargo Championship and Zurich Classic.

Rory McIlroy's career achievements

By Ian Tuckey

Rory McIlroy spent more than 100 weeks at World No1 - and has scooped four Majors and won 40 tournaments in all SO FAR.

Only all-time greats Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have matched his feat of winning one of the big four by the age of 25.

And after winning the 2011 US Open, the Northern Ireland ace added the PGA Championship the following year - adding the Open and PGA crowns in 2014.

Here's a rundown on the glittering career of the 35-year-old, five-time Ryder Cup winner, who was also a strong critic of the rival Saudi-backed LIV tour:

• 2007 - topped the world amateur rankings aged 17.

Turned professional in September.

Became the youngest Affiliate Member in the history of The European Tour to earn a tour card.

• 2009 - reached the world top 50.
• 2010 - won his first PGA Tour title via the Quail Hollow Championship.

Made a winning Ryder Cup debut.

Became the youngest player to reach $10m earnings on the PGA Tour.

• 2011 - Famously blew a four-stroke lead on the final day of the Masters in May.

But won his first major the following month - the US Open.

Named Sports Person of the year by RTE - Ireland's main broadcaster.

• 2012 - lifted the PGA Championship.

Named PGA Tour player of the year and picked up more Ryder Cup glory.

• 2013 - signed a huge sponsorship deal with Nike.
• 2014 - his best year to date, majors wise.

Won the Open at Royal Liverpool.

Then clinched back-to-back PGA crowns, beating Phil Mickelson by one stroke.

Named RTE Sports Person of the year for a second time.

Again helped Europe win the Ryder Cup.

• 2016 - Ended the season winning the Tour championship, putting him top of the FedEx Cup and landing him the $10m bonus pool.

Suffered Ryder Cup defeat.

• 2017 - failed to win all year.

But gained top 10 finishes at the Masters, The Open and 3 WGC events.

And with Nike largely withdrawing from the golf market, he landed an £80m endorsement deal with TaylorMade.

• 2018 - More Ryder Cup joy.
• 2020 Overtook Brooks Koepka to become World No1
• 2021 - A Ryder Cup loser.
• 2022 - runners-up at the Masters and finished third at the Open.
• 2023 - helped Europe thrash the USA 16.5-11.5 in the Ryder Cup.
• 2024 - struggled early in the season, finishing just joint-22nd in the Masters.

But then won two tournaments - the Zurich Classic for his 25th PGA title and the Wells Fargo Championship.

And all eyes will now be on him when he tees off in Kentucky, where he starts the 106th championship as second favourite to American Scottie Scheffler .

It was at Ryder Cup event in Medinah, Illinouis in 2012 where McIlroy first met Erica, who was working for US Professional Golfers’ Association as manager of Championship Volunteer Operations.

McIlroy’s alarm failed to go off but Erica came to his aid, and helped arrange a police escort to race him to the course so he did not miss his tee time.

The star went on to help Europe to the famous ‘Miracle of Medinah’ comeback victory.

McIlroy and Erica stayed friends, while the golfer was with ex world tennis No.1 Wozniacki – before their romance blossomed in 2014.

Talking about their relationship the following year, McIlroy said: “I am very happy in my love life.

“We haven’t really been putting it out there. She is from America, which is why I like to spend time in Palm Beach.

Inside Rory McIlroy’s whirlwind love life

By Ciaran Wiseman

Rory McIlroy enjoyed a high-profile romance with former tennis world number one Caroline Wozniacki before their split in 2014.

The following year, the golf ace began dating Erica Stoll, who he had first met on the PGA Tour in 2011.

Erica often interacted with players through her role as the PGA’s manager of championship volunteer operations.

She even prevented McIlroy from missing his tee time at the 2012 Ryder Cup after some confusion over the time zone.

The incident began a firm friendship between the pair, four years before their relationship turned romantic.

McIlroy and Erica were spotted on a string of dates in Rochester, New York, in the early days of their relationship.

Just eight months later, the couple got engaged in Paris and walked down the aisle at Ashford Castle in Ireland in 2017.

The pair then welcomed daughter Poppy into the world three years later.

Throughout their time together, McIlroy and Erica have kept their relationship to themselves, with the golfer keen to protect his family from the cameras during filming of Netflix’s Full Swing documentary series.

However, after seven years of marriage, McIlroy has now filed for divorce from Erica.

The reasons for the divorce have not been disclosed, but the Northern Irishman has submitted documents to a court in Florida.

“The past six or seven months have been really nice. That part of my life is going great.”

And in a later interview, he added: “The thing I love about it is that we were friends before anything romantic happened.”

The couple also kept Erica’s pregnancy with Poppy under wraps until just before she gave birth in September 2020.

Days before the new arrival, McIlroy told reporters at the BMW Championship: “We’re about to be parents very soon, so we’re obviously super excited.

