I had one of those moments in class last week where something just... clicks. You know? We were studying Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" in my photography history class, and the professor started talking about her FSA work—how she didn't just take single powerful images, but created whole bodies of work that told deeper stories. And suddenly, I got it. I finally understood what is a photo essay on a gut level. 
Lange didn't just photograph that one famous woman. She photographed the camp, the other families, the living conditions, the landscape. She built a narrative through images that showed the human cost of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Each photo added something new: context, emotion, detail, scope. Together, they created an experience that a single photo—even an iconic one—couldn't achieve alone. That's what is a photo essay at its core: a story that needs more than one frame to tell.
Now I'm working on my own project about the farmers market that sets up on campus every Thursday. It's small, it's local, but I'm trying to think like Lange. I'm not just photographing the pretty vegetables (though I did, they're very pretty). I'm photographing the farmer's hands as he counts change. The little kid dropping her strawberry. The vendor arriving at 5 AM to set up. The last customer grabbing a deal at closing time. I'm trying to build a world, not just take nice pictures.
The biggest thing I've learned about what is a photo essay is that it's about intention. Every photo should be there for a reason. You should be able to look at the sequence and feel a beginning, middle, and end. There should be variety—wide shots, close-ups, details, portraits. It's like writing with light instead of words.
For anyone else trying to understand what is a photo essay, I highly recommend studying the masters. Look at Lange, at Eugene Smith, at Mary Ellen Mark. See how they build stories. It's not about having the fanciest camera—it's about seeing the world as a collection of moments that add up to something meaningful.
What photographers inspire your visual storytelling?
Lange didn't just photograph that one famous woman. She photographed the camp, the other families, the living conditions, the landscape. She built a narrative through images that showed the human cost of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Each photo added something new: context, emotion, detail, scope. Together, they created an experience that a single photo—even an iconic one—couldn't achieve alone. That's what is a photo essay at its core: a story that needs more than one frame to tell.
Now I'm working on my own project about the farmers market that sets up on campus every Thursday. It's small, it's local, but I'm trying to think like Lange. I'm not just photographing the pretty vegetables (though I did, they're very pretty). I'm photographing the farmer's hands as he counts change. The little kid dropping her strawberry. The vendor arriving at 5 AM to set up. The last customer grabbing a deal at closing time. I'm trying to build a world, not just take nice pictures.
The biggest thing I've learned about what is a photo essay is that it's about intention. Every photo should be there for a reason. You should be able to look at the sequence and feel a beginning, middle, and end. There should be variety—wide shots, close-ups, details, portraits. It's like writing with light instead of words.
For anyone else trying to understand what is a photo essay, I highly recommend studying the masters. Look at Lange, at Eugene Smith, at Mary Ellen Mark. See how they build stories. It's not about having the fanciest camera—it's about seeing the world as a collection of moments that add up to something meaningful.
What photographers inspire your visual storytelling?