Reflection on Creative Media Directions, Photo Essay/Editorial (ARD507)

“Write a short article about something or somewhere that interest you and illustrate it.  Research page layouts and think of this as a double page spreads.  Choose a subject and produce a photographic layout for publication in a magazine or journal.   Although the images may be of the same place or subject use a range of shots, CU, MS, LS.”

Initially this wasn’t my first choice for one of my two photographic projects.  It soon came to mind that it gave me greater wealth of diversity, but if I’m honest I didn’t like the aspect of writing the relevant related articles, as it’s not a line of work that interests me.  However I soon found the options of material interested me enough to follow this part of the assignment through to completion.

To detail magazines I read or have opportunity to look at, would be fairly extensive and extremely diverse.  They range from Neo, to Digital Photography, to National Geographic, to Heritage in Wales, to TV Guide.  What I have realised is that most often it’s the photographs or drawings that captures my interest and causes me to read the article.

When I first started researching and planning for this project, one of the options I considered was an article based on the soon to be released film “Blue Eyes”.  This is actually my film for the Film part of this assignment, and the article was to give details of the film, the actors involved and a behind the scenes interview as it was being recorded.  Although the film work is my own, and several of the photographs were taken from the footage I had shot, I felt this article did cheat slightly for this assignment, so I decided not to pursue this.

I finally settled on doing an article resulting from a trip I went on with a friend.  We visited Castell Coch in South Wales, and had the opportunity to go on a guided tour.  Castell Coch is in the village of Tongwynlais just outside of Cardiff.  From this photography session, I had a wealth of photographs covering all three ranges of shots, they also covered a broad range of areas.

As my friend has a long time fascination with this castle, she has helped me with the background and factual details of the articles I have wrote.  We came up with several angles for the article, from reviewing the tour to a detailed look at Burges’ work in the Drawing room, the one I eventually settled on was a general history of the castle.  This was decided in main due to the photographs I had taken and the ones which I felt were the best examples of my photographic work.  It also gave me the layout design as Cadw produce a quarterly magazine called “Heritage in Wales”, I reviewed several of the magazines and decided to produce my article in the format of one of their most typical frequent layouts, as this I felt would add authenticity to my article, and give it the professional look.


Although initially this assignment did not appeal as I don’t consider myself much of a writer, the knowledge I have gained from doing this assignment I believe is invaluable.  It has made me look at magazine articles and layouts in a new light.  It has also given me greater perspective as a photographer to consider the application photographs might be needed for.  I have also enjoyed the challenge of putting together various types of shot with a narrative to create an article.

Upon reflection, even though I don’t think I will ever take up magazine writing, the knowledge I have gained from spending an afternoon with Dave Kelly has been invaluable and has given me an appreciation of the graphics world.  Would I do anything differently, probably not, but the skills I have learnt will remain with me throughout my photography career.