“We’ve been sharing the news with friends and family, obviously, but I didn’t think it was something that I really particularly needed to share.

“But we’re really excited and can’t wait for [our daughter] to get here.”

McIlroy announced the birth of their daughter via Instagram shortly after in September 2020.

He, Erica and Poppy are understood to have lived in a 12,800 square foot £7 million mansion in Jupiter, Florida – a hotbed of golf.

The star reportedly broke off his relationship with Wozniaki through a three-minute phone call after saying he “wasn’t ready for everything that marriage entails”.

McIlroy – who previously dated childhood sweetheart and socialite Holly Sweeney, 33, added at the time: “I wish Caroline all the happiness she deserves and thank her for the great times we’ve had.”

Read more on the Irish Sun

'End of an era', punters cry as popular Irish pub confirms closure after decades

I’ve always struggled with my weight, says Doireann after ‘crushing’ experience

Their split came in May 2014, before they were due to wed in November – having already sent out invites.

This afternoon, McIlroy’s rep said he and Erica hoped for privacy for their daughter and added: “Neither will be making any further comment.”

Who are golf's most famous Wags?

The world's top golfers enjoy an incredible lifestyle - and their Wags lead thrilling lives of their own.

Here are some of the most high-profile beauties...

• This former beauty pageant contestant is now an actress and featured in Sharknado 5.
• The daughter of an ice hockey legend who has been branded the 'world's sexiest caddie'.
• A Master golfer raced home from his most recent triumph to be by his wife's side as she gave birth to their first child.
• An athlete who vaulted her way into a modelling career - and her golfer hubby's heart.
• A keen tennis player and former competitor in the javelin lived with her ex-world No1 husband for two years before getting together.
• Playing off a handicap of three, this sports reporter could give her fella a run for his money on the greens.
• This low-key beauty got married to a superstar golfer in front of Stevie Wonder, Chris Martin and Niall Horan.
• A former gymnast who has been her husband's rock for 14 years - he even pays tribute to her on his golf balls.
• Celebrity marriages
• Celebrity relationships and break ups
• Rory McIlroy
• Northern Ireland
• United States

Roger Corman: a career in pictures

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email

Best known for his low-budget Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, Corman also produced over 400 films and helped kickstart the careers of Jack Nicholson, Nicholas Roeg, Peter Fonda, James Cameron and Martin Scorsese

• News: Corman dies aged 98
• Peter Bradshaw’s appreciation
• Roger Corman obituary

Greg Whitmore

Sun 12 May 2024 08.59 BST Last modified on Sun 12 May 2024 22.07 BST

Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Day The World Ended, 1955

Photograph: Alamy

The Undead, 1957

Photograph: The Kobal Collection

Not Of This Earth and Attack Of The Crab Monsters, both 1957

Composite: Movie Poster Image Art/ Getty Images

Attack of the Crab Monsters, 1957

Teenage Doll, 1957

Photograph: Everett/REX Shutterstock

The Wasp Woman, 1959

Photograph: Moviestore/REX Shutterstock

The Fall of the House of Usher, 1960

The Little Shop of Horrors, 1960

The Pit and the Pendulum, 1961

X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, 1963

Photograph: Public Domain

Tomb of Ligeia, 1964

The Masque of the Red Death, 1964

Composite: BFI

The Wild Angels, 1966

Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, 1967

Composite: REX Shutterstock/Alamy

The Trip, 1967

Photograph: Movie Poster Image Art/Getty Images

Bloody Mama, 1970

Composite: REX/Ronald Grant Archive

Photograph: Getty Images

Frankenstein Unbound, 1990

Composite: REX Shutterstock

Photograph: Michael Yada/Getty Images

Photograph: Victoria Will/Invision/AP

• Roger Corman
• Horror films
• Science fiction and fantasy films
• Edgar Allan Poe

More galleries

View all comments >.

• recommendations

Most popular

THE WIDER IMAGE

For turkish performer, drag is a political act.

Drag performer Ilker Yazici, 23, gets ready to shoot a sequence for a TV series in Istanbul, Turkey, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Dilara Senkaya

By Dilara Senkaya

Filed April 4, 2024, 3:19 p.m. GMT

Photography by Dilara Senkaya Reporting by Burcu Karakas

Filed: May 1, 2024, 8 a.m. GMT

Ilker Yazici - stage name Miss Putka - was in secondary school when he discovered he was gay.

There he met LGBT advocacy groups and joined street protests in Turkey’s capital Ankara to defend LGBT rights, carrying rainbow flags.

“At first I struggled with myself a lot,” he said. “You grow up in the Middle East. It is not easy. I felt like I was the only one, just like most LGBT people feel.”

Ilker, now 23, never felt the need to hide, however and went on to celebrate who he is. Inspired by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” series on Netflix, he sees drag performance as an act of self-expression rather than just entertainment.

