21st Century - Writing A Photographic Essay

HAU-BED Senior High School
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
INTRODUCTION
A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY is a series of pictures that seek to invoke emotions, to

tell a story or to convey a message. Unlike typical essays that make use of sentences
and paragraphs to accomplish this, a photographic essay instead relies on artfully and
purposefully arranged images to achieve the desired effect.
There are two types of photographic essays: NARRATIVE PHOTO ESSAYS and
THEMATIC PHOTO ESSAYS. As shown in the textbook, the main difference between
the two is the focus of the photographic essay: The Narrative Photo Essay tells a story
while a Thematic Photo Essay focuses on a central theme or message.
Differentiating Narrative and Thematic Photo Essays:
NARRATIVE THEMATIC
Tells a story Focuses on a theme or message
May feature varied and different
Usually features a small group of
subjects, as long as they are
subjects (people, objects, etc.) that
connected to the central theme or
act as characters in the essay’s story
message
Presented in usually in a
Presented usually in an “artistic”
chronological (based on the passage
manner by the creator for maximum
of time) or logical (based on the
impact
events of the story) manner
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PERFORMANCE TASK: THE PHOTO ESSAY
You are invited to participate in an art exhibition that celebrates the creativity of
today’s student youth. The theme of the exhibition is “Images Everyday”, which seeks to
showcase photographic essays by typical Senior High School students featuring
everyday objects and occurrences around them, particularly during the days of the
Covid Pandemic and the New Normal and how these have changed their lives. The
essay will be presented to the general student body and then judged by a panel of
knowledgeable individuals (the Principal, the Arts teacher, and Mang Gustin the Janitor)
based on the provided rubric.
Output: A Photographic Essay
Requirements:
1) The photographic essay must comprise of six (6) images which cannot be edited,
filtered or digitally altered. Images must be taken by the author and cannot be taken
from other sources. The author must also provide a TITLE for the essay and
CAPTIONS for each of the images.
2) The author chooses whether they will use THEMATIC or NARRATIVE type of photo
essay
3) The photo essay must be created and submitted in Word format. Any conventionally
intelligible font may be used for the title and captions.
4) Backgrounds and other design elements may be used but not to the detraction of the
photo essay itself. Animated, video and audio elements are forbidden.
5) The subject matter of the essay must be tasteful and be within the grounds of basic
decency.
Page | 2
Rubric for Photographic Essay
Criteria 10 7 5 3
Does not
Provides a Provides a
Provides an provide any
unique and decent albeit
interesting interesting
interesting typical
Creativity approach to the approaches to
approach to the approach to the
subject of the the subject of
subject of the subject of the
photo essay the photo
photo essay photo essay
essay
Presents the Presents
Presents the Presents
photos in a photos in a
photos in a photos in a
visually haphazard
visually competent
competent manner that
pleasing manner that
Composition manner that fails to conform
manner that does not
conforms to the to the
strengthens the detract from or
requirements of requirements of
overall improve on the
the the
presentation presentation
presentation presentation
The photo The photo

essay provides essay provides
The photo
a story a story or a
essay provide
(Narrative) or a theme that can The photo
a story or a
theme be understood essay fails to
Content theme that is
(Thematic) that though some provide a story
unclear or
can be clearly parts are vague or a theme.
difficult to
understood and and/or deviate
understand
conforms to all from
requirements requirements
The title and The title and The title and/or

The title and
captions are captions are caption are not
Title and captions are
perfectly suited not completely suited to the
Captions suited to the
for the photo suited to the photo essay or
photo essay
essay photo essay are missing.
Page | 3
A. Classify your Photo Essay (Put a check mark {/}) according to type.
/
o Narrative Photo Essay
o Thematic Photo Essay
B. Create and submit your Photo Essay in Word format. Any conventionally
intelligible font may be used for the title and captions
C. ARRANGE your taken/chosen photos (sample sequence only) according to the
sequential order of the story/theme.
D. Write an appropriate CAPTION (catchline, body, credit) for each picture,
E. Create your own TITLE for the set of photos.
F. Use backgrounds and other design elements but not to the detraction of the
photo essay itself.
Page | 4
NEW NORMAL WARRIORS IN THE NEW LEARNING SET UP
Write your Photo Essay here of not more than 100 words (10 sentences).
In this new online learning setup, we experience many struggles. Challenges

arise especially on the internet connectivity and financial difficulty. This pandemic may
loosen our light in doing our best, but we choose to strive even harder. Our current
situation may degrade us, but our willingness to learn and bravery are our driving forces
in reaching our goals. Despite all the odds, we are still searching for motivation to
strengthen ourselves and keep in mind the word “PADAYON”. Padayon to excel in
everything despite the challenges that we’ve experienced. Our willingness allows us to
turn our dreams into reality and let nothing stops us from dreaming. We inspire society
to learn from our young minds and to think about how each one of us can make a
difference. We are the new normal warriors - ready to seek opportunities amidst this
challenging time. We are equipped with knowledge and strengths in embracing this
pandemic as we are ready to fight in reaching our goals.
Page | 5

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HAU-BED Senior High School

21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY is a series of pictures that seek to invoke emotions, to

Differentiating Narrative and Thematic Photo Essays:

Output: A Photographic Essay

The photo The photo

The title and The title and The title and/or

o Thematic Photo Essay

In this new online learning setup, we experience many struggles. Challenges

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