In Urban Design journal (no. 148, Autumn 2018) there is a new series called Behind the Image, where a recently designed public space is explored. Presented as a page of images, we read, ‘The photography tries to reveal an alternative perspective on a familiar precedent, famous space or place’, in this case the High Line.

It makes use of carefully chosen photographs to show specific qualities of the place. Text captions describe what is shown, to ‘illustrate how the public space works in practice, exploring its features, and the way it relates to the surrounding context.’

This discipline of showing a photograph and then writing precisely about what it is showing us is a clear and valuable communication tool. It seems simple enough, but commonly in journals and books, photos are included as disconnected, sometimes distracting illustrations, without a sufficient link to the written text, or with the caption in tiny writing on a different page (as in the next article in the journal).

As a photograph shows everything in detail, it is not always easy to see the purpose intended by the author, and is easy to misread. The art of succinct caption writing is precise and essential in urban commentary. It is actually these 20 or 30 words that unlock the proverbial 1000.

Behind the image is produced by Lional Eid, George Garofalakis, Rosie Garvey and Alice Raggett.

Urban Design Group Journal Autumn 2018 ISSN 1750 712X