“Drag is a political act. The audience probably look at me and think, ‘What is this freak doing?’ I’m getting them used to seeing something they are not used to seeing.”

Many in Turkey’s LGBT community live in fear after last year's election campaign when President Tayyip Erdogan described LGBT groups as deviants and vowed to strengthen traditional family values. Homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey, but hostility to it is widespread.

Ilker’s conservative father is unaware of the drag life: although other relatives found out about the performances - which take place every Friday and Saturday night - no one has dared to tell him.

“When I go on stage as a drag queen, the make-up makes me feel like I am hiding behind a mask,” Ilker said. “Miss Putka is a confident person, very open to communication. I am not.”

Ilker studies industrial design at Marmara University in Istanbul but is considering studying performing arts in Spain. “You can perform as long as you are healthy. I’ll do it as long as I’m able,” he said.

He has no worries about performing drag, but living in Turkey does worry him.

“I don’t know what the future will hold for me here,” he said. “It is so unpredictable.”

‘You have to behave with respect’

Ilker never thought he would become a drag artist on the day that, as a teenager, he stole his mother’s black sequined blouse from her closet to perform on stage for the first time in 2019.

He was preparing for the university entrance exam at the time, and left home at night by telling his parents he forgot a book at the library.

“I cut a pair of black jeans into shorts and wore them under my mother’s blouse with silver-coloured seven-centimetre heels and a bonus lilac wig I borrowed from a friend,” he said.

“Despite my terrifying make-up and costume, the audience applauded like crazy and I felt like a star.”

Born and raised in Ankara, he traveled for two years across the country to appear at gay life magazine GZone’s events. It was then that he began to buy costumes and shoes from second hand stores and flea markets.

When Miss Putka, whose name comes from a slang word for vagina, began to take the stage at XL, a night club in Istanbul, it was no longer a hobby but a regular job. Before his first professional show at the club, he was trained for a month by Russian dancers with whom he shared the stage.

“The venue is huge. I’ve got dancers behind and a tailor ready to do what I want,” he said.

At first he was annoyed by customers who ignored his performance and treated him rudely when he visited their tables. But he learned how to deal with it.

“I started to say, ‘I work here and you have to behave with respect’. They apologized.”

He became the stage manager, coordinating a team of about 15 people. Experienced drag performers advised him to use choreography to tell a story and also broaden the shows’ appeal. That is how he began playing popular Lady Gaga songs.

Miss Putka’s nun-like outfit with a bright red cross on her head was inspired by American singer Todrick Hall, who was a choreographer and judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race”. Although this five-minute performance is the most acclaimed, it is not his favourite.

“I love the one where I shoot flames from my conical breasts while singing Rihanna songs.”

The Wider Image

Photography and reporting: Dilara Senkaya

Reporting: Burcu Karakas

Photo editing and design: Eve Watling and Maye-E Wong

Text editing: Jonathan Spicer and Philippa Fletcher

LICENSE THIS STORY

• Follow Reuters Investigates

Other Reuters investigations

What lies beneath Gaza’s rubble and ruin

The hysteria over campus protests in the United States has shifted American attention away from the depth of the ongoing calamity in Gaza.

You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest free , including news from around the globe and interesting ideas and opinions to know, sent to your inbox every weekday.

In a fit of ideological pique last week, far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) scoffed at protesters agitating against pro-Israel policies on campuses across the United States . “I get a strange inkling that all these Columbia and UCLA students running around yelling ‘Free Palestine’ would not be jumping at the opportunity to do a semester abroad in Gaza,” she wrote on social media , before later journeying to a protest encampment at George Washington University and almost sparring with students when trying to pull down a Palestinian flag.

Boebert’s scorn is shared even by some of her opponents in the Washington establishment, many of whom have cast the student demonstrations as, at best, unproductive far-left agitprop or, more darkly, dangerous antisemitic behavior that must be expunged from the academy. Hundreds of campus protesters have been arrested in recent days in police crackdowns from California to New York.

Boebert’s comment, though, drew derision on two counts: First, that protesters angry about alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza would need to go to the besieged territory itself to justify their anger. And, second, that students could even do “a semester abroad” in Gaza, where Israel has spent the past half year systematically destroying most of its educational institutions, including all of its universities .

For months, Palestinian civil society activists have drawn attention to the steady eradication of Gaza’s cultural patrimony. Israel’s punishing campaign against militant group Hamas has seen much of the territory reduced to ruin. In the process, many libraries, museums and colleges have been ransacked and razed — in some instances, by deliberate Israeli demolition. Thousands of artifacts in various collections, including Roman coins and other materials from Gaza’s pre-Islamic past, have been potentially lost during the war .

The hysteria over campus protests in the United States has shifted American attention away from the depth of the ongoing calamity in Gaza. U.N. officials and aid agencies are still grappling with the scale of the destruction in the territory, where dozens are still dying every day. Since Hamas launched its Oct. 7 terrorist strike on southern Israel, more than 34,500 Palestinians in the territory — many of them women and children — have been killed. Some 5 percent of Gaza’s overall population has been killed or injured, according to a U.N. report that cites local data.

That figure doesn’t include the more than at least 10,000 people that the U.N. estimates are still missing beneath the rubble, citing the Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD). The challenge of finding the missing is growing more dire, given the widespread destruction of heavy machinery and equipment needed to dig through the debris.

“Rising temperatures can accelerate the decomposition of bodies and the spread of disease,” the U.N. humanitarian affairs office said in a statement , adding that the PCD was appealing to “all relevant stakeholders to urgently intervene to allow the entry of needed equipment, including bulldozers and excavators, to avert a public health catastrophe, facilitate dignified burials, and save the lives of injured people.”

Sifting through Gaza’s wreckage will be no simple task. Israel has dumped a huge amount of ordnance on the territory. Mungo Birch, head of the U.N. Mine Action Program in Palestinian territory, said last week that the amount of unexploded missiles and bombs lying in the rubble is “unprecedented” since World War II. He said tiny Gaza is a site of some 37 million tons of rubble — more than what’s been generated across all of Ukraine during Russia’s war — and 800,000 tons of asbestos and other contaminants. He said his agency has only a fraction of the funding it needs to begin clearing operations whenever the war ends.

Over the weekend, U.S. and Egyptian officials attempted to facilitate a last-ditch effort to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas . A delegation from the Palestinian militant group was in Cairo and expressed optimism that a breakthrough could be found. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faced mass protests at home against his continued tenure in office, seemed more wary of the arrangement and remains bent on carrying out a full offensive against the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians already displaced in the territory have taken shelter.

Top U.N. officials say famine has already gripped parts of Gaza. Beyond the desperately insufficient trickle of humanitarian aid into the territory, the war has also “severely hampered” Gaza’s “ability to produce food and clean water,” according to my colleagues . “Israeli airstrikes and bulldozers have razed farms and orchards. Crops abandoned by farmers seeking safety in southern Gaza have withered, and cattle have been left to die.”

The fear surrounding Rafah and the uncertainty over a potential cease-fire sit against the looming reality of how difficult it will be for Gaza to recover. More than 70 percent of all housing in the territory has been destroyed. A report by the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) found that the war has reversed 40 years of development and improvement in social indicators such as life expectancy, health and educational attainment in Gaza.

The agency estimated that reconstruction, at this point, would cost some $40 billion to $50 billion. And if it follows the pace observed after previous conflicts, UNDP estimates that it will take “approximately 80 years to restore all the fully destroyed housing units” in Gaza.

“My very big concern — in addition to the numbers — is the breaking down of communities and families in Gaza,” UNDP regional director Abdallah al-Dardari told The Washington Post . “If you know 60 people in your family have been killed — like our colleague Issam al-Mughrabi who was killed with 60 people in his family during one raid — you will go numb,” Dardari said. “The consequences of this war will stay with us far beyond the end of the war.”

In pictures: The federal budget newspaper front pages 2024

The life of a treasurer isn't easy on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald . The paper, which focuses on the $300 energy bill subsidy handed to every Australian, has pitted Jim Chalmers against a fire-breathing inflation dragon with nothing but a pitchfork for protection.

• Federal Budget
• Jim Chalmers
• Federal Politics
• Cost Of Living

Life is a bit more fun for a clowning Chalmers as he blows up balloon animals on the front page of The Age .

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seems to be predominantly concerned with how much inflation his treasurer is going for in the economy.

At the Australian Financial Review , Chalmers is back on the dragon but seems to have the upper hand.

Time will tell whether the Future Made in Australia reins will be enough to control the beast or if that cost of living bag will keep setting cash on fire.

Over in the West, it's more games for the treasurer as he delivers what the paper has called a "big spending budget".

He's a Twister-playing "money spinner" on the front and there's a dedicated budget crossword on the back.

The Herald Sun , as usual, has gone light on the cartoons and heavy on the puns for the "Chalmed and dangerous" treasurer.

The paper focuses on long-term concerns about soaring debt, weight against the short-term cost of living measures doled out last night.

The Daily Telegraph has gone super local in its criticism of Dr Jim Chalmers' budget.

The front highlights a "$1.3 billion drop in funding" for NSW as grocery prices, debt and other factors rise.

The Australian has a tech-savvy treasurer following so many Australians and deciding to "bung it on Afterpay" in a front page that focuses on spending.

On 9news.com.au, it's all about breaking down the budget in the most easily understandable way. Readers can quickly dive in to see the winners and losers or delve ever deeper to discover the full depth of the budget coverage and how it will affect them.