Structuring a long essay/book

[TennesseJones]

I just thought I'd ask the collective wisdom of the forum, as there are so many experienced people here.

I've been commissioned by a small publisher to do a small photographic essay/book about Nicosia in Cyprus, documenting the last 'divided capital'. It's a project which came about quickly, and for which I've been asked to deliver soon.

I've been working on it for many weeks now, and have edited down my images to the approximately 100 they want. I'm relatively pleased with what I've done. The work is all black and white, and traces the division through its physical aspects (abandoned landscapes, checkpoints, the UN buffer zone) and through the various elements of the city as it now stands (the new migrant worker community that has been drawn to the old walled city where rent is now cheap) the various religious communities and remaining commercial activities which exist within the old walled city, the different social and age groups and on.

I just wondered (beyond the inspiring brilliance of someone like Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh, which is an analogy that I can't hope to reach for many reasons!) what people have looked at, thought about and used as pointers when structuring a long project... Putting things in the right order...

[paulfish4570]

first, establish the point you want to make, in rough form, then make an outline of how to achieve it.
don't worry about the opening sentence. this does not have to be distilled to its final form to write the body of the essay.
you will know you are on the right track with the essay when the opening sentence suddenly comes to you in the writing.
your essay should answer all of these questions, at minimum: who, what, where, when, how. if your essay - and photos - can also answer the question of why, you will have done very well, indeed.

[paulfish4570]

another thing.
because your book will be, in effect, journalism, i offer you, as an example, a classic lead sentence from a newspaper story about a tornado destroying a town: this quiet town died in its sleep last night.
i hope you find some inspration in that ...

[TennesseJones]

thank you Paul, that's great advice.

[icebear]

James,
congratulation on getting this project opportunity.
After quickly flipping through some of your work on flickr and your website, I am pretty sure that it will turn our great.
Do you have anyone of your friends who is willing and able to openly critique your choice of shots? Maybe some 3rd person will pick different ones than the photographer himself, just a thought.
It all depends on the essay and layout, if you'll give an explanation to each picture or just an introduction and then the photos will just be on "their own" leaving the recipient to decipher the message.

[kxl]

While Paul's suggested approach re: journalism is certainly valid, I'd take an entirely different approach: I'd approach it like I would a 3-act play, with Nicosia as the hero.

First of all, define the Log Line: in one sentence, describe the story. Until you can articulate this, you will not be able to completely tell your story.

ACT 1 - images 1-25. Set up the story. Image #25 essentially wraps up ACT 1.

ACT 2 - images 26-75. The apex of your story is image #50

ACT 3 - images 76-100.

Is it a happy ending - Nicosia comes up trimphant despite its past troubles?

Or is it a sad story - Nicosia is only a shadow of its former self.

That's just my $0.02. Good luck!!! AND CONGRATS!!!

[TennesseJones]

thanks so much guys for the advice and kind words..
definitely going to ask for a third eye on it. i'd prefer as little captioning as possible, and all that the back of the volume. but we'll see what the publisher wants!

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Originally Posted by kxl

While Paul's suggested approach re: journalism is certainly valid, I'd take an entirely different approach: I'd approach it like I would a 3-act play, with Nicosia as the hero.

First of all, define the Log Line: in one sentence, describe the story. Until you can articulate this, you will not be able to completely tell your story.

ACT 1 - images 1-25. Set up the story. Image #25 essentially wraps up ACT 1.

ACT 2 - images 26-75. The apex of your story is image #50

ACT 3 - images 76-100.

Is it a happy ending - Nicosia comes up trimphant despite its past troubles?

Or is it a sad story - Nicosia is only a shadow of its former self.

That's just my $0.02. Good luck!!! AND CONGRATS!!!

All of this is good advice. I want to add this: Spend some time getting to know the place, walk around, look around, talk to people, and photograph anything that looks interesting, even if you do not think it will 'fit' in the story. That can be resolved later, after you edit the images and put the story together. Often you'll find a place for images that didn't originally fit once you see all the work at once and start putting them together.

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by kxl

While Paul's suggested approach re: journalism is certainly valid, I'd take an entirely different approach: I'd approach it like I would a 3-act play, with Nicosia as the hero.

First of all, define the Log Line: in one sentence, describe the story. Until you can articulate this, you will not be able to completely tell your story.

ACT 1 - images 1-25. Set up the story. Image #25 essentially wraps up ACT 1.

ACT 2 - images 26-75. The apex of your story is image #50

ACT 3 - images 76-100.

Is it a happy ending - Nicosia comes up trimphant despite its past troubles?

Or is it a sad story - Nicosia is only a shadow of its former self.

That's just my $0.02. Good luck!!! AND CONGRATS!!!

A BEAUTIFUL way of looking at it. Brilliant! Thanks!

Cheers,

R.

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I guess you've the photo's in some sort of order? Why not go through them one at a time and talk about them as though you have an audience and it's a slide show? Then sleep on it and try again and then write down and refine.

With a bit of luck a short introduction and then the pictures and captions will do the trick. It depends a lot on the balance between pictures and words that's wanted.

Regards, David

[BlackXList]

Just a quick thought off the top of my head, as the purpose of the peace is to document a divided place, and you've shot the infrastructure and effects of that division, I think it would be nice to represent that in the structure of the piece itself.

Whether that means the middle of the piece is focussed on the division itself, creating two sets of images either side of it to represent the city itself's divided nature, or whether you use the division to create visual breaks between passages.

Just thought it would be nice to have the sequencing reflect the physicality of the place itself

[Teuthida]

What do you want to say? This is the most crucial aspect of any documentary project.

Once you've decided what your message is, have someone whose eye you trust RUTHLESSLY edit down your pictures to a number and a sequence that THEY think best tells the story you want to tell.


You now have a working draft you adapt as you see fit. Repeat process as necessary.

[sepiareverb]

Having sequenced many books I'd say this:

1) Xerox each image and find someplace you can hang them all up. It doesn;t have to be spacious, just enough to fit each image. A college classroom during a break is ideal.

2) You've likely got some ideas of what works in sequences already, or some notion of what should be near each other, so start with that and hang them up.

3) spend a good two hours working through the sequence, then take a good two hours break that fully occupies your mind- watch a movie or have a leisurely lunch with a friend.

4) return to the sequence and re-edit. I find making digital images of the wall along the way helpful so I can return to some sequence if needed.

5) repeat several times over a few days, and ideally, take a several day break before the final edit.

All of this is much easier with a single trusted compatriot along.