The process and challenges behind a photo story

Bill Fox, 62, makes a sandwich at his place of residence Wood Lane. (PHO245 photos by Parth Pitroda)

Elaine Johnston, 69, does the laundry. (PHO245 photos by Parth Pitroda)

Elaine Johnston bowls with an iPad.

   Photo stories can be tough to photograph and document. This is true because there are several things that you have to take into account beforehand. To tell a story you must present a substantial amount of images while making sure they have some sort of continuity to them. Furthermore, it’s important to cover the necessary information in the caption such as who, what, when, where, why, and how.

   Documenting the scene on site is a tricky process. Preparing for reporting is also helpful. Sometimes improvising is necessary once at the scene. The first step you should take upon arriving at a destination is to introduce yourself to the main person in charge. Then, kindly ask them to sit in a quiet place so you can document them using an audio recorder for live coverage. This whole process was overwhelming to me at first.

   I prepared for this photo story by looking at the organization’s website and doing some research. This gave me a general idea of what to expect at Wood Lane, an organization that helps people with disabilities, which was the focus of my story. Shooting some of the tenants while they were in action was difficult to do. The lighting conditions inside one of the homes limited my camera controls. Small room sizes also narrowed the amount of angles which were available to use for the camera. This was challenging for me, but proved to be a good learning experience. After the Wood Lane photo shoot was over, nervousness broke onto me, it went too fast. Overall, I feel this photo story assignment has given me good photojournalism experience. Although it was nothing like anything I had worked with before, I was able to learn a lot and am eager to continue learning through experiences like this.