Experiment 2 - Photo Essay of Fears
Part I - Proposal
The source material for this experiment speaks to the human relationship with fear, looking to both its psychological implementations as well as influences on the daily life of those who feel overcome by it. This photo essay will document various personal perspectives of this topic by asking for testimonials from specific individuals to elaborate on what their biggest fears are, as well as a more thorough reflection guided by specific questions. The three central questions that I will ask are: What is/are your biggest fears? Do you believe that this fear has always existed internally, or is it more a product of time and circumstance? How do you feel your life is influenced and driven by these fears? Though I do hope that the interviewees attempt to cover the answers to these questions in their responses, my goal is for the presentation and delivery to be continuous. For this reason, I will be asking these questions collectively in the beginning of the interview session to spark the flow of ideas, however letting the individuals speak freely and reflect without interruption.
The focus of this experiment is highly personal to me as my relationship with fear has invaded various prominent components of my life. While I have a strong understanding of my own struggles and reflect on that internal battle throughout my other experiments, this photo essay steps away from my life and asks others to deliberate a component of their lives which they may try to avoid bringing to the surface of their minds or not openly recognize. This process requires both a lot of reflection and vulnerability to expose. Although I believe that some are naturally more fearless and bolder than others, I think that every individual has a personal relationship with fear. A large amount of variety exists, however, in the age and time period of life when it influences people the most. For this reason, everyone is in the broader discussion of fear and will likely be able to connect with, or at least understand, the sentiments behind the responses.
Because I want to increase the likelihood that I receive highly reflective and detailed answers, I will be asking individuals I personally know and who are comfortable with me to be represented in this photo essay. The level of how close I am with the specific individuals will vary, and I will select the seven most diverse responses from the ten individuals I intend to interview. This quantity of how many interviewees are featured in the final project, however, may change after I do complete all of the interviews and determine which combination flows the best.
Part II - Genre Analysis + Research
There are several conventions of a photo essay that are required in order to define the genre as a whole. As described by the University of Texas, the three necessary components are the photos themselves, a general theme that they all follow, and an idea or illicit emotion that is intended to be portrayed with the theme. The optional components of a photo essay are text and a slideshow format, in which captions, titles, or even thorough descriptions of the images are provided. Given these few standards, the lack of limitations that the photo essay genre enforces gives ample freedom to make anything the author envisions.
A specific photo essay I discovered featured on a variety of social media platforms is a blog post by the Independent titled “School lunches around the world.” In slideshow format, the essay presents 9 images from school lunches in various countries and provides a small caption noting what the key components consist of. Though the captions themselves are short, the slideshow is part of a bigger piece that discusses the disparity in nutritional value in lunches.
Psychology speaks to fear as a primary motivator for many human actions. It drives how we treat other people, how much power we seek, and even steers our career choices. An article by Psychology Today argues that “…the top motivator is fear. It is such a strong driver of our behavior that it may also form the basis for every other motivator in our lives. Fear is a prime motivator because it is rooted in our childhood experiences, and it moves us subconsciously.” Using this background context, I am excited to uncover fear as an influencer of choices in a variety of sectors across the lives of my interviewees. While many psychological articles discuss fear in a detached and scientific way, this photo essay will join the conversation by talking about specific fears and how they motivate the actions of different people. It will show both emotional and in-depth accounts of scenarios, portraying fear in the realest and most present form.
Part III - Sketch
When fully realized, my experiment will consist of seven to ten portrait photos of the individuals who I will choose to interview, each alongside a thorough reflection of his/her biggest fear(s) and their influences. I will also attempt to select photos that are relevant to the specific fears of that individual in order to enliven the photo essay through design elements. I will attempt to maintain a uniform set of visual characteristics throughout the pages so that they flow in a clean and consistent format.
After thoroughly going through the content that I collect, I will clean up the phrasing that was used in order to make the final text more cohesive and easier to follow. On the top of the page will be the individual’s first name and last initial. In order to emphasize the main topic or points discussed on the page, I will bold, italicize, and increase the font size of several phrases that embody these central themes.
Part IV - Sample
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Part V - Reflection
Having completed three interviews for the sample of my photo essay, I have come across both rewarding surprises and unexpected challenges in the process. I found that asking my three central questions at the introduction of my interview was an effective tactic to engage idea presentation in a natural and flowing order. It allowed the speakers to drive their stories in whatever direction they felt was appropriate, and often made room for unexpected realizations in the analytical process. Thus far I have received three very distinguished answers, each underlying a different form in which fear can invade one’s life. Each answer was set in the context of anecdotes, further making the pieces engaging and personalized.
One precaution that I realized had not been given sufficient consideration prior to the start of my interviews was just how sensitive some of the discussed topics are, and how important it is to explicitly warn interviewees that this content will be made public. While fears are something everyone finds themselves internally battle at a point in their lives, it can be predicted why some may be uncomfortable with them being published on the internet. Going forward, I will carefully warn individuals of exactly what will be done with their information, as well as make sure to not reveal more personal information than is necessary.
Another challenge that I came across in finalizing the textual components of my photo essay was organizing the insights that I recorded in an orderly and logical manner without compromising the meaning and authenticity of the original phrases. I overcame this by keeping the majority of the original wording used by the speakers, but making subtle grammatical edits that I felt were necessary. I also confirmed that the interviewees approve of my edits so that I did not display their faces beside a quote they do not support. Together, these tactics allowed for a smooth-reading and authentic photo essay that I am excited to fully realize.