Assignment : Illustrating An As Yet Unwritten Magazine Article

Your marketing has paid off, and the magazine wants to see a pitch from you. A pitch is something you do to them.

A pitch is generally a story idea you have and want to shoot, or something that you think they may be interested in doing an article on.

You do not have to have a full article or shoot completed, but you must have an inkling of what it will take to interest the magazine.

Narrative.

That word again.

The story. Now you have to tell a story in three or four images.

The images are to include a full, double-truck (two pages) so make sure you make an image in horizontal format. Shoot at least one horizontally. Make sure there is space for type whether you shoot it with the subject on right or left or all across. Magazines usually use large headlines, and a paragraph or two to lead into the next pages.

So you are making an illustration for a magazine article as yet unwritten… it will be completed… in the future.

Here is what to think about.

Why Taking Images That Tell Stories Is Important for Photographers

How to Use the Power of Storytelling to Become a Better Photographer (and sell more)

9 Creative Ways to Tell a Story Through Photography Composition 

The three types of images you should thank about.

Setting the scene.

Where are you? Where is the subject? What sort of environment are we going to see within the story? This may call for a medium to wide angle lens so that you can bring the viewer into your shoot. Use the landscape, the environment, the space to tell the viewer where we are so that the context of what follows makes sense.

The far shot.

Isolating the subject within the environment. A telephoto can be used to sculpt the subject out of the background, or to flatten the scene into a more graphic statement. Using a wide angle lens with the subject out in the distance can also work as a long shot, but it must feel different and not be next to the set shot.

The close-up.

Bring us into your photos. Closeups of hands, feet, portraits, tiny parts of the scene that can help us understand what we are looking at. Every lens can be used for this shot.