53. SERIES AND COLLECTIONS
YOU WENT, YOU saw, you photographed, you edited. Now what? Think about what your goals are for your images. To publish, to share, to display, or to remember? All of the above? Even if you don’t have aspirations of a gallery opening or getting published in a magazine, consider assembling your images into a cohesive and interpretive grouping as a way to complete the travel experience.
Find a Through Line
The best way to start assembling a collection or series of images is to decide what your through line will be. Narrowing your images by theme, concept, or location will help you select which images best support a cohesive vision. Are you trying to teach viewers something? Did you hope to create awareness for a particular situation or issue? Maybe your through line is a single location. Maybe it’s a whole journey across a region or a continent. You could focus on a specific subject like food, or architecture, or portraits (Figure 53.1). Sometimes the best through line is the common element in all of your images, the photographer.
Whatever your central theme, it’s important that you have one and that you feel strongly about it. Passion for your experiences will help you create the most impactful collection.
Thousand-Worders and Fragments
In the very first lesson I mentioned that not every image needs to be worth a thousand words. I stand by that. As you work on assembling your images by through line, you’ll find that some images speak volumes on their own, whereas others exist merely to support and provide context or a deeper look. The overall goal is to create a collection that is greater than the sum of its parts. If every image has massive stories to tell, your intentions for the series may become harder to follow. Think back to writing lessons in grade school. Choose a few photos that hypothesize and several more images that support and enhance each hypothesis (Figure 53.2).
53.1 A series of images depicting the cork harvesting process. Andalusia, Spain
Making Sure Everything Fits
Your series or collection will be stronger if each image feels like it belongs in some way with the others. One way to achieve this is through color palette. Fortunately, many locations have a consistent color theme (we talked a bit about this in Lesson 33). A series from the American Southwest might have a warm palette with lots of reds, oranges, and browns across your images (Figure 53.3).
53.2 The process of creating a dessert. Wilmington, Delaware
53.3 These images from my trip to Utah inhabit the same color palate and go nicely together.
Share Your Best Series!
Once you’ve captured and assembled your best photographic series, share it with the Enthusiast’s Guide community! Follow @EnthusiastsGuides and post your image to Instagram with the hashtag #EGSeries. Don’t forget that you can also search that same hashtag to view all the posts and be inspired by what others are shooting.
A collection from the Caribbean might feature plenty of bold greens, bright blues and pinks, and deep yellows (Figure 53.4). By keeping an eye on the way color plays across your images, you’ll be able to form a visually appealing set of images that feel like they go together even if the subject matter is varied.
If you went on a journey that seems to have no cohesive color theme, consider basing a set on stylistic similarities. Did you shoot most of your images with a dreamy shallow depth of field? Is each of your photos fantastically contrasty? Is everything in black and white? Consider grouping images that feel like they inhabit the same stylistic realm (Figure 53.5). You may not realize ahead of time that you have certain stylistic tendencies, and by assembling a collection, you’ll start to see what your eye gravitates to and how you commonly frame things.
Sometimes juxtaposition of contrasting styles, colors, or elements is the best way to create a cohesive set. Just like an urban skyline, you may find images that are based in antiquity, whereas others scream postmodern, and yet they belong together and support each other. Not every aspect of a location will fit seamlessly. Allow the disparity to shine through in your collections. A series can contain both natural and man-made, luxury and austerity, new and old as long as it supports your through line.
Outlets for Your Collections
After you’ve created a collection or series and you feel good about it, there are a few ways to move forward. You can write a travel story that works with your images and submit it to publications or publish independently through blogging. You can print each image for display and explore gallery opportunities. You can create a gallery on your website or on social media with the finished collection, or you can make a photo book or album to commemorate the trip. Or you can take things further and add a personal touch by telling the stories behind the scenes . . .
53.4 A distinctly Caribbean collection
53.5 Each of these black-and-white images focuses on texture and form. To me, they feel like they go together.