WHAT DOES SEQUENCING MY IMAGES MEAN ?
Sequencing is merely ordering the visual flow, in this case in order to create a narrative of love. Sequencing a zine is a fairly subjective topic, as every narrative has the possibility to be expressed in multiple ways, depending on the photographer’s own individual thought process and general style.
“Some photographs, irrelevant as lone images, will trigger interest when combined with others in a series of photos.”
Alexis, www.film-photography-blog.com
Sequencing helps us in defining precisely what we want to convey, whether it is a positive emotion or a negative one, or whether the image is meant to trigger self-analysis or observation, or whether it is simply for aesthetic purposes in that particular section of the narrative.
Overall, it’s about balance and creating/enhancing meaning to a set of images.
HOW DO I SEQUENCE MY IMAGES ?
There are many different methods of sequencing a group of images, depending on the amount of images, how they are being presented, the photographer’s intentions and their personal preference.
1.
The most common and visually simple way would be to print all the image out on a normal printer, as high-quality isn’t necessary, then arranging them out on a flat surface and physically ordering and re-ordering them around in a trial-and-error type process until a pleasing sequence is found. This could be replicated digitally, using Lightroom or maybe just in a folder using the thumbnails. The benefits of this method are that it is visually simpler to picture a sequence when you are able to move all of your images about in front of you, physically. However a drawback could be that it may be fairly time-consuming, and may require resources that you do’t have access to.
2.
Another method could be to group the images by themes, whether they all showcase a particular feeling or emotion, or have a similar form or use of light, or even if they just have a similar colour palette that works well together. This has the advantage of creating a good flow of images, however it may be more difficult to deal with the outliers that don’t fit into your preconceived themes.
3.
Additionally, you could think about the zine as a whole and sequence images in “chapters” or as parts of a story. This can build tension in the narrative and is easier done with the use of archival imagery, as they can often provide more context and clarity to the story. These groups of images, or “chapters”, could show the progress of a person’s life or relationship with another person from beginning, to middle, to end, or they could focus on the relationships between different people in each chapter. They have the potential to detail literally any progression of events, depending on the photographer’s creativity, manner of thinking, and skill behind a camera. This is beneficial in that it really helps to create a strong narrative and engage whoever is looking at your images, however it is more complicated and may not work with every narrative or group of images.
The link below is to an interview with a Magnum photographer, who explains how he went about sequencing his photos: