Presentation

Learning goal

You will be able to bring your capstone project's twelve-frame series before the viewer with a title, a project statement and a suitable format. You will write a project statement that tells the project's question and method in a few paragraphs, and give the series a project title that sums it up but doesn't explain it. You will discuss how the project will be read differently on a web page, on a wall or in a small photobook, and choose the presentation format according to the project's nature and its audience. Beside each frame you will write a caption note giving its place, its date and, if needed, the name and words of the person in it, and in web presentations add alt text for visually impaired viewers. Before the presentation you will check one last time whether everyone in the project has given permission for this presentation, and carry the names and voices of the people photographed, each of different skin tones, ages and jobs, into the presentation with the same care.

The question

The order of the twelve frames on the table has finally settled. The older member looks for a long time, then points in turn to the club's empty wall, your friend's phone and a thin book on the shelf: in which of these will this morning live? No one has given the series a name yet. Where will someone who sees the frames learn whose morning this morning is, the master's name, what the apprentice says to the first customer?

Your friend realizes that shooting and editing the photos is only one half of a piece of work. How do you present your work to the world?

Context

You tried gathering the thought a project carries into a short sentence in the conceptual photography lesson (Lesson 26.8). In the photobook lesson you worked with spreads, page rhythm and the dummy (Lesson 26.10). In the exhibition lesson, too, you saw the wall plan, the centerline and the wall text (Lesson 26.11).

The capstone project's presentation brings this knowledge together and adds a new question: how will this project, at the end of the program, be presented as a whole to the viewer, the jury and the people photographed? Presentation isn't an ornament of the project, but part of its meaning; the same twelve frames can tell different stories on a screen, on a wall and in a book.

Simple explanation

How are the project statement and the title written?

A project statement is the piece of writing that tells, in a few paragraphs, a photography project's question, how and where it was worked on, with whom it was carried out, and what it wants to make the viewer think. A good project statement usually says three things: what does this project ask, how was this question approached, and where do the photos invite the viewer? The statement doesn't explain the meaning of the frames one by one; it gives the viewer a direction, then leaves them to read the frames themselves. A short, plain statement written in the first person is often stronger than a long and theoretical one.

A project title is the name that names the series in a few words and opens the door of the project a little for the viewer. A title can sum up the series but shouldn't explain everything; it can be born from the concept statement but doesn't have to repeat it. For your friend's project "The hands that open the city's morning" is a descriptive title, while just "Shutter" is a shorter and more open-ended option. Writing a few title candidates and showing them to others shows which one talks best with the series.

Which format is chosen?

A presentation format is the medium and form in which a project reaches the viewer: a page scrolled on a screen, prints hung on a wall, a small photobook held in the hand, or a combination of these. Each format gives a different reading. On a web page the viewer sees the frames by scrolling and often on their phone; text and frames flow together and the project is easily shared. On a wall the viewer, standing, sees all the frames at once; size and placement become part of the meaning. In a small photobook the viewer turns the pages at their own pace; sequence and page rhythm carry the story.

The format is chosen according to the project's nature and its audience. Because your friend's project tells the flow of a morning, a small photobook in which turning the page carries time may suit it very well; but if the project is meant to reach the people in the neighborhood, a few prints to hang on the wall of the tea stall and the bakery can also be considered. Many capstone projects are presented with a main format and a web page supporting it. Even if the share given to presentation in the evaluation criteria is small, a good presentation makes the project's other strengths visible.

Each format also shows the frames' tones differently. A phone screen looks bright and saturated; when the same frame is printed on matte paper, the shadows can deepen and detail can be lost. This difference is noticed most in dark skin tones: a master's face that looks warm and detailed on screen can turn into a single dark mass in print. That is why a small test is made for each chosen format; a test print for the book, a full-size piece for the wall, a few different phones for the web. The presentation isn't considered finished until each skin tone is seen to keep its detail in its own medium too.

How are frames and people presented?

A caption note is the short piece of writing beside or under a frame that gives where it was shot, the date and, when needed, the name and a short line from the person in it. A caption note lets the viewer turn a face into a person: "The hour the dough is first kneaded, half past four in the morning" and "A single sentence giving the master's name and how many years they have done this work" add completely different weight to the same frame. In web presentations alt text for visually impaired viewers is also added to each frame.

