The Simple Pleasures Behind a Chocolate Chip Cookie
To create my photo essay on the simple pleasures behind a chocolate chip cookie, my goal was to capture photos that showed the steps involved in making a chocolate chip cookie with a variety of photography techniques. For each picture, I wanted to capture a moment. For example, instead of taking pictures of a bunch of different cookies, I decided to create a narrative on how to bake one. Each photo demonstrates a sequence of events with a beginning, middle and end. Having a beginning, middle and end are the principles of storytelling. By taking any sort of event and breaking it down sequence by sequence, a story is being told.
What is a photo essay?
“A photo essay is a collection of pictures with an overall topic or theme. The pictures need not be of the same person or event, but they should string together to form a ‘big picture’.”
- Eman Shurbaji
In my photo essay, I discuss the origins of the chocolate chip cookie and demonstrate how a simple chocolate chip cookie is made. To do this, I introduce the photo essay by explaining who created the chocolate chip cookie, its popularity and how the variations of the recipe have evolved. Then, I use captions in my photo essay to tie the photos to the introduction.
For example, the first photo I have shows the ingredients I use for the cookies. The most focused ingredient are the Toll House chocolate chips. In the caption, I explain how the original chocolate chip recipe is on the back of the packaging. Even though the audience can see there are chocolate chip cookie ingredients, I explain the deeper backstory that most people may not realize or understand at first glance. According to Nicole Dahmen, “The idea is to make images that matter to the specific story, rather than seeking visuals afterward that ‘fit.’”
Techniques
When capturing my images, one of the techniques I used was authenticity. To do this, I took candid images of ingredients being poured in a bowl, an egg being cracked in a bowl and cookies expanding in an oven. These pictures capture a moment through the actions and movements taking place. By doing this, it makes a photo more exciting and dramatized. However, I didn’t just use dramatic storytelling tactics, I also incorporated non-dramatic images. For example, I captured more stagnant pictures of an egg in a bowl, ingredients lined up, an oven temperature, pre-baked cookies on a baking sheet and baked cookies. These images were simple and to the point.
Since baking chocolate chip cookies are simple, I used a linear storytelling technique, which has a beginning and end. However, sine baking cookies are simple, I used the Washington Posts’ top 2019 images as inspiration to make more interesting visuals. Photography techniques such as leading lines, rule of thirds, blurring certain parts of an images and movement added depth and color to my photo essay.
WED
When creating a photo essay, it’s important to keep WED in mind. WED refers to the harmonious marriage of Writing, Editing and Design. This combination produces a final product that combines reporting, writing, visuals and coordination to create a compelling story. WED is what makes content more accessible and appealing. Each element of WED creates a stronger story, which is what was used in my photo essay below: