Welcome back. In our last lesson, you finalized the selection of images that will form your photo book. With your "A-sides" carefully chosen, you've completed the crucial curatorial task of defining what your story is about. Now, we turn to the equally important question of how that story unfolds. This lesson begins our exploration of sequencing, the art of arranging images to create a cohesive and compelling visual narrative.
You have a background in sculpture, so you understand how a viewer's path around a three-dimensional object creates a sequence of perspectives that build a complete understanding of the form. Sequencing a photo book operates on a similar principle. You are guiding a viewer's journey, not through physical space, but through a landscape of images, time, and emotion. The order in which they encounter each photograph shapes their entire experience.
Today, we will identify the fundamental strategies that photographers use to construct these journeys. We'll explore four main approaches: chronological, thematic, associative, and the emotional arc. Understanding these "architectural plans" for a photobook will provide you with a framework for building your own unique narrative.
The Power of the Sequence
Before diving into specific strategies, it's important to grasp what sequencing accomplishes. A random collection of images is a portfolio; a sequenced collection is a book. The sequence creates rhythm, pacing, and relationships between images, generating a meaning that transcends any single photograph. As the critic Gerry Badger notes, "Sequencing the photobook is not a science, it’s an art." It is an intuitive process of trial and error, but one grounded in established narrative principles.
Let's begin by learning the names and characteristics of the core sequencing strategies.
Sequencing a Photobook Lecture - Holly Constantine Photography
This resource from a lecture by Holly Constantine provides a concise and clear overview of four primary narrative structures used in photobooks. This will be our foundational framework for the lesson.
Please read the section under the heading "Narrative structure." Focus on understanding the definitions of Flat, Arc, Cluster, and Scatter.
As you can see, these four structures provide distinct ways to organize your images. Let's break them down further with examples.
Strategy 1: The Ordered Narrative (Flat & Cluster)
The most straightforward approaches are those based on a clear, logical order.
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Chronological / Linear ("Flat"): This structure arranges images according to the passage of time. It could be the story of a single day, a road trip from start to finish, or the progression of seasons. While simple, it can be very powerful for projects rooted in documentary or a specific event.
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Thematic / Typological ("Cluster"): This strategy groups images by shared subject matter, concepts, locations, or formal qualities. The book might be organized into "chapters" or clusters of related images. Your background in fine art, where artists often work in series, makes this a very natural approach. A classic example is a typological study, which presents a collection of a single kind of subject. The analysis of Ed Templeton's 'Teenage Smokers' in the "Photobook" article you have access to is a perfect example of this.
Strategy 2: The Poetic Narrative (Scatter & Arc)
Many artistic photobooks move away from linear logic and embrace more poetic, intuitive structures.
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Associative ("Scatter"): This is perhaps the most fluid and "artistic" strategy. It relies on creating connections between images based on visual "rhymes"—shared shapes, colors, gestures, or abstract ideas. The narrative is not a straight line but a web of connections that the viewer is invited to explore. This method transforms the book from a story being told to the viewer into a world the viewer helps to create.
The key to associative sequencing is what photographer Aaron Hardin calls "dominoing pictures." Let's see how he explains and demonstrates this.
How to Sequence Photos for a Photobook
In this excerpt from his video "How to Sequence Photos for a Photobook," Aaron Hardin explains his method of creating visual links between images. This is the core principle of associative sequencing.
Watch from 02:56 to 06:51. Pay close attention to his idea of looking for "formal connections" and creating an "echo of a form" from one image to the next.
As Hardin explains, the goal is to encourage the viewer's brain to make an association, building what he calls a "cloud of information" rather than a simple A-to-B story. The analysis of Daido Moriyama's work in the "Photobook" resource (LINK) also exemplifies this, noting that his books often have no intrinsic chronology, allowing the viewer to create their own interpretation.
- Emotional Arc ("Arc"): This strategy borrows from classic storytelling, building a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end defined by emotional progression. The goal is to create and release tension, taking the viewer on a journey. The lecture notes you read mentioned Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory, which provides a useful model:
- Equilibrium: A state of calm, the "normal world" of the book.
- Disruption: An event that breaks the equilibrium.
- Recognition: The characters or environment react to the disruption.
- Restoration: An attempt to repair the disruption.
- New Equilibrium: The story ends in a new state, which may be better, worse, or simply different from the beginning.
Seeing the Strategies in Action
In practice, most photobooks are hybrids, blending these strategies. A book might have an overall emotional arc that is told through thematic clusters, which themselves are linked together associatively.
Let's watch a professional bookmaker, Dan Milnor, sequence a project in real-time. Notice how he intuitively combines different strategies: he thinks in thematic groups (port, details), considers the narrative flow (informational vs. aesthetic), and makes associative links based on form and color.
How to Sequence Photos to Tell a Story | The Edit
This video, "How to Sequence Photos to Tell a Story," shows a live edit of several projects. We'll focus on one example to see how these strategies are applied in a real-world scenario.
Please watch the segment where Milnor sequences Deborah Davis's "Port of LA" project, from 18:30 to 23:24. Observe how he starts with "perfect scene setter" images, then moves to closer details, incorporates an "informational photograph" to provide scale and context, and selects a clean, simple image for the ending that reflects the opening.
Milnor's process is a fantastic demonstration of how these abstract strategies translate into concrete decisions. He is building a sequence that is both thematically clustered (grouping port images) and has a narrative arc (from wide establishing shots to close details and back to a concluding, peaceful image).
Conclusion
Today we have defined the primary architectural blueprints for a photobook's narrative. You've learned to identify four key sequencing strategies:
- Linear/Chronological ("Flat"): Ordered by time.
- Thematic ("Cluster"): Ordered by subject or concept.
- Associative ("Scatter"): Ordered by visual or conceptual rhymes.
- Emotional Arc ("Arc"): Ordered to create and release tension.
You've also seen that these strategies are not mutually exclusive. The most sophisticated photobooks often weave them together to create a rich and multi-layered experience. The right strategy for your book will depend entirely on your project's core concept and the feeling you want to evoke in your viewer.
In our next lesson, we will move from theory to practice. You will take your final selection of images and begin the hands-on process of building your sequence by creating visual pairs and small groupings—the essential building blocks of your book's narrative.