“This series started 3 years ago after attending my first Native American pow wow. The colorful regalia and movements were captivating. It took me several months to decide on the development style of my images, eventually choosing to isolate the dancers from the surrounding clutter and placing them on a common background. I continue to attend pow wow events in order to add to this series.“ –Bob Hills
This article is the brainchild of Bob Hills, who organized the content, wrote the original draft (and edited several more), solicited the images, and continues to inspire other photographers with his work. Also worth noting is that all the images in this post are thumbnails. Clicking one opens a slideshow to see larger versions of the entire series
As photographers, many of us have websites with “galleries.” The gallery is a useful tool to organize stand-alone images into a logical group or collection thereby enhancing the viewing experience. Each can include a few images or several dozen. Photo galleries typically originate when the photographer assembles similar images from their existing portfolio and, later, may expand the collection with new, fresh material.
While we aim for each image to tell its own story, we know that one image isn’t always enough. More breadth is sometimes required, and thus more images, to provide the full story regarding our connection to the subject. This interest in creating a more comprehensive photographic narrative led me on an investigation of the “photo series” and to eventually discover its potential to make a stronger visual statement while also exploring new creative possibilities.
“For many years, I have had the honor of being the exclusive photographer for Norman Walker, who, among other major achievements, is a world-class guest choreographer at the most prestigious dance studies throughout the world…including the Bolshoi Opera Company. My passion is to anticipate an exquisite instant in time and capture that moment forever in a photo. It is a never ending labor of love”. –Bebe O’Brien
In working on different photo series over the years, I’ve discovered several characteristics that distinguish them from images grouped into a gallery.
- The photo series is more premeditated in that it is planned before the creative work begins or early in the creative cycle.
- There is a tight, overarching theme to a series with each image contributing to enhancing and conveying that theme with less emphasis on making each image unique and distinct.
- There is likely a deeper connection between the photographer and the subject matter that drives the initial capture of images and the subsequent development and organization.
- It follows that photographs in a series are often edited with the same method and in a similar style to bolster coherence.
Examples of photo series (or portions of them) are shown throughout this article.
“The images in this series are from a trip to Hawaii visiting the Arizona Memorial where fuel oil continues to seep from the sunken ship after all these years. I was not able to achieve the results I wanted until over a year after I had captured these images when Adobe released one of the first major revisions to the Adobe Lightroom algorithms for raw processing.” –Charlie Hills
A good photo series provides an enhanced viewing experience.
- The series has a cumulative effect beyond individual images being considered on their own merits.
- It capitalizes on the phenomenon that the human brain is stimulated by identifying trends, patterns, and other unifying elements in imagery.
- There is the effect of expanding on the theme, or storyline, with each additional image.
This last point lends itself to the metaphor between photography and writing. A good individual image can tell a story, like writing an article or short story. If the image is part of a compelling series, that image becomes a chapter, and the entire series forms the novel around the theme.
“This is a series of people with interesting faces that I’ve met in a variety of settings in the U.S. or Mexico. I’ve treated all of these images with the same Topaz filter to emphasize their distinctive faces.” –Theodore (Ted) H. Fleming
A photo series can also presents viewers with an alternative and perhaps unexpected viewing experience.
- The viewer will get a broader perspective on the subject or theme than can be derived from a single image.
- A well done series communicates the photographer’s personal connection to the images and their intention to explore this relationship artistically.
- The viewer will likely regard the photographer as having studied the subject and developed some expertise on how to capture and present it.
In the end, a well done series engages the viewer to consider both the images and the photographer in a positive manner.
“I love surreal art and saw Photoshop compositing as a way to explore creating my own. The COVID-19 lockdown offered me no excuse to be too busy to learn Photoshop, so I got going. To make the project easier, my son, who is a digital artist, suggested some parameters: center the subject in each photo, use a 1:1 aspect ratio for ease of posting on Instagram, and use a black background. Why the spoon? One of my favorite photographers, Alan Shapiro, occasionally uses a very ornate berry spoon in his still life photographs. A much less ornate, but lovely, berry spoon had come down to me from my favorite grandmother, and I thought ‘surreal art model’ could be a nice new role for it while recalling happy memories of her.” –Jane Schwartz (on Instagram at zazjane)
Producing a photo series should provide a satisfying experience for the photographer.
- It gives them a chance to tell a bigger story than can be told with a single image.
- Developing a series allows the photographer more time to take a deeper dive into their subject, theme, or concept.
- There is the opportunity for a more meaningful learning experience compared to jumping between unrelated images since the time and effort to create a series often requires new approaches and solving a broader set of problems.
As the photo series unfolds, the satisfaction is not just in the pictures. The creative process of making the series can itself be as rewarding as the final images.
“It had rained hard for a couple days. That was unusual because it was fall. The leaves were all bright colors at the time. Because of the rain, the leaves fell to the ground much earlier and more colorfully than normal. Large piles of leaves covered portions of the streets and sidewalks near my home waiting for someone to rake them. The opportunity occurred to capture this unique event photographically and I didn’t have to walk more than a block and a half from my house. After some post-processing experimentation, I decided to apply abstraction and filtering to the images to create this effect.” –Charlie Hills
As a photographer, how do you go about producing a photo series? The first step is to decide what you want your series to be about. Ideally, you would come up with an idea before you get started. However, it would be more common to stumble on the idea for a series as you capture or process individual images, or experiment with different techniques. The plan or thought for a series will be spurred by excitement, a personal connection to the subject, the desire to serve a cause, or simply to take on a bigger challenge. Always be thinking about “series” possibilities in order to catch potential ideas early on. And when inspiration strikes, be sure to follow through by making additional, similar images to see where it might lead you.
“Several years ago, I had occasion to see images of remote Ethiopian tribal people and immediately put that destination on my bucket list. In 2019, I fulfilled the burning desire to photograph these remarkable people and their centuries-old traditions before they vanish due to relentless encroachment of the outside world. We all became terribly ill on that journey and swore we would never go there again. I’m returning this fall.” –Bebe O’Brien
Once you have decided on the cohesive theme and style for your series, a certain level of commitment and perseverance is required to complete a set of supporting images. You do not necessarily need to work on a series in one continuous block of time or exclusively. However, it is easier to stick to the theme and style if you can work on it with some regularity in order to keep the momentum intact.
“I thought about shooting water droplets for years when COVID-19 enabled this studio project. It’s a tremendous challenge to work from concept to print, tweaking many variables along the way. The possibilities are endless. After producing over 100 prints in 4 months, I’ve set the project aside for now, but intend to revisit it with fresh ideas in the future.” –Bob Hills
The final challenge is the same as with any work of art: deciding when it is done. The shooting, editing, and curating of images can, of course, be endless, so the real question becomes when to share your series with a larger audience. In general, the answer to that question is to do it sooner rather than later. Once you have a minimal number of images (like three) that you feel communicate something bigger than the content of the individual pictures, you likely have a series. However premature this may feel, sharing the product may help you find direction and incentive to continue. The reality is that a series never needs to end unless you want it to. If the subject, theme, techniques, and exploration continue to be of interest; and you can consistently create new images around that theme, then both you and your audience will continue to benefit. A series doesn’t have to be a one-off event. If you’re lucky, it can also be a life-long passion.
“This is a series of animals that I’ve photographed in different U.S. locations. Unlike my “Characters That I’ve Encountered” series, these images have been treated in a variety of ways but always with a painterly effect in mind.” -Theodore (Ted) H. Fleming
