JoanaPhillips
New member
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2026
- Messages
- 25
I have no idea what is a photo essay. Like, I get that it involves photos, and I guess it's an essay? But with pictures instead of words? That's my entire understanding, and I know that's not enough for the assignment my journalism professor just dropped on us. 
The prompt says: "Create a photo essay on a topic of your choice that tells a compelling story through images." I've never done anything like this before. I'm a writing major! I do words! I don't even own a real camera—just my phone. And now I have to figure out what is a photo essay well enough to make one myself in like, three weeks. Panic is setting in.
I started googling, and honestly, it made me more confused. Some photo essays have captions. Some don't. Some are 5 pictures, some are 50. Some are black and white, some are color. Some are about war zones and some are about someone's grandmother's kitchen. How is that all the same thing?! What is a photo essay if it can be all of those different things?
My roommate is an art major and tried to explain it to me. She said a photo essay is like a song album—each photo is a track, and together they create something bigger than any single image. The photos need to connect, to flow, to build on each other. She said to think about mood, about rhythm, about telling a story without words. That helped a little, but I'm still nervous.
I think I'm going to document my morning routine at the campus coffee shop where I work. There's something there—the early morning chaos, the regular customers, the moment the espresso machine breaks and everyone panics. It's small, but maybe that's okay for a first attempt at understanding what is a photo essay?
For anyone who's made one: what do you wish you'd known before you started? How many photos is too many? How do you know when you've captured the story? Help a confused writer navigate this visual world!
The prompt says: "Create a photo essay on a topic of your choice that tells a compelling story through images." I've never done anything like this before. I'm a writing major! I do words! I don't even own a real camera—just my phone. And now I have to figure out what is a photo essay well enough to make one myself in like, three weeks. Panic is setting in.
I started googling, and honestly, it made me more confused. Some photo essays have captions. Some don't. Some are 5 pictures, some are 50. Some are black and white, some are color. Some are about war zones and some are about someone's grandmother's kitchen. How is that all the same thing?! What is a photo essay if it can be all of those different things?
My roommate is an art major and tried to explain it to me. She said a photo essay is like a song album—each photo is a track, and together they create something bigger than any single image. The photos need to connect, to flow, to build on each other. She said to think about mood, about rhythm, about telling a story without words. That helped a little, but I'm still nervous.
I think I'm going to document my morning routine at the campus coffee shop where I work. There's something there—the early morning chaos, the regular customers, the moment the espresso machine breaks and everyone panics. It's small, but maybe that's okay for a first attempt at understanding what is a photo essay?
For anyone who's made one: what do you wish you'd known before you started? How many photos is too many? How do you know when you've captured the story? Help a confused writer navigate this visual world!
