What Makes a Cohesive Series of Photos?

In thinking about your final projects due June 6th, here are some examples of cohesive photo series surrounding a specific theme:

Amy Elkins' Wallflower series features portraits of men and explores ideas of gender identity and the male psyche. Notice how the lighting and composition adds cohesion throughout the series, bringing the viewer's attention to the expressions and gestures of the subjects.

Photos by Amy Elkins

Dina Kantor's series "Finnish & Jewish" takes a different approach to portraiture by showing each person's surroundings. Still the lighting and composition adds to their cohesion as a group:

photos by Dina Kantor

Kelly Neal's photos of still life images taken (mostly) on beds:

photos by Kelly Neal

This series of landscape photos by Matthew Baum shows modern day locations that were the sites of important events during the Civil War:

photos by Matthew Baum

This series of images by Erica Allen show found portraits of men from barber shop posters, and using Photoshop, she adds faux context to each picture (photos below are by Erica Allen):

Rachel Barret's Bolinas series is a portrait of a place that includes a mixture of portraits and landscapes, but shot in a way that looks cohesive in terms of style, lighting, color palette and composition. (Photos below by Rachel Barrett):