Assignment #5 Narrative or Non-Narrative Series

Vlad Artazov-Nail Photography Series (non-narrative)

Victor Perez- Coffee (narrative)

Jordon Ross-Favorite Desert (non-narrative)

Create a series of 6-12 photos that are related in a narrative or non-narrative way. This assignment is about coming up with an idea and following through with final prints. "Making" pictures rather than just "taking" them. Keep your idea simple and "do-able". Look around you for interesting objects and people. Make stories revolving around them. Think out and draw your idea to see how you can represent it visually. Look for interesting angles that will enhance your story and still make each image interesting in itself. Use what you learned about depth of field to isolate your subject and use the rule of thirds to make your viewer's eye search through your image for more clues to the story... Create ghosts and mysteries with long exposures... The more layers of information you create, the more impactful the images.

A narrative story has a beginning, middle, and end. So if you were to take 5 shots of some kind of event that the sequence needed to be in a specific order; 1-5 to get the story across, that would be a narrative series. One example would be if you photographed someone who went to the market to get groceries and then came home, put some of the groceries away and then cooked dinner for a friend who came and ate the meal-- that would be a narrative series.  Also think about Duane Michael's photo fictions like, "Death comes to the lady" or his miniature bathroom series.

A non-narrative series would be independent images that do not exist on a time line but have something in common binding them together. Usually you could rearrange the order of these images and the meaning would not be affected. For example: 6 photographs of surfers on the beach each with a different type of surfboard. The order of these images could be rearranged and still have the same meaning. So the topic or subject of the non-narrative series is important. It could be the lighting of the subject, or the way the photo is taken, but there must be some consistency to the images for the viewer to realize that they are a series. Distance from subject or size of the subject in the frame is also a factor in consistency. Overall the story takes place in each individual image and when combined they convey a consistent idea. Unlike the linear progression of images of the narrative.

Come up with something that interests you and also is easy to accomplish. I am more interested in seeing expressive camera angles, and the use of depth of field and shutter blurs to make simple ideas come to life! You will present your series in class December 7 or 8 depending on if you have class on Monday or Tuesday. 

Ryan Alberts- soldier boy (narrative)

István Halas: The answer, 1987 (non-narrative)

How to Make a Storyboard

1. Step 1: Create a Template. Draw a series of rectangles on a piece of paper, as if you were creating a comic strip. ...
2. Step 2: Give the shot description under each rectangle that corresponds to that scene.
3. Step 3: Sketch Out the Story. ...
4. Step 4: Add Notes.
   

The top row that I drew on the board is a narrative  with a linear time line. (can't rearrange these in order)

The bottom row is a non- narrative series. These can be rearranged without ruining the story because each image represents the idea internally.

Remember you are "making" images, not "taking" them.

Storyboard from class