What is a photo essay supposed to feel like? 🎭

I've taken hundreds of photos for my sociology project on urban loneliness. I have images of people alone in crowds, empty subway cars, someone eating by themselves in a crowded dining hall, a single shoe on a park bench. Individually, I think some of them are pretty strong. But when I put them together... it just feels like a pile of sad pictures. I'm clearly missing something about what is a photo essay is supposed to do structurally.

My professor looked at my draft sequence and asked me: "Where's the arc? Where's the journey?" And I realized I have no idea what she means. What is a photo essay supposed to feel like when you move through it? Is it like a story with rising action and a climax? Is it more like a poem, building mood through repetition and variation? Is it a argument, making a case through visual evidence?

I've been researching what is a photo essay by looking at published examples, and I'm noticing patterns. Good ones have rhythm. They mix up the types of shots: a wide establishing shot, then a medium shot, then a close-up detail, then back out again. They have moments of intensity and moments of quiet. They take you on a journey—emotional, physical, intellectual.

For my loneliness project, I realized I need more than just "people alone." I need the context of the city. I need the crowded spaces that make the loneliness feel more acute. I need maybe one image of connection, to show what's missing elsewhere. I need a sequence that builds, not just a collection.

I'm also learning that what is a photo essay can vary wildly in tone. Some are documentary and journalistic. Some are deeply personal and poetic. Some are political, making an argument. Mine is probably more poetic—I want viewers to feel something, not just learn something.

The sequencing is so hard though! How do you know which photo should come first? Which should be last? How do you create flow? I've printed tiny thumbnails and I'm arranging them on my floor like a detective with evidence photos. It's helping, but I'm still unsure.

For those who've made photo essays: how do you approach structure? Do you storyboard first? Do you shoot with a sequence in mind or discover it later?

Matt, I'm gonna be real with you. Your post made me tear up a little. Not kidding. The way you're thinking about this—the detective work with the thumbnails, the self-reflection, the research into structure—that's not just someone completing an assignment. That's someone becoming an artist.

What is a photo essay supposed to feel like? I think it's supposed to feel like being seen. Like someone finally put words (or images) to a feeling you couldn't name. When it works, you don't just understand the topic differently; you understand people differently. You understand yourself differently.

For loneliness specifically? That's such a rich, painful, universal subject. We're all lonely in different ways. The guy in the crowded dining hall. The woman on the empty subway. The kid whose shoe is alone on that bench. Each one is a different flavor of the same ache.

Your instinct to add the crowded city is brilliant. Loneliness isn't just being alone—it's being alone in the middle of everything. It's the contrast that hurts. It's the phone full of contacts with no one to call. It's the party where you feel most invisible.