American Soldier

A. I think one of the most powerful images was the one of Ian coming home to see his family and he was at the airport. He looks so happy to see his family, and I would be too. After being gone for so long, all he can do is smile.

B. The images work together to tell a story because they capture so many different elements of his life. Not just what goes on in the army, but his family and social life too. 

C. The captions enhance the photos by giving you information you would not have know by just looking at the photo. 

D. Ian Fisher joined the Army after graduating high school. Saying goodbye to his family and friends was very hard. As training began, he was struggling. He was getting injured often, affecting his position in the Army. Along with that, he also had an issue with drugs. He had had girlfriends, but none of them really worked out. Eventually he finds the one, gets married to her, and they start their life together after having shared his time in the Army. 

E. The first sentence of the captions is written with present tense verbs.

F.

1. On average, the captions are about 2 sentences.

2. The first sentence provides information on what is happening in the photo.

3. The second sentence provides background information on the situation.

4. If there is a third sentence, it will either give more background information or a quote. 

5. Yes, some captions include a quote.

6. Yes, there are captions with 4 sentence, but not many.

G. I think it is possible to tell a complete story with just photos and captions because you can gather so much information from just looking at the pictures.

H. Stories should still be written because they provide other information that you can't see in the photo. Although second sentences do that, they are related to the information in the picture. There might be information that was not taken a picture of, that the story could include.