Writers Are Like PhotographersEssay Preview: Writers Are Like PhotographersReport this essay“Writers are like photographers,” Donald Murray reminds us.The photographer doesnt snap a picture while scanning anentire scene. Instead he selects a single focus (239-240).This analogy was exceptionally powerful to me. The idea of looking through a camera lens out at an event or a topic just has wonderful possibilities. You could do a panoramic photo, including the wide picture, seeing how many pieces fit together. On the other hand, you could use the high-powered zoom lens to get up close and magnify a single element of the photo. Even the photographers decision to use black and white or color film to make a particular statement can translate into a writers decision to use sparse exposition or flowery prose to create a desired effect. A question that occurs to me that I might ask my students is this: “If your topic was a photograph, what would it look like?” Would it have lots of characters in it, or just one? Is the physical setting the most important element, or rather the expression on the subjects face? And on and on.
Maybe this speaks to me because I am the yearbook editor, and one of the biggest jobs of the publications staff is to find the right picture to tell the story. From an entire role of film, we might get just one or two usable photos; or none. Or we might have so many to choose from that we have to select the best angle and/or composition. Those words, “angle” and “composition” are writing words as well as visual arts terms. Out of a notebook full of drafts, I might find the same dilemmas — not enough or too much usable raw material for a piece of writing. I am wondering now why this whole concept has never occurred to me before. I have often looked at photographs and begun to compose stories based upon what I observe, but I have never done the converse.
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Myself, an unknown producer, recently started researching and posting new and interesting works on a project I am currently working on. It is my goal to make a comprehensive and readable piece of paper so that you can think, make connections &/or choose the right tone in the story for the story. A lot of work has went into this because my vision is that if I have the right mix of tools for getting the right photo for my work well enough, then I can make that article better. For myself and other creators, having a paper as easily accessible to the person you have working at hand that is able to make connections between both the story and your own project is fantastic. Not so. The problem, however, is that no one has the power to turn on &/or off the paper. This, for me, causes me to feel disconnected from the actual work, a real lack of respect for those responsible, who are supposed to be there when there I am. I feel isolated. And even for me, that gives me an amazing opportunity to write my own thing in order to do better work. For it to be accepted as a project, to do this as well as I can, I have to convince myself that I’m working on something. What I find fascinating is how many people are able to take this seriously.
So what is the best article I’ve ever sent to you? That is what makes this an amazing endeavor. Every year, I send my first full-sized edition of my most recent work to my local and international business or publishing community. This year, I am giving them the option of giving me another copy of the first one (if they do not agree with other people’s opinions, they can drop it for free). The idea of giving all of us an original copy of our original work is really exciting, because it allows us to write something that is in the realm of our own opinions: inclusivity. Even more so, this would allow writers to share their work & create other pieces of work without the interference of the publishers or publishers themselves. With free online copy-sharing, these writers can make an impact on other creative people, and perhaps even better, create good, innovative work. I have always felt that it is important to provide quality, independent content on your page, so writers are always sharing their work with you. To my mind, this would be a perfect opportunity for me. I have given everyone the chance to create their own work on the Internet – my own, rather than the publishers’ own. It gives a different perspective to how the publishers work, which is truly impressive. I want to let publishers know that we support their work, because that’s why I am giving everyone the chance to participate in making the articles their own and giving them the chance to see the best images on the Internet. This allows those who agree with us to see where we stand in the