A Photo Essay
PART 1 – “A Brief Introduction”
Back in the day – think late 1600s – this east-of-the Anacostia river neighborhood was a flourishing settlement of the Native American tribe, the Algonquians. Today Anacostia, although a corner of D.C. with some history of urban blight and challenges, never-the-less retains arguably some of the best of what Washington D.C has to offer culturally and historically.
For sure Anacostia emanates its own unique character, charm, and a one-of-a-kind trove of interesting landmarks and local color. These wonders are ripe for the discovery, insights, and unveiling by all manner of storytellers.
This photo essay, then progresses through just a couple of Anacostia’s streets, landmarks, and neighborhoods to vibe the local color and tell a visual story. The essay is themed, more or less around, corners and bars. Yes. corners and bars. This will be true whether they be literally street corners or building corners.
Or, in the case of bars, whether they be bars or gates around a house or landmark or a metal “bar” on a dock – such as one used with a rope to secure one of Anacostia’s many boats. Keep these two elements in mind as you view each picture – don’t just glance – as the intent is to take you on a quick, mini-tour of Anacostia with these elements suggestive in some way of both its hard past, evolving present, and promising future.
After you view the photos below check out PART 2, “My Creative Process/Rationale”.
PART 2 – “My Creative Process/Rationale”
Make no mistake. My creative process first developed from the hard work of “production”. Taking photos. Lots of them. When I did a photo count, I realized that I had taken over 700 photos over four days (including warm-up and other experimental shots). I purchased a “selfie stick” to produce some high-angle shots. Reuters photographer, Damir Sagoli, shares the similar tip that playing and shooting a lot of shots before the real moment comes is valuable.
After my daily photoshoots, I did a couple of rounds of photo down selecting, then multiple cycles of re-arranging to painstakingly get down to less than a dozen “final final” inspired shots. During this photo selection and arranging process my goal and (hopefully creative) theme of photo capturing the hard juxtapositioning and irony between the definite harder versus softer sides of Anacostia, changed. My original rationale was to make viewers think by unfolding a harder, more thought-provoking and, with any luck, naturally edgy piece.
An initially edgier piece because, as my photojournalism tour of Anacostia and surroundings evolved, I consistently noticed a lot of security bars and other typically unnoticed elements that could be considered bars. Elements that could realistically or metaphorically (with a keen or imaginative eye) could be viewed as keeping people or things in (safe) …. or out.
Eman Shurbaji, in his article entitled, Photo narratives, Defining Picture Stories, Essays and Packages points out thatphotos, unlike text, video or maps, have the potential to show an exact representation of an exact moment.
Ultimately, the truth of the harder Anacostia elements and realities mostly disappeared balanced by a slow immersion into the truth and charm of Anacostia’s softer, earthier, creative side. This softer side was undergirded by this part of D.C.’s unique and undeniably valuable historical nature.
At some point, my photo essay theme re-emerged with a lighter and more hopeful tone and thrust. I did wrestle with “the truth” here though in terms of over or under portraying the beauty or blight of Anacostia. As an NPR special section on visual journalism codes of conduct straightforwardly enlightens:
“Flattering photos can be as deceiving as unflattering images. Use images to convey information and tell stories, not to make the subjects look better or worse than the facts warrant”.
I describe my Anacostia photos as artsy, modern, and with the flair and texture of a particular local color. They could be categorized as relating to the Modernism movement. With particular respect to analyzing the murals that distinctively punctuate Anacostia (some of which I captured) the category would be modern, contemporary, and classic according to my research on Mia Duvall, one of the extremely gifted contributing Anacostia muralists.
I used several design principles and techniques although, based on over 700 photos taken, as you can imagine not all of these made it to the less than a dozen final photos. Here are two such photos. Although they well illustrate in this case the design principle of the Gestalt-related symmetry concept, for various reasons such fairly prized photos were, again, not used for this project.
The above photo at a dock on the Anacostia River that I considered for my final photos. Among other design concepts, it is an example of the Gestalt-related symmetry concept. My representative technique here was to use the timing feature on my cell phone to get some low-angle, “perspective” shots. I also used my “selfie stick” to get some high-angle shots. (The high angle shots which are not shown). Besides a limitation on the number of photos that could be shown, this photo was not used because the intent of this Anacostia photojournalism essay was to concentrate on the story, not on me.
