Football Photo Essay

Using photographs to explain the narrative of a youth team football match.

When thinking about the concept of photo essays, I began researching examples starting with the link ‘Photo Essay Directory’. I discovered many different themes and styles. However, the subject that really took my interest was the activity of Football. I came across the photographer Tim Hetherington, whose photo essay observed ‘Soccer in Liberia’, recovering from the Civil War. His ideas really inspired me, as I found the way that he effectively portrayed all the different aspects and emotions involved in football to be very inventive and original. I liked the way that he used a lot of natural framing and leading lines in his images and I was influenced by this when it came to producing my own photos.

My understanding of the photo-essay was that we had to tell a story through images. However, unlike a storyboard it wasn't vital that they were to be in chronological order. Personally I found the variation of shots required engaging, ranging from establishing, action, portrait and detail. Therefore, when it came to planning my shots I felt I was given a lot more freedom to experiment with different styles of photos. The style of this photo-essay is very naturalistic, therefore I decided not to over edit the images. I found small adjustments were enough to give my images a clean, vibrant look.

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