11 Photo Essay Freewriting Exercise
By now, you should have a topic for your multimodal essay. You also should have some photos in mind. Now, you need to decide how you are going to organize your slides, etc. This prewriting exercise will help you get started. Answer the following questions.
- Your photo essay should offer readers a clear message/perspective about your community. What message do you want to convey to your readers?
- Have you chosen between 5 – 10 photos for your essay? If not, stop here and do that now. If you have, proceed to question #3.
- Review the photos that you have chosen. For each photo, answer these questions:
- Why have you chosen the photo?
- How does the photo support the message you want to convey about your community?
- Now, try organizing your photos. What’s going to come first, and why? What’s going to come second, etc.? And what image will you use to close the essay? Why?
- Next, try captioning your photos.
- Have you identified a problem in the community you are exploring? What is it? What is a possible solution to the problem?
- How are your photos & captions going to establish your credibility (ethos)? Be specific.
- How are your photos & captions going to connect to the audience and their beliefs and values (pathos)? Be specific.
- How are your photos & captions going to make your photo essay logical (logos)? Be specific.
