Cohesion in a body of work
Making a body of work with coherence is difficult. Everyone knows what cohesion is, still it is hard to conquer that in a series of photographs.
While the phrase 'body of work' has as meanings "a group of things belonging together," a "row of things following each other," a "unit," a "number of elements in order. You would say that this is a clear explanation for everyone. Right? But why then are there so many series in which this coherence is hard to find? Or often they seem to be duplicates.
The difficulty of putting together a body of work was demonstrated once again when I discussed a certain series by a photographer. Five portraits of a young girl. The title of the series was "From Happy to Angry". Such a title is a danger because it immediately throws your personal filter over the photos, without allowing you to look at them objectively. Because the images were not very pronounced angry, neutral or happy you start to judge the photos on the title. As single images there were some nice photos, especially by the light (backlight) on the hair, making the girl stand out from the background. As a body of work it was less successful, judging from the title. Five portraits of a girl's face were shown. Now you can say that there is cohesion, but these were mostly duplicates. Too similar and not fitting for the purpose of the series: to show different emotions in a portrait.
Photographing without a plan
In retrospect, it turned out that these photos came about by chance, without a preconceived plan. The photographer had been playing with his camera one afternoon and his grandchild had posed for a while. He also had no more than those five photos of her. And therein lies precisely the difficulty with a body of work with coherence. It's a stroke of luck if by chance you come up with a very strong series without having thought it through. Most series are preceded by an extensive thought process and conscious choices are made. Choices about the subject, the composition, the message you want to convey with the works, positions and so on.
I asked the photographer to make the same series again, taking the time to evoke each emotion and making a large number of photos of it. By doing this you make it more difficult for yourself because you have to select from more photos, but you can probably create a stronger body of work because of the choice of images. I wonder if he will still do that.
Which choices determine the final result?
While preparing for that meeting, I thought again about all the points you can think of when making a series with coherence. Unknowingly, there are quite a few choices involved. If you only look at the execution of a single photo, I can easily list fifteen of them, regardless of the content of the image. Consider that in a series you also have mutual relationships between the photos and the choice options are multiplied.
Key lesson: Ensure cohesion, not duplication