We often take visual cues from imagery which can be used effectively in photography to take on a narrative form in various ways, such as a single image, a series or through a sequence of images. An example of a narrative in a single image, is the work of Melanie Pullen, High Fashion Crime Scenes (2003-2017) in which Pullen elaborately re-creates crime scenes taken from historical Los Angeles Police Department photographs (Pullen, 2004). What I find interesting about her work, is that they are based on a real-life narrative with very specific details, yet the viewer is still open to interpret and imagine their own scenarios. As I usually work with film, I do find the idea of creating one image to tell a whole narrative as a challenge, as I am used to editing together many images into a usually chronological timeline.
The narrative in a single image across a series of images is another method used in photography. With my interest in film, I was naturally drawn to Cindy Sherman’s work, Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980, which as the title suggests, the photographs are based on stills from films, in black and white with characters looking off the frame at something in the distance we can’t see (Van de Walle, 2017). They have a nostalgic cinema-quality about them, yet they are not from a particular film. Unlike Pullen’s work where one image is full of many visual cues, each individual image in Sherman’s work actually lacks cues, until we view them as part of the series. Interestingly, MOMA purchased all of the series created over a three-year period and displayed them together as an exhibition (Van de Walle, 2017).
Photo essays and photo books create a narrative through a sequence of images usually viewed in a chronological timeline from start to finish. Coming from film, I feel this is the most natural format for myself even when working with still photography, I often have a concept or narrative in mind before I start shooting. Gerry Badger describes this type of photography narrative as a text, that can be “read” in that the reader takes meaning from their interpretation of the sequence of photographs as a whole, rather than each individual photograph. Badger uses the example of a photograph representing a word, which can be pieced together with multiple photos to create sentences and paragraphs, therefore building into a story that can be read (2011, p.3).
References
Badger G., 2011, ‘Reading the Photobook’, The Photobook Review.
Pullen M. 2004, ‘Station series’, Melanie Pullen blog post, n.d. viewed 25 November 2020, < https://www.melaniepullen.com/high-fashion>
Van de Walle J. 2017, ‘Modern classics: Cindy Sherman – Untitled Film Stills 1977 – 1980 by MOMA Museum, aertlead.net, 21 September viewed 25 November 2020, < https://artlead.net/content/journal/modern-classics-cindy-sherman-untitled-film-stills/>
