Narrative Photography

Contact Sheet

Diary Entry

I really enjoyed the shooting for this project. I liked having a story line to work with and found myself paying a lot more attention to the composition of my photographs. I also worked with my flash, and that did wonders for my negatives. I usually have a lot of trouble in the dark room getting the timing and the exposure right, but this time I finished fairly quickly. I also started immediately working with filters. I think from now on I will do that because it really makes a big difference in terms of contrast and lighting.

Theory Notes

Narrative photography encompasses a series of photographs in a logical sequence that essentially tell a story. I took photographs that I hope will convey the progression of a young couple's love. My first print is an image of a young man collecting donations - in this way he meets a young woman. The next step is a date between the two, sipping a smoothie together. I then took pictures of each of them talking on the phone to each other, showing a lapse in time and a growing sense of relationship. The next print is a kiss, silhouetted in the window. The final part of my story is the proposal. It is a simple and cliche story, but I think that will help the viewer in their understanding of the narrative.

Printing Compositions

Scene 1: Collecting Donations at the Door.

A4 F4 T 90-100-110
Final Print: The first print was A4, F4, T115. It was too light, so I increased the time to 165.

Scene 2: A Smoothie and Two Straws

A4 F4 T165Final Print: I used exactly the same settings as the last print, and it came out very well:

A4 F4 T165

Scene 3: Talking on the Phone

A4 F4 T165

Final Print: Again, I used the same settings: A4 F4 T165.

Scene 4: Playing Play Station

A5.6 F5 T140-160
Final Print: I had to change the settings for this one, because the lighting was different. The fisrt one is A8 F5 T230, but it had too much time, and was still too light. The second one was better, with A5.6 F5 and T170. It was still a little light, so I added 20 more seconds. The final was: A5.6 F5 T190.

Scene 5: In the Window

A5.6 F5 T200
Final Print: I tried out the first one at A5.6, F5, and T220, but it was too light, and did not entirely give the sillhouette effect I was looking for. I changed the aperature for better exposure. The final print was A4 F5 T200.

Scene 6: The Proposal

A4 F4 T170Final Print: These both were exposed at the same settings, but one of them is out of focus. It was A4, F4, and T185.

Image Bank

Lawrence Ripsher is a British photographer, although he currently lives in Seattle. He works with many different types of photography, including sports and narrative. I like his work because I can really see an emotional side to nearly every picture I looked at. I cannot copy an image on here, but his website is : http://narrativephotography.com/ .

James Lomax is a photographer living in Manchester. He currently teaches photography at Manchester College, although he has also taught english, among computer classes. I like this print in particular because there is an element of a story in just this one image, rather than in a series of images.

Kristina Drobny is a narrative photographer from West Virginia. She uses images to tell stories about day to day life and the uniqueness of individuals. I really liked this photograph because it evokes so many questions: What is she doing? What are the wrappers for? Why are there so many of them? http://www.kristinadrobny.com