A final consent check is going over one last time, before the presentation, whether the permission of every person and location in the project covers this form of presentation. A person may have allowed their photo to hang on a club wall but not wanted it published on the internet; another may not have wanted their name written. The master, the apprentice, the florist and the tea stall's owner, though their skin tones and ages differ, are asked the same question, and each one's name and words are carried into the presentation in the form they want. Showing the presentation to the people photographed so they see it first makes them feel the project is their project too.

Visual evidence

Your friend writes the project statement as three paragraphs: the question, setting out every morning at five for four weeks, and inviting the viewer to the hour the city wakes. For the title they write five candidates and show them at the club; most people settle on "Shutter."

As the main format they choose a small photobook and prepare a web page supporting it. They write a caption note for each frame; they add the bakery master's name and the line "The dough wakes before I do," and the apprentice's name and what they say to the first customer. On the web page they put alt text on each frame.

Before the presentation they open the release tracker and show each person the draft of the book and the web page. The florist agrees to appear in the book but doesn't want their face visible on the internet; on the web page your friend uses the frame showing their buckets in its place. The master, on the other hand, wants to put the book's first copy in the bakery's window.

Common mistakes

Summary

The capstone project goes out into the world with a project statement, a project title and a suitable presentation format; the statement tells the question and the approach and leaves the frames to the viewer, the title sums up the series but doesn't explain it, and the format is chosen from among a web page, a wall or a photobook according to the project's nature and its audience. Caption notes give the place, the date and the people's names and words, alt text is added to web presentations, and with the final consent check done before the presentation, each person's name and voice is carried into the presentation in the form they want and with the same care for everyone.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will get your capstone project ready for presentation.

1. Write a three-paragraph project statement: your project's question, your approach and where you invite the viewer.
2. Write at least five title candidates, show them to three people and justify your choice in one sentence.
3. Choose a main format for your project and, if needed, a supporting format; explain your choice in terms of the project's nature and its audience, and write a caption note for each frame.
4. Open your release tracker and check whether each person and location allows the forms of presentation you chose; show the draft to the people photographed and add alt text to each frame for the web presentation.

Check yourself

• Does your project statement tell the question and the approach and leave the frames to the viewer?
• Does the format you chose fit what the project tells?
• Is the permission and name of each person in the presentation in the form they want?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What does a good project statement do?

• A) It explains the meaning of each frame one by one
• B) It tells the project's question and approach and leaves the frames to the viewer
• C) It lists only the technical settings
• D) It recounts the photographer's résumé

2. Why can a small photobook suit a project that tells the flow of a morning?

• A) Because turning the page carries the flow of time
• B) Because books are always cheaper
• C) Because no permission is needed in a book
• D) Because color doesn't matter in a book

3. What does a caption note add for the viewer?

• A) It changes the frame's color
• B) It reduces the frame's file size
• C) It turns a face into a person with a name and words
• D) It replaces the project statement

4. If a person agrees to appear in the book but doesn't want to be seen on the internet, what is done?

• A) Using the person in both formats
• B) Removing the person from the project completely
• C) Blurring them on the internet without asking
• D) Using the person only in the book and putting another frame in their place on the web page

Answers

1. B — The statement gives the viewer a direction but doesn't take the reading of the frames out of their hands.
2. A — Turning the page carries a morning's hour-by-hour progress to the viewer's own pace.
3. C — A name and words let the viewer read the frame as a person's story.
4. D — Permission applies separately to each form of presentation, and the person's preference is respected.

Summary card

• Project statement: question, approach, invitation; leave the frames to the viewer.
• A title sums up but doesn't explain; show candidates to others.
• Choose the format according to the project's nature and its audience.
• Place, date, name and words in caption notes; alt text on the web.
• A final consent check for each form before the presentation.

Bridge to the next lesson

The book is printed, the web page is ready. Your friend will present their project to the club's evaluation jury, and the older member hands them a sheet: the jury's criteria, a score beside each. Concept, technical quality, composition and light, consistency and sequencing, presentation. Your friend is excited but also a little uneasy: what will the jury look for, how will they see the weak points, and how will they use the criticism they get? What does the jury expect? The next lesson takes up the evaluation criteria and feedback.