This is another photo that I *really* considered for the final cut. Being on the sidewalk underneath the tunnel leading to the Anacostia River, I casually looked up and, steadying my cell phone camera, took some direct overhead shots of the tunnel’s ceilings. I tried a night-time filter for some of the shots here but decided to use the non-filtered shot shown. Although very different from the above photo of me laying down the dock, it is another example of the Gestalt-related symmetry concept.
I was *intrigued with this architecturally rich shot* as it was creatively consistent with my initial, edgy emphasis on the duality of “bars”. Bars can keep things in and they can keep things out. Notice on the left side there are “gold” bars and on the right dark-colored bars. The concept of a tunnel and bars metaphorically could suggest a number of things related to the dual nature of Anacostia – also where it is and where it may be headed.
In terms of photos of that I navigated all the way down to actually make the cut I tried to keep the four pillars of visual storytelling – authenticity, sensory, relevancy, and archetype – as promoted by author Jade Lien in her article of the same name.
In particular, Jade’s tip of making it personal held true here as many of the pictures of the story, while not about me definitely echoed the particular time frames of my youth. For just one of several personal examples, I noticed that the old Anacostia McDonald’s which I took a few photos of but did not make the final cut —- is still there!.
And this McDonald’s, now an old closed down, raggedy dollar store still had had elements of bars making its photos still consistent with my theme. For heaven’s sake, I used to beg my mom to take me to the old McDonalds on Good Hope Road and if she did on a regular basis, I promised to behave for weeks on end!
Jades tip concerning authenticity also resonated with me because I had negotiated a few pictures with some of the locals. They mostly felt staged and maybe only one came pretty close to making the final cut, but not close enough. I later reflected that precisely because I had financially negotiated the pictures, the participants tried too hard. Perhaps these people photos never really stood a chance in the first place. Rookie mistake!
Other design concepts or techniques that I used included the Gestalt-related concept of figure and ground wherein only my second photo I captured an up-close photo of that humongous D.C. icon, The Chair. You can only see some of the chair’s “corners and bars” in the foreground with a nondescript building in the background.
The nondescript building is set up in its shot to be much more prominent than normal given the complete and utter novelty of this area is The Chair. Even some die-hard Washingtonians may not recognize it until the third photo where its entire outline and structure is visible. From the standpoint of art, Anacostia iconic structures, and novelty, it’s a textbook example of figure and ground.
A paragraph from the infographic, Evolution of Storytelling,informs us that In the Middle Ages, troubadours provided everyday people with celebrated stories and gathered news as the troubadours traveled from region to region. They would often offer music to accompany their stories.
Like a modern-day troubadour, I would like to maybe revisit Anacostia photo journalistically
or travel to at least one other D.C. neighborhood to fully, serendipitously, and authentically capture as much of the local color and history that my hometown neighborhoods have to offer. I very much enjoyed the “task” of bringing together these photos and captions, and to creatively tell a story and then provide some information about the related design and production details – meaning the “story behind the story”.
This marriage of writing, editing, and design – or WED – had its roots in the 1980s. I agree with Mario Garcia, who in his article Digital storytelling, The fusion of writing/editing/design shared that “with visual storytelling leading the way for digital and mobile, WED has never been more relevant or important”.
As for the music that the non-digital Middle Ages troubadours often used to accompany stories? – For my music, I’ll just let my curated photographs do the singing!
References
Busche, L. (n.d.). Simplicity, symmetry and more: Gestalt theory and the design principles it gave birth to. canva.com. https://www.canva.com/learn/gestalt-theory/
Evolution of storytelling. (n.d.). https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/history/evolution-storytelling
Garcia, M. (2017, January 19). Digital storytelling, Part one: The fusion of writing/editing/design. https://garciamedia.com/blog/digital_storytelling_part_one_the_fusion_of_writing_editing_design/
Lien, J. (2020, December 8). Worth 1,000 words: The 4 principles of visual storytelling. amplifi. https://amplifinp.com/blog/4-principles-visual-storytelling/.
Sagolj, D. (n.d.). 7 Photojournalism Tips. https://vimeo.com/48815231
Shurbaji, E. (2017, December 17). Defining picture stories, essays and packages. https://medium.com/learning-journalism-tech/photo-narratives-d77b812f99dd
Special Section: Visual Journalism. (n.d.). https://www.npr.org/about-npr/688746774/special-section-visual-journalism
3 thoughts on “Anacostia — The Best Corner of D.C., Bar None”
Hi Kevin,
The introduction to your photo essay really set the scene and gave me the historical background without giving anything away about how it looks, which you revealed in your pictures. I was able to learn so much about Anacostia before and after viewing your photos. I think your theme of corners and bars is brilliant and the fact that you used it both literally and figuratively made this so interesting.
