Documenting Photographs

Deposit Photos. Used with permission.

DOCUMENTING PHOTOGRAPHS

Another significant part of documentation is the documenting of photos - digital and print. If you walked through the previous lessons, then you already know that quite a bit of information has been shared ranging from preserving your digital files (like digital photos) and protecting and preserving physical artifacts (like printed images). We won't cover these topics again. I have, however, provided you with more extensive resources on these areas below from well-respected photography sources.

What we will cover here are some basic, practical steps used in journalism for documenting photographs.

Here is the situation: You are interviewing a source. You take a series of photographs of your source for use in your scribal project. Now, those images are edited, printed and ready for publishing - in a gallery, magazine, news article, web exhibit, your personal portfolio, etc., how should they be documented?

First, different types of publication require different types of primary source information. Images you take, can become a primary source when documenting. The goal is to document your images in a way that clearly explains not only who took them, but who or what is in the photograph and why. The information documented may not always be visible when the image is published. However, when there is a need for more information about the image the documentation can provide it.

Whew! That was a mouthful.

The purpose of documenting photographs or anything is to better position them as historical artifacts! By no means can we do the extensive study that experts at the National Archives would do, but we can do enough to make that effort easier for someone, somewhere who needs evidence, proof or some witness to the past.

Here are some JOURNALISTIC steps that anyone can incorporate. By the way, I was a responsible for taking my own photos as a news journalist, developing them in the darkroom, and captioning them for publication. I miss those days before digital photography became the norm. I'm blessed among journalists to have walked in the world of developing film by hand and crossing into the digital age of photography.

To document your images properly, you need to do six basic things:

(1) Catalog your images. If your images are digital, then learn all about storing and preserving digital images. You need to know everything from file size requirements to the best storage practices. For printed images, you need to find the best process for storing the kind of printed "images" you have.

Certain images are printed with ink that doesn't last. Some images are printed on materials that are sensitive to moisture, tapes, glues and even sunlight. You need to be aware of these things -- so you can choose the best printing and storage options. Don't worry. I've provided links to these subjects below. Cataloging simply means you are going to make a systematic list of images, grouping them in an organized way, and identifying each image as specifically as possible. This is an easy task when dealing with handful of images.

(2) Date and state the location of your images. Create an image sheet of some kind for every photoshoot. As you catalog each image, be sure to include the month, date and year. In addition, include the address if possible concerning where the picte was taken - street address, city, state, and country.

(3) Provide a caption for every image. A caption is a tile or a brief explanation of the picture. For example, a caption might state: Jane Doe is standing outside of the recently opened, Imagination Nation High School for disabled youth. The school recently accepted a $1.5 million grant to expand its physical education facilities. Or you can include something shorter: Jane Doe standing in front of Imagination Nation High School. If this is an important or significant event, it's always good to include extremely concise sentences for context. It should not exceed two or three sentences.

(4) Make sure people in the image are identified from left to right if possible. In journalism, our captions sometimes included just the name of the people next to the article. For example, a caption might say: Pictured from L to R: John Doe Sr., Jane Doe, July Doe, Jimmy Doe and their dog, Ralph of Fulton, County Georgia. This isn't always possible, so don't fret -- especially if its images of crowds, shopping, events, etc.

(5) Add a photo credit. A photo credit states who owns the photograph. Generally, it is simply the name of the photographer and/or their company.

(6) If you do not own the photograph (as we have talked about this) permission to use is needed if possible. Do everything you can to track down its origin and get permission. If its a family heirloom and no one knows the origin of the image, it is okay to list it as "unknown photography/Fulton County, Georgia."

(7) If photos are a part of a collection, state that. Identify the number of photos in the collection, identify each photo that belongs to that collection and catalog them in that grouping.

This is basic, and may vary. Also note that the National Archives has worksheets to help photographers categorize images as well. Take a look at the worksheets provided in the previous course section. Choose the photography worksheet for additional ideas.

Additional Notes:

Preserving Photographs Providing Documents to the Media Writing Photo Captions Sample Captions from NPR Examples of Captions