On Writing Captions from a Perspective, and Citing Sources

We'll use this slideshow today in class, and I've written notes into it that explain the slides.

More Caption-Writing Help, and Some Work on Slide Order

In this morning's survey, it's clear that many of you want some additional pointers on the writing of the captions. I think looking at a prior student's draft of the project can help. This is Summer's photo essay on Chinatown, from an historian's perspective. There's a lot to like about this piece, but I'm hoping you'll notice, based on what we've been working with, how some key aspects of the work need some attention.

As a reader, try to notice whether Summer helps give you any context for what the piece is trying to do. Take the title and first slide, for instance. If you just came across this photo essay online, what kinds of guesses would you make about what its purpose was? And how much would you really want to get into it and read more? Second, see if you can make some sense of the order of the slides—is there a way to take this content and make a logical progression for readers? Finally, do you think some of the material is coming from a source? Do we have a responsibility to tell readers where the information is coming from?

In class, we're going to try to work with these issues, and the following links are to examples we'll discuss together and analyze:

• Summer's Photo Essay, reordered.
• Summer's Opening slides, rewritten.

I think you'll notice a few things, namely that the original photo essay has a random order to the material. Consider as well that the captions are about history—but ultimately none of them help readers understand a history of Chicago's Chinatown! Too, I think you can see with the rewritten slides the value of setting a context for readers somehow. As you work on your own projects, please just try to imagine real readers coming across this thing. What are we going to learn?

Also, as we said in class, please remember that this photo essay is clearly plagiarizing some material from a source. The rewritten first slide shows you (as did the Whole Foods examples) how you can handle any source material you deem necessary to include :)

At-Home Activity (due 8 AM Thurs., 3/24)

For Thursday, here's a survey that will allow me to see what your plans are for the Photo Essay!

Remember, we'll be in D133 again.

Slideshow on Perspective

Here's something we'll use in class today to help you see ways to write the captions . . .

Photo Essay Template

Here's what to do in the lab today, depending on where you're at with the project:

IF YOU HAVE PHOTOS, then

• Here's a link to the template we'll use for the Photo Essay project. Click the link, then go to FILE—MAKE A COPY. Then the document becomes yours—you can use that template to start putting the photos in place. Don't forget to rename that file after you copy it to your drive.
• As you work, try to think about the READER and how they might experience this piece. Thinking about the reader's impression will probably help you make choices about the ORDER of photographs. Think about the reader as you write captions, too. 
• You might open a blank Google Doc and do some fastwriting about your place: what do you want to say about it, given the perspective you chose for the project? That writing will likely help you with the captions. 
• If you need to do any research, do it. Note places you get information from, though—we'll talk about source attribution on Wednesday.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE PHOTOS YET, then

• Use this photo and caption planning document to brainstorm and imagine your options for photos and captions before you go to the place you picked.
• Do the freewriting I mention above—that exercise will help you, too, even before you actually photograph your place. Getting into the mindset of your perspective is key.
• Just as I mention above for the people who have photos, you might have to do some research, too, depending on the perspective you're adopting as creator of the photo essay. Get that done so you can use your time well this week!

Student Examples: Photo Essays

In class today we'll look at some examples of what students have actually done with the project. I want you to think about how clearly these present a PLACE as well as a VANTAGE POINT/PERSPECTIVE. What do you notice about them? Which are stronger? Weaker?

• Example 1: Sam
• Example 2: Natasha
• Example 3: Yara
• Example 4: Malaak
• Example 5: Graciela

Sample Photo Essays

So our new unit is about places . . . A "photo essay" is one way of writing about places, and I need you to read/look your way through the following examples:

1. A Time photo essay by photographer James Natchwey, "Sept. 11, 2001"
2. Another by photographer Herman Krieger, "Mall-Aise: A Look at Shopping Malls in America"
3. Another Time photo essay, unattributed, "The End of Cabrini-Green"
4. An iPhone photo essay by Tui Snider, "Chandor Gardens, the Secret Gardens of Weatherford, Texas"
5. Another one on "The Making of Ethan's Viola" (I know it's not a place, but it's still interesting).

As you read/look, think about what their PURPOSE seems to be. Try to think about the variety and type of IMAGES we get and their ORDER. Think about the WRITING that's done to accompany the photos. And importantly, use what you learned from Horowitz's book: what vantage point or perspective seems to be driving each of these?

At-Home Activity (due 9 AM Thursday, 3/10)

I know you're busy tonight with finishing up your profile drafts for our deadline, but before we leave for Spring Break I really need us to start our next unit. In preparation for that I have an article for you to read. It provides an overview of a book called On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes, by cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz. Rather than read the book, this article will give us a quite in-depth discussion of what it's exploring.

I will warn you that it's not something to scroll through; nor is it something you can zip through in a few minutes. Mentally prepare yourself. That said, it's fascinating, and it's about psychology: and how our brains notice (or not) the world around us. In the book, Horowitz takes a walk around her New York block, and in each chapter, she brings along a different expert--one is her toddler! and one is an artist. Others include a a geologist, and a graphic designer. In each case, that expert notices completely different things. So you'll read about some of those differences (and what's going on that our brains work that way).

Here's the survey, due 9 AM Thursday. Do the reading. We're shifting gears, slowly, away from merely writing about ourselves or writing in more popular genres, and toward the more intellectual pursuits we arrive at in college.

And here's where we're heading with this. You'll be touring your own neighborhood and putting together a photo essay. Just like the experts in Horowitz's book have a "perspective" that allows them to notice certain things, we'll define a perspective for you to have on your own walk. I'll have that assignment posted for Thursday's class, and then you'll have time over break to do some initial thinking, planning and exploring.

Working with Captions, Organizing Photo Essay Material

Here's the slideshow from today's class, that features several examples of slides and captions written from different perspectives. The last slide illustrates how you can handle source material you bring into the file.