I like how you used multiple angles and different ways of taking photos to vary the story. Some are very close up, such as the controversial mural of RBG, while others are extremely wide such as the picture of the chair. This makes your photos more interesting. I think my favorite is the picture of the children playing in the street. Their action and expression tell me so much about the area and takes me back to when I was a little kid playing in the street.
You definitely created the naturally edgy piece you were hoping for! You incorporated the readings well and your creative process was extremely interesting to read through.
Each image tells me so much about this neighborhood without even reading the captions. It feels familiar to me and your theme really pieced many images that could be seen as not similar, together into one cohesive photo essay. Your pictures told a story that words are not able to!
Hi Kevin,
I loved your story about Anacostia, it felt authentic, honest, and personal. The story telling from the text and the images was very strong all around. I like this theme of “bars and corners” (and the apt title of your piece), but I had to read very carefully to understand that the “bars” you were talking about were the bars belonging to fences and security gates and things like that rather than bars that serve alcohol. I think if you added a sentence about how these bars represent a blockade and the “edgy” parts of Anacostia it would be much clearer before the viewer starts looking at the pictures.
I like the fun graphic feeling of the captions in different shapes, but I wish that the font size was a little bigger because it is so much smaller than the main text of your blog. Perhaps they could have been placed below or next to the pictures instead of on top of them.
That being said, the captions are a lot of fun to read, it felt like a guided tour. I can’t help but be reminded of areas in Philadelphia and Wynwood, Miami that have a lot of murals that are symbolic and colorful just like Anacostia. The first three pictures are particularly strong because they really give the viewer the feel of the neighborhood’s character. I also like the “biggest chair on the planet,” an unexpected surprise. The choice to keep the chair a mystery in your first picture adds to the quirkiness and interest of this statue.
I have a note about the Murphy’s Auto Body photo. I took an architectural photography class as an undergrad and one of the “rules” we learned about taking pictures of building corners like this is that the angle of the corner should not be dead on center. This way, one wall would be more visible than the other and the lines that lead to vanishing points in this two-point perspective would be at different angles. Just a tip that I remember from class that is good to know in case you plan to take more pictures of building corners in the future.
I love the picture of the kids on their scooters. Here is an example of where you successfully captured a “moment.” According to Seth Gitner, a moment is “the instant when an event is crystallized, when its significance is packed into a fleeting incident, expression, or gesture.” Especially because the one kid is in the middle of a wheelie.
The juxtaposition of the ice cream truck images was the perfect microcosm of your story’s theme, showing both the fun and edgy sides of the neighborhood. This theme of bars and corners adds an interesting theme to the story. Without this theme it would simply be a showcase of parts of the town, but the theme adds dimension.
I really love that you showed that Anacostia has illuminated pictures in the tunnel. Places like tunnels tend to turn into “dead spaces” that encourage things like graffiti and litter in a lot of cities, so it is nice to see a creative way of adding safety and light to this space.
After reading your story and looking at your pictures, I have a very good feel for what it would be like to see this neighborhood in person. I can tell that you have a lot of admiration for this place. The fact that you spent multiple days shooting is evident because you were able to capture a lot of nice shots. Great blog!
Hello Kevin,
I really enjoyed the personal and wholesome nature of this photo essay. I liked the theme of corners and bars and was surprised to see actual iron and steel bars and not many drinking bars. That was clever!
The story you told was charming and painted a unique picture of an area of DC I didn’t know anything about. I particularly loved the image of the kids playing. I thought that photo was the strongest in your essay. It’s such a unique moment, and I loved how you included the building and kids within the same shot.
I did have a hard time understanding what the image of the covered bridge was trying to convey. I found myself distracted by the exposure of the bridge’s openings. I couldn’t tell if there was a piece of plastic on the windows or if you digitally altered the windows. It didn’t look natural to me.
If you had issues exposing that image, I would recommend setting your exposure to the background and allowing the foreground to become darker. This will add more contrast to your image and will remove the flaring effect on the windows.
Thank you so much for showing us about Anacostia!
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