Pre-Writing Checklist for Analyzing Photos

1
Pre-Writing Checklist for Analyzing Photos

• Content What, literally, does the photograph
  depict? Who or what is the subject of the photo?
  What is the setting?
• Cultural Context What is the historical contest
  of the photo? If it documents a particular
  event, person, or historical moment, how
  prominently does this photograph factor into our
  understanding of this event, person, or place?
  (For instance, is it the only known photo of an
  event, or is it one of a series of photos taken
  of the same subject?)

2
Checklist, cont

• Material Context Where was this photo
  reproduced or displayed (an art gallery, the
  cover of a magazine, the front page of a
  newspaper)? If it was published elsewhere
  originally, does this source credit the original?
• Argument What, thematically, does the photo
  depict? What is its message to the audience?
  For instance, while the photo might SHOW a group
  of people standing together, its argument might
  be about love, family unity across generations,
  or a promise for the future.

3
Checklist, cont.

• Photographer Who took this photo? What was the
  persons purpose?
• Genre Is this a news photo? A self-portrait? A
  piece of art? How does it fulfill or confound
  the expectations of this genre? (For example,
  the expectation for a news photo is that it
  clearly captures a person, moment, event the
  expectation for a self-portrait is that it evokes
  an artists sense of his/her own persona.)

4
Checklist, cont

• Audience Was the photo intended to persuade a
  larger audience or to function as a more
  personalized expression of a point of view?
• Purpose What is the photos purpose? Is it
  intended to be overtly argumentative and to move
  its audience to action? Or is the argument more
  subtle, even to the point of seeming objective
  or representational?

5
Checklist, cont.

• Rhetorical Stance How does the composition of
  the photo convey a sense of the rhetorical stance
  or point of view of the photographer? Pay
  attention to issues of focus (what is in focus?
  This may differ from the ostensible focus of
  the picture) cropping (what is in the picture,
  and what has been left out/) color (is the
  picture in black and white? Color? Sepia?)
  setting (what backdrop has the photographer
  chosen?) and perspective (are we looking down?
  Up?).

6
Checklist, cont.

• Representation vs. Reality Does this photo
  aspire to represent reality, or is it an overtly
  abstract piece? Is there any indication of photo
  manipulation, editing, or other alteration? If
  so, what rhetorical purpose does this servewhat
  argument does this alteration make?
• Word and Image Does the phto have a caption?
  Does it accompany an article, essay, or other
  lengthy text? How does the image function in
  dialogue with this verbal text? Does it offer
  visual evidence? Does it argue an independent
  point? Does it provide a counterargument to the
  print text?