Experiment 2: Photo Essays with my Family
Introduction
As a second semester college junior, I am realizing how quickly life moves. As I consider my future plans and prepare to enter the workforce, I recognize how fortunate I am to have grown up with strong female role models in my life. My mother and grandmother in particular encouraged me, and continue to do so, to pursue the things I am passionate about.
From a young age, I especially admired my grandmother. I spent a good chunk of time with her as a child because my dad worked long hours, and my mom was finishing her nursing degree. Having been widowed since 1972, my grandmother never once complained about doing anything on her own. I remember she always rearranged her furniture. Whether it be the living room, the office, or her bedroom, each time I visited her house something was out of its previous place. And as small as that might seem, it was my first realization that my grandma is truly a special lady. With five other siblings, she is the glue that holds everyone together. In fact, my grandmother is the reason that holidays pre-COVID were always spent with extended family and an abundance of traditional Armenian food.
But I would be missing a major portion of her identity if I failed to evaluate how her early life shaped her into the woman she is now – without recognizing how she occupied both the role of mom and dad for her children. My grandmother started her adult life in a very different time than I now experience.
Seeing different portrayals of women in the media drives me to reflect on the way society influences women’s perceptions of themselves. I recognize that my grandmother’s story is just one of many, yet I hope that her story appeals to all women. And in considering my grandmother's early life, I also consider how society changed from my grandmother's generation to my mother's generation to my generation. In particular, I hope each generation's story reaches girls about my age as they consider their future and prepare to enter into the “real world”. By shedding light on the women who empower me to be unapologetically myself, I hope that others see they shouldn’t feel pressure to conform to society’s standards. Had my grandmother listened to those around her and wallowed in self-pity, she would never have become the role model that she is today.
Genre Research
Photo essays are a particularly tricky medium to work with because they combine photography and prose. Perhaps the most well-known photo essay series is Humans of New York. Started in 2010 by Brandon Stanton, the series was popularized by social media and continues to attract mass audiences today. By offering strangers the opportunity to share their stories on Stanton’s platform, Humans of New York builds a strong community among its vast audience. It is important, however, to distinguish Stanton’s series from individual photo essays. A photo essay in and of itself consists of a beginning, middle, and end; it tells a story. Within any photo essay, it’s important to balance truth with symbolism and empathy (Walter). For example, Stanton’s Humans of New York features stories ranging from “real-life encounters with racial injustice, to young children explaining what they want to be when they grow up,” (Crager). And though each of these stories strike different chords, they all connect photography with truthful storytelling. The images that accompany Stanton’s subjects aren’t necessarily studio-grade self-portraits, but they are instead symbolic of the stories told (Crager).
Examining a photo essay more generally, the genre offers authors a significant amount of creative liberty. There is no single way to structure a photo essay. Some authors choose to include photographs in sequential order, adding captions to “full text essays”, and other authors may choose to include photographs out of chronological order either all at once or embedded in a longer text (Diehl).
There are, however, a few elements that are crucial to the genre of photo essay. First and foremost, the piece itself must have a theme. Whether that theme embodies a specific moment in someone’s life, a story they tell, or a person they describe, the text has to encompass that theme. The supporting photographs add an element of reality to that story. Within the theme, the photo essay should “convey an idea or illicit emotion.” This is essentially the equivalent of an essay’s tone. An author should ask themself, “What emotion does this photo essay convey to a complete stranger?” The accompanying photos may include small captions, or the essay element of the piece can serve as a more general caption, leaving interpretation of the photos up to the reader (Nguyen).
References
Crager, Chloe. “Famous Photography: Humans of New York.” Chloe Crager Passion Blog Photography, 28 Sept. 2016, sites.psu.edu/cragerpassion/2016/09/28/famous-photography-humans-of-new-york/.
Diehl, Heath A. “‘The Photo Essay: The Search for Meaning’ (3.1).” ASSAY, www.assayjournal.com/heath-diehl-8203the-photo-essay-the-search-for-meaning-31.html.
Nguyen, Michael. “Genre Conventions of Photo Essays.” Rhetoric of Food, 28 Mar. 2017, sites.dwrl.utexas.edu/rhetoric-of-food/2017/03/28/genre-conventions-of-photo-essays/.
Walter, Mike. “Humans of New York: Connecting Community through Photographs.” CGTN America, 13 June 2014, america.cgtn.com/2014/06/01/full-frame-essay-humans-of-new-york-a-global-community-connecting-through-photographs.
Sketch
As a fully realized project, I will conduct three full interviews that encompass three generations: my grandmother, my mother, and my younger sister. The photo essay series is mean to be be read generationally – from oldest to youngest. To begin speaking with each woman, I will ask the same guiding questions:
Can you talk about a moment or period in your life when you felt the most empowered? How was your perception shaped by society? Taken as a whole, the project will reflect three personal narratives and tell just one of many stories about female empowerment as passed down from generation to generation.
My grandmother Aida's photo essay will focus on her experience as a young widow with three children under the age of ten. In this piece, I hope to gain insight into the societal expectation for women in the 1970s. As an Armenian immigrant, my grandmother also offers a unique perspective of acclimating to life in a new country while raising a family.
My mother Melanie's photo essay will regard her experience becoming a nurse and caring for others. After putting herself through school, she raised two daughters and then returned to work full time. My mother is the middle ground between my generation and my grandmother’s generation. Her experience will speak more to how society progressed and normalized women as having an instrumental role both at home and in the workforce. She’ll talk about the struggles of balancing these two entities and the women in her life who experienced similar struggles.
Finally, my sister Lauren's photo essay will involve the intersection of body image and sports. Diagnosed with Alopecia Areata as a child, Lauren struggled with body image at an earlier age than many of her peers. She began playing softball competitively at the height of her autoimmune disease, and today – nearly ten years later – she is in the process of being recruited to play softball at the NCAA level. Lauren’s photo essay will represent the societal shift that my mother and grandmother touch on. Though there is so much progress to still be had – which she will also speak to– Lauren’s vulnerability and strong support system reflect a major transformation from the time when my grandmother became widowed.
Reflection
I originally conducted this second experiment by writing only my grandmother's photo essay as my sample. As you read the reflection below – written after I'd completed that first photo essay – I hope that it is clear just how rewarding and impactful the process was. My second experiment was the most obvious choice for my final project. Producing just one photo essay left the narrative unfinished; I felt compelled to tell just one of many female empowerment stories as a generational one.
My biggest takeaway from this experiment is that photo essays are difficult. Despite my preconceived notions about crafting a photo essay, this experiment actually took significantly more time than my previous one. My grandma gave me a plethora of photos to work with, but I struggled to determine which would best suit her narrative. I didn’t want to include just any photograph; I wanted it to have purpose. I also wanted to highlight my grandmother’s Armenian background with the photographs I included. Though I could not pinpoint a picture that would explicitly highlight it, I did come across one that displayed my grandmother’s tattoo. Without explanation, I think it would be easily overlooked, but I hope that the photo’s caption underscores how instrumental my grandmother’s cultural background is to her identity.
Though writing the prose was relatively simple given that I transcribed my grandmother’s words, I did struggle to craft an introduction to this experiment. Of course, I admire my grandmother and recognize her accomplishments, but putting this into words was difficult. Everyone who knows me well knows I am very close with my grandmother, so I’ve never had to explain it candidly. In fact, most of my high school friends have, at some point, joined me for a Sunday dinner at her house. Even putting the broader message into context was a challenge because I want for this experiment to be versatile. I think different audiences will relate to different aspects of the narrative, and each reader will walk away with something personal. Therefore, I didn’t want to tell my audience what they should be focused on.
On a more personal level, this experiment was also difficult because it forced me to have an objective conversation with my grandmother. For as long as I could remember, she’s always been open about her struggles as a young widow. But I’d never really taken a step back to examine how her experience shaped her children, her siblings, and more broadly her perspective on the world around her. She often speaks about her early adult life in passing, mentioning her neighbors and relationship with her family. But these conversations rarely ever become emotionally charged. The conversation I had with my grandmother for this experiment helped me to see things from her point of view. In that sense, I did a lot of self-reflection throughout each step of